Posted By:
David VarghaI've offered cards that way. I've got a feedback rating of 650 with something like 1,400 positives and 2 retaliatory negs. If a person feels that it isn't enough, they don't have to respond.
If the buyer demanded eBay, I would agree only if he paid the fees by tacking it into my BIN price. Am I somehow more trustworthy because I listed it on eBay? Really now. I already take PayPal, which should be plenty of protection for him (and money for eBay). As to breaking eBay's rules, they aren't "laws". I really don't have an issue with prospecting for buyers that way, whether I am the one doing the contacting or the one being contacted. If a potential buyer has such moral qualms about doing business that way, then don't.
But let's take it a step further. If I saw that a Net54 board member was underbidder on a card that I could offer for less and I contacted him via Microsoft Outlook on the Net54 board for a "direct" sale, am I now in violation of eBay's policy? If not, why not? Just because the means of contact wasn't eBay's message system? Without the ability to check the eBay bidding history, I would never have known what that member was willing to pay. I swear that sometimes people get downright pharisitical over petty "rules" that are virtually meaningless in the overall scheme of things.
DavidVargha@hotmail.com