posted on January 13, 2001 06:30:58 PM new
The real crime here is that Yahoo would cancel all the sellers auctions without any warning. It happened to me in November.
I had 1800 items listed with about 12 Bulk loader files. Mistakes happen trying to manage that many, especially with 5% deadbeats to compound the problems. Thus over time I had about 20 duplicate auctions which I wasn't aware of. They were worded exactly the same and were in the same category...there was no advantage to me for having them duplicated.
So the Possee from the Seller Zone got together one day and NWed all 20 of them for SPAMming. Here is the result: a red flag went up in Yahoo's computer and one of the few humans there looked at my 20 recent NW spam reports and cancelled all 1800 of my auctions with one click of the mouse. I called Yahoo and that is what I was told happened, that my case had "been reviewed" by a worker bee.
There was no penalty. I relisted them in 20 hours work. Since I had over 1000 feedback rating, I emailed the person I talked to on the phone and asked several questions, such as, "Why not give me a notification that there was a problem, before deleting all my auctions with a chance to respond," and "what was the point in deleting my auctions and let me relist the. Was this some kind of punishment?"
Those questions were never answered or acknowledged. I think that is my biggest problem with yahoo over the past year. It seems to be run by Yahoobots and not very well at that.
posted on January 13, 2001 06:44:04 PM new""but was limited to 5 tems total, until she reaches a feedback rating of 5" - Yahoo's iceberg is approaching, and they won't even pay any attention to the advanced warnings. Full speed ahead! I bet they don't even have enough lifeboats on-board.
OUCH!!!! It was tough enough to get bids on Yahoo! to begin with. Now they're limiting bidders based on rating? If they were going to implement something like that, they should have allowed BIDDERS to transfer their Ebay feedback!
posted on January 13, 2001 11:56:38 PM new
I had 40 Adult items canceled the day fees started. All items were in adult sections.
NO Ebay links or other sites. I have two other names for non-adult items and they were left untouched. The amazing thing is that they give no reason and do not answer e-mails when you inquire. Only an auto-responding e-mail.
When they cancel your account everything goes! E-mail, clubs and any other things that you signed up for. Can't even rate customers on the pending orders.
At least I get to fight my Visa charges from them for featured items!
posted on January 14, 2001 07:53:53 AM new
Real business people would issue you a warning about a potential rule-violating posting and allow you, say 12 hours to fix it if you can, or provide a means for fixing it.
The arrogance of internet enterprise is beyond reason. It's due to the lack of a front door for your to bang on in person. They feel shielded by cyberspace from retribution.
posted on January 14, 2001 08:08:11 AM new
the reason i ask is because most sites i know will give a good amount of time before a rule changes. usually around 14 to 30 days.
posted on January 14, 2001 08:13:01 AM new
I think what they are doing is enforcing fine print clauses on existing rules with a little loose interpretation thrown in. Don't ask me what they hope to gain for doing so. They're just increasing the number migrating from their auction site.
posted on January 14, 2001 08:15:30 AM new duckieuk
Thanks, I'll be in touch today.
jojo85rn
I hope you are right concerning yours, I know that isn't the case with mine. When all of mine were canceled for whatever reason, I haven't been able to personally talk to Yahoo since it ran into the weekend. I did write them, obviously to no avail, received no answer, but plan on calling them in the morning as ALONG with canceling all these auctions, in the process it locked down my PayDirect account and I can't get into my account to remove the funds that are there.
I have the phone numbers to both Yahoo and PayDirect, and intend to contact them in the morning.
*Note, this information is not, as someone stated "whining," but informing, so if such has happened to someone else, at least they will know they aren't alone. As with other unpleasant occurrences, I see this only from a business prospective, as just a problem which has to be solved and a time consumer!
posted on January 14, 2001 09:25:09 PM new
splashx
Well my auctions weren't in the adult category, but there was no warning, just GONE, like yours - and when they locked it down, it closed me out of giving customers feedback, and in getting into my PayDirect Account.
I'll be calling them tomorrow, and "if" we get this straightened out, I may post there again, but believe me I won't have a PayDirect account. I certainly won't miss PayDirect, I have been considering canceling it anyway as 99% of my customers pay via PayPal, and almost without except when I get a PayDirect payment it is minus the shipping so we have to go through the e-mail mess of getting the buyer to pay the shipping. I am going to close my BillPoint Account also, as my customers almost never use it, and it is just one more thing to keep up with.
posted on January 14, 2001 09:35:46 PM new
I never use automatic mode for Pay Direct or any other payment plan.
Try this: Tell them in the ad what the payment options are. Then when you get a winner, send them the notice you always send your winners with the fees spelled out and then say you will send them a Pay Direct Bill to make it easy to pay with pay Direct. Immediatley goto pay Direct and send them a bill and in the message window explain that it isn't a real, "bill" and they can ignore it if they like.
All they have to do is click on a few icons to pay the bill if they are already registered with Pay Direct. As a bonus for you, every time you are paid by somebody paying you a Yahoo "bill" you are entered into the daily drawing for $100, the Weekly drawing for $1000, the monthly drawing for $10,000 and the Grand Prize drawing of $30,000. You are limited to 5 entries per day.
posted on January 15, 2001 01:09:28 AM new
I had over 600 auctions cancelled was told that listing a marine corps windsock under collectibles militaria other violated their terms of service either yahoo was hacked and they are not admitting it or they have completely lost their minds
posted on January 15, 2001 01:28:51 AM new
These horror stories are increasing in #. perhaps Yahoobots are shutting down all the free listings with any little excuse in hopes you'll pay to relist them?
I call that burning bridges if true. ePay did the same sort of thing to me over 2 years ago and that's the reason I became one of Yahoo's 1st sellers. It turned out it saved me thousands of buckeroos and cost ePay the same amount. People don't forget easliy when they've been abused.
posted on January 15, 2001 05:45:32 AM newauroranorth
That is awful, and stupid - where did they expect you to put it?
With the limited categories, particularly in some areas, where do they expect products to be placed. We occasionally handle Native American jewelry, and there is no category for anything Native American - so anywhere I put it, I presume would be wrong.
One of my auctions that they cancelled is a European Cut Crystal Lamp which I had in the Office Furniture section - what does yahoo think, offices only use metal desks? There are many offices such as Interior Design, Decorating, Public Relation Firms, etc., etc., which would use such in their office, but what the heck, Yahoo knows everything. For many items, any category you put them in is just a "guess," as there is absolutely no truly fitting category.
This is INSANE - even if a seller wanted to pay to repost some of their cancelled Yahoo auctions, it would be a financial risk with many items since who knows where to put items?
As RebelGuns said, at the moment Yahoo is apparently interpreting they "rules" very loosely, and to what they "feel" is their advantage. Combining this with the lose canons playing with Neighborhood Watch, it is a gamble to post on Yahoo any longer.
posted on January 15, 2001 05:49:33 AM new
zzyzx000
I've never used the automatic mode either. Our use of PayDirect has been limited, in fact we state in our "winner's letter," that we take PayDirect, but we much prefer PayPal. As soon as I get this mess straightened out with Yahoo, there will be no PayDirect for us ever again. In fact, I will never have another account such as PayDirect which is linked in directly with an auction. I'll stay with PayPal, never a problem, and not controled by an auction site.
posted on January 15, 2001 11:58:31 AM new
JWPC, you appear to still be confused. I have read posts from several sellers regarding the "demerit system" on Yahoo. I don't know what that is exactly but what I gathered is that Yahoo gives a demerit each time a seller gets a NW complaint. Whenever the seller reaches whatever 'magic number' their account is automatically deleted resulting in all current ads being canceled. You said yourself you have been NW'd many times and chose to ignore it. You kept listing duplicate ads and switchblade knives exceeding 2 inches, both seperate TOS violations. It might have only been 1 ad from all you were running at this time that put you at the magic number. Your questioning whether they did it in effort to force you to pay for relists is not a valid theory. Your account has been permanently deleted to stop you from relisting even if you choose to pay.
You said "there was no warning, just GONE".
Didn't this line appear in EVERY one of those NW emails you got over the past few months:
"Please note that this action has been recorded by Yahoo! and that subsequent violations could result in suspension of your rights to use Yahoo! Auctions."
posted on January 15, 2001 02:04:19 PM newjwpc, you said, "...and aren't Spam, because there are items available for each post, and they are in the correct, but not same category - then they aren't Spam. On eBay one can post 15 of the same, as long as they are individual items, and I pay to post each one."
You have been arguing that line here for MONTHS, and we've repeatedly said that Yahoo DOES consider that spam---posting multiple listings of IDENTICAL items simultaneously on their Auction, whether in one category or several categories, EVEN THOUGH YOU HAVE MULTIPLES IN STOCK to cover each listing, and EVEN THOUGH EBAY LETS YOU POST UP TO TEN IDENTICAL LISTINGS at a time. Yahoo doesn't allow it, and never has.
You've been VERY, VERY LUCKY to get away with it until now (and with selling switchblades Yahoo didn't allow), and you refused to heed OUR warnings, or Yahoo's warnings. They TOLD you if you kept posting duplicates your account could be suspended, so you shouldn't be surprised it happened.
Be grateful they didn't do it until NOW, when the listing fees are about to kill their Auction, anyway, and you don't have much to lose. They could have done it to you MONTHS ago, and you would have lost out on many, many fee-free sales.
posted on January 15, 2001 03:02:33 PM new
I picked one of your auctions... and Bingo,
I can see why they cancelled, if all your auctions are full of hype and tongue twisting the words, gosh by golly, heres some of your Nude!! which you use 5 times..
tasteless, in the wrong category
Whether you purchase this piece for your own use or as a classic gift for someone special, this is an accent piece which you will be both proud to own or to give. Naturally, at this price this piece is not an antique, but an elegant creation such as this knows no age. Don't miss bidding on this Art Deco Style Twins in the Nude WHAT AN IDEAL GIFT THIS WOULD MAKE - BID NOW!!
