toyranch-07
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posted on September 8, 2000 02:29:46 PM
And how is giving out phone numbers and having people call going to stop fraud? What do you do, call someone up and say "Hi, I just wanted to ask you if you're going to rip me off if I bid on your items," and then the .01% of crooks will say "Well, yeah, I am, you got me."
How hard is it to get a phone number? It's not hard around here! No ID check or anything, you just call 'em up and they hook you up. You can put it in any name you want. I don't get it... what will calling everybody up do for anyone but the long distance companies???
http://www.millionauctionmarch.com/
[email protected]
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Shoshanah
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posted on September 8, 2000 02:30:54 PM
.....AND....In that case, I want all of Ebay's various Phone Numbers, so I can call ANYtime, ANYone, to have them help me solve MY problem.... ...Are you reading this, [email protected]?
********************
Shosh
http://www.oldandsold.com/cgi-bin/auction.cgi?justdisp&Rifkah
http://members.ebay.com/aboutme/rifkah/
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Shoshanah
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posted on September 8, 2000 02:32:45 PM
Waving at Toy....Hi there... Glad you came over...
********************
Shosh
http://www.oldandsold.com/cgi-bin/auction.cgi?justdisp&Rifkah
http://members.ebay.com/aboutme/rifkah/
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Crystalline_Sliver
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posted on September 8, 2000 02:32:58 PM
Howcome I get the feeling eBay co-branded yet again?
Did eBay hook up with Sprint? Verizon? AT&T?
I won't go any further. Don't get me started on phone cards.
:\\\"Crystalline Sliver cannot be the target of spells or abilities.
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CAgrrl
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posted on September 8, 2000 02:35:25 PM
Selling on Ebay is enough work already without adding the whole telephone element in. This is purely unacceptable.
Extra work aside, I cannot take calls from potential customers at all hours. In a brick & mortar store you can escape the phone when the store closes. While this might be an OK arrangement for powersellers who are Ebaying out of their stores, it is NOT OK for me, a small part time seller who is Ebaying out of my home. The phone WILL NOT be ringing at 4 am. or 7 am. OR any hour in the AM.
I now sell very little on Ebay & much more on Yahoo. For the most part I am very happy with Yahoo. I am definitely glad I made the switch. Even more so now after reading about this junk.
If this is seriously going to happen I don't see me listing on Ebay anymore. I have one category of items that I list on Ebay that doesn't do well on Yahoo & I would be sad to lose the income from that category. But if it comes down to a choice between EBay & my privacy, my privacy wins out any day of the week. That's a total no brainer; Ebay's just not worth it to me.
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abingdoncomputers
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posted on September 8, 2000 02:41:05 PM
What good would it do for eBay to put the buyer's and seller's phone numbers in the EOA to start with? By the time the EOA's arrive, assuming they arrive at all, the transaction is already completed. And if a problem does arise, you can always pull the contact info as before? I just don't understand the logic behind this plan.
Instead of tinkering with the EOA and adding unneeded information, eBay should spend their time and money building an infrastructure which gets the EOA to the buyer and seller within a usable timeframe. Besides, the EOA's already contain far more info than is really needed. The only info that's really needed in the EOA is:
Auction Item Number and Title
Date and time the auction ended
Seller's ID and email address
Buyer's ID and email address
Winning bid amount
One sentence telling seller and buyer to contact each other.
That's it. Very short and less taxing on their servers. Easy to read and understand. Anything more is overkill.
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reddeer
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posted on September 8, 2000 02:41:19 PM
Smw said
A buyer can call me. I have no objection to a call if there is a real problem. I object to eBay encouraging telephone calls as a first choice rather than an option if email communication fails.
I agree 100%.
I don't usually get calls up here at the North Pole, but today received 4 calls from a high bidder in CT. I guess she doesn't have a computer at home & decided to ask me a bunch of questions after the auction was over? Go figure?
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spazmodeus
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posted on September 8, 2000 02:43:50 PM
Howcome I get the feeling eBay co-branded yet again?
Crystalline,
Did you see this in the Announcement Board excerpt I posted on the first page of this thread:
- Should a dispute arise, we recommend using SquareTrade, an independent, neutral third party that can help resolve the issue.
Not only is eBay recommending that a for-pay arbitration service be used, but it's a service that they own a portion of, is it not?
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abingdoncomputers
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posted on September 8, 2000 02:44:57 PM
redeer:
How much did the item sell for? She probably paid more for the phone calls than she did for the item.
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kb9qkm
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posted on September 8, 2000 02:52:11 PM
I have been selling on eBay for about 2 years now, and am very dissappointed at the turn they have taken in the last 10 or 12 month's. It does seem that they are making it more difficult for sellers every week. With the very slow bidding this summer, and the big increase in bogus bidders, it has been hard to justify the expenses we have had to pay for the small amount of profit made. This idea of placeing our phone numbers in the EOA Notice is at he very least disturbing, if not an outright expensive nusiance.
There are too many KooKs out there for me to be comfortable with this idea.
Perhaps all of these changes will prompt sellers to seriously look at other auction sites. One can only hope so.
Jim Tempel
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reddeer
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posted on September 8, 2000 02:52:44 PM
Abingdon
Long story, but she paid $100 via Billpoint, then asked for Xpress shipping as she just HAD to have it by next weekend. I checked with the PO on XpressPost USA [with USPS DC]
and the cost was an additional $25 U.S. She's a (0) feedback user who just registered yesterday & said she only registered on eBay to find this item & needed it before company arrived next weekend.
IMO the item was/is only worth $20 Max [it was cracked & chipped] but the second highest bidder was a zero feedbacker as well.
The last time she phoned was to let me know she had mailed a USPS MO for the extra $25.
I went ahead & shipped it a couple of hours ago. Am I a sucker, or what?
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Shoshanah
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posted on September 8, 2000 03:02:45 PM
reddeer...You are a sweetheart...I would expect no less from you..
********************
Shosh
http://www.oldandsold.com/cgi-bin/auction.cgi?justdisp&Rifkah
http://members.ebay.com/aboutme/rifkah/
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abingdoncomputers
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posted on September 8, 2000 03:03:34 PM
redeer:
This doesn't sound like a sucker's deal to me. I would say you came out pretty well on a $20 item. That is if the bidder doesn't end up doing a charge-back when the item arrives. Good luck with it!
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guyuellas
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posted on September 8, 2000 03:04:17 PM
What about buyers who write bad checks???
That's why one should have at least a 14 business work day for clearance before shipping item if you accept checks.
Or cancel a pending Paypal payment after you ship the goods?
That's why paypal has instituted the verification process so folks couldn't do that anymore and think they can get away with it. It's up to us to make sure that both the seller and bidder are verified than paypal will make good if the bidder faults out.
ON POINT about folks getting our phone numbers either thru user info v. EOA's as one person pointed out (and I agree with it now that they pointed it out) eBay probably should not now put it in EOA's because we would not have the option of knowing that someone was or could/would use it to call us while as with userinfo we would be aware of it and could send them email asking if we could help them. POINT WELL TAKEN! Thanks.
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noshill
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posted on September 8, 2000 03:05:37 PM
Another wet dream by an MBA suit. Hope any one that calls me likes talking to my fax. Just changed my number to the fax machine and turned the ringer off.
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reddeer
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posted on September 8, 2000 03:06:31 PM
Shosh ..... She had a sweet & innocent sounding voice, but then again, so does my wife.
Abingdon ..... My fear was that the CC was no good & by the time eBay let me know the parcel would already be in CT. Not to mention the extra $25 U.S. I coughed up in advance to ship it. I hope my gut instinct was right this time.
Stay tuned ..........
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smw
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posted on September 8, 2000 03:07:59 PM
Hi Reddeer: You must understand that there is an exotic inference to the name Red Deer. Us city folks have lots of time to indulge our favorite fantasy of how wonderful it would be to live in the "untamed wilds" while we are sitting in 25 miles of backed up traffic on the Beltway in Maryland because someone in Virginia had a flat tire. To some people having even a poor excuse to call someone who lives on the "tundra" and chat is too much of a temptation. Kooks and crackpots, they are everywhere, expect more calls.
BTW Mother decided that she would rather spend the day in Atlantic City at the Black Jack tables than for me to drive 150 miles to visit. A group of 80 year old ladies marching into a casino is not a pretty sight. I wish she would go back to playing bridge. Susan
EDIT: Well, Doesn't sound like a kook or crackpot this time. But they are out there...
You did good shipping the whatever. No you aren't a sucker. Good karma deposit. But don't let the sweet voice fool you. Whenever my car need to be fixed I take it to the dealer and when the 6'2" car guy asks what kind of car it is all 5' of me looks up at the car guy and says "blue".
[ edited by smw on Sep 8, 2000 03:22 PM ]
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reddeer
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posted on September 8, 2000 03:09:22 PM
Oh, BTW - I just came back from the eBay thread on the Town Square. The eBay rep is now asking users how they would feel about having their Street Address in the EOA.
Totally brain dead ..............
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macandjan
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posted on September 8, 2000 03:11:50 PM
[ edited by macandjan on Dec 4, 2000 10:17 AM ]
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reddeer
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posted on September 8, 2000 03:16:37 PM
Smw ..... LOL about your Mother! I hope you received my email earlier. This cross board posting confuses me easily.
As far as City Slickers phoning me, 9 times out of 10 they get the answering machine, even though I have cable. For those lucky enough to get me *live*, I'll try to put on my best Country Bumpkin of the North act.
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spazmodeus
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posted on September 8, 2000 03:17:37 PM
Maybe in addition to street address they should also list the names of children if you have them, because potential buyers need to know everything about you before sending in their payments. Perhaps also the names and addresses of nearest living relatives. That way, if a bidder calls and you're not home, they can call up a brother or sister and demand to know why they haven't received their item yet, after all they sent their money order in 5 days ago so why hasn't it arrived, is something wrong, why isn't the seller answering his phone ....
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vargas
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posted on September 8, 2000 03:19:47 PM
Just what makes eBay think we're all at our registered phone numbers ready to take calls?
What makes eBay think some bidder on the west coast is going to look at a clock at nine p-m and realize it's midnight at my east coast phone number?
Can I have Meg's home number? I think I might have a question at midnight Sunday.
She'd better be there, ready to take my call.
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alchemy830
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posted on September 8, 2000 03:21:54 PM
I want to be able to verify, heck I may even want to call and ask them why they only put it on watch; how seriously are they thinking about it, why didn't they bid; any constructive criticism they want to give me regarding my ad or description? I can find out how long they usually take to pay; what method;where I might have to ship
LOL, cariad - Let's just turn this whole Internet thing into a bonding experience, shall we (half apology for sarcasm)? Your post made my day
Carmen
*******************
Practice random acts of intelligence & senseless acts of self-control.
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reddeer
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posted on September 8, 2000 03:24:29 PM
Spaz ..... Here's a cut & paste off the Town Square thread.
Thanks for your input. It seems that most people voted against enclosing phone
numbers on EOAs. We will definitely take that into consideration.
We are still at the stage of gathering your input. What do you think if we also enclose street addresses between
winning bidders and sellers? Of course, As you mentioned that we need to guide bidders properly in EOAs so that
the information would not be used for payment and shipping.
Thanks again for your wonderful participation 
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siggy
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posted on September 8, 2000 03:25:33 PM
I'm a buyer and from a buyer's perspective I don't see any real benefit resulting from this latest eBay brainstorm. If I have a question I can email the seller. That's good enough for me.
If I were a seller I would be asking eBay if they had gone completely nuts or what?
Maybe eBay thinks this would have a chilling effect on fraudulent sellers, though. Those people would be less inclined to post auctions if potential bidders were encouraged to check their info and (if it's real) contact them in advance? That's the only way it might make sense. But in the meantime what about the legit folks with 5 am phone calls?
Like a lot of ideas it might sound good in the abstract to some but in practice....?
[ edited by siggy on Sep 8, 2000 03:26 PM ]
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Meya
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posted on September 8, 2000 03:32:50 PM
We are still at the stage of gathering your input. What do you think if we also enclose street addresses between winning bidders and sellers? Of course, As you mentioned that we need to guide bidders properly in EOAs so that the information would not be used for payment and shipping
What the heck does that mean?????? The information would not be used for payment and shipping?? Lets confuse an already confused populace by now making them sort out which address to send payment or merchandise to. Why bother including the information if you then advise against using it. Will sellers or buyers now use more fake addresses than even before?
Geez-o-pete, someone has not been sleeping enough or something.
[ edited by Meya on Sep 8, 2000 03:33 PM ]
[ edited by Meya on Sep 8, 2000 03:34 PM ]
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Shoshanah
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posted on September 8, 2000 03:37:23 PM
siggy...If I were a seller I would be asking eBay if they had gone completely nuts or what?
I wrote them and asked them basically that same question...
********************
Shosh
http://www.oldandsold.com/cgi-bin/auction.cgi?justdisp&Rifkah
http://members.ebay.com/aboutme/rifkah/
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reddeer
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posted on September 8, 2000 03:38:35 PM
Meya .... I think she was referring to a post I made about "New Users" using the info off the EOA as a "shipping label". I've had a few checks sent in the past where the street addy was left off & saw this "new" idea as only confusing the confused, even more so than they already are.
Some folks must think I live in a small village full of Igloos where all they need is a name & city and voila, the postie knows right where to drop it off?
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rancher24
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posted on September 8, 2000 04:05:14 PM
This whole concept is so bizarre, it has to be a dream (read: nightmare) right?....This is INTERNET selling, correct?....In all of the hundreds of items that I have purchased via the Internet (eBay + a whole bunch of websites) I have NEVER used the phone for communication...Anyone who is that "ascared" of doin' business out here, should hang it up and stick to local stores!....
Oh, it's mighty nice of eBay to be so free with my information, when finding THEIR phone numbers is virtually impossible (except from helpful folks here!)....I'm just a lowly little seller & they're a billion (zillion?) dollar company, supposedly staff 7/24!!!
If they want to weed out the fraud, perhaps they should start by hiring some intelligent staff who can actually take action on problems (shield / shill billing, etc) instead of braindead monkeys who were trained only to hit the "canned response" buttons!
~ Rancher
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macandjan
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posted on September 8, 2000 04:25:02 PM
[ edited by macandjan on Dec 4, 2000 10:17 AM ]
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