posted on September 9, 2000 10:43:24 PM new
I really should be napping, but this whole new slant, re: chargebacks, is very ambitious...
Pareau --
I have never initiated a chargeback, but doesn't the consumer need to show tangible proof that the services or goods they paid for were not rendered? You said, "When auctions are not available..."
How would you prove that? Not available to who? While you might not be able to view a page in ebay, momentarily, that doesn't mean I can't.
Plus, let's just say ebay did have to fight a slew of chargebacks, and they did eat millions in fees...wouldn't that come back to bite us all in touchas' with a fee increase? Ebay, for as long as I have been using them, will always find a way to get what they feel they are owed, one way or another.
posted on September 9, 2000 11:00:45 PM new
Julesy,
I've done a number of chargebacks in my time, all of them successful. I charged back about $1K of a $5K computer system for components not delivered as represented. That was a pro-rata chargeback based on valuations a lot trickier to prove, and a figure much higher, than what we'd each be requesting re our eBay bills. I included my proofs with the letter to the card company, and was never challenged or even queried by the merchant.
Functionality/availability figures are available through a couple sites online, and we could do a "Funcitonality Watch" thread in the EO to collate our own experiences. After all, this IS AuctionWatch, isn't it?
I'll get the URLs for the FTC info tomorrow. They give guidelines on how to do it properly, although card companies tend to be pretty lenient in requiring to-the-letter compliance by consumers--to the regret of merchants everywhere, I am aware. Please understand that I am not advocating abuse of the privilege, and think its habitual use is likely to land you on a card blacklist (they exist). I see the chargeback idea as a wakeup call to eBay, to move them to get their site in good working order. That's the value and the point of it, in my view.
Got to do some work now, but will post the info tomorrow.
posted on September 9, 2000 11:12:54 PM new
It still goes back to your erroneous premise that the fees pay for time. If that were the case, a three day auction would necessarily have a lower listing fee than a seven day auction.
We are not paying listing fees for time rented, we are paying listing fees for LISTING, for however long.
posted on September 9, 2000 11:28:58 PM new
Only (generally) for auctions which would have ended during the hard outage, or those which would be materially effectected at ending by that outage.
They won't do that for any auction.
to add:
The actual wording is:
-Any listing scheduled to end during the hard outage
-Any listing scheduled to end in the hour after the end of the hard outage
posted on September 10, 2000 06:05:05 AM new
It is virtually impossible for ebaY to have a 'hard' outage anymore, although it has happened. At this point, they have all of their servers separated enough that one PART of ebaY goes down, while other PARTS still operate. This justifies their claimed downtime stats. They don't count 'scheduled' downtime as downtime. There is also the 'unscheduled scheduled downtime' where they come to the announcement board at noon and say "There will be a scheduled maintenance downtime at 2:00pm today to correct a server fault. We apologize for any inconvenience." Well, I guess 2 hours notice on the announcement board might count in some circles as a 'scheduled downtime', because they announced that they were taking the system down on purpose, instead of waiting for it to happen all by itself...
But really... if search is down, and my customer who has the item on WATCH can't find it to go bid on it at the end of the auction, it doesn't make a hill of beans difference that they CAN bid... because they CAN'T find it! And if I set aside a morning to list items, and listing is down, then I might have to rearrange my schedule to try and list another time.
Enough with this though, we all KNOW what downtime does to our lives as well as our businesses...
KRS~ I am a primary instigator of MAM and I do fully support moving auctions and developing other markets. At the same time, I recognize that ebaY is a vital part of a good online marketing strategy for most users, and whatever can be done to make that more viable and effective is useful as well.
posted on September 17, 2000 07:26:41 PM new
Here is the URL for the FTC's Fair Credit Billing Act, better late than never. If you're allergic to bureaucratese, fear not--the guide is written in plain English and is very easy to follow. There's even a "Sample Dispute Letter" you can use. One caution: You have to use these guidelines to trigger your protections under the FCBA, and that means writing a letter. Even if the merchant or credit card company is willing to take your complaint over the phone, you still have to write the letter to be covered.
If you're allergic to bureaucratese, fear not--the guide is written in plain English and is very easy to follow. There's even a "Sample Dispute Letter" you can use. One caution: You have to use these guidelines to trigger your protections under the FCBA, and that means writing a letter. Even if the merchant or credit card company is willing to take your complaint over the phone, you still have to write the letter to be covered.