posted on January 23, 2001 05:40:55 PM new
It looks like ebay may be slowing turning ebay into the half.com model. Every seller is anon., they take their 15% plus part of the shipping, and the seller is forbidden to include any kind of promotional material, business card, etc. with the shipment. No deadbeats for sellers to mess with, and buyers who get ripped off get reimbursed from the site.
As far as off site deals on ebay, when you file for FVF's, you don't get your listing fee refunded. So don't the occasional off-ebay sales kind of make up for this?
posted on January 23, 2001 06:26:31 PM new
Lisa_B, I think you're right about the human angle. Turning buyers and sellers against each other for the sole benefit of eBay is bad for everyone. They're turning this "police your own community" into some kind of nonsensical crusade where eBay is the only winner.
Jake, Half.com as a business model won't work, it's contrary to the philosophy that built eBay. It's no fun for buyers or sellers. Half.com is an "anti-auction" site by its very nature.
Most eBay sellers I know abhor the idea of becoming mini-retailers. What's good for eBay is no longer the same as what's good for us. That eBay should suggest it's safer for my customer to transact business on THEIR site, not mine, is an insult.
Reddeer, if and when eBay starts handling out those speeding tickets at the Daytona Raceway, the FTC website is only a few mouse-clicks away. eBay needs to be very careful how they implement this new policy.
posted on January 23, 2001 08:04:37 PM new
Well..... the off site sales complaints sent to eBay should be of no consequence to eBay since a court ruled that even fraudulent sales through eBay are not eBay's responsibility. Off site fraud is of no consequence to eBay anymore than a fraudument transaction on YaHoo is any of eBay's business. Saying that eBay "protects" on site buyers is a statement with little effect, as the courts have thus stated and eBay has argued in court, that the "venue" is not responsible for transactions completed on eBay's site.
eBay is attempting to claim a percentage of all sales you make arising from your paid advertisement on eBay, regardless of intentional fee avoidance.
It would appear to me if eBay were truly interested in securing transactions, they would first secure transactions done within eBay. At present, one shouldn't buy anything over $400, nor purchase anything from a buyer with low or no feedback.
In any event, it seems that eBay is more interested in FVF than any buyer security.
If Paypal would start an auction site with credit card transactions only, the security issue is resolved for all parties. Sellers would have instant payment, and buyers would have sound recourse.
Let's start an email campaign to Paypal to start an auction site. Since Paypal would be getting a percentage of all payments, the fees could be very low- perhaps a small listing fee and no FVF ? Or free listings and a little higher fee on the payment transaction ?
posted on January 23, 2001 08:26:14 PM new
Ebay should just delete all those emails of whining about off-site BS and concentrate on emails having to do with on-site.
Let's roleplay
Forgetful bidder "dear seller I saw your item #******but forgot to bid. Can I buy it from you for the price you listed??
Ebay Ass-kiss seller
"No, I'm sorry give me a minute and i'll go put it back up at ebay, pay the listing fee and give you another 5-7 days to take a chance and forget to bid or lose it to another bidder. But If you bid and win i'll forward the FVF to ebay then email you with payment details some time next week."
Forgetful bidder " Wow thanks, i'll be looking for it on ebay as soon as you pay to put it back up for me. This time i'll get another 5-7 days to either forget about it, bid on it and lose, or just plain lose intrest and not bother"
Ebay seller " Alrighty , good luck and HAPPY BIDDING!!
posted on January 23, 2001 08:28:35 PM new
If eBay were truly interested in securing FVFs, they would be exploring ways to make it possible for buyers and sellers to form a trade after an auction has closed -- FROM THE PAGE ITSELF. None of this "relisting" and BIN-ing and other hoop-jumping.
posted on January 23, 2001 09:32:59 PM new
Judging the content of this thread, and the opinions of people who seem to be in the know, I would say Ebay is going to have quite a difficult time, plugging all the holes in the dike. The worst case scenarios seem to be on the verge of touching issues such as the right of privacy and freedom to contract freely with another person.These are rights, perhaps yet to be fully defined in this corner of the cyberworld, but they will be. Ebay is going to have a tough time setting themselves up as final arbiter of all the possibilities that have been laid out here, and surely the myriad of other hypotheticals that we could come up with.Maybe it's just a legal CYA.
I don't deny Ebay their cut of the pie, and I don't violate their current rules. But, if someone contacts me about a similar item that I MAY have at home, due to something they have seen me attempt to auction on Ebay, I usually am happy to answer such an inquiry. Frankly, I don't get much of this type of e mail. But, if I was willing to part with a red widget after someone contacted me out of the blue, while auctioning off a green one on Ebay, it's none of their business. I don't think Ebay can legislate or make rules to stop trading between willing partners that do business outside of Ebay, regardless how they met. Nor, do I think they can start censoring our mail. For example, Joe buys a widget from me on Ebay, and I send him the EOA e mail, and advise him that I have many more widgets for sale. Again, legally I don't think Ebay trying to stop such commerce will pass the legal sniff test, if challenged.
If the rules become punitive, draconian, and arguably illegal, it will only take a New York minute until lawyers are brought in to clear up these potential pending issues.
