posted on October 23, 2002 08:04:44 PM new
I was gone for a day and wow, what a response. Anyway, it is now 5 days after I reported the key word spamming and finally, the auctions were pulled. I must eat a little crow on that one as I really felt nothing would be done at all. But, the time it took to do it is suspect. A non-powerseller had his auction pulled after a day, less than 24 hours for a violation less severe (no dispute to the violation though which was simply a listing mistake) than this powersellers offenses (which were purposely listed to deceive bidders). There was another auction for another powerseller that was listed for a penny and
$9.00 in shipping and the auction even stated the this seller makes their money off of shipping costs and ebay did absolutely nothing. The auction has since closed normally. There does seem to be a double standard at ebay towards powersellers when it comes to listing violations.
And to Zoomin.
I have been a seller on ebay for well over three years and yes I do know all of the proper channels to make a report, even though it is like jumping through hoops. I also have a life outside of ebay and auctionwatch. I do not sit in front of my computer 24/7 unlike you. If you notice most of my posts here usually will have a day or two break in them. And yes, I did report these auctions last friday. As of last night, tues the 22nd when I was quickly checking my auctions, I did take a look just to see if anything had been done and all of the auction were still up. And I see that someone else tried to report it and got the "it has been already reported message." If you had any clue, you would know you can only get this message after an auction has been reported. Twinsoft writes that it takes three days. Maybe, but I do know the non-powerseller auctions get canned in less than 24 hours. Ebay states when you file, it will take 24-36 hours. I am betting they had to take this situation to the board room before canning these auctions. The decision they had to make is, do we continue to let powersellers to anything they wish, or must we take action. Zoomin wrote that I only wanted the posters here to do my dirty work and report this guy. That is partially true. I did report it, but there is also a saying, "The squeeky wheel gets the grease." Meaning, if enough people complained about the voilation, ebay would have to take action. And that is what ebay even has stated many times. They will not take action until someone complains. So the more complaints about a legite voilation, they had to listen. People post violations all the time here, and we all help out in policing ebay. That is ebay's policy and we oblige them. Now if this powerseller lists items properly and provides great customer service, I am all for it.
posted on October 23, 2002 08:54:07 PM new
Stonecold, you are grasping at straws. The idea that every powerseller infraction gets brought up to "the board" is ridiculous. So is suggesting that eBay is protecting a seller who lists an item for a buck and then charges $9 shipping, since that would cost eBay money. It makes no sense at all.
Three business days is three business days. Period. Powersellers may get an extra warning (I admit it) but that is the extent of it. If you're running a business, you'd give a $20,000 customer an extra warning too.
posted on October 23, 2002 11:59:34 PM new
"Three business days is three business days. Period. Powersellers may get an extra warning (I admit it) but that is the extent of it. If you're running a business, you'd give a $20,000 customer an extra warning too.
Stop milking it."
Seriously -- I don't see the point in bashing someone just because they're successful -- and you know, Businesses should favor their best customers and in my experience (Granted I'm a newly minted PS'er) the benefits aren't that special.
But think of it this way, if you had a customer pumping 4 figures/month (5 figures/year) into your business -- wouldn't you return their phone calls first?
posted on October 24, 2002 12:10:30 AM new
Hey
I am a powerless seller...I love the fact that all these powersellers chit chat and occasionally mock us little turkeys.
I aspire to more and more (selling, not mocking), so please do not kick us little folk to the curb.
Sniffle..
hehehe
I also purchase from Powersellers all the time. Nothing like the dependable seller who you know you can zip on over and buy your favorite doo-dads from!
I just got an email from one saying "hi" after just bidding on an auction, didn't win!
Japerton
ps although I am not so excited by the keyword spammage, there are more subtle ways to "spread the love" around.
posted on October 24, 2002 05:25:25 AM new
This is just my 2 cents worth, and I am a powerseller and have had a few auctions ended for reasons that I didn't know why (I didn't deliberately do anything wrong). What I think is that if a fellow ebayer turns you in it takes longer than if a big company turns you in. I had someone email me once and ask why her auction was pulled and mine wasn't (it was a similar auction for a Spiderman mousepad that I had made on my computer). I told her I didn't know why and 2 days later mine was pulled too. Another time it was a Microsoft infringement and that one was pulled within 24 hours. I don't think it matters who the seller is, it may just matter the credibility of who is turning you in.
posted on October 24, 2002 09:38:43 PM new
I just received an e-mail from ebay about this and it turns out that this seller did not get their auctions pulled from the online form. Turns out, it was the e-mail I sent three days later that they acted upon. Two days later, the auctions were pulled. Twinsoft, you say it takes three days. Turns out, it takes 5 days for powersellers and less than a day for non-powersellers. Then you say that all powerseller infractions come here. That is just a plain stupid statement. If that were true, that is the only posts you would see here. What I said was that voilations are posted here all of the time (meaning often) so all can read and make up their own minds and take proper actions if needed.
[ edited by stonecold613 on Oct 24, 2002 09:41 PM ]
posted on October 25, 2002 09:16:42 AM new
Hey Stonecold, congratulations on proving once again that the Ebay Nation is filled with whiners, losers and paranoia.
So what problem do you have with my auctions? The fact that I have fantastic merchandise and sell a ton of it?
Why don't you forward copies of your complaints to me, along with your name and address so I can at least take the issue up with you? No, you are too cowardly for that.
You need a simple lesson in Marketing 101. Marketing = Getting your merchandise exposed to the highest level of potential customers as possible. Yet, when someone does that, you complain? Why, because you are jealous?
The fact is anyone who makes less money than someone else is jealous and critical. Just once I'd like to see someone say: Good for that guy, he works hard and makes good money. But instead you people try to sabotage someone's hard work by making unfounded complaints to Ebay, most of which are ignored anyway. When someone is on top, you try to drag them down. It's the way the world operates.
For the record, I've found Ebay to be generally incompetent. They implement so many rules and regulations, it is only a matter of time before someone violates them. The system is designed to fail. I've had listings pulled for no valid reason whatsoever. I've also had Ebay pull my listing after confusing me with another Ebayer. They once pulled one of my listings due to content which appeared in another person's listing having nothing to do with mine.
Someone had mentioned that credibility of the complainer has something to do with how fast listings are pulled. This is correct. I have an anti-rally monkey t-shirt up right now which contains absolutely no trademarks or copyrights of any kind. Yet, Ebay has pulled it twice on the grounds that Major League Baseball Properties has complained. MLBP has no saying over this t-shirt because it contains none of their logos or trademarks. They even reviewed it at the World Series and found no issue. When I disputed this with Ebay, they simply stated that they are not equipped to deal with determining if something is a trademark violation, etc., but are simply acting on the request of their member, MLBP, which obviously has status. See, that is a clear example of Ebay's incompetence. Rather than determine if a crime was actually committed, they simply execute the accused without any type of investigation or trial. Again, the only way to combat this is to file lawsuits against people making the complaints and against Ebay as well. But unfortunately Ebay knows that most of its members are regular folks struggling to earn a living. They aren't going to have money to hire a lawyer to file a lawsuit. When it pulled my t-shirt, I advised Ebay that the item would be relisted and I will keep relisting it every time they pull it. And if they choose to take any type of additional action, they will face a lawsuit because I for one have the money to do it. I would estimate that in at least half the instance of pulled listings, Ebay is in the wrong. And much of that results in false complaints from losers like those of you who whine.
Take this for instance: They once pulled an auction of bone chips from Mariners pitcher Jeff Nelson. The auction was for charity and had reached $23,000, but Ebay pulled it because it violated their rule about selling "body parts". Of course it made no sense and completely screwed a worthy charity out of a lot of money. The body parts rule goes to people trying to sell their own kidneys, etc. It was not meant for dead or removed body parts such as hair clippings, etc. which mean nothing.
I don't think Ebay is God and frankly I don't have much respect for them. There is a lot of room for improvement and like any company, Ebay is interested in making big bucks, not providing customer service.
Also, you mention that I have nine neutrals/negatives in the past 30 days. True, but I can't control the fact that people post negative things when they are unwarranted. The only way to protect against this is to start suing those individuals for defamation of character, but of course a lawsuit is far more costly than a couple of negative feedbacks.
This is an example of the negatives/neutrals I've gotten:
One guy posted negative because his bobblehead had a chip in it. Yet, the same guy never complained to me or requested an exchange, which he would have gotten automatically. That isn't grounds for negative feedback. Maybe negative against the postal service, but not against me.
Another guy complained because the tickets he purchased were obstructed view, despite the fact that he specifically emailed prior to bidding and was informed that they were listed as obstructed view.
Another guy complained because while he got his tickets in one day, he discovered that he had paid $60 more than face value. So he shot me a negative feedback because he voluntarily paid a price and received the merchandise promptly. Face value has nothing to do with anything -- he paid a price for merchandise and received it the next day. Yet, he posted negative feedback.
Just do me a favor: Provide your name and address the next time you want to be critical. Let's make it fair and just discuss it face-to-face. I would offer you that option and I would appreciate you offering me the same courtesy.
posted on October 25, 2002 09:44:09 AM new
You are a real piece of work. You have horrible feedback and frankly are are the type of seller that gives Ebay a bad name.
Because of sellers like you, we honest and truly hard working Powersellers are given constant grief...
The auctions you ran WERE a violation of Ebay policy, like it or not. You were not selling World Series tickets, yet each ad had the word tickets on top. How can you defend this?
How can you possibly give attitude when you were in the wrong? I don't agree with most of what Stonecold said, but I have to fully agree you are in the wrong.
posted on October 25, 2002 12:07:58 PM new
kyms: I think echowood87's point was that eBay has so many rules and regulations, some of which directly contradict each other, that it's hard to have much respect for those rules.
I can see his point. Some days I would even agree with it.
Enforcement is a tricky thing, and the person who turns someone in to eBay needs to be very careful that everything is in order in his own house.
I was reminded of this yesterday when the city police put a warning on my truck, which has been parked in front of my house for a week. (My hateful 79 year old neighbor called them; he's done it before.) City ordinance says you can't park on the street for more than 72 hours and when you move the vehicle, it must go farther than 2/10ths of a mile.
I was complaining about this to my partner, who drew himself up to his full height and intoned, "You WERE breaking the law, after all."
"True," I replied, "but you just left your car parked on the street while you were in Maui for ten days. How is that different?"
He's so cute when he's speechless.
stonecold613: Are you very, very certain that YOU are not violating any of eBay's rules or regulations?
posted on October 25, 2002 12:20:14 PM new
Somebody once again with TOOO TOOO MUCH TIME ON THEIR HANDS! Us Powersellers work hard and it is not easy as one may think!
posted on October 25, 2002 12:30:38 PM new
ENOUGH!!!!!
STOP THE WHINING AND COMPLAINING!!!
To those of you who are constantly complaining about Powersellers:
#1 - I am not a Powerseller
#2 - Powersellers spend too much time on their own businesses to worry ot nitpick about everyone elses.
#3 - If those who constantly complain spent more time on their own auctions and less time cruising eBay to see who they can catch breaking the rules, maybe they too could become one of the dreaded Powersellers!!!
posted on October 25, 2002 02:09:59 PM new
how deep do you plan on burying yourself, StoneCold?
(appropriate name if you're 10 feet under)
I just received an e-mail from ebay about this and it turns out that this seller did not get their auctions pulled from the online form. Turns out, it was the e-mail I sent three days later that they acted upon
which part of this should we believe?
the part where they got back to you regarding your report?
not
The part where they identified it as your complaint that caused action?
not
Don't take us for idiots, you said it yourself, PowerSellers are murderers[/i], not morons!
posted on October 25, 2002 04:26:53 PM new
echowood87,
So what you are saying is it is OK for you to commit fraud. It is kind of practice that drives decent and honest buyers away from the online auction business. If you list your items in an honest manner, no one including me will say a thing. We all know that there is competition on ebay and that is not going to change. But defrauding the system, everyone should be offended by it.
You ask if I had ever listed anything in violation. Yes I have. The big difference in my listing, I did not realize my mistake and corrected it when it was brought to my attention. In your case, you more than listed a voilation, you did it on purpose.
Zoomin,
Whatever.
posted on October 25, 2002 10:05:41 PM new
Echowood, you abuse eBay and cheat other sellers who do not use lying keyword spam, and then you have the nerve to justify it by saying there are too many rules. eBay should ride your ass out of town. You've got no place among honest eBayers.
posted on October 26, 2002 07:41:24 AM new
And Fluffy just doesn't have a clue when it comes to this.
It is one thing to make a mistake that is a violation. It is a much different thing to purposely violate and commit fraud in your auction. Echowood, looks like round two is on the way.
Just checked and you were turned in before I could do it this time. Looks like your days might be number unless you shape up and fly right.
[ edited by stonecold613 on Oct 26, 2002 07:51 AM ]
posted on October 26, 2002 09:57:57 AM new
Yes, Stonecold. And of course I'm still waiting for your name and address so I can speak to you myself, but you won't provide that.
Until you are willing to stand up for yourself and admit who you really are, you have no credibility here or anywhere else.
Anyone can hide behind a screen name. People do it on the internet all the time. Just as alcohol gives an otherwise gutless person "liquid courage" at a bar, the internet gives otherwise gutless people "cyber-courage".
Do you have any idea what people say about you privately, stonecold? They say the same thing I do, that you are gutless and a little coward who has nothing better to do than sit on the computer and snitch off other people. I'd bet you also monitor porn sites or anything else that you may find objectionable and send little emails to the authorities. You are a snitch, stonecold, that's all that you are. If you are proud of that fact, so bet it. But believe me, it is not a fact I would want others to know.
Of course by keeping your identity a secret, you can keep your behavior up because you know there will be no consequences. If this site or others forced people to provide their real identity, I guarantee there would not be the nonsense going on that there is now.
Have a great day, Stonecold. Steve Austin's got nothing on you, huh buddy?
posted on October 26, 2002 10:06:45 AM new
For the record, I do not intentionally violate Ebay rules. I have been notified several times of violations that i did not even know I was doing. It gets to a point where you say "screw Ebay" and go about your business. Ebay is a very corrupt organization that is only concerned about their own bottom line. Typical big business like we've seen with Enron, Worldcom, etc. My favorite Ebay "rule" is that you can't put your phone number or web site in the listing. In my case, my web site identifies who I am and lends credibility to the auction. When I tried to explain that to Ebay, they would hear none of it. So what if someone were to link to my site or someone else's? Ebay is getting paid good money to put those listing up and they are making a killing. Yet they want to sit and tell us that we can't do this and can't do that. If you pay to list your item, you paid to list it. As long as you are operating an open and honest business, Ebay needs to just shut up and count their money.
Instead of pointing out every violation a member commits, we ought to be questioning why it is a violation to begin with.
Like a good politican, everyone is quick to point out the problem, but slow to offer an explanation for that problem or a solution.
You say I'm committing fraud? HOW AM I COMMITTING FRAUD? I sell quality merchandise, ship it immediately and charge a fair price. WHO IS BEING DEFRAUDED, STONECOLD? If you want to accuse someone of fraud, you better be able to back it up, my friend? There is a huge difference between a listing violation and fraud.
Ebay is the one which commits fraud. Perhaps you ought to point out their shortcomings. Or are you among the population of Ebay nation which believes that your God can do no wrong?
Have a good day, Stonecold. Sorry you are mad that you can't afford World Series tickets, but maybe next year, huh?
posted on October 26, 2002 10:22:25 AM new
Kyms, give me a break.
You say I was violating rules . . . so what if I violated a rule? When you were on the freeway the last time, how fast did you go? Were you over the limit? Darn right you were. So should I sit and harp on you over and over and over again? of course not.
So what if my listing said tickets in it? It was an effective way to ensure that people saw my listings, which they otherwise would not have seen. And to be brutally honest, I did not realize that it was a violation until Ebay notified me. I see people list things all the time using various keywords and have never thought to myself that it was a violation. Maybe I'm just dumb, gullible or both, but I have a marketing/advertising background and the rule of thumb is you get your message out there however you have to. What harm does it do to say "tickets" in my listing? All I'm doing is reaching my core audience, because if they are looking to buy tickets, they are also looking to buy other merchandise. You call it "spamming". How is it spamming? Spam is junk email, not a word in a listing. That's what all this is about, because I inserted one word in my title. Do you realize all the whining going on is about one little seven-letter word: tickets. Would you be upset if I put "monkey" in the listing for the Game 7 tickets I have for sale?
I am providing a public service. A lot of people want thunderstix and rally monkeys, but didn't think to check Ebay for them. So if they happen upon them when looking for tickets, they are happy because if they don't get tickets, they get other great items.
Did you ever think that violating Ebay's stupid rules actually serves the public better than if it it wasn't done?
posted on October 26, 2002 10:59:30 AM new
I don't drive.. so NO I have never gone above the speed limit.
Yes I have done things that are illegal, immoral, and socially unacceptable. But when I am called on them I admit my wrong (even if I don't agree with the rules or laws)and go about my business. I do not make lame excuses for my infractions. I am just more cautious next time.
Just try to suck it up, we can't change the rules. Why go out of our way to fight them? Our reason for being on Ebay is to make some money. The more we break the rules the shorter time we are allowed to sell on Ebay, the less money we make in the long run.
Why give fuel to every busy-body narc on the net? They have no life, they live to snitch.
posted on October 26, 2002 03:06:21 PM new
Yes I have done things that are illegal, immoral, and socially unacceptable-so ah kyms whats your phone # babe? <snicker>
posted on October 26, 2002 04:21:27 PM new
Hey echowood,
I don't intentionaly break the rules
Now you are a liar as well.
You had all of your auctions pulled for severe voilations in terms and you listed them again fraudulently and with deception in mind.
This is the e-mail that ebay sends to a whistle blower like myself.
Thank you for your report.
We will investigate the item you reported and get back to you soon. Please allow us 36 hours to complete our investigation of this item.
We appreciate your efforts in keeping eBay a safe place to trade.
If you'd like to learn more about our policies, please visit our Prohibited, Questionable or Potentially Infringing Items page here
Or our Listing policies page here.
Personally, I do whistle blow when I see blatant disregard for the rules to protect the bidders that simply haven't been in the system long enough to have enough experience to see through your crap. The minor mistakes. No one in their right mind would do any thing about as in most of those cases, no one is defrauded. But in your case, everyone is defrauded.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1573591776
PS: I want my world series tickets NOW. You listed them, I want them. I am only 10 miles from you and if you don't believe me, check this out. "Are wondering how those boots with eagles got wet? It was from water, of course." Or how about, "bich". Or how about this one. "Tom Brunard, this is for you." Just to show you I am not far from you.
[ edited by stonecold613 on Oct 27, 2002 09:51 AM ]
posted on October 29, 2002 06:48:04 PM new
Jason, I notice you revised your listing title. Good for you.
Do you think you're the only one who doesn't like eBay's rules? Believe me, you're not.
However, when you employ tactics like keyword spamming, not only are you pissing off bidders, but you are also taking unfair advantage of sellers who do follow the rules.
It's not just you against eBay. You are cheating everyone who agrees to play by the rules. If you can't abide by the rules, maybe you should find a venue more to your liking.
posted on October 29, 2002 09:24:23 PM new
I just don't understand some of the spamming charges by adding things to your description, but I did it a couple of times and got nailed right away, power seller or no power seller.
drjackk, the power seller who thinks the whole power seller idea is stupid, but then again, I signed up.
