posted on September 7, 2000 08:04:02 AM
As most of you folks know, I am on a self-imposed exile from eBay. I did this as a result of eBay canceling an auction of mine based solely on hearsay from another eBay user. It was for a set of video tapes that I was authorized (by the copyright holder) to sell.
If you check the eBay pages as to what is and what isn't allowed to be sold on eBay, the issue of my tapes falls into a grey area. Although I offered to provide proof of my legitimacy, I felt it would not make any difference - listings get automatically canceled when another member complains through Community Watch regardless of what the description states.
What really bugs me is that eBay continues to allow over 300 Emmy Consideration tapes to be listed. These are clearly illegal to sell on eBay as per their written policy. There is no grey here at all.
I wonder if eBay has no problem canceling an auction like mine where their loss of revenue is minimul, but is reluctant to cancel those 300+ auctions because their loss of revenue would be substantial?
posted on September 7, 2000 08:07:37 AM
Sorry, I don't know the facts of your problems with ebay, but even so, I suppose you are correct. Which is, one of the many reasons I am seriously considering moving over to Yahoo.
I do believe ebay's interest is to keep the green stuff rolling in.
posted on September 7, 2000 08:13:08 AM
nicepolice ... I'm not ready to try Yahoo yet, but I have issued a 2nd challenge to Emmett (eBay SafeHarbour) to explain this. So far, all I have received from them is their 'bot responses ...
Perhaps we should ALL email him and ask what's the deal here
[ edited by RB on Sep 7, 2000 08:13 AM ]
posted on September 7, 2000 08:40:32 AM
eBay regularly violates judicial ethics with Vero. You are presumed guilty if someone says so even without proof. They often lie to do this--aka perjury.
This sort of baloney costs eBay a considerable amount of money in lost fees. I don't think eBay is always monetarily driven--they have removed merchandise categories which are profitable in the name of political correctness.
I have a fair portion of my business off eBay. It does well. I leave the head banging over eBay's irrational behavior to others.
posted on September 7, 2000 09:02:58 AM
mballai - my problem wasn't with VeRO - they had nothing to do with this. The cancelation of my auction was arbritraily done by eBay based on the word of another member who has been doing his best to interfere with my auctions for the past month. VeRO I understand - one-sided trials without the accused being privy to the proceedings I do not understand ... particularily after I advised eBay 2 weeks prior to this that someone was screwing around with my auctions
eBay, probably for good reason, won't tell me who that slime rat ass is ...
posted on September 7, 2000 09:42:27 AMeBay regularly violates judicial ethics with Vero. You are presumed guilty if someone says so even without proof. They often lie to do this--aka perjury.
Eh? eBay could be called "spineless", and even "willing to crap on the little guy", but "violates judicial ethics" seems silly.
Perjury is a formally defined crime, defined in terms of an oath taken with respect to a court of law. I do believe you were mistaken mistaken if you intended to accuse eBay of such criminal actions.
posted on September 7, 2000 10:00:13 AM
I try to diversify both suppliers and my customer base.
I would prefer to use only one venue if I could be confident that it would be reliable but eBay has shown in so many ways that they are not to be trusted that I have spread my listing among several sites. it's a pain in the butt to maintain several locations but not as bad as being out of business.
Cases like yours are a reminder of how much can and does go wrong. Is their a real conflict? Is it just the misunderstanding of a poorly trained employee? How do you find out? To whom do you appeal for clarification? Why are there apparent double standards? How do you protect yourself against attack from competators who harass your listings with false reports? Lots of good questions and few answers.
Knowing what can and has happened so often confirms that being established elsewhere has merit.
Nowhere else is anyway near being as generally profitable as eBay. Anyplace else is better than being out of business as a result of what has so often proved to be an eBay mistake.
Time will often provide the opportunity for eBay to make a corrections if you are persistant. Preventing a repeat of the problem or providing compensation for the loss caused you is not usually done.
I believe the solution is two stepped. 1) Stay after eBay for answers, following every path available. 2) Establish an identity elsewhere so that you can make productive use of time and opportunities during eBay's repeated malfeasance which is demonstrated in a wide varity of ways.
Good luck and please let us know how this progresses.
Thanks for the number, but, I'd probably lose my cool if I had to actually speak to them. The more I think of my situation, the more peeved I get. Not only did eBay cost me money in lost sales, but thay have also prevented me from filing the forms and getting past all of their obstacles to get credits (they NARU'd me about 1 hour after I terminated my account and as a result, I cannot access my account, nor can I request any credits for the two auctions that I was burned on by deadbeats!), but they have damaged my reputation among my peers. I did ask them for a final invoice amount. They were very fast to respond with that info, but the problem is, is does not include the $30 odd in credits that I am entitled to. No way I can check it either, so, I just won't pay them until they can provide me with a itemized statement.
I am going to simply keep hounding them with daily, polite and respectful emails until I get an answer - the old "if you fling enough crap at the wall, some of it is bound to stick" idea
posted on September 7, 2000 10:57:31 AMthey NARU'd me about 1 hour after I terminated my account
Ummm... what did you think would happen when you terminated your account? Didn't you realize that closing your account means you become Not A Registered User?
Vero requires a sworn statement that the seller is in violation of a company's ownership. The only evidence they have is the seller description and picture. It might not be "courtroom" perjury, but it's close enough and eBay accepts the company's word without question.
It's tacitly illegal as one cares to get. I bet there are enough sellers who could file a successful class action against eBay and various companies if they wanted to.
posted on September 7, 2000 11:18:14 AM
Glenda ... Here's how it happened ...
When eBay canceled my auction, I contacted them and told them to terminate my account. I got a 'bot "Gee, we're sorry ... is there anything we can do to change your mind" response the next day. I emailed them again, with the same results. This went on, back and forth for a full week, and yet, my account was still active!
I subsequently relisted this same item, but this time I worded it a bit differently. I used the old "episode guide with free tapes" routine (it has worked and continues to work for other eBay sellers). I got ratted out again, eBay slapped my wrist and said my account was suspended for 30 days. At that point, I thanked them for finally terminating my account as I had been asking them to for over a week. I also asked them to not reinstate it after their 30 day sentence.
Ya know, for those folks who 'know' how sarcastic I can get, I have been remarkably businesslike with my emails to eBay. Maybe I should throw in a few cusses and mispell a couple of words in my next email so they can understand what I am trying to say
posted on September 10, 2000 08:59:19 PM
Hopefully I've found the correct thread for my question. All I sell on e-bay is textiles. The other day I received notice from e-bay that 2 of my fabric actions had been pulled do to a notification from a Vero member. I've never had this happen, so I'm quite confused about all of this.
Both fabrics were a name brand "Waverly" it's a semi-expensive line of decorator fabric. I've sold quite a bit of this fabric in the past - the 2 fabrics I was selling clearly state on the selvage edge of the fabric that they are original Waverly.
E-bay gave me an e-mail address which is supposedly someone from the Waverly Company - strangely the e-mail address is someone named (Kevorkian) as in Dr. Death!!! Pretty strange. I did a search on e-bay and found 79 other auctions selling "Waverly" fabric - what gives??? I've e-mailed this Kevorkian person twice with no response. I've never heard of people making black market fabric, I know this is the original stuff. The weird thing is both fabrics sold for only a few dollars - not like I'm making a fortune at this - most of the other sellers of Waverly ask tons for the stuff. A friend suggested that maybe someone that sells it for big bucks wants to get rid of me because I sell it so cheaply - could that be possible? I'm not a power seller, I do this mainly to help out with a few household bills.
Two days before I received this notice from e-bay, they sent me an e-mail stating that my auctions had ended successfully - this is really strange..
If anyone can clue me in to what this Vero stuff is all about, I'd appreciate it - something isn't quite right here....
Seems totally unfair that some unknown entity can have my auctions yanked without giving me a good reason. Feel like I'm up the creek without a paddle!!!! Help.....
posted on September 10, 2000 10:54:20 PMIt's tacitly illegal as one cares to get. I bet there are enough sellers who could file a successful class action against eBay and various companies if they wanted to.
Others may well be lying to eBay. I've not read eBay's VERO agreement, and I don't know if they would commit perjury by doing so. I do know that the chances that a legitimate company would be prosecuted, even if they were technically guilty, are exactly zero unless there was some more direct involvement of a court.
Let's face it, the Intellectual Property crowd played their cards well, it doesn't matter what a law really says, it matters what slightly plausible threat it offers against those with assets.
My reaction was to the suggestion that eBay was itself commiting perjury, an accusation which I see no evidence for.
posted on September 11, 2000 12:44:37 AM
I sell Alaska Native Arts and also am a native who does art, and one day eBay without notifying me, took my items off auction. When I asked them what was going on, I got 3 vague responses and they relisted them. Since then I am very hesitant to list, not sure where they were coming from as these were all ivory items that could have been purchased in any Gift Shop in Alaska.
