posted on November 15, 2000 03:33:36 PM
Thought this might interest some people...
I posted the e-mail I sent to Ebay after Sunday's outages, but it was removed because I left a full name in it, which violates Auctionwatch's policy. (Sorry)
Here it is again, along with Ebay's reply.
The third paragraph of Ebay's reply interested (kind of shocked) me. Maybe it's common knowledge, but I didn't know "No one can require you to sell an item if you don't
believe you got a fair price for it."
What they suggest is lousy business practice, and as they suggest, you're risking negative feedback!
My letter:
I got the following 3 e-mails today:
"Hi. I just wanted to let you know that I tried bidding on the doll 20
minutes before the auction was done and
couldn't get on the site of your doll. I got a message that they were
having trouble. I guess you know I
was really bummed. Thanks
(name edited)
"HI
I have a question , I was bidding on your train stations that went of at
18:24, The system went down, Does that mean that who ever got in before
it went down wins.Just curious on how that works
Thanks (name edited)
(Name edited)
I was bidding on the Precious Moments Angie Doll when ebay shutdown for
about 20 minutes. I am still very interested in the doll. Please let
me
know if you have another one and if we can work something out.
Thanks,
(name edited)
I also had a customer tell me in person that she just gave up when Ebay
went down for the second time last night. How many other people gave
up? How many other bids did I lose? How much money did I lose
AGAIN???? Impossible to know, but I am absolutely sure it is in the
hundreds of dollars- AGAIN!!!!!
This happened time after time all through October because of a situation
that Ebay knew about but chose not to inform anyone about for weeks. If
I'd known the outages were essentially planned, I could have worked
around them. I can't afford to keep doing this. I depend on last minute
bids, and I depend on people not giving up because your system is down!
And your refund policies are absolutely ridiculous. I also feel that I
should not be obliged to sell an item if your system was down when my
auction ended. What's the point of going through this again with you
anyway...
I asked for a lot of credits to offset a small portion of my losses in
October, and not much credit was given. It was absolutely inadequate.
You have a lot of nerve charging ANYTHING for the ridiculous service you
have been providing. People have to see my auction lists, they need to
be able to access my auctions, particularly when they're about to end,
and they DON'T need to get discouraged from browsing because of system
interruptions.
I don't have much of a choice but to stop using your system once my
current inventory is gone. I've worked very long and hard and I put my
heart and soul into my business, but you've made it impossible to make
any money.
Why not concentrate on making a stable system instead of expanding into
other areas? Too much to ask, I guess. I've never been more disgusted in
my life.
Thank you for reading this.
Oh, and PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE don't send me another "I understand your
frustration" letter. You DON'T understand!
Ebay's reply
Hello,
Thank you for writing to eBay with your concerns about the site outages
we have experienced recently.
While I may not understand exactly what you are going through, I can
empathize. These outages are frustrating for us as well, though on
another level. I know it does not change anything for you, but I can
assure you that our engineers are working very hard to keep the site up
and running. We've experienced a wonderful increase in membership, which
has made it necessary for us to upgrade our systems so they can handle
the increased site traffic. In anticipation of the holidays, we are
working extra hard to make sure the site is stable.
If you don't want to sell an item that ended when the site was down, you
may want to see if you can work something out with the bidder and agree
to relist it. No one can require you to sell an item if you don't
believe you got a fair price for it. Unfortunately, we can't prevent the
bidder from leaving negative feedback if you do choose not to sell the
item. I know that's not what you want to hear, but unfortunately, I
can't change the policy that is in place. You are more than welcome to
submit your suggestions through our web form at the link below:
I know that in the past you have not received the credits you believed
to be fair, but it is always a good idea to submit credit requests when
you feel your auctions were adversely affected by the down time.
Please send the item numbers and reason for your request to our Billing
Team by using our online webform found at:
Select the category 'Billing' and the reason that best describes your
situation. Your message will then automatically be sent to our Customer
Support Billing Team and they will review your credit request. Please
understand that if your request for a credit has been approved, it can
take up to 7 to 10 business days to post to your account.
Again, I am very sorry for this situation. I hope we will be able to
keep the site more stable for our members in the near future.
posted on November 15, 2000 04:00:02 PMWhat they suggest is lousy business practice, and as they suggest, you're risking negative feedback!
They are NOT suggesting that you don't complete the transaction - they are pointing out that they cannot FORCE you to sell or ship an item. Likewise, they cannot FORCE a bidder to pay for an auction.
They can, though, terminate your account if you don't force yourself to follow through with the contract and people complain about it.
posted on November 15, 2000 04:03:10 PM
Ah yes, remember the good 'ole days when numerous states filed suit against America Online for their fraudulent billing practices.
Wonder when the fact that eBay is billing a quarter or more for an auction that runs seven days, and then providing less, sometimes alot less, will catch up with them and they will find themselves as defendent in a lawsuit over their own fraudulent billing practices.
