posted on November 23, 2000 08:30:06 AM new
Over the past three months, I've had two instances where winning bidders have failed to contact me despite repeated emails. I assumed that my emails went through, since my server did not say otherwise. Today, I finally get the chance to get their telephone numbers and I call them. The first person said that she had emailed me 8 times--I never received them--and that she never received my many emails. I have home.net; she has AOL. We completed the transaction over the phone. Before I call the second bidder, I look at my feedback and find that he has negged me, claiming that I never answered his three emails. Bummer. I emailed the guy several times, but never heard from him. I still have record of the emails that I sent to him. I then called him and left a message on his recorder. He has a "something".net email server. I'm assuming that my server is the culprit, but the situation forces me to ask, "What's to keep a deadbeat bidder from negging me in order to mask his failure to complete the transaction?" Apparently nothing. It is a weird situation, since I usually telephone winning bidders relatively soon after the sale if I have not heard from them, since I learned long ago that odd things can happen. However, I got busy and let these two go for a while. I have a policy against leaving negative feedback. In my message to the guy, I said that I was disappointed that he negged me without calling first (who would do such a thing?), that I was willing to complete the transaction under the assumption that we were experiencing some kind of server incompatability problem, that I believed we could dampen the effect of the neg, because I think I can respond to his neg just below his comment and then he can respond to my response, and that if so, I would not neg him. Any thoughts or advice? Does it not seem unfair that deadbeat masking is so readily available under my assault negging theory? Does this dope not realize that I can retaliate and neg him back? Shouldn't eBay have a process for erasing such negs, especially where I can produce proof of my emails including the dates that I sent them to bidder?
posted on November 23, 2000 08:37:52 AM new
if several people are saying that you are not getting their e-mails then it is probably true and you should get a more reliable server. you could ask them to forward you the returned e-mail notices but you might not get them. they could print them and mail them to you. the posting of follow-ups to a negs is effective if both parties respond. someone mentioned something about an arbitrator being able to remove a neg, but i don't know if such a thing exists on ebay or not. they state that feedback posts are permanent.
Recently I switched my business account to Yahoo. I found that ISP had become the culprit with having mail server problems. Actually, I registered my name with netzero (with my official business name) and I have it forwarded to my Yahoo mailbox.
What eases my mind about Yahoo is the fact, even though I am on away on a trip, I can ALWAYS check my email without having to do backflips and configure certain things (ha!).
The only thing you can do at this point is to respond to the neg and explain what exactly happened.
I know that, that was totally undeserved. You even went to the extent of calling.
posted on November 23, 2000 08:47:05 AM new
I use @home as my internet provider, however their email server is poor. After repeated complaints I've switched to using yahoo as my email provider. I still have @home as my internet provider though.
posted on November 23, 2000 08:55:22 AM new
avmom:
"Recently I switched my business account to Yahoo. I found that ISP had become the culprit with having mail server problems. Actually, I registered my name with netzero (with my official business name) and I have it forwarded to my Yahoo mailbox."
Please explain which ISP was the culprit. Was it Yahoo? Was it Netzero? Or was it one you had previously? I am in the process of switching to netzero and yahoo and don't want to do it if that combination is bad.
posted on November 23, 2000 09:00:26 AM new
I feel so naive. What exactly do you mean by registering your name one "place" and having it forwarded to another?
[ edited by mjh2 on Nov 23, 2000 09:03 AM ]
posted on November 23, 2000 09:23:40 AM new
The mail server in question is @Home (bingo!) I also still use it to zoom around the net.
Netzero is a free name registration site. I believe the thing is, Netzero owns your site. You can purchase it outright from them but it will take some money (which I really don't have). A feature you can do in Netzero is to set your forwarding email address. Therefore, "avmom@cherished_memories.com" (this is totally bogus by the way) will be sent to my [email protected]. I hope I came across this time .
avmom
mjh, this is what I do. I just think it sounds more professional to send people to "cherished_memories" it just sounds more business like. Yahoo works great alone too!
[ edited by avmom on Nov 23, 2000 09:26 AM ]
posted on November 23, 2000 02:30:25 PM new
Home.net has been having "functionality issues" with its mail servers. If you don't get a reply, use an alternate route, like the "mail auction" from eBay or a free web-based email service. Servers do not always indicate that mail didn't go through -they may deliberately "drop" the transaction on the other end.
posted on November 24, 2000 10:19:49 PM new
Be careful with yahoo. I was using it for my auctions until some messages were being delivered 2 to 4 days late. This caused a few hard feelings when some of my customers thought I was ignoring them. I'm not sure if it was yahoo's fault or the sender's ISP. Just be aware of the possibility.
posted on November 24, 2000 10:33:44 PM new
I dunno. I have sent myself several emails (from my Yahoo account to my "regular" ISP email account) and they NEVER SHOW UP. I send my best friend stuff all the time (she uses Yahoo as her primary) and it will take hours, days, or not show up at all.
Personally I wouldn't trust them with any important email.
.