Muriel
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posted on November 25, 2000 12:00:16 PM
I just received a spam e-mail from a seller on eBay who apparently checked into my past buying practices. The seller saw that I had bid on a particular item in the past, and is now trying to get me to bid again on a similar item. This is odd since the item was autographed and I thought was "one of a kind". Anyway, the e-mail said: "I saw this item for sale at eBay, the world's largest personal trading community, and thought that you might be interested." Then there was a link to the item, and a description. I e-mailed them back and told them that I thought this type of spam mail was against eBay rules. They e-mailed me back and apologized, saying they were not aware of the rule. Any thoughts from my cohorts?
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Meya
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posted on November 25, 2000 12:05:44 PM
That particular email is what is sent when you use the "email this auction to a friend" from the item page on eBay.
I've been contacted a couple of times by sellers when my bid on someone elses item has not been high bid. I never answered either email, but neither did I bid on that sellers item.
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dman3
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posted on November 25, 2000 12:08:47 PM
yeah I would think this is not spam send this auction to a friend even if you didnt know this person your closer to friend or at worst foe then ever before <G>
http://www.Dman-N-Company.com
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Muriel
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posted on November 25, 2000 12:11:48 PM
I'm just confused because the seller (who does not know me) e-mailed it to me directly. I guess they were checking out people who had previously bid on this particular item. The weird part is, like I said, I thought this item was sold at a previous auction. I'm so confused. 
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rnrgroup
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posted on November 25, 2000 12:12:11 PM
This is SPAM and is against ebaYs rules, so if you report it to safe harbor the seller will get a warning or suspension (if they have been reported by others). On the other hand you can consider if this really bothers you, and either find it useful, or just ignore it. At least they did not send this to you WHILE the auction you were bidding on was running (a more dispicable form of SPAM - bottom feeding) so though I would not do it (on occassion it is tempting) it is at least a less offensive offense. -Rosalinda
TAGnotes - daily email synopsis about the Online Auction Industry
http://www.topica.com/lists/tagnotes
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sg52
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posted on November 25, 2000 12:19:58 PM
This is one kind of spam which can be repelled, safeharbor does take action and will stop sellers who do this.
Keep all headers.
Send the message to [email protected]
Explain that it was initiated by the seller.
Never surrender to spam.
sg52
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reddeer
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posted on November 25, 2000 12:24:09 PM
Off the "Send This Auction To a Friend" link on eBay.
eBay has taken a strong public stance against
the practice of sending unsolicited commercial e-mails, also known as "spam." Please send these e-mails only to people you know who would be interested in the item. If someone asks you not to send these e-mails to them, please comply.
Sellers: If you use this service to advertise an item that you are selling, and a recipient
complains to eBay, your registration may be
suspended. "Spamming" by our sellers is a
suspendible offense (See our Guidelines).
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tolz
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posted on November 25, 2000 12:24:49 PM
How can this be considered "SPAM" when eBay provides the option and link to "Mail This Item To A Friend"?
The best thing to do is click your "Delete" key. No need to waste time on these things.
Your possible seller simply conducted a search on like items that have sold and your email address popped up. Looks like your "one-of-a-kind" item has duplicated. Know whom you buy from is always a safe bet!
Some folks get really bent out of shape on "Spam" email. Wonder what these people do with all of the junk mail they receive via snail mail into their PO or home mail boxes. We simply shred it or throw the junk away.
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dman3
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posted on November 25, 2000 12:31:36 PM
send it to safeharbor this email makes you feel unsafe do report it.
As I understood it the email wasnt that threatening that you would lose sleep over it to be honest.
I would just delete it take no time at all to dump this mail as a web admin I must get 300 to 500 email per day I just dump in the trash bin take about 20 seconds.
The minite you start conducting any type of business on the web be it buying selling or just registering for free stuff your going to get unwanted mail.
I never use to get email I registered two domain names and now on top of yahoo and ebay sales and spam from search directory services and get rich on the net deals im never lonely 3 loaded boxes every day usually well over 300 to 500 emails from people who think they are the hot new business service on the web.
http://www.Dman-N-Company.com
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MRBucks
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posted on November 25, 2000 12:56:42 PM
If you do anything except delete the 'so called spam' you will be as guilty of wasting bandwidth as the alledged spammer...
See,... what makes spam bad is it uses up space needed to transact 'real' business...
Spam is 'not' bad just because 'you' don't like it...!!!
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dman3
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posted on November 25, 2000 01:07:22 PM
thats what I do pick and choose my mail by ignoreing what I dont want.
If I took the time to report ever spam email that passed through here I wouldnt have time to sleep no more my computer time only is to valuble for that.
if ISPs started charge $2 or $3 per hour for online time like some have in the past you would see more people just deleteing unwanted stuff rather then spend .20 to .60 cents to write asking advise and mailing place like safe harbor on trival matters.
I remember the goodole days of AOL $2.99 an hour online as a newbie and spending up to $25 a month asking advice as a newbie or plain lost or exsplianing to AOL ahy I deserve a refund of hours no one was happyer then me to find a local ISP with unlimited time 
I never waist time on trival matters no more free or not .
http://www.Dman-N-Company.com
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grumpyebayer
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posted on November 25, 2000 01:11:47 PM
Report them to safe harbor.
I pay for server space so that I can send and receive mail that is necessary to my business. When someone sends me spam they are trespassing on my storage space. I report them to the proper authorities just as I would someone that put thier crap in my storage shed at home.
A neighbor of mine really did put his junk in my shed once because he "needed more space" and I "wasn't using it". He had to open my fence and go to the back of my yard to get to the shed. The cops didn't like his excuse anymore than I did.
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macandjan
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posted on November 25, 2000 01:47:30 PM
[ edited by macandjan on Dec 4, 2000 01:31 PM ]
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Glenda
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posted on November 25, 2000 02:00:17 PM
tolz: How can this be considered "SPAM" when eBay provides the option and link to "Mail This Item To A Friend"?
The key is "friend." It doesn't say "mail this item to somebody who may, based upon their previous eBay purchases, be interested in your item."
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abacaxi
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posted on November 25, 2000 03:12:27 PM
Muriel -
If the person sending the email is the seller, forward it to [email protected] andf they will have a chat with the spammer.
... scavenging the auctions of others for potential customers is not allowed.
tolz -
How can it be considered spam? The link is there so that if I find an aucuiton a REAL friend might like I can email them the link. It is not there so sellers can email THEIR auctions to potential customers they know nothing about.
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ecom
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posted on November 25, 2000 03:13:45 PM
So, they wrote to say that they had a similar item going up for auction and used the "send to a friend" button.
I'd be grateful, if I had not won the previous item I bid upon.
But I can also understand if I bought a "one-of-a-kind" item and it showed up again, I would be upset, too. It's almost like rubbing my nose in it. I sooner would have not known that there was another one out there.
Of course, I would be upset, but at the fellow who advertised one-of-a-kind that I previously bought, and not this new "messenger".
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eyeguy6
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posted on November 25, 2000 03:42:51 PM
I have no opinion on the spam issue. However, the "one of a kind" item being offered again might well be due to deadbeat bidder. I have on occasion offered the same "one of a kind" item 3 times. The first two winners didn't bother to pay for it.
[ edited by eyeguy6 on Nov 25, 2000 03:44 PM ]
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mrpotatoheadd
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posted on November 25, 2000 03:58:46 PM
Speaking of spam- I received the message below this morning- anybody else get it?
*****
I am an ebay seller making $70,000+ a year, but I want to show you what I do for fun, which will make me an ADDITIONAL $250,000 THIS YEAR... and it takes
only a fraction of the time that my regular selling does... I send out these
emails, as many as I can, and people send me cash in the mail for information
that I just email back to them. It is all completely legal, and I get to make
that walk to the mailbox every day knowing that it is full of $5 bills for me!!
Do the math... If you send out 100,000 emails (which you can do for free, the
reports will show you how) and only 1 in 1000 people participates, you just made
$500...and that was only on the first level!!! At the fifth level, you are at
over $500,000!!! And that is ONLY ONE person participating out of 1000 at each
level!!! Report #2 will even show you where you can get One MILLION eBay email
addresses and all of the software you will need to send emails to them, and HOW!!
etc. etc. etc.
*****
Just what everybody needs- an eBay pyramid scheme. 
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abacaxi
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posted on November 26, 2000 06:55:22 AM
mrpotatoheadd -
http://www.framed.usps.com/postalinspectors/fraud/MailFraudComplaint.htm is the3 place to go.
Cut and paste the intro and the addresses of where they want you to send the money. The USPIS inspection office will send them a very stern nastygram that will probably result in tghem buying new knickers.
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