posted on December 22, 2000 04:50:07 PM
I've noticed recently, sellers on e-bay using different user ids. I contacted e-bay because I thought this kind of behaviour was contrary to the whole feedback system. I mean what's the point of leaving negative feedback for a seller if they're using 10 different accounts. The response I got from e-bay was this. Not only are multiple accounts allowed, but they claim many people often use one account for selling and one account for bidding. I'm not talking about shill bidding here, which is clearly verboten on e-bay. And I realize that it's difficult for e-bay to police user identities. But, eventually you're going to run into the total idiot bidder or seller that either wastes your time or loses your money. But, what's the point of leaving any neg feedback if they can just create another account. In this respect, I can't see any difference between e-bay and yahoo (which is still free!!). Am I the only nimrod who didn't know this?
BTW, in case anybody was wondering, there's no way to tell how many accounts someone is using!
posted on December 22, 2000 05:18:49 PM
let me explain a couple of things:
feedback follows a person whether he or she changes his or her userid 1 time or 10 times. As long as he or she uses the same email address, then it stays. if the person uses the same userid and then changes the email address, then the feedback stays.
while it may be true that a person could conceivably have 10 userids, that would require 10 different email address and 10 credit cards and/or checking accounts.
if a person is going to go to that extreme to have so many userids, eventually he or she will trip him or herself up trying to keep names straight.
a lot of people do have a selling account and a buying account, what is the big deal or problem with that?
my .02 worth
[ edited by paulswife on Dec 22, 2000 05:19 PM ]
posted on December 22, 2000 05:43:41 PM
Doesn't require a different credit card/bank account for each id. And a buying only ID doesn't need to register a credit card (yet..but who knows what will happen next year )
posted on December 22, 2000 07:52:55 PM
My username might be 'bozo' but I'm not a total clown or idiot. I didn't say anything about changing a userid, and I don't have any problem if people have diff userids for selling and buying, if ebay enforced the difference in usage! You're just confusing the real issue here. My point is that if someone gets enough negative feedback where other users avoid dealing with them, then all they have to do is create another blank account and start over. This has nothing to do with changing your userid. Plus, what if there is someone on e-bay that you don't want to deal with, for whatever reason? How do you know who you're dealing with until the auction is over? By then, as far as e-bay is concerned, both parties are supposed to complete the transaction so e-bay can collect their fees. By then, as a bidder, you're subject to suspension if you refuse to pay, and as a seller, you have to deal with buyeritis unless you've left a loophole in your posting.
Again, as far as using the feedback system, I can't see any difference now between e-bay and yahoo (which is completely free). Leaving neg feedback means about as much as the lint in your pocket.
Yeah, the way you describe it, managing 10 userids would be 'extreme'. I agree, I don't know why anybody would bother to manage 10 accounts, but you missed the central point. For many people, it's very easy to set up different credit card accounts and e-mail addresses, etc. If you're getting too many negative feedbacks, then you just create a different account and go on. When I signed up, I thought e-bay had a policy of one user, one account. I know it's difficult to police, but most people are honest and I think most people are not inclined to go to the trouble of creating different mailing addresses, which is much harder than getting a different e-mail address. Anyway, this system makes a helluva lot more sense than allowing users to create and use multiple user ids.
I think what you've go to ask is this. Why do you need more than one account unless you're trying to hide something? I can see why someone would want to distinguish themselves according to selling or buying, but as a seller or buyer, I don't see why either activity about a user should be hidden from me. If you're a bozo, you're probably a bozo all around.
Look, everybody has their own criteria for dealing with sellers and buyers, and their own ways of evaluating risk. I've never been defrauded but there's been a number of times where the transactions didn't go very smoothly, and it turned out to be a real hassle. Let's face it. E-bay and most state attorney generals are only interested in, and empowered to do something about clear cases of fraud. But, if you've done enough trading on the internet, you should know that there are many ways things can get screwed up, e.g. item not as described, not in the condition described, not packaged right, not insured, not shipped to right address, not .... I try to look for warning signs and avoid transactions that might be more subject to go askew.
Anyway, in my particular case, here are two situations I found myself in which I found disturbing.
User A sells a number of things such as CD-Rs, on-line thru e-bay, and thru a web site which they advertise thru e-bay. They have feedback around 300 with say about a dozen neg. feedbacks. I tried contacting them numerous times to ask them about one of their postings and I get no reply. I check out their website which lists a local address. Since it's not far from where I live, I check it out and find that it's run out of an office with a different name and function. Nothing illegal here, except I notice a pattern. Personally, I refuse to deal with businesses which operate under different aliases for a lot of reasons. Plus, I try to avoid companies which try to run completely automated; it wastes too much of my time when things don't go right. So I decide not to bid on anything from this user, and I make a note to avoid this seller.
Several months later, I need some CD-Rs. I see User B with a number of recurring postings, and they've got several hundred feedback with about twenty something neg comments. The price vs. the risk is right, so I put in my bid and I win. Later, I get a mail msg from this guy to send payment to him at such and such address and he includes a website for his business. The last name sounded familiar so I searched thru all my notes and I discover 1) User A and User B are the same, and he sells under both ids on e-bay. 2) he operates under at least 3 business names that I know of, and at least in my case, the transaction is person-person so he avoids any scrutiny from the tax guys, or the law, 3) For at least two of these businesses he operates different websites with the same presentation but different names, except now they don't list any tel numbers, personal names, or addresses.
So why didn't I just back out when I discovered who this was? Well, 1) I'm subject to suspension by e-bay. There's no rule on their site that says bidders can back out if they find out who you are, and 2) my feedback is around 20 (no neg) and I didn't want a black mark from this seller. As it turned out, what I got was not what I paid for, but I didn't pursue it for the same reason; it just wan't worth trouble. In hindsight, there's no question. I wouldn't send the guy a dime, but that's no 'positive' point regarding duplicate ids.
Second example:
I bought some DVDs from a user / company in canada. Again, the seller has several hundred feedback and about 20 something neg comments. Okay, well I get these cheap, probably illegal, copies of some classic movies. ... shipped from hong kong. Maybe they were legal, maybe not, but definitely very poor quality. Leave neg feedback... no way, my number of transactions is much smaller, so if he retaliates, I'm the real loser. Anyway, I'm browsing on e-bay and I notice that there is another user selling similar movies, from canada, and with similar e-mail addresses. There's no coincidence here. This is the same user, and it's obvious why he is using multiple accounts. In hindsight, I would have left neg feedback. If he retaliated, I'd just use a different account.
In case you were wondering, the number of experiences I have like this are small but in the future I'm going to handle them a lot differently.
posted on December 22, 2000 08:40:58 PM
So what's the question?
The two examples you gave are exactly why I do have two IDs. One for buying and one for selling. People who want to bid on something of mine can check my selling feedback and see how I treat my customers. On the other hand, if I buy something and feel it is warrented, I can leave appropriate feedback on my buying ID without worrying about retalitory negs affecting prospective bidders.
Used this way, I think it is preferrable to having just one ID since many people don't leave fully justifed negatives because they are afraid of receiving a retalitory one.
[ edited by BlondeSense on Dec 22, 2000 08:42 PM ]
posted on December 22, 2000 10:23:40 PM
I have a different ID for buying and for selling...and I just recently activated another selling ID because my main sales are in a totally unrelated area to what I am now developing an interest in. The two markets do not overlap at all, and I'd like my customers for items like A to be able to find them easily, without having to trudge through all my listings for items like B. Nothing funky or shady here...just trying to keep things fairly simple for me and my buyers.
Also, some sellers deal in adult materials which might offend buyers of their "regular" merchandise. They have two (or more) selling IDs to keep these markets separate. Again, there's nothing strange or underhanded going on.
posted on December 23, 2000 12:57:02 AM
I have 2 active user names. The first one is my original one, now with 159 positive feedback, and no negs. With this I sell used items of collectible nature. On occasion, I sometimes buy with it. The second id, I use for selling new items related to a specific feild of interest. I actually have a third that I haven't used yet. The name of the third has a direct bearing on the nautre of the item that I intend to sell. I have been thinking of starting a fourth to use as a buying account only.
It only make business sense to have a user name that has some relation to the item(s) that you sell if at all possible. If you went into a shop called Smith's Bicycle Shop and found that they sold only plumbing supplies, it wouldn't make any real sense.
I think that ebay might also like people having several usernames. The more registered users, the better the stock prospectus looks to investors. What looks better to you? We now have 500,000 resistered users. Or, We now have 2.5 million registered users.
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