posted on January 3, 2001 09:34:16 AM
Greetings Eathlings
In the past I have occaisionally emailed umderbidders to politely inquire if they would be interested in a nearly identicle item for the high bid or their underbid. I have done this on the scarce instances that I have additional similar items, combined with unexpectedly high ending bids. I have always been under the impression that ebay was fine with this, and I believed that I was well versed in ebay terms and policy.
Anyway, it's all cleared up what the policy is now....I think...
would the following be considered an infraction under these new terms ?
** Sending an email to YOUR underbidders informing them that you will be placing, or have placed, an identicle item up for auction on ebay.
Assuming that the desire of ebay is to stop the spam, I would think that it would not be permitted.
However, further assuming that cracking down on fee avoidance can be equated with and/or directly linked to increasing their revenue, then I suppose that this type of email would be Acceptable.
Does the new policy imply that it permits no impertinant [to a specific auction] contacts between a seller and others in the ebay community? Even if they have participated in one of his/her auctions?
I mean, besides the fee avoidance aspect, they are trying to control the spam that apparently everyone is complaining about, right? I see how its worded but what confuses me is the stated goal of this policy seems to be contradicted by their limited selection of the types of emails that constitute spam.
If I'm interpreting this right, ebay's definition of spam is any email that isn't associated with the fascilitation of the collection of ebay fee's!
I think I'll lean on the virtuistic side and believe such an email would not be permissible according to the new "clarification" but I'd like some other opinions and interpretations of the new clarification as it pertains to the **action above.
I actually will have cause to use such an email in the future, since it is no longer clearly permissible to do as I always thought was acceptable
posted on January 3, 2001 09:50:03 AM
In order to meet Ebay's new guidelines, you must first send them an email asking their permission to send them an email containing info or links, even if referring to another ebay listing.
Once they reply to your email with a "yes", you can add them to your mailing list and send them anything you want. (provided your email makes reference to "future" mailings)
Acceptable Email:
Hello,
Thank you for bidding in our auction. If you would like us to email you when we have similar items available, let us know. If you prefer not to be contacted with future offerings, no reply is needed.
With Regards,
MrJim
Un-acceptable:
Hello,
Thank you for bidding in our auction. Thought you might like to know that we just listed another "widget" very similar to the one you were bidding on. Here is the link: ebay/myitem/9879879798
eBay's intention is to try and force it's users to put every item intended for sale up for auction.
eBay hasn't proven that "everybody" is complaining about the so called "spam". eBay claims it's a problem but hasn't shown any hard numbers to back up the claim.
It's all about the revenue eBay "thinks" it's losing. The "spam" policy and the "fee avoidance" policy are all about eBay grabbing at more profits without giving back the reserve auction fee that was supposed to compensate them for the off auction sales.
I'd say the kind of "communication" you describe WOULD be considered to be against the current eBay policies.
posted on January 3, 2001 10:38:23 AM
would the following be considered an infraction under these new terms ?
** Sending an email to YOUR underbidders informing them that you will be placing, or have placed, an identicle item up for auction on ebay.
*********
Unless they have ASKED for such an email, yes, it's spam. And yes, some recipients would report you to eBay (based on some spams I have recieved, about 20% will report you, and that's not good odds).
posted on January 3, 2001 10:54:00 AMeBay's intention is to try and force it's users to put every item intended for sale up for auction.
Hogwash. Ebay's intention is to keep a seller from effectively harvesting interested buyers for Item B (which seller doesn't list) by developing an email list of bidders on similar or identical Item A (which seller did list). That is called "fee avoidance." I see no difference between a seller who uses this tactic and one who uses "relist" to auction a duplicate of an item that's already been sold.
