posted on January 14, 2001 08:26:44 PM
Got this interesting Email today.
The auction mentioned closed approx 1 year ago. The amount was ~$20
Both accounts mentioned are now NARU'd
--------------------
HI, We recently found that we had an auction with you that was not paid for. We would like to correct this situation, we realize that you will no longer have the goods as it has been a long time. We would like to offer to pay for the auction immediately thru our pay-pal account, to correct this situation. At the beginning of last year we began having a great deal of trouble with our computer and ended up having to buy a whole new system, we lost ALL info and did not have a computer for a couple of months, we did not realize that this auction was not paid for. We would like to correct that, we discovered this info recently. We currently sell on ebay under another user id and for us to continue doing so we need to correct this situation. Unfortunately we have become somewhat dependent on the income we have been receiving while selling on ebay, my husband was off work for the first 5 months of the year due to non-work related neck surgery, then after recently returning his union went on strike and they have been off work for over 6 weeks now, so we have came to depend on the income from ebay. Per ebay it will be necessary for you to contact them "Now if these transactions have been completed or were cancelled by mutual agreement, please ask these sellers to contact us on your behalf" at [email protected]. We realize that this is an inconvenience for you and we are truly sorry for not completely this long overdue transaction. Please let us know if this will be possible and what email to send the payment to and we will do so immediately!!! Thank you in advance for your help (User ID) We would ask that you would contact ebay at [email protected], to let them know that payment had been received or cancelled by mutual agreement.
[ edited by unknown on Jan 14, 2001 08:28 PM ]
posted on January 14, 2001 08:28:58 PM
I think I would take the fees it cost me and cancel the request. I still believe everyone deserves a second chance.
posted on January 14, 2001 08:38:08 PM
I've got to agree with mrssantaclaus on this one. Whatever their excuse, it looks like it's coming back to haunt them and they're trying to straighten things out. If they're serious, and you go along with it, they could turn out to be excellent Ebayers. If they're not, they'll strike out again and we'll be rid of them for good. Either way, what have you got to lose?
The light at the end of the tunnel will turn out to be an oncoming train.
posted on January 14, 2001 08:55:12 PM
Same thing happened to us 2 years ago, we lost our ISP account and our computer totally died, being from a very small town we had no way of accessing the internet for a month a half, by the time we got back on we had lost our ebay account. Ebay also had us contact all of the sellers. Since we had high feedback before this happened and not a single negative up until then, we were able to get back on ebay and then have all the negatives removed with Square Trade. Everyone does deserve a second chance, and we have gone on to add almost a 1,000 positives. I spend over a thousand a month on ebay, I think they are much better off with us around.
posted on January 14, 2001 09:00:02 PM
Yes but they have TWO accounts that are both NARU'd.
The 1st account looks like it was NARU'd around Feb of last year. And seemed to be used for buying only.
The 2nd account has feedback comments up to Jan 8th of this year and seems to be used for selling only.
My first question is how did the second account get NARU'd. Did Ebay figure out that the two accounts were held by the same person? The second account has 145+ with 6 negs, all relating action as a seller.
This looks like intention subtrifuge to me. The sob story is simply not very believable.
posted on January 14, 2001 09:06:37 PM
They are doing it to save THEIR butts, NOT because they saw the light!
We currently sell on ebay under another user id and for us to continue doing so we need to correct this situation. Unfortunately we have become somewhat dependent on the income we have been receiving while selling on ebay...
We NEED to do this to keep selling.
(finally got found out you mean)
WE have become dependent on the income.
(what about YOUR income that THEY didn't pay?, weren't YOU accustomed to THAT?)
Are you to tell me that when they DID get back on ebay (if they ever were off at all)
that they didn't ever bother to use or check their "old" ebay user names feedback?
Come on man, I beleive in second chances, but this email is a buncha crap if you ask me.
posted on January 14, 2001 09:11:43 PM
Agree with Pocono!!! There would be a way (ok, 99% of the time!) to keep your account good and pay your obligations if you chose to in that amount of time. They just didn't choose to from my vantage point...
posted on January 14, 2001 09:39:17 PM
The first account left feedback comments through Feb 17th.
Th second account was opened on March 12th.
So even if the story about the computer crash is true, they were out less than 23 days, they chose to start up a new account rather than heal the prior one (even through the old account had +45 with only 1 neg.)
posted on January 14, 2001 10:16:09 PM
This is a real interesting topic.
I think you should go to http://www.vrane.com, to that feedback area where you put in the ids and see what kind of negative feedback they left and what kind of negative feedback they've recived.
The computer crashing story is the second biggest excuse outside of the medical excuse. I know what I've gone through to finish sales per rules on my bids and auctions. The thing is every public library now has internet access. You dial in, you can get your email, respond, look at auctions, take care of business. If not the library there are internet cafes. There are computer businesses too that let you go online if you walk in the door. I traveled twice last year and I used all of the above places and in the smallest of communities to make sure I stayed in contact with my sellers and buyers.
So when I hear the computer crashing story, I think, why didn't they go to the library, cafe, school, Egghead or elsewhere to get online access and be responsible for the auctions they bid on?
posted on January 14, 2001 11:14:38 PM
Our tiny library has no internet access.
The closest college is an hour away. The public schools have computers, but I'm not sure they can access the internet. Even if they did, I doubt you can walk in off the street and ask to use them.
There is no business in our small town which offers free internet access. Even Egghead no longer has storefronts, and they would hardly be located in the middle of nowhere where I live. Our local "cafe" sells coffee, donuts and pizza. They don't have a computer. They cater to farmers, who arrive at 6AM.
My brother-in-law is even worse off, the closest small town to him is 30 minutes from his house. His telephone switching station won't even allow faster access than 28.8, and often only 14.4.
In the event of a crash, not everybody has a second computer or even ISP they can turn to. There are only two ISPs which are NOT a long distance phone call for me. My mother (yet another small town miles from a decent sized city), in another state, has 1. My brother in law has 1.
But, as regards the subject of this thread, I, in fact, just recently lost every one of my EBAY computerized records. Wiped out. But I was still able to take in money and send out books. But then, I've been here quite some time now, and I know how to look for things. Not everbody does.
If I received this hard-luck story, I'd likely let them off the hook, and count it as my good deed for the month. I would, however, require that they do no further EBAY business with me.
posted on January 14, 2001 11:22:35 PM
I would be very curious to find out how they tracked down a year old auction???
Somethin don't smell quite right here, and it AIN'T the Tuna Casserole!!!
Keith
I assume full responsibility for my actions, except
the ones that are someone else's fault.
posted on January 14, 2001 11:24:25 PM
I would imagine that if there had been anyway at all for me to get on the internet during my little crisis I would have done so. For you to assume that you can get internet access anywhere is a mite ridiculous. The area in which I live is comprised of very small towns, the kind that have tiny one room libraries that are open one day a week. They can hardly afford to buy books, much less computers. A "cafe" in our neck of the woods is a little restaurant with a couple of tables and a few stools at the counter. The majority of Oklahoma, Texas and Kansas is this way.
[ edited by hcross on Jan 14, 2001 11:25 PM ]
posted on January 14, 2001 11:34:13 PM
I was in Canada last year for 10 days. I was at the northern part of Vancouver Island which is mostly rural. I went searching for internet access to stay on top of my auctions. I found internet access in these places in different tiny towns: office supply store, fax copy store, library, cafe, vegetarian restaurant/co-op and computer store.
However I have a backup plan and I did from almost day one of starting my eBay business. I have the minimum of three people I can call who would have dealt with my closing auctions if I had encountered problems. I am their backup; they are my backup. The same goes for the bids.
I live rurally in Oregon. I know where I can go if the power goes out for more than a few days, where to rent a computer if I need to and a list of all the places that will give me internet access within a 30 mile radius.
These are such obvious steps to take to make sure one takes care of customers and sellers. However, the same people who claim computer crashes for 6 weeks will pay their utility bills, rent or mortage before going on vacation, put their mail on hold, make sure someone is taking care of the pets. Yet if the computer crashes on an eBay transaction then it becomes an excuse.
At the minimum I know that one can call a library or ask a friend to go to a library, dial in, retrieve auction info and get seller contact information for the person who has the crashed computer. The librarians can be quite helpful as can friends.
There is probably a whole long list of possibilities that haven't even occurred to me on top of the ones I've already listed.
posted on January 15, 2001 12:58:55 AMPer ebay it will be necessary for you to contact them "Now if these transactions have been completed or were cancelled by mutual agreement, please ask these sellers to contact us on your behalf"
If I remember correctly (out of all the bleedin' literature to bog thru eBay...), if you ask eBay to re-instate your account, they tell you to "ask" the seller's you screwed, along with the auctions in question, contact the person(s), send you the relevant info, and tell you to get their write off.
At least that was what I read in the eBay Lit.
:\\\"Crystalline Sliver cannot be the target of spells or abilities.
posted on January 15, 2001 05:06:18 AM
Hello Pocono,
The word is spelled moot not mute.
I agree that the account histories do not lend support to the explanation that they were without computer services or Internet access long enough for their accounts to have been suspended.
It sounds very much as though the user is hoping to get their selling account re-instated after someone noticed that it was by the same person who had their buying account suspended for non pay and reported it to eBay.
posted on January 15, 2001 07:35:15 AM
I have had several downed computer stories. Only one was believable. Use your judgement and respond accordingly--this person sounds credible, but you have to weigh the evidence.
Sounds like you already made up your mind and are looking for support here. It's up to you.
posted on January 15, 2001 09:23:48 AM
Forgive me my teacher for placing the correctives of your err upon you, but it is quite apparent to most, that my spelling of the word desired by me to be used, was quite correctly pronunciated indeed.
For I did not intend it to be the word "moot" which may agreeably be how some scholars other than myself might interpret the correct grammar in such a statement to flow, but oh, contraire, I had quite intentionally intentioned for my use of a word to be spelled out as "mute", with the meaning being to turn a deaf, dumb, and blind eye to the perturbing climax of the situation at hand.
My, for we shall seek the truth of such a flamboyant grandstand of correctives, but there, by the grace of the more powerful, Pocono was indeed once again correct, and has triumphed over the evil of the almighty spell-check.
To be put in more layman terms, for those that have forsaketh the sanctity of further education, I shall put it in these words…
posted on January 15, 2001 10:10:24 AM"The majority of Oklahoma, Texas and Kansas is this way.
I live in a small town in Kansas (pop. 1500), and am familiar with numerous similar sized communities across the state. Now, maybe it's just that Kansas isn't as backwoods as some people might believe and we're all closet tecchies, but if I had business pending on Ebay and my computer crashed and/or I lost Internet access, I can think of a number of ways to finish up those deals. I think a lot of being "isolated" in terms of Internet access boils down to how ingenious and motivated one is to make contact.
I agree that this person screwed up a year ago, and started a new account rather than getting the old one re-instated. Now they've now been found out by Ebay and have to fix the old suspension in order to retain the new registration. The fact that they were less than honest in describing how long they were off the 'Net, etc., lessens my sympathy and would probably cause my answer to be "So sorry."
"I just had someone do the same thing a few days ago... Weird. Ebay must be encouraging this.
Maybe they're finally cross-referencing contact info and catching up with the NARU's who registered new ID's???
posted on January 15, 2001 10:18:10 AM
Setting aside pocono's limp attempt at grammatical humor for a minute, I think s/he's cut through the BS on this one:
The fact is, there was only a "23 day" period of non-activity between their two accounts, and that was almost a year ago! THAT is the whole of this story.
It never ceases to amaze me how much effort people will use to BS somebody...when doing what they should've in the first place would've taken less than half the work.
My response to this email would be to tell the sender "you've got to be kidding," and then forward it to SafeHarbor for their entertainment.
[ edited by HartCottageQuilts on Jan 15, 2001 10:18 AM ]
posted on January 15, 2001 02:35:31 PM
I got one of those type emails on 12/31/00 from someone who I filed on 2 years ago. That account is now NARUed and they wanted back in to play. No excuses why they didn't pay, just that they wanted to pay up (or have me contact ebay) so they could have their account reinstated. I told them no, cause if they were *that* worried about it, they would have contacted me a long time ago and not waited until they got the 4th NPB against them.
They weren't too thrilled about it and vowed to never purchase anything from me again.. DUH!
posted on January 15, 2001 07:02:13 PM
It has come to my attention that more and more sellers are getting these types of emails.
If I get one of these it will go staight to the trash !
If you helped get a deadbeat kicked off of ebay, GOOD FOR YOU ! You have my respect for following through and encouraging the demise of deadbeat bidders. This helps all of us in the long run.
Allowing a deadbeat to come back with a sob story wanting to make amends is BULL !
Once a deadbeat, ALWAYS A DEADBEAT !
If you chose to not make good on your purchases and you got busted for doing it, GOOD RIDDANCE TO YA ! I for one do not feel you deserve a second chance to do it again.
posted on January 21, 2001 02:29:57 AM
Ask for a copy of the letter from Safe Harbor. That is how they got in touch with you. When they deny they should be NARU, Safe Harbor sends them an email with all 4 times that sellers turned them in as Non Paying Bidders. If they can get one to say they paid them, they can mess up 1000's of auctions before someone files a Non Paying Bidder Form on them & Safe Harbor NARU'S them again. The one that wanted to pay me was from 11 months ago. Don't forget this bidder has been given a second chance as they are suspended for 30 days from bidding when they get 3. Please don't make it possible for this bidder to bid again.
