posted on January 24, 2001 05:01:15 PM
One of my auction ended 3 days ago for about $130.00. I emailed my payment information, address etc and receive this response:
"hello sir can we work out payments i have 30.00 on me right now will u
ship it c.o.d for that amount and i pay u in payments get back with me"
This user is from AOL AND has feedback of ZERO (mine is 200+ all positive). I tried to explain to him my auction terms do not specify any type of scheduled payments and they he must pay via credit card or money order.
So he responds:
"ok sorry u don't trust me"
Hell no! I'll ship it for $30.00 COD and where am I going to find this guy to get my remaining $100.00!!!!!????? This guy is clueless, does he think I am some kind of an idiot and by begging me all of the sudden I'll say sure, you can have it for $30.00 and lets forget the rest...jesus...
I have a theory that the MASSIVE number of sabotaged auctions that run the same ol', same ol' of the scenario you are depicting above DO NOT REPRESENT TRUE BIDDERS.
Not only are they NOT "real" bidders, I no longer believe that they are Internet Pranksters, nor the ol' archetypal bored teenager.
I seriously believe that MANY eBay wannabe competitors have used their servers to establish THOUSANDS of fake i.d.s on eBay, and the sole purpose is to create havoc and mayhem, to demoralize sellers, and to get them to quit.
I do NOT believe that a high percentage of the general population acts in the way you describe.
posted on January 24, 2001 05:25:24 PM
I seriously believe that MANY eBay wannabe competitors have used their servers to establish THOUSANDS of fake i.d.s on eBay, and the sole purpose is to create havoc and mayhem, to demoralize sellers, and to get them to quit.
Wow Oliver Stone might be interested in that conspiracy theory, but I tend to lean more to the teen theory. When the story aired about that 13 year old that placed bids on all that expensive stuff I recorded the show and watch it when I need a laugh. Its funny to hear the announcer say "you mean he could bid on anything, and have an account in 5 minutes"
posted on January 24, 2001 05:46:54 PM
I used to believe similarly, and felt that auction sabotage was restricted to active posters, but not after I was a PBS News Hour segment on eBay, which took ya into a Voices Conference being conducted in San Jose, and there I saw a whole group of non-AWposters in a brainstorming session on "How 2 Git Ridda Deadbeat Bidders."
At that moment, I realized that deadbeats are pervasive throughout eBay, and that there are, shall I say, "too many" of them for it to be a logical percentage of the population.
You'll read all about this in the future when data archivists retrieve their activities and base their Ph.D. theses on the true origin behind the Deadbeat EPIDEMIC on eBay.
I'm certain that the FBI Probe on Shilling at eBay has already established some REAL interesting graphs and charts about """deadbeats""", some of whom are random shill bidders.
I do not believe that the incidence of criminality in this nation is as high, as one would be led to believe by the extraordinary reports of auction interference and outright sabotage at online auctions.
posted on January 24, 2001 06:06:36 PM
This has "Kid" written all over it, probably an eleven year old. I wouldn't take a C.O.D from the CEO of a corporation let alone from someone who can't use proper English.
chum: it's actually quite possible that the segment I saw on PBS simply made me come to the wrong conclusions.
MAYBE deadbeat bidders are NOT rampant on eBay.
Perhaps ONLY active messageboard participants are subject to deadbeat bidders.
MAYBE the reason that eBay does ABSOLUTELY NOTHING about deadbeats, is because They are the actual source of origin of same, and they wanna git ridda the LOUD MOUTHS who state the obvious about the Emperor's stark-nekked status.
HOWEVER, JUST AS I CANNOT BE BRIBED, I SIMILARLY WILL NOT BE THUSLY MANIPULATED THROUGH SABOTAGED-AUCTIONS TO SHUT UP AND WALK AWAY.
Frankly, personally speaking, it doesn't matter WHERE deadbeats truly originate, not to me --- WHEREVER they originate from, it is ==> eBay <== through its NON-ACTION which is 100% culpable for actions of same.
posted on January 25, 2001 12:17:55 PM
radh...Please don't lose sight of the fact that "THEY" are only a "VENUE". Nice way to dodge responsibility that entails anything more than raking in your insertion fees. They never reimburse those, do they?
Zilvy...I started with nothing and still have most of it.
