posted on March 24, 2001 02:51:35 PM
I bow to thee experts:
My bouncing baby boy (36 next week! -- please just shoot me!) and I are having a tiff over HOTMAIL!
He is going to start-up again with selling on eBay as he has an IMMENSE inventory of sports memorabilia, including approx. 50,000 cards!
Anyhoo, I'm helping him with templates & image hosting, etc. But I'm also trying to persuade him to change his nick which is something like "[email protected]" as I feel it projects an un-professional image.
Comments please. Am I correct or full of...
fingers!
[ edited by tomwiii on Mar 24, 2001 02:53 PM ]
posted on March 24, 2001 03:04:56 PM
Tomwiii, I'm not an expert, but is there a predominant age group that would be interested in his stuff? If it's a bunch of Gen-Xers or younger, they might think his addy is "kewl, dude!" If his buyers would tend to be older (might depend on the vintage of the memorabilia), his addy might give the impression that he's juvenile or unprofessional.
I know everyone wants to have high feedback figures, but with that much inventory he might want to divide it into vintage and newer stuff and have 2 selling ID's (he could always provide a clickable reference in his description for "1980-present" or "pre-1980" stuff that would take the bidder right to the other ID).
With that much stuff, I hope he makes a ton of profit!!!
posted on March 24, 2001 03:22:55 PM
Having had a few problems with my ISP's e-mail server (especially in the three months after they "upgraded" it), it was my hotmail account that saved my bacon. It has an advantage in that you can access it from any computer. While some people look down their nose at hotmail, lots of professional people I know and work with in the real world use hotmail for their regular e-mail account. (Same is true for Yahoo e-mail, by the way, for the same reasons.) I guess I wouldn't worry about the "hotmail.com" part of the nick as long as the "joeschmoo" part projects an image of professionalism.
posted on March 24, 2001 03:29:45 PM
Well, I was concerned because I thought a lot of folks on these boards had a low opinion of sellers with HOTMAIL accounts -- that this was a red-flag for scammers? Comments?
posted on March 24, 2001 03:30:57 PM
I agree that "joeschmoo" is not the best choice for a username. It sounds too much like a kid having some fun and I don't think that's the best image to project if you want to be successful on eBay or anywhere else.
posted on March 24, 2001 03:36:46 PM
i've bought and sold to some people with the weirdest user id's you'll ever see. makes no difference to me. i bought something from a guy nicknamed "Loser1893" once w/ no problems(numbers changed to protect the innocent!)
However, I would remind him to be careful with his Hotmail addresses since hackers can easily get Hotmail passwords, and if he has stuff like Paypal or Billpay accounts, PLEASE tell him to make sure he uses different unique passwords for all of those accounts. I speak from experience as I had a hacker try to charge 400 dollars to my Paypal account this past winter....My passwords were the same on Hotmail as on Paypal and the Paypal rep told me fraud is becoming common when the paypal and hotmail addresses are the same. Luckily he got no money but be careful all the same!! I will have NOTHING to do with Hotmail these days and will not send sensitive info to anyone with a Hotmail account.
posted on March 24, 2001 03:41:38 PM
Sorry, I guess I was focusing on the "joeschmoo" part as being the portion in question and not on the fact that hotmail might be a turnoff. For the eBay ID, I'd go with a non-email name, and then in the description he could have a link to his hotmail AND a "normal" (ISP) address--just to reassure people that he's legit.
Normally, I wouldn't have a problem with a hotmail address, but in that particular category it might make people suspicious (especially for a brand new seller)--there's so much fraud with sports items. BTW if he has no feedback at all, he should probably do a little buying so he doesn't look like a total newbie!
Without eBay, I might have a real life...
posted on March 24, 2001 04:26:29 PM
I just don't get the fuss. How is a bidder going to know that you have a Hotmail account with eBays no spam-no see email address until after the sale policy unless you put it in your tos. Most of your bidders never contact you before the sale anyway.
Hotmail or Yahoo can be a lifesaver because you can access it from any computer. I learned that the hard way when my isp went down and also when my computer went down!
posted on March 24, 2001 04:53:09 PM
I would have, and have not had, trouble with hotmail, yahoo etc.
Though I did get the "burn" from a yahoo seller clearly hiding the fact that s/he's double dipping into a product that is verboten on ebay, by the manufacturer...another thread.
posted on March 24, 2001 05:14:49 PMI agree that "joeschmoo" is not the best choice for a username. It sounds too much like a kid having some fun and I don't think that's the best image to project if you want to be successful on eBay or anywhere else.
Hi Blanche!
I agree with you. Not only does joeschmoo sound unprofessional, but the proper term is "joeschmo." Do I really want to buy from someone who can't get a common thing like "joeschmo" right? I might have to reconsider my purchase.
P.S. Last year I had a bidder on one of my items whose user ID was something like "boogersandsnots." It was all I could do to resist cancelling his bid. I remember thinking, What if he wins? I don't even want to touch his check!
posted on March 24, 2001 05:23:00 PM
Tomwiii, maybe you should point your son to some of the threads here that have dealt with the advisability of having a separate buyer and seller ID!
I really think that having hotmail in his eBay ID is not the best idea, unless he has over 100 feedback (and then he could put in the description "You can bid with confidence--view my feedback!" If he has little feedback, I think a number of savvy buyers will pass up his auctions if he uses his current ID. (FWIW)
fingers!
