posted on April 3, 2001 03:37:44 PM
It seems to me, that the biggest problem Ebay has with fraud and the like, stems from the ability of so many people to create new ID's after their current ID has been suspended. This also greatly impacts the veracity of the feedback system.
WHY can't Ebay require ALL AOL users (if not everyone in general) to verify their account with a credit card or SOMETHING so that it's more difficult to escape culpability.
My greatest fear in leaving any negative feedback or reporting any user who's burned me, is that if they are an AOL user, they can easily come back and haunt me.
It's actually quite reckless of Ebay to allow this vulnerability in their system to exist.
posted on April 3, 2001 03:40:36 PM
There are a zillion free email providers out there from which to choose to create tens of zillions of email accounts... AOL isn't the only problem.
I do agree, though, that all users should be cc verified to eliminate that problem.
posted on April 3, 2001 03:43:33 PM
I suspect because eBay and AOL are cut from the same mold....
AOL, FWIW, is probably no more an indicator of who uses them, then other internet services. The growth of the web has created an amazing flood of newbies from every ISP.
posted on April 3, 2001 03:45:38 PM
Yes, but FEW of those ISP's allow a user to create an infinite amount of new ID's and e-mail accounts.
THAT is where the problem really is. Why the hell won't Ebay do something about this ESPECIALLY considering the bad press they've been getting about fraud.
posted on April 3, 2001 04:24:52 PM
Hi all,
I believe they have a fairly strong relationship. I have Compuserve for ISP, they are owned by AOL. When I was checking for Web space a while back, they actually had a section for E-bay sellers with directions on how to set it up. Everywhere you turn there's e-bay logos's ??
posted on April 3, 2001 04:43:53 PM
Not everyone has a credit card and the only other way ebay verifies anyone is via that equifax thing which doesn't work. My dad has lived in the same place with the same phone for the past 12 years and it came up that his phone # wasn't the one at that address. Requiring everyone to go through that equifax thing, for example, would put many, myself included out of the auction business. When I was on yahoo they vertually eliminated my sells when they started the verification because almost all of my customers didn't have credit cards.
