posted on April 24, 2001 08:20:59 AM
What can I do about a person is who contacting people bidding on current auctions or have won past auctions and sending them lies about me and my business. This person has never purchased anything from me on eBay or anywhere else.
posted on April 24, 2001 08:38:15 AM
You don't say in your original post how you know this is going on, so I'll assume you've been emailed by someone who was going to bid, etc.
The only recourse you have through eBay is if the person telling the lies is a registered user.
Do you have the email address of the person spreading this stuff? If so, you might want to contact their ISP.
posted on April 24, 2001 08:43:54 AM
I, also, have to go on the assumption you're hearing about this from bidders. I had this happen once--a person wrote to me about a seller on whose auction I was bidding and told me what a horrid person this seller was (the seller had over 600 positive feedback with no negs, LOL). I wrote to the seller and told them what happened and they said they had received several other e-mails as well.
It's called 'Auction Interference' and is against eBay's rules. If you know who the person is write [email protected] and report them. They will at least receive a warning and if they continue a suspension.
posted on April 24, 2001 09:00:42 AM
I have a question about this: Is "auction interference" also against ebay rules if it is not directed against the seller but to protect buyers from their own stupidity? I have sometimes seen bids that were way unrealistic, for example an exhibition catalogue about synagogues in pre-war Germany that can be bought for under 10 bucks at most online bookstores, which went for almost 200 on ebay. There, I actually couldn't resist and sent emails to the three top bidders telling them how stupid they were and providing links to places where they could buy the same book for much less. Along similar lines, a lot of sellers often label rather average CDs as OOP or HTF or Rare, whereas you can easily find these CDs at regular online stores or at least at Canadian or British stores.
Don't you think that it's sort of your moral obligation to warn bidders who are bidding fantastic sums of money on items that they could have for much less?
posted on April 24, 2001 09:04:40 AM
Wallypog is on the mark. This activity is definately auction interference. Email Safe Harbor and they should nix this user.
posted on April 24, 2001 09:16:07 AM
well, with the new email system over on ebay, the person who is receiving the email (ie: the bidders) will have to send the emails to [email protected]. It will be very easy for them to trace what membername is doing it. If the problem persists, you could make your auctions private, or you could add into the description of the items that if anyone receives one of these emails, they can send them directly to safeharbor (with headers attached). Otherwise I wouldn't get into it too much in your description.
posted on April 24, 2001 09:18:04 AMIs "auction interference" also against ebay rules if it is not directed against the seller but to protect buyers from their own stupidity?
Yes.
Don't you think that it's sort of your moral obligation to warn bidders who are bidding fantastic sums of money on items that they could have for much less?
I don't see how you can look at it any other way. Personally, I don't think beanie babies are worth more than, say- a dollar. I'd hate to have it be my moral obligation to email every buyer in every auction to tell them that they're overpaying.
posted on April 24, 2001 10:01:11 AM
twelvepole & mrpotatohead:
would you tell your mother or your sister if you saw them bidding 200 dollars for something commonly available for 10 dollars?
If so, why is it acceptable to steer loved ones away from ignorance but not strangers?
Before I catch ANY flak, let me say that I do not email bidders and inform them that items are available elsewhere. I am asking this questions for rhetorical purposes only.
I ask the above question because the latter part of your statement seems to indicate that consistency is an important value to you.
However, MrP, your comment that you would have to email every bidder if you emailed one Beanie bidder is a trend in thinking I notice often among the students I work with. I find it odd and when I point it out to them, they often do as well.
If you saw twenty instances of a wrong (which I am not definitively stating this is) and didn't speak up until the twenty-first instance, and then let two or three more wrongs go by because you were busy, but then reported the 33rd, WHY would anyone regard that as LESS desireable that NEVER reporting any wrong at all?
Would you prefer to help no one rather than be inconsistent at helping them all?
Is being consistent at not doing the right thing somehow MORE important than doing the right thing on a sporadic or inconsistent basis?
Again, let me say that I do not email bidders to say you can get this cheaper at XXXX. I am commenting for philosophical reasons only.
posted on April 24, 2001 10:14:54 AM
There is a world of difference to me between family and strangers.
Yes I would tell my family not to bid and have even told friends... but I could give a rats patooie if some person from "Who Cares", over pays on an auction.
I feel it is the sellers right to make as much money as they can, if a bidder wants an item and is willing to pay an outlandish amount, then it is their choice.
I don't consider "rare", "oop", "HTF"... type wording as description misleading, just hooks to get somneone to read...now if the description is misleading and the person has been found to be a little less than honest...I don't know to each their own.
Ain't Life Grand...
posted on April 24, 2001 10:32:51 AM
I was recently fired from my job for chronic absenteeism. I tried to explain to my boss that every time I passed a store with prices that I thought were too high, I would stand by the door and warn the customers coming in. My boss didn't accept this excuse.
The only time I have ever felt it is correct to warn bidders is if the seller is a crook. You have no obligation to protect people from their own stupidity. The whole point of an auction is that bidders set the price they WANT to pay.
Incidentally, I don't let my bidders overpay. I put a buy-it-now price in the text of the auction so they know what it the maximum they should be bidding. Once in a while I'll get someone who bids over that and then I'll cover the shipping or throw in something extra to make it up. But that's just my personal approach.
posted on April 24, 2001 10:42:02 AMwould you tell your mother or your sister if you saw them bidding 200 dollars for something commonly available for 10 dollars?
Probably.
If so, why is it acceptable to steer loved ones away from ignorance but not strangers?
Because presumably I would be doing so with some knowledege of their (mother or sister's) interests and situation. With a stranger, who knows why they're bidding the way they are?
Why is it a common practice to make interest free loans with no collateral to loved ones but not strangers?
Would you prefer to help no one rather than be inconsistent at helping them all?
No. See my answer above. I used the word every as an extreme example of why I disagree with the general idea of notifying buyers who are "overbidding".
Again, let me say that I do not email bidders to say you can get this cheaper at XXXX. I am commenting for philosophical reasons only.
So philosophically, you might suggest that it would be better to help one, if not all, but in actuality, you do not?
posted on April 24, 2001 11:06:03 AM
I am locking this thread now because the originator posted that she had the information she needed and thanked everyone.
Smitty [email protected]
