posted on April 25, 2001 07:27:14 AM
Last night on one of the Boards a poster noted that he had received spam email from TTA (Take-to-Auction). They are a large vendor with some sort of "extra" arrangement with eBay.
The only connection he had to TTA was that he had looked at one of their auctions. The next day he was hit with a spam email.
Out of curiousity I went to look at the source code but nothing jumped out at me. (I am not an expert on "cookies" though.) Not surprisingly, this morning I received a spam email from TTA.
So either:
1. eBay is renting addresses and violating privacy issues OR
2. TTA's auctions contain a cookie that harvests email addresses....
Either way, I am not happy with being the recipient of an eBay sellers' unsolicited "please buy from us" email. I forwarded it to Safeharbor and SpamCop.
posted on April 25, 2001 08:09:31 AM
Every one of my selling accounts got the spam from TTA. Ebay must be selling our email names for some of their revenues. No other explanation. Privacy is a one way with them, I guess. (Tell the bidders to call the sellers, but don't give out THEIR phone number, for example!)
As to TTA it is a horrible concept, designed to appeal to the inexperienced so they can turn off more ebay buyers.
The unscrupulous recruiting the unknowing to sell to the unwary and soon to be unhappy.
Ebay should ban them since they are auctioning items that are not in their posession.
You give them a membership fee (which becomes "credit" in their words), then tell TTA to post items to eBay. If you have enough "credit" left, they do so. If the item doesn't attract bids, neither TTA or you get any money/credit, nor does it cost you "credit." If it attracts exactly one bid, only TTA gets the money; you don't get or lose any "credit." If it attracts two or more, TTA gets the starting bid amount, and you get the difference between that and the final bid back as extra "credit."
So you have to count on enough items getting enough multiple bids -- and enough to more than cover your original membership fee -- to actually make profit. What percentage of TTA members are getting enough or hot enough bids, I don't have numbers, but that is my interpretation of the system. Furthermore, If TTA has problems fulfilling the high bid and the buyer wishes to post a negative FB, it's you who gets the neg. Rack up enough of those, and you'll likely find it more difficult to attract enough bids. IMO, I'd fly far away from TTA. The spam only lowers my opinion of them further.
----
What's being done in the name of direct marketing nowadays is crazy.
The above are all just my opinions, except where I cite facts as such.
Oh, I am not dc9a320 anywhere except AW. Any others are not me.
Is eBay is changing from a world bazaar into a bizarre world?
[ edited by dc9a320 on Apr 25, 2001 03:05 PM ]
posted on April 25, 2001 05:36:58 PM
engelskdansk - Email me with the auction number ... this userid @hotmail.com will get to me.
There are a few ways to scavenge email addresses, and if they are doing it, I want to BUST THEM!
Or, they could have just spammed a list of ebay sellers (bought from another spammer) and claimed it's because they visited an auction. Rule #1 of dealing with spoammers is that spammers lie.
posted on April 25, 2001 11:04:36 PM
My selling ID received this spam a couple of hours ago, but my buying-only ID has not. However, my partner's ID, which has always been used for buying only, received the spam yesterday.
posted on April 26, 2001 05:57:18 AM
I visited the page and did not see the expected address-grabbing script in the source. However, given some browsers, it might be possible to nab the address in the process of sending a GIF.
posted on April 26, 2001 08:48:24 AM
I have never heard of TTA until I a) received a spam from them 2 days ago and b) here. Some are thinking they got our addresses from eBay. How about AW? Any possibility?
posted on April 26, 2001 09:24:50 AM
bkkofaz -- I only post on AW, I do not use their services. The only connection I had to TTA was that I looked at one of their auctions.
posted on April 26, 2001 10:47:45 AM
engelskdansk-
I only sell on eBay, I don't buy, so the chances of my seeing one of their auctions is slim. It seems a mystery.
