We've heard about road rage and air rage. But what about online auction rage? I'm working on a story for AuctionWatch that has to do with how folks sometimes can't control their anger when it comes to buying and selling at online auction. I'm looking for examples of such behavior.
Have you been the victim or heard about cases of online auction rage (harassing a seller with threats via email or the telephone, placing bids on all of a seller's auctions to get back at him/her with no intent of paying, etc.)? And do you have any thoughts on why this kind of thing happens? Does the anonymity of the Internet and online auctions embolden people to commit acts that they might not otherwise do?
Feel free to post your comments here or send them to me via email at [email protected]. Many thanks.
posted on May 18, 2001 05:56:30 PM
When I first started selling, I had a neurotic bidder that sent me no less than 20 emails--all about an auction that closed at about $20.00.
She complained about shipping, I gave in. She complained that I didn't post feedback the second she paid. Then she complained she was disappointed, blah blah blah.
I refunded her money, put a block on her email, and told her to never bid on my auctions again. I also have her blocked on my ebay bidder block.
I have been selling for 2 1/2 years and no bidder has ever been as rude as this one.
sooo.... I assume they pick up the package up from you at
zip code:
xxxx... say they make an attemp at my place on 2/2/01
and then
the NEXT DAY they try to deliver to some unknown address
in zip
code: xxx and then it arrives back (I assume) at your
doorstep on
2/6/01? Geeze.. something is seriously wrong here! For
starters, if
they did leave a pick up notice with me... they gave me
the same day
to pick it up before trying to deliver it somewhere
else... then sending
it back to you in order for you to get it back 4 days
later! This was
most definately a failed attempt on the post offices
part!
I am not happy about sending you more money to ship
something
out, again when it was 0 percent my fault. I most
definately would go
and complain to Post Office and see if they will do right
by you (and
me) and resend this at their expense. It would be the
right thing for
them to do.
If this fails and only if it fails, then get with UPS and
let me know what
the charge is for ground to send it to me...
I won't print the one's that make us all blush funny colors!, but I get 'em
[ edited by Empires on May 18, 2001 06:16 PM ]
posted on May 18, 2001 06:30:01 PM
When i first started i had a man call my office and ask for my wife . At that time my nick name was my wifes name , it was more of a way to show her i loved her in everything i do. Well he called the office and ask for for her becasue of the nick name !!! He then threadened to kill her if he did not get the product. He told her that he new were our office was and that he knew people that could take her out. Well needless to say my wife was a mess when i came home, she was crying none stop and it took an hour to get her to tell me what happend. She asked me to stop selling on ebay and i agreed . Whats really scared us was that, we had nothing to hide as we had our address in the open and phone avaiable for any calls . Well 6 mouths went by and i had a talk with the wife promised to change the nick name. That was the worst it ever got on ebay. one last thing the person lived only 100 miles from us and the item only cost $6.00
posted on May 18, 2001 07:26:50 PM
I had a guy one time who happened to be a truck driver, claim he knew were I lived and threatened to hunt me down! It turned out to be an idle threat of course, but I was a bit paranoid for about a month. Anytime someone does this report them to everyone possible, Ebay, their ISP, and make copys of the threatning e-mail to give to your local sherrifs department. Some people are just down right wacky these days, so you just never can be too sure!!!!
posted on May 18, 2001 08:53:02 PM
Approximately 18 months ago I auctioned a couple unopened bottles of a weight loss supplement that I had never got around to using. These items were frequently seen on television advertising.
I received some pre-bid questions from a person who said that he was buying this as a "birthday present" for his nephew and wanted to make sure it was the same thing as seen in television advertising. I thought to myself that this is a pretty strange birthday gift and replied that it was indeed the same product as advertised on television. This person then made a bid a short time later.
Three hours before the auction the bidder wrote to me and stated that he had won the auction and to inform him what the total for the auction was and he would pay me. I replied and told the bidder to recheck the auction and he would see that the auction would end in 3 hours. I got a reply stating, "Sorry, my mistake but I know I'll win this item." Again, rather odd.
Three hours later there had been a total of 4 additional bids and the price had increased by $16 but this person was still the winning bidder. (I was hoping for someone else at this point.)
I emailed the bidder with the End of Auction information. (Friday night at midnight) I received a reply that said it was pretty suspicious that there were several bids after he had mistakenly sent the email about being the winner. I informed him that it is quite normal for auctions to receive multiple bids at the end of their auction period.
I got back, "Yea. Whatever. I need to have this immediately for my newphews birthday on Tuesday. How much is it for overnight delivery?" Now I'm thinking that this is really getting pretty strange. I informed him of the rate for USPS Express Mail. He didn't like that. He then told me that he would Express Mail me a money order and that he wanted it sent on Monday by Priority Mail because he knew it would be there on Tuesday. This is getting more bizarre all the time. I replied that even if he Express Mail shipped the payment to me for Monday I could guarantee that Priority Mail would definitely not get it to Florida by Tuesday and I would not be responsible for the amount of time it takes.
I got a reply back that said, "I know how long it f**king takes for Priority Mail. Just do the f**k what I tell you to do."
At this point it's obvious that this person is a few fries short of a happy meal. I just reply that his profanity is not appreciated nor will be tolerated. I inform him that I will send the item as he has requested but will not be responsible for the time it takes to be received by him.
Monday came and went with no payment. I emailed him and informed him that his payment was not received and there would be no guarantees whatsoever on the arrival time.
Eight days later I get a money order from him postmarked the previous Friday... three days after the "birthday." At this point I was extremely suspicious of this buyer. I photographed the item and the packing materials and then the box after the package was sealed. I sent out the item using Priority Mail with Delivery Confirmation. I then emailed the buyer and informed him of the receipt of payment and shipment.
The bidder was in Florida and everything seemed to have gone just fine with the delivery occuring in three days. I saw, through Delivery Confirmation, that the item had been delivered and heard nothing more from the buyer.
About 10 days later I started getting very strange messages from the buyer. First, he began writing that I sent him a counterfeit product. I wrote him back and stated very clearly that the item was genuine and correctly described in the auction. He wrote back insisting that the item was fake, that it wasn't what it was listed to be and he was going to contact the manufacturer. I pointed out that a photograph of the item was in the auction listing and that was exactly the genuine item he received and to feel free to contact the manufacturer.
I heard nothing more for five more days. During this period I looked up his bidding history. I discovered that in the last month he had won auctions from 4 other sellers for exactly the same item. I also noticed that none of these sellers had filed any feedback comments on this person. I started emailing all of the other sellers and recounting my story to them. It was no surprise that each of the sellers had exactly the same thing happen to them. This person was buying the item for their "nephew's birthday" in a matter of a few days and made all sorts of bizarre demands. (This person had a lot of birthdays! Is getting weight loss supplement as bad as getting socks for your birthday?) I was also forewarned of what was next to come.
On the sixth day of peace and quiet I received another email from the buyer. This time he stated that he believed that I had poisoned the product that I sold to him. He said that he was going to take it to a "friend who worked at a lab" to find out what I had put in it. He also stated that he was contacting the FBI and the DEA and was going to have me arrested.
Ahhh... now the trump card! I knew this was coming from what the other sellers had emailed me because he did this to every one of them. I emailed back and informed him that I had already communicated with the other four sellers he tried to pull this with and that his game is now over. I instructed him to take a look at the jpeg attachment to the email message and he would see that item he received and that it still had the band on the cap. I informed him that I was contacting SafeHarbor and that he was no never bid on anything I sell again and to never contact me again. To this I received a one line reply, "What's with the attitude?!?!"
I then recontacted the other sellers and we all sent emails to SafeHarbor documenting he emails and threats. Within 2 days his account was NARU.
[ edited by avaloncourt on May 18, 2001 09:00 PM ]
posted on May 19, 2001 04:08:17 AM
Whoa!!!!
All my buyers are boring. No rage, no strange e-mails...... only nice, normal behavior.
Some send me photos of their pets or try to stay in contact with me even after the auction has ended; just to chat!
posted on May 19, 2001 07:06:59 AM
I had a buyer of a large number of pricey items threaten to get violent with me.
Fortunately I use a PMB (private mail box) That is 2 blocks from my residence.
They showed up at my mail service threatening to get violent because I left 4 NPB's, FVF credits, and Negs and had them NARU'd Which caused 100 of their listings to be canceled.
After the auction this guy wanted to renegotiate the price and I refused.
He did this a few times and had other sellers take the same course of action.
He claimed I ruined his antique business and he was going to have to declare bankruptcy.
When the manager called up and told me this guy was looking for me she had already called the police.
I wish he had shown up here (I keep a loaded handgun in my apartment) but he was dumb enough to leave his name and number at my mail service and was promptly picked up and charged with making Terroristic threats.
I started using cell phone number that couldn't be traced to my address after that.
This guy had done similiar stuff before and had warrents for making phone calls I happened to be unfortunate enough to live close to him. So he could make personal contact. He is still awaiting trial, for this and selling stolen items from New Orleans cemetaries. (real morally upstanding guy)
