posted on August 2, 2001 05:51:11 AM
Hello, I have a question to toss out there. Evidently I was selling a widget that has been recalled. It's a coveted widget that has always been a good seller for me (and anyone else who has them... which are PLENTY). Ebay ended my auctions (I had two listed, this time) and so I wrote back to find out why the others weren't removed. The response I got was as follows:
*****
Thank you for contacting us regarding this issue.
We understand your concern about the other items. We do review all
items that are reported to us and a determination is made on whether the
item is in violation of our policies.
When a violation has been committed we will take the appropriate action
for that item. There will be times when offenders will slip by because
they have not been reported to us. Please note that even if some sellers
are currently in violation of eBay guidelines this does not lessen the
seriousness of the violations for those sellers whose auctions have been
reported to us. However, since we do not actively monitor our site for
questionable or prohibited items, we rely on our members to report them
to us. If you are aware of items that are potentially in violation of
our policy please don't hesitate to report them using our web form:
http://pages.ebay.com/help/basics/select-RS.html
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to help you with your concerns.
If you need any additional information, remember our help pages are
filled with helpful information. You can locate our help pages, by
clicking on this link:
http://pages.ebay.com/help/index.html
Regards,
Petre
eBay Community Watch Team
*****
First of all, I clearly have a little fly buzzing around me repeatedly reporting me. I had let about one month go by w/o listing this widget, hoping the fly had found new territory, but NOT. At this point, I will not be listing anymore as I have been warned more than once now and am afraid Ebay will suspend me.
I'm tossing this out for input. I went back to ebay and gathered ALL the active "widget" item numbers and wrote back to ebay, reporting them.
I feel bad as a seller to do this, but I'm annoyed w/ ebay for applying their rules ONLY if it's reported. I wanted to see what they will do as I suspect they won't all be cancelled. If it is that important to them, this isn't a hard item to find... run a search and process the closures.
I don't know. I just wanted to see what you guys thought and I needed to vent.
posted on August 2, 2001 06:23:10 AM
I was shocked when an auction of mine was cancelled because the item had been recalled (back in 1979 no less). I had BOUGHT the item on eBay and there are literally dozens of listings for this item every month.
Someone reported me, obviously, and it HAD to be personal because the other 10 similar widgets listed at the same time as mine were not touched.
I am tempted to sit on the item for a few months and then relist it.
Ebay certainly has to be aware that many of these "reports" are the work of competitors or the result of some sort of on line feud. If they don't have the staff to follow up on ALL recalled items, then it seems heavy-handed and patently unfair to single out one.
A policy that cannot be carried out fairly and impartially needs to be shelved until a better solution is found.
Gerald
"Oh but it's so hard to live by the rules/I never could and still never do."
posted on August 2, 2001 07:40:14 AM
Hi Gerald and thanks for the response. Here Here... "A policy that cannot be carried out fairly and impartially needs to be shelved until a better solution is found. "
YOu are exactly correct!
posted on August 2, 2001 02:26:39 PM
It would take hundreds of people working 24 hours a day to monitor and remove all of the "questionable" items from eBay's auctions. Especially since their rules keep growing in size and complexity ... sort of like the Tax code!
Also, a routine and consistently applied policy could open eBay up to legal action, which is something that it does not want to get into. That is why it has loosely defined policies whose implementation is left up to their front line $8/hr help desk people ... the result is that policy gets applied inconsistently and eBay skates by unscathed.
I agree that it stinks, but such is the weird world of eBay.
posted on August 2, 2001 02:35:08 PM
"It would take hundreds of people working 24 hours a day to monitor and remove all of the "questionable" items from eBay's auctions. "
I don't think so.
When an item is reported to the (say, lawn darts), before removing the auction it would be simple for them to do a quick search on auctions for "lawn dart*" and remove all that were found.
Unfortunately this would take a bit of intelligence and even-handedness, so ebay simply relies on the competitors or gestaponazis to do their work for them.
posted on August 3, 2001 10:12:08 AM
After reading this thread I am now wondering if a bidder reported my widget so the auction would be closed. I listed a widget that I know was quite rare and got a low opening the first day. The bidder than emailed me to let me know that he had bid and said if I had any more of these widgets he would be happy to buy them. The next day eBay closed my auction. I had no alternative but to email my one bidder and sell him the widget for his low bid. His mailing address sounded like a business name to me. Do you suppose this bidder goes around bidding and then reporting so he can buy up the widgets? Just wondering.
