posted on August 19, 2001 09:01:02 AM new
Anyone else here get insanely high bids from someone last night? I had a dutch auction of 7 items end last night, and someone bid $50 each for 7 of them (they usually go for $18), and this person is already NARU'd this morning. The 6 negative feedbacks this person received last night all say the same thing, that this person just went on a rampage and bid auctions all night. Someone said he won $100,000 in merch. Is there anything I / we can do about this person? I'm guessing not. It is an AOL address, so I'm afraid this jerk can just get another Ebay account and do it all over again!
I wish Ebay could come up with some sort of protection against stuff like this. Not that I have any idea how, I'm just disappointed because I would have definitely sold all 7 of these items at a good profit. I think some of the other sellers that got attacked by this guy lost much more money that I did!
posted on August 19, 2001 09:14:22 AM new
Why are we seeing so much more of this type of activity? When I first started selling on Ebay in October 1999 it didn't seem to that this was discussed so much on the message boards. Is it just because more people are discussing it or is it becoming more frequent? Every day on the message boards there are threads about these types of rampage buying sprees by newly signed up buyers. All Ebay has to do is limit how many auctions a new buyer can win in their first 30 days. Limit it by number of auctions or dollar amount. First, that would take all the fun out of it (especially if they are limited by dollar amount). Second, would give a chance for some feedback to accumulate. They get kicked off and just come back with a new ID. That needs to be addressed as well. Of course again, does Ebay really care? They get their listing fee for the item (some of them are cars and real estate so you know they paid a good listing fee), the poor seller will probably relist his item (another listing fee) and hopefully when it sells second time around Ebay collects their FVF. No skin off Ebay's nose so why should they try to fix it? Sellers are getting hurt by this and also the other honest bidders are getting hurt by this. Ebay seems more interested in playing with their Stores than fixing the auction site.
posted on August 19, 2001 11:39:19 AM new
Unfortunately, there is probably little that eBay could possibly do to prevent such things. From what you describe, it seems that the buyer made a deliberate attempt to defraud sellers on eBay. It is impossible to defend against this type of malicious behaviour.
About the only thing I could suggest would be to get the buyers contact information, send the invoice and when he/she refuses to pay, take them to court for breach of contract....
posted on August 19, 2001 01:59:07 PM new
eBay could solve this easily: make new aol users register the way the make people with "anonymous" email addresses register; i.e. with a credit card.
Honest aolers won't balk at this once they understand the reason. In fact, maybe they'd b*tch at aol that their policies make their good users seem suspect.
People w/yahoo, mail.com, hotmail, etc. addresses already have to register this way - why not aol? The whole point is accountability which, by letting their users have an infinite number of "names," aol sidetracks.
It wouldn't stop it completely, but it sure would help.
posted on August 19, 2001 02:11:59 PM new
That seems to always be the response, but I'd like to know just how many aolers pay their bill by check every month rather than autopay on their cc.
Also, the fact that everyone doesn't have a cc doesn't stop eBay from demanding this of other anonymous email services. As far as I'm concerned aol IS just as anonymous as yahoo etc, so why should they be treated differently?
15 million users is why, but I meant why as in logically why?
posted on August 19, 2001 02:35:41 PM new
Not everyone has a credit card, but if you really want to get onto eBay, I am sure you can at least get a debit card from your bank.
I am all in favor of that idea, but then they have 3 million plus users that get grandfathered in.
posted on August 19, 2001 04:10:15 PM new
I can't speak for others, but I know I am not able to get a debit card. I've tried to get one from each of my banks and due to my ex-husband, my credit is too bad to get one. He ran up over 500,000 in debt in my name and every lawyer I spoke with about it said because it was community property state a husband could do that. I was also told that the only way to improve my credit rating was to declare bankruptcy. I have a cc that charges 23% interest and charges me if I call about my account, but that was the only one I could get. I can't have a normal job, because these creditors would take my checks and I'd be working for nothing.
Most of my customers don't have a credit card. I get mainly checks and money orders as payment.
posted on August 19, 2001 04:41:59 PM new
I do not own a CC either, BUT I do have a Debit Card...it comes automatically with the Bank Account...All one has to do is activate the PIN number. Has nothing to do with CREDIT, since when it is used, the money comes directly out of the BANK ACCOUNT. I used to have credit cards, in my insane days, 20 years ago...No more! Why pay those ridiculous fees!
It is the account holder's responsibility to always have money in the account...or not buy anything Horror!
posted on August 19, 2001 04:51:02 PM new
tiggressoflove,
I totally sympathize with your situation, but you have to admit, the way aol hands out email addresses and "names," contributes to the problem addressed by the original poster.
While a lot of people don't use credit cards, most have at least one for emergencies, car rentals, hotel reservations, etc.
Last I heard, aol was giving each account seven email addresses, and these can be changed (except the original one) with a couple of keystrokes. That makes them anonymous as far as I'm concerned. Sure, as a seller, if an aol user committed fraud that was enough to be criminal, aol could probably step in and help find the person. But in the situation we're presented with here, we're only talking about a deadbeat bidder. Nothing criminal.
I'm not passing judgement on people without credit cards, or even people with bad credit. I mean, heck, life happens. I'm just saying that there is virtually no difference between aol and anonymous email addresses, therefore eBay could help solve the problem by making aol users register like yahoo users have to.
posted on August 19, 2001 08:44:00 PM new
Get set up with Pay Pal they will give you a Debit Visa. They are an international company so they are not like a regular bank.
posted on August 20, 2001 02:16:54 AM new
What if Ebay started doing an address verification with every new account? I know people could get around it using other people's addresses, but if anything it would serve as a 3-4 day "waiting period", like with a handgun. Not sure if this is a good idea though, as a seller I want people to be able to spend money right away. And not that Ebay would ever go through the expense of mailing out verifications. If things like this keep happening more, they'll have to do something though. Especially when it starts to hurt some of the new big corporate sellers that Ebay is courting now.
posted on August 20, 2001 07:24:07 AM new
Don't count on AOL to do anything to help stop any of this type of fraudulent activity because AOL does not care. AOL is all about numbers and it counts each screen name as a "user" to inflate it's claims of how many users it has.
Not only can you have seven email addresses per account, you can basically have an unlimited number of accounts. AOL used to only allow one account per credit card number....now they don't even have that rule.
AOL has no sense of corporate responsibility to the online community and no conscience. In addition to fraud, it is a haven for hate groups of every persuasion and it's phony Terms of Service are almost never enforced.
Almost all the NPBs I have had have been from AOL. I hate to judge people guilty before proof but I shudder when I get a 0 feedback bidder from AOL.
Gerald
"Oh but it's so hard to live by the rules/I never could and still never do."
posted on August 20, 2001 08:16:01 AM new
Last year a nut bid millions on a dutch auction of mine. My ebay bill with the final value fee was $1,875,013.00. After 3 communucations I finally got them to issue a credit - twice. My account was +$1,875,013.00
Do you think they would cut me a check???NO.
Horror!