posted on October 9, 2006 01:09:35 PM
I just received the following Question from a bidder:
Hi there. I just bid on your item. Since I am an eBay employee, I must provide you with a link to our Employee Trading Policy, should you wish to review it. Thanks!
http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/everyone-employee.html
---
Seems real. I sent to ebay spoof and got this reply:
Thank you for contacting us about a potential fraudulent (spoof) email
or Web site. We will investigate this situation immediately and inform
you of the results in a separate email....
I never heard of eBay employees being required to notify sellers that they are employees.
posted on October 9, 2006 01:17:56 PM
It's been awhile but I have had ebay employees bid and win my items and they do tell you early on who they are - I can't guarantee it's not a spoof but probably is legit.
I'll bet they found you through your matchups! Have you gotten much business that way?
-------------------------------------
posted on October 9, 2006 02:10:31 PM
It's been years since I've had an ebay employee win one of my auctions but she told me as soon as she had bid that she was required to tell me that she worked for ebay.
But a link in the email - that doesn't sound like a good idea to me. I would not click it.
posted on October 9, 2006 04:46:07 PM
If you copy and paste the link, it does indeed take you to that page. I do remember that eBay staff do have to send something along those lines, but it's been ages. Besides, did the person indeed bid on your item, and did it arrive in your messages at my ebay? If so, I believe you can relax. Besides, the last time I sent something to spoof, I was told it was not from eBay, and it really was ....
B/
posted on October 9, 2006 09:30:14 PM
Looks like its real. I just find it weird ebay would make their employees do that.
Neglus, I've created a bunch of matchups, but I don't think they have helped get bidders. I think if the matchups get indexed on google, then it might help attract buyers.
posted on October 9, 2006 10:27:01 PM
Here are the employee trading rules. Apparently, they are required to send you the link you are not supposed to click, lol.
"The following are the rules that all eBay Inc. company employees must follow to use an eBay company Web site:
* Any offer to buy or sell items by a company employee is made solely for the employee's own personal use and not on behalf of the eBay company.
* Employees of the company are held to the highest standards of conduct on our Web sites. Employees are to abide by the terms of the eBay company Web site.
* Employees are subject to all fees and policies for using the services of all eBay company Web sites.
* eBay company employees must use a personal, non-company email address to conduct business on eBay company Web sites.
* When eBay company employees bid on or purchase an item on eBay, the eBay company employees must identify themselves as eBay employees and email the link to this Web page to the seller.
* When eBay company employees list an item for sale on eBay, the eBay company employees must identify themselves as eBay employees and include the link to this Web page in their listing.
* When eBay company employees submit Community content as members, not as employees, they must identify themselves as eBay employees and state that the content reflects their personal views and is not written on behalf of eBay Inc.
* eBay company employees participating on the site as members may not edit content on or publish content to any eBay Wiki.
* Content posted by eBay employees acting in an official eBay capacity will normally be identified by a different treatment from content published by members; for example, a pink bar highlighting the User name.
* eBay company employees who have access rights on the eBay system to hidden reserve prices cannot bid on reserve price items, until one of the following conditions has been met:
* the reserve has been met
* they choose to purchase via Buy It Now or other fixed price methods.
* eBay company employees who have access rights on the eBay system to Best Offer amounts cannot submit a Best Offer on items if at least one Best Offer has already been submitted by another member.
Why does eBay have this policy?
eBay’s marketplace is built on a foundation of trust and transparency. As a courtesy to our Community, we believe that our members have the right to know when they are interacting with an eBay employee on our site, even when the eBay employee is participating as a member of the Community."
posted on October 10, 2006 08:32:29 PM
sthoemke wrote: I never heard of eBay employees being required to notify sellers that they are employees.
It's required because some eBay employees have access to personal details or auction details such as your sales history, average selling price for that article, reserve, etc. By having ALL eBay employees make a full disclosure it protects the other party. eBay employees are also required to have the same link in their auctions when selling items.
