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Auctionbytes-Update, Number 111 - January 18, 2004 - ISSN 1528-6703     Previous Story | Contents

Letters from Readers January 18, 2004 Reading AuctionBytes: Letters from Readers

Ina, I didn't see this problem listed as news on your site so I thought I'd let you know so everyone can patch this privacy breach that ebay has opened. Previously, ebay had protected the privacy of sellers by making sure that our telephone number was not easily available to others unless you went to a special screen to request it, and even then, we get an email notifying us that it had been given to that person. Well, that no longer applies. We got a payment in the mail with our phone number written on the envelope, and nobody had requested our phone number via ebay. We looked around to see where he had gotten this number, and it turns out that there is a new section of settings for check-out, on My Ebay under preferences, under Payment/check-out preferences you will see that your name, full address, and phone number are all listed there, and if you go into help you will see that this is the information shown ON SCREEN to all winning bidders who request payment by mail. Ebay has gotten lazy and simply copied the formerly private telephone number from your personal settings into the check-out options without telling anyone, and is now giving it out to all bidders without the sellers knowledge and with no notification. I think somebody should complain about this privacy breach to ebay and have them wipe out private information by default instead of sharing it without our consent. thanks. ******** Hi; Thanks for your newsletter and keep up the good work. Here is something that I have brought to PayPal's attention without much success so far. The eBay sellers from the UK who list on any UK auction site (my examples were from eBay) can charge extra handling fees to UK buyers for using PayPal, but it is illegal for them to charge these extra fees to non UK buyers according to PayPal's own rules and confirmed by their support staff. I reported to PayPal that one seller was describing an extra 5% surcharge for PayPal International clients, contrary to their own rules. After several emails telling me nothing, and one telling me that they had sent a warning email to this seller, he/she is still listing those extra fees for International buyers using PayPal. This seems to be an epidemic on the eBay UK site and it is totally illegal under the PayPal rules, as well as all Visa, Master Card and other credit cards companies; however the will of PayPal to enforce their own rules does not seem to be there. It is a topic that could use a little more visibility. All International bidders should send emails to PayPal when they find these illegal fees on the UK sites and help put some pressure on them to enforce their own rules. I use PayPal to buy and sell and I think that all sellers should eat the fees as their own business expense. I sure do. Regards, Robert ******** Hi Ina, You are the guru and would know the answer if anyone would; Is there a service that does the following: One: Create an eBay ad and launch it on eBay and Two: Interface with accounting that will A) Create Consignee forms B) Cut a check to consignee and do all consignment accounting I have found wonderful consignment software and great launch services, but who combines them into one package? I know you are busy and I will appreciate any help. Ken Hi Ken, I tackled this question in November 2002, http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/abu/y202/m11/abu0083/s04 Estates On-Line offers eBay-consignment-related software http://www.estates-on-line.com. I don't think they do both listing AND consignment tracking, however. Which consignment software are you using? You might also try eBay's Trading Assistant page http://www.ebay.com/tradingassistants. If you find such a program, please let me know. Ina ******** Thanks for the ePier info. We have opened an account but so far not 1 bid. Hopefully you and others can get the word out some more so ePier takes off. DJP ******** In reference to last issue's Ask Nick column: http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/abu/y204/m01/abu0110/s05 Nick, Just read your latest essay in the AB newsletter, and I have to say... Hooray for you! That is the most realistic piece I have read to date about being a powerseller! I do all the song but don't have the label because I don't keep my sales above 1000 per month consistently. ( Personally I have issues with the PS qualification/label but that's another topic.) The only point here is that you hit the nail on the head and I'm glad to see it! Too many write about "oh come be a powerseller my way".... and really don't give the truth like you did. Hope lots of folks read it! Barbara ******** Hi Ina: I collect Phonograph related items and this ebay fraud is a doozy. The guy has a 10 cent minimum, no reserve, and it's a piece of junk. But shipping is $436!. Definitely a fee avoidance situation but Ebay makes you go through hoops to alert them of this scam. Sure there are similar ones out there but the phono collectors have yet to get Ebay to suspend this crook! Have a good week. Steve ******** Ina, Let me thank you again for the excellent newsletter you guys put out. To be honest I do not even bother checking on eBay's site for updates etc. I just look at my daily newsletter from you and plan accordingly. One of the reasons in writing to you, besides to ensure that you truly understand how wonderful your product is & appreciated, is to ask if you have received reports of issues with eBay's various tools? I am a Powerseller - Silver and use the Selling Manager Pro offerings exclusively from eBay. I have found in the last two (2) months that in using the many features of this product it has caused quite literally hundreds of duplicate ads being listed. I have experienced severe issues in the updating of the receipt of Paypal payments. The address not being included, the payment method not being updated and in many cases the record not even updating to reflect that the payment has been received. I have spoken several times to the Powerseller support team, the tools support team and while they are considerate and polite there have been no forthcoming fixes. I would welcome the opportunity to supply you with many more instances of similar nature issues with the tool. As a single one man show, I have invested quite literally thousands of dollars in man hours spent to build my eBay on-line eBay presence. I find it quite ludicrous that eBay can shrug their collective shoulders, apologize and yet actively and heavily promote the tool with no financial or physical recourse offered or given. Sincerely, Michael ******** Hello Ina, Kathy's letter (in the last issue, see I can't help in her current situation, but I have quite good luck with personal checks. The buyer has to trust you regarding the item, and it seems only equitable to trust their method of payment. I don't hold checks for clearance as a rule, my opinion being that if I wait for the buyer to snail mail the check, I can at least NOT make them wait further for their check to clear before I ship, nor insult by saying in effect "I want you to pay by personal check, but I don't trust you or it." But I'm sure it's not a practice everyone would be comfortable with, and would not work with all items - some categories seem to attract bottom feeders and scam artists more than others. And on occasion I have shipped before receiving payment, based simply on the good "vibes" from the email correspondence from my buyer. As for Paypal, it has become one of my "6-letter words". Regards, James ******** In reference to the following: "AuctionDrop hopes to raise 25 million dollars in early 2004 to open drop-off stores on the East Coast by Spring. Adams hopes to have the number of AuctionDrop stores in three figures by the end of the year." I've got to say that this comment about made me cry! My retail store business is struggling greatly now from the onslaught of Walmarts and megga malls and the like. Do we sell the same merchandise? NO. But if the general public is doing all their shopping in the malls and megga stores, how do I continue to get them to come to small town America main street to shop in a small privately owned shop ? Ebay was my answer and remains my hope. My antiques & collectibles business could still purchase merchandise from local estates etc and take my small town shop out to the world. My 25 yr old business seemed fairly safe still. So ok....now a good idea is about to wash up again I foresee. I am old school - bigger is not always better because of the wide range effect it has on the economic and social surroundings! If we continue to break the cycles at the root, how is the full cycle of business to survive? If everybody thinks they can just "make hunky hunky money" by dropping off their goods at a corner franchise store, what will happen to the secondary market world of buying and selling? Call me doom and gloom, but I see it as the same scenario as the kingdom that winds up with 20 kings instead of one ruler. It's not better. When the roots are dried up and the damage is done, it'll be too late. Who knows were the trends will go. Yes, I know retail is changing. But as a B&M merchant I hate to see the small business opportunity disappear - and disappearing they are! Why? Because the Haves are taking their megga dollars to make more. When is enough enough?? Does every aspect of American life have to grow in size and operate on million dollar budgets? What of individuality?? I feel sad for my grandchildren. Barbara ******** Thanks for the info re: BuySafe.com. You should let your readers know that their social security number is required! I am skeptical because there is no way to tell if BuySafe is actually part of The Hartford. Using their logo can be done by anyone. Susan Hi Susan, I'm so glad our readers are skeptical. In my opinion, most people are not skeptical enough. I sent a note to Jeff Grass, CEO and president of BuySafe. I've summarized his answer: 1) The Hartford provides bonding for the "buySAFE with The Hartford" program. "To help eBayers know we are completely legitimate, we are on TheHartford.com Web site and we're in process on a Truste filing that will provide another indicator that we can be trusted. We will continue to look for other ways to help eBayers feel as comfortable with us as they do when they give PayPal access to their bank account." 2) BuySafe asks for the Social Security number and other personal information because "we must in order to ensure that we completely screen out all fraudsters and poor sellers from using our service,...We ask are no different from those other services in the marketplace today ask,...eBay's own ID Verify tool also asks for a users SSN." Anyone who has questions about a company should contact the company and let them know their concerns. Ina ******** As for ebay raising there prices It is a shame that they are getting so greedy. I have already had a number of friends who also sell on ebay feel the same way I do. I think if some one came along and could give them a run for there money it would be good. They can come down as fast as they went up. I feel that the small seller like myself are paying the bills for the large sellers that ebay caters to. Giving them lots of perks and am sure they are paying a lot less then we do to list. Al ******** eBay is not making enough money now and they have to increase their fees! Looks like Yahoo will gain some more sellers! ******** Ina Well, just as I suspected, Ebay did not make enough money this past year. I guess the BILLIONS simply fell short of expectations... What do we do now? Ha-ha. Hence, a fee increase for the sellers. Shocking. OK....That's it for me, I quit. I know it's just nickels...imposed only to improve the site and comply with their members requests for better features. So they say with the usual amount of composition-class, cookie-cutter gobleygook. BALONEY! I've been selling there for more than 4 years.... perfect feedback record....never an unsatisfied buyer. But I'm going to take my business (selling collectibles, books, records, tools,etc.) to another site. And though I know my sales will probably decrease, but I'm making a move anyway. EPier, back to Amazon, ABE Books... somewhere I will offer my items and service. Doesn't everyone wish there was a truly competitive auction site out there? Are other sellers just as frustrated with these guys as I am? I realize it won't make one iota of difference to Ebay, but it's the principle. There was no reason for this increase in fees except the in-your-face, unmitigated greed of those in power at Ebay. That's how I feel about it. By the way, Auctionbytes has been terrific since you started it. I've followed it from the beginning. And your columns are always tops. Keep up the great work! Best Regards, Dan (An Ebay seller no more) ******** hi I have a suggestion of something you could offer which is useful to auction sellers. since you are auction site neutral, is it possible for you to create a list of auction sites, ranking them by numbers of users, number of items listed, time in business, dollar value, % of successfully closed auctions - as those numbers are available? As I see it, the only way to prevent a continuing monopoly in the auction web site business is for auction sellers to know who are the up and coming sites to sell from in this business, and there is no tool like this that I'm aware of. I feel that it's possible the market leader will make a mistake, perhaps even a critical one, and we need to be prepared with alternatives. In addition, some items are removed from live auctions and banned, often for no good reason, and we need to know where to re-post those items, perhaps on a specialty site where people interested in those types of items can be located - a collectables specialist site perhaps? eBay is clearly becoming the Wal-Mart of online auctions, and is using it's dominant position as you would expect, pressuring it's sellers for better deals, locking them into automation methods and so forth, and I think it would be in your interest to promote and rank other sites in addition to the primary sites. thanks! brad Hi Brad, We have a chart of auction site fees: http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/pages/sitepricing The sites would not tell me percentage of successfully closed auctions and dollar value. Some might disclose the number of users and items listed; sounds like a good future article to track these numbers down. The biggest problem other auction sites have with competing with eBay is getting the buyers to show up. Recently Yahoo made Yahoo Auctions listings show up on Product Search; I don't know if sellers have had increased success on Yahoo as a result. Thanks for the great suggestion, I'll do my best to follow up! Ina