In every issue, readers soundoff about issues important to them. From feedback to payment services, from increased fees to posting policies, AuctionBytes Soundoff gives you a chance to air your views.
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Re: "eBay Sellers Complain of Chinese Bandits"
http://auctionbytes.com/cab/abn/y06/m05/i03/s01
Hi Ina,
I recommend your newsletter to a lot of my students. One of them wrote to me today (my most successful student, by the way) that she has been hit by the Asian counterfeiters such as you warned about in your newsletter. Suspicious names, "Unverified" for feedback. Didn't pay. And now, she gets huge amounts of spam offering her quantities of "authentic" merchandise!
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Re: "eBay Sellers Complain of Chinese Bandits"
http://auctionbytes.com/cab/abn/y06/m05/i03/s01
Dear Ms. Steiner,
I enjoy AuctionBytes immensely. I'm writing in response to your article about Chinese BIN bandits.
I'm an eBay silver PowerSeller and I'm completed disgusted by the misuse of the site by Chinese sellers as well as buyers. I had a Chinese seller steal my auction title and photos. I reported this to eBay, which did absolutely nothing, and just let his auction run its course. I don't know what his successful bidder is going to be getting!
Unfortunately, the eBay site is replete with Chinese "sellers" of dubious items. This same seller, for example, has been offering US Morgan Silver Dollars and referring to them as "Chinese art".
Anyway, please keep up the good work!
Regards,
Irene
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Re: "eBay Launches Preview of "eBay Express" Fixed-Price Marketplace"
http://auctionbytes.com/cab/abn/y06/m04/i24/s01
Ina,
I read your article. Please know that Paypal has NO seller protection when it comes to significantly not as described (SNAD) claims filed by buyers.
Paypal has stated in their discussion board on ebay that a SNAD decision initiated on the buyer's behalf, has everything to do with how the seller paid for the auction, be it credit card, bank account or paypal account.
If it's with a credit card and the buyer has filed a claim (SNAD) with paypal before filing a chargeback with the CC, then paypal has consistently found in favor of the buyer against the seller in these claims and does not inquire about documentation from the buyer to support their claim of SNAD.
It matters not if the Paypal Seller Protection Policy has been followed to a "T", by the seller, if the buyer paid with a credit card and files a SNAD claim.
I am sure you see the implications of this.
Please do something to help the sellers on Ebay where Paypal is concerned as we feel pinned in a corner, and as people who scam are growing in numbers, due to Paypal no longer giving the seller the option of rejecting credit card payments if offering Paypal as a payment service.
Thanks,
D.
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Ina,
eBay system error: Shipping calculator is not accepting data when selling items forms are used so worldwide sellers are having to create flat rate tables. Relist function is not working were shipping calculator was used and brings back a system error message.
Kindest Thoughts and Wishes,
Lee
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Ina,
EBay has admitted to me that they have a problem with listings - sometime my listings come up with half of them showing. you might look into it.
Tom
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Re: "USPS Asks for 2007 Postage Rate Hike"
http://auctionbytes.com/cab/abn/y06/m05/i05/s03
Ina,
Only the Post Office, a legal monopoly could mismanage funds so badly that they need yet another increase in postage.
I know with online bill pay, that takes a lot of wind out of the Post Office's sails, so to speak, but there are still plenty of birthday cards, holiday gifts, bills, and other things still sent through the mail (the Ed McMahon sweepstakes entries?), so I really just can't see any excuse the P.O. makes as being justified. UPS and FedEx don't do letters, and for the prices they charge, they're pretty much used when you don't have an alternative. I recognize gas prices factor into it, too (UPS and FedEx factor it into their prices). The bottom line is fiscal mismanagement. At least here, at the busiest part of the day (usually lunch hour and end of the day) are when the least amount of people are working, and supervisors work half days, so it's clear that there's mismanagement somewhere, just in terms of manpower alone. Not even gas can make that much of a difference, because each increase announced is SUPPOSED to be able to help them out of debt and make a profit, so a postal rate hike when they just had one is not going to make the Post Office popular.
The government funds other non-government projects, so it's beyond me why they can't send us further into debt by getting the Post Office some kind of loan or funding. For the small work from home auction users, this is going to have quite a negative impact on their bottom line if it goes through, and even people like myself who don't typically use auctions will have to reconsider pricing to make sure profits can still be made. Hopefully, Amazon will reconsider their stance on shipping credits, since (at least for me), my cheaper items typically end up on the losing side of things between envelopes and shipping costs.
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Re: "USPS Asks for 2007 Postage Rate Hike"
http://auctionbytes.com/cab/abn/y06/m05/i05/s03
Ina,
I found these articles on the USPS site extremely interesting, and revealing.
It staggers the mind to know that the reason for the recent postal increase had NOTHING TO DO WITH a deficit due to fuel increases, loss of income due to internet sales, etc. - but rather, extra funds needed for a "yet to be named" $3.1 BILLION dollar government escrow account! In plain language, that translates into: "I'll take six F-18's, please."
It would be great if you could pass this around to your readers, and start some protests going!
Setting The Record Straight
http://www.usps.com/communications/news/strs/05_0110.htm
(Feulner also said that the Postal Service "is famous for its inefficiency, and [is] increasingly unable to keep up."
Inefficient? I hardly think so "revenue is up, productivity is up, service is at record levels, and as already noted, rates have remained stable since 2002. In the past three years, we have cut nearly 70,000 positions without layoffs, reduced costs by $4.3 billion, and maintained on-time delivery scores in the mid-nineties.)
and the best one:
Setting The Record Straight
http://www.usps.com/communications/news/strs/05_0610a.htm
(Congress moved to correct this flaw and in doing so relieved the Postal Service of this "overpayment" for three years. However, in the fourth year, it said the overpayments should resume, but rather than the money going into the CSRS retirement fund, it would go to a yet to be established escrow account.
As a result, the Postal Service needs $3.1 billion by September 30, 2006 to fund this congressionally mandated account. If the escrow requirement did not exist, it would not be necessary to raise rates in 2006.)
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Ina,
I ran into this site while looking for something on Google: www.likeits1999.com and thought you and your readers might be interested. Its not very pretty, but its a very simplified, easy to use version of eBay that includes only auctions. It was funny to me because it seems like it is the exact opposite of eBay Express. Maybe this is finally the answer to all of the new features eBay keeps adding that we don't need.
Carolyn
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Re: "eBay Sellers Continue to Face Regulation by States"
http://auctionbytes.com/cab/abu/y206/m04/abu0165/s05
Ina,
If eBay sellers are to be "registered", let's at least give them some dignity and make it a normal business license requirement, and that they be overseen much in the same way as pawn shops and flea markets are, which are much closer to the normal eBay seller business model than that of a classic live auctioneer.
It's a domino effect... once one state begins the process, it won't be long before everyone else will too... for the licensing revenue if nothing else. My LLC business "license" costs $300 a year - the fee for filing my annual report. But... it makes it much easier to be considered "a real business" by other businesses. FedEx does not do weekly billing to individuals, even those with weekly pickup and 18 months shipping history of 15+ packages a week. But one quick copy of my LLC paperwork later (the copy stamped by the state), and I've been on weekly billing ever since. No muss, no fuss, just a quick copy and a 39 cent stamp.
States need money - the federal cash cow's been drying up for years. They've also been looking for ways to generate revenue from the Internet... and registering, licensing, and auditing eBay sellers has got to look pretty tempting. No entrenched PAC or other political activities... loosely bound, generally squabbling group (ever read thru some of the eBay discussion boards?)... can you say "sitting ducks"?
"Taxation without representation" - legislators have been taking money (contributions) from the auctioneers lobbyists for years... where's our representation? Have these same legislators made an effort to talk to the people about to be affected most, to see if the "facts" as represented by the lobbyists are indeed true? I know no one's been contacting me about this... but then, Memphis politician are more worried about our self-proclaimed "appointed by God" mayor and all the felons and dead people who voted in the last special election to fill a state senate seat... of a senator accused of taking bribes! (sigh)
Ya know... if that island has a decent helipad and high-speed internet.... maybe a move wouldn't be such a bad idea..... (g).
Bob
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Hi,
I have been ripped off by PayPal.
I won an auction, paid for it thru PayPal, never received my merchandise, had to file a claim with PayPal for my money, only to be told that there is no money in their account to reimburse, gee, how convenient, what a great rip off.
It is quite ingenious, the order is $20.00, therefore If I could file with my credit card company, or squaretrade, (which I cant file with, because I paid with pay pal,) would still cost me $20.00 more dollars for the investigations. They are legally ripping off innocent people. It is criminal, and there is nothing I can do to recover my funds. I wonder how many customers are losing their hard earned money to a PayPal and eBay scams. Maybe I should contact my local law authorities. But unfortunately I also contacted the police in another fraud case that our company lost over $2000.00 worth of video game merchandise, Unfortunately, they really don't care, and the dudes that ripped us off are still trying to purchase our games thru fraud. What do you think?
What a wonderful world we live in, its them against us. And we want to win. Is there any way that we can inform the public of this situation with PayPal. Come to think of it, this is the second scam that I have lost money with PayPal, the last one, thank god I paid with a credit card, Had to do a chargeback, I'm sure other unknowing customers who become victims to this fraud would like to know before it happens. Maybe PayPal can become an Enron one day, Oh boy.
I doubt you can really do anything to help out, my bird sent you an email one day, by mistake, and I thought of you when I have come to a dead end and need to voice some angry towards ebay and PayPal,
Thanks for listening and Thanks so much for your time concerning this matter.
Have a fantastic weekend.
Liz and Deanne
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Hi Ina,
Here's another example of eBay's "dishonesty" against helpless individuals. I won a $25 coupon when I played Harrah's Las Vegas Treasure Hunt coupled with eBay. In all of the instructions and communications connected with the contest, once the money was available for me at PayPal all I had to do was purchase an item on eBay and use the $25 to pay for it. If I chose something less than $25 I forfeited the difference. So I selected an item that was being sold as a Buy It Now and it cost $16.95, $4.95 s&h, and I treated myself to insurance for $1.30 - total $23.20. When I tried to use the $25 I quickly found out that I could use only the basic $16.95 and had to pay the difference of $6.25 with my credit card!
I stewed for a while going back and forth to the Treasure Hunt's Rules and Regulations and the other legal restrictions connected with the cashing in of my $25 and nowhere was there any mention of any restrictions about using the $25 for only the item and s&h and Insurance having to be paid separately.
Eventually, I wanted my $6.25 credited to my Seller's account and contacted eBay first through the live chat and the person that communicated with me gave the URL for the billing department. I wrote to them, explained in detail why I felt I was entitled to use the whole $25 for my purchase, etc. A rep answered and tried to convince me that the rules definitely specified the separation of item money and s&h, etc., money. I wrote back and included what I had been sent from Harrah's and eBay and challenged them to find and point out to me where they got their authority.
My messages was not replied. Now, Mr Bill Cobb, did you enjoy stealing my $6.25? Did you laugh on the way to bank? I'm sure you did.
Cordially,
Edward
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Re: "eBay Sellers Complain of Chinese Bandits"
http://auctionbytes.com/cab/abn/y06/m05/i03/s01
Ina,
I enjoyed reading the "canned" responses from ebay, including the one user who mentioned about non-Paypal users and sellers with their own merchant accounts. This simply proves my point that ebay has no vested interest in their community, their interest is in ebay, and how many places it can expand to. They are not interested in refunding fees, and like ioffer, are sure as heck not interested in stopping bootleggers, because these people make far more money for the community than legit sellers.
Criminals and bootleggers don't need to have product to have fake listings and rip off people and collect emails for spam lists. Ebay will continue their tried and true practice of sitting on their hands because people can complain all they want, users WILL continue to use ebay, no matter how bad ebay screws with them, because its proven by the umbers ebay posts, not only in growth, but in revenue and new members.
There's no incentive FOR ebay to change the way it does things, and Trust and Safety is just a faceless term, with one spokeperson and no real team. If answers to questions are not made by automated responses, which is my theory, then the people there are trained to give cookie cutter responses to questions. It's far cheaper to have a basic auto-reply program give these canned responses then it is to hire actual people, and since ebay emails never actually answer any question, that lends credence to my theory of any safe harbor/trust and safety mails being automated.
Again, community members can complain all they want, but if I were ebay, I wouldn't try to change either, because there's no incentive for it. If you go to a certain bar and know each time you go to this place, you'll be beaten, but you continue to go back time and again, no matter how bad the beatings are, no matter how much money is stolen, then why should the bar owner try to stop things. It doesn't affect him any. It's the same thing. Ebay continues to grow and prosper, and members continue to come and sell things, and bootleggers equals money. Illegal? Unethical? Of course. But if being ethical and having integrity affects your bottom line negatively, ebay isn't the first business to shun those principles.
