(This month's) ebay rant

[claudiocambon]

Has anyone else noticed that, since Ebay changed its rules on feedback, buyers have become quite flaky in terms of getting in touch after the close of auction, paying, and especially leaving feedback, even when you leave it for them?

I know they wanted to change the rules to be more buyer-friendly to compete with Amazon, but I feel it is no longer the equable meeting place for buyers and sellers it was when I started on there more than 10 years ago. Between that and the fees (nd not having stuff to sell or money to buy!!), Ebay and I are soon parting.

(I think this belongs in this category, although it has a faint odor of Lounge to it.)

[John Whitley]

I can't say that I've noticed, but then I've been a buyer more than a seller lately, so perhaps I'm not a good sample. ;-)

That said, I expect that it will take some time for eBay to find the right balance for buyers. eBay has all of the data on which buyers are deadbeats, since they're the middleman for transaction closure. There's no real reason for manual seller-initiated ratings to indicate slow transaction completion. Imagine if these stats were automatically presented in a buyer's profile. Then give sellers the power to 1) set buyer rating thresholds on bidding and/or 2) let buyers reject non-conforming bidders manually.

There's also the second-chance system which picks up some of the slack here. It's worked for me both as a seller and as a buyer on several occasions.

[Wallace_Billingham]

There's also the second-chance system which picks up some of the slack here. It's worked for me both as a seller and as a buyer on several occasions.

The 2nd chance thing is bogus also. Case in point last week I was bidding on an older camera. The bidding was for $25 I placed a bid to go higher with a max bid of $40. I was then the lead bidder at $28 where I stayed until about 2 minutes before the aution ended when I was out bid. No problem not a big deal. The winning bid was $41. Then a week later I get a 2nd Chance notice that I could buy the item for $40. Why should it be $40 and not my bid of $28 which was the last legit bid on the item? This system just makes it easier to have schills, and get buyers to pay the max.

If they would cancel out the bad buyers bids and revert the price back down to the last legit bid that would get rid of the schills entirely

[TenOx]

The 2nd chance thing is bogus also. Case in point last week I was bidding on an older camera. The bidding was for $25 I placed a bid to go higher with a max bid of $40. I was then the lead bidder at $28 where I stayed until about 2 minutes before the aution ended when I was out bid. No problem not a big deal. The winning bid was $41. Then a week later I get a 2nd Chance notice that I could buy the item for $40. Why should it be $40 and not my bid of $28 which was the last legit bid on the item? This system just makes it easier to have schills, and get buyers to pay the max.

If they would cancel out the bad buyers bids and revert the price back down to the last legit bid that would get rid of the schills entirely

I would (and have) make an offer for the $28, and be done with it.
Just like in a market square, I feel ok making offers even if they are rejected while the seller looks down their nose.
They haven't gotten the best of you until you pay more than you think the sale is worth.

/..

[Brian Ellis]

The 2nd chance thing is bogus also. Case in point last week I was bidding on an older camera. The bidding was for $25 I placed a bid to go higher with a max bid of $40. I was then the lead bidder at $28 where I stayed until about 2 minutes before the aution ended when I was out bid. No problem not a big deal. The winning bid was $41. Then a week later I get a 2nd Chance notice that I could buy the item for $40. Why should it be $40 and not my bid of $28 which was the last legit bid on the item? This system just makes it easier to have schills, and get buyers to pay the max.

If they would cancel out the bad buyers bids and revert the price back down to the last legit bid that would get rid of the schills entirely

I'm assuming you used a proxy bid. If so, the last "legit" bid wasn't your $28, it was your $40. The seller could see how the bidding went and so offered to sell it to you for $40, your highest bid. Why would you expect him or her to sell it to you for $28 when you had bid $40?

I'm sure that like everything else on ebay there are fraudulent schemes involving the 2nd chance system but I wouldn't call it bogus. I've used it a couple times both as a buyer and a seller and it's worked fine each time.

[Ash]

I don't enjoy selling on ebay. I never have. I much prefered Yahoo Auctions when it still existed all those many years ago now.

[BarryS]

Things were definitely not equitable when sellers were blackmailing buyers with retaliatory feedback for trying to be truthful about real problems and genuine fraud. The whole feedback system had become a joke, so I think eBay took a big step in the right direction. Since eBay needs both sellers and buyers to make a profit, I don't see where they have a vested interest in one side over the other. If things get out of whack with sellers, you can be sure they'll try to do something--out of their own self-interest. To paraphrase a bit, eBay is the worst type of auction site with the exception of every other one.

[Dan Fromm]

Barry, I sort of agree with you. Sort of because although it takes two to transact, eBay transacts with sellers, not buyers. I believe, with no evidence to support the belief, that eBay management sees sellers as their customers and as the people who have to be, um, taken care of. Buyers are necessary but much less important.

Claudio, eBay is moving to become more like Amazon. That is, a site for stores who don't want to set up their own sites and try to attract buyers to them. If you want to see the future of eBay, visit ebay.co.uk or ebay.fr. Browsing for bargains in used photographic equipment is nearly impossible on both.

Cheers,

Dan

[DJGainer]

I tried to buy a 4 blade 16x20 saunders easle on eBay, and was the only one bidding. I led the auction (and was the lone bidder) up to the final 5 seconds, at which point the bid exceeded my maximum. The problem was that within 5 minutes of the auction close, I received a second chance offer from the seller. I contact the seller, who confirmed it to be legit.

Obviously, someone the seller knew or the seller himself shell bid the auction beyond my maximum bid, and then the seller offered me the item at the maximum price I was willing to pay. When I pointed this obvious fraud out to eBay, they simply said there was no evidence of shell bidding or seller misconduct. I responded, "Really? So you think that the seller contacted the buyer, received notice that the buyer would not pay, and made a second chance offer to me within all within 5 minutes? And even if that was possible, doesn't it demonstrate misconduct on the part of the deadbeat bidder?" eBay's response was that they had no evidence of either of my allegations, and that I should either accept or reject the second chance offer.

-Dave

[Pete Roody]

I would agree with eBay regarding your complaint. Many times there is no "foul play" involved with second chance offers. For instance, there is no way to stop someone from bidding. The seller may have said he was only willing to ship to States or that a bidder has to have some feedback to bid. Many times bidders do not read or understand that the auction has restrictions. You cannot stop a someone from bidding when done at the last second. People use bidding software so many auctions are decided in the last few seconds. All the seller can do is re-list the auction or offer a second chance bid. However, I do think you were owed an explanation with the second chance bid.

That said, I think ebay did a great disservice to buyers when they began hiding buyers identities. This makes it much more difficult to uncover "schilling."

I tried to buy a 4 blade 16x20 saunders easle on eBay, and was the only one bidding. I led the auction (and was the lone bidder) up to the final 5 seconds, at which point the bid exceeded my maximum. The problem was that within 5 minutes of the auction close, I received a second chance offer from the seller. I contact the seller, who confirmed it to be legit.

Obviously, someone the seller knew or the seller himself shell bid the auction beyond my maximum bid, and then the seller offered me the item at the maximum price I was willing to pay. When I pointed this obvious fraud out to eBay, they simply said there was no evidence of shell bidding or seller misconduct. I responded, "Really? So you think that the seller contacted the buyer, received notice that the buyer would not pay, and made a second chance offer to me within all within 5 minutes? And even if that was possible, doesn't it demonstrate misconduct on the part of the deadbeat bidder?" eBay's response was that they had no evidence of either of my allegations, and that I should either accept or reject the second chance offer.

-Dave