In response to everyones threads screaming bloddy murder (I feel your pain) please partake in the dementia known as the written word. Enjoy.
BTW, I wrote and sent this in Feb. It probably needs updating, so if anyone would like suggestions I will add them tactfully and then you can run off a copy and mail it should you choose to do so.
Mod, feel free to stickie this for a month to avoid the requsite reposts.
Meg Whitman
Ebay Inc.
2145 Hamilton Avenue
San Jose, CA 95125
Dear Ms. Whitman:
A year ago I came to your firm looking to sell my products in a positive online atmosphere. I have found to my dismay that the system of online auctions that your firm represents, profits off, and manages is far from a picnic. The system in which a bidder goes through to become a user in the system is ludicrous. The entire process of registration is based on whether the user has a valid e-mail adress. Nothing else is required. Members can fabricate new accounts on AOL, using the multiple user features, and deactivate the account as fast as it is created, leaving an active ebay account. This allows people to bid on merchandise, and if they so happen to win an auction, the seller soon realizes that their ?winning bidder? is nothing more than an apparition is; a person conjured out of cyberspace, second cousin to Harvey the Rabbit.
However, we sellers much face much more scrutiny when it comes to the system. We are not allowed to run Dutch auctions, unless our feedback is at a certain level. Additionally we cannot sell certain products due to the value, unless we turn over drivers license, and other personal information. Moreover, customers scrutinize our products to an unbelievable extent.
Your firm continually perpetuates the growth of the ebay ?community.? When potential bidders ask, ?What protections as a buyer am I afforded?? there are many programs. Several of which Ebay pays outside firms to administer, ie: the insurance policy underwritten by Lloyds of London that protects bidders from fraudulent and misrepresented products.
However, I am forced to ask myself what protections does Ebay offer me, the seller. I believe I speak on behalf of the ENTIRE ebay seller community when I say that the answer is: next to nothing. Users coming from all walks of life, rich, poor, foreign, domestic, bid on the auctions we pay to list. Wether they pay us for the ?legally binding? transaction they have entered into is another story. Our non-refundable listing fees go paid, while our wares remain unsold. What do we sellers have to do, now that we have a ?winning bidder? (who has no intention to pay, has a fake e-mail, phone number, and probably has a fictitious name to complete the hat trick)? Well, safeharbor tells us to file our non-paying bidder warnings and our final value fee credits. Well, that still does not help me. As you already know, my listing fees are non-refundable.
My merchandise sits unsold in a warehouse because a 14 year old decided to bid on merchandise he could never afford in a hundred years. Lets explore Dutch featured auctions for a moment; I frequently decide the additional $20 is worth the additional exposure. However, people bid on my products and refuse to pay me, what am I expected to do with the situation. The $20 I pay to list 10 items works out to an additional $2 per item that I incur. For every user that fails to complete the sale, I am unfairly coerced into paying fees for a sale that never substantiates. The situation worsens when I have multiple bidders in the auction, and could easily have sold the product to another bidder (although I run the risk of a non paying bidder again). Am I supposed to hire legal counsel in order to finalize the transaction with a non-paying bidder? If so, should Ebay pick up the bill? In either case, I cannot. I know that a user has a valid credit card on file, but the billing adress is unable to be released to me. Why? ?Privacy reasons.? After entering into a $1,300 sale, I hardly think that the release of an adress used at registration constitutes an invasion of privacy. Especially since their e-mail adress was fake and the phone was already disconnected. Perhaps an entire delegation of third year law students should be hired in order to conclude the transactions that the non-paying bidders have instigated. I checked the company balance sheet, and I am sure that 50 person staffs working for the sellers in the ?community? will not bankrupt the company as a ?sellers boycott? would.
After tedious statistical analysis, my firm has computed the number of non-paying bidders that we have unfairly had to pay listing fees for. The reasons range from ?I just didn?t want it anymore?, ?I got this as a present 3 weeks after I won your auction (but sorry I haven?t paid you yet) so I wont be buying this from you?, ?I found it cheaper at a garage sale 3 days after I won, sorry?, ?Dude, that?s $800 CDN I cant afford that. I mean I know I bidded on it at $800 CDN and it had the currency converter deal there, but I just don?t feel like spending that much anymore.? Those instances or variations thereof approximate 40% of every closed auction I run.
That been said, I truly believe that the online auction concept can be economically viable and fiscally advantageous for sellers, however changes must be made to the system. Sellers cannot keep footing the bill from unnecessary expenses such as listing fees, as well as the time wasted by our staff from the emergence of a fraudulent bidder. Sellers must be able to access the bidder?s information, but not just their e-mail or a phone number. Bidder?s information should not be limited to just a phone number. I believe that all bidders, as well as sellers, should have a valid state identification on file, as well as an active credit card to confirm the information given, a valid phone number, and a valid physical adress. All this information should be available to sellers, in order to complete the transaction, even if it requires the hiring of an attorney and legal action. I can understand releasing the bidder (under proper circumstances) from their bid on a $10 item, on the other hand I cannot when a seller has listed a piece of real estate, an automobile, an item with a particularly high value being sold for charity, etc?
The requirements for bidders should tantamount the pre-requisites that sellers have to go through in order to protect the sanctity of the online ?community.? We sellers must answer to Ebay personnel when the validity of our products is questioned, or have our listing cancelled, as well as our account. Nonetheless, do bidders have anyone to answer to when we file our negative feedback and out final value credits? It is really a moot point since the bidder may or may not exist.
My advice is for your firm to get on the ball and start tightening the noose on the flood of fraudulent bids we are inundated with and start working for the sellers, not the bidders, because if sellers stop listing auctions Ebay stops reporting revenue.
Sincerely,
PAB of AnandTech
Managing Partner, PsychoAndy & Associates
-PAB
BTW, I wrote and sent this in Feb. It probably needs updating, so if anyone would like suggestions I will add them tactfully and then you can run off a copy and mail it should you choose to do so.
Mod, feel free to stickie this for a month to avoid the requsite reposts.
Meg Whitman
Ebay Inc.
2145 Hamilton Avenue
San Jose, CA 95125
Dear Ms. Whitman:
A year ago I came to your firm looking to sell my products in a positive online atmosphere. I have found to my dismay that the system of online auctions that your firm represents, profits off, and manages is far from a picnic. The system in which a bidder goes through to become a user in the system is ludicrous. The entire process of registration is based on whether the user has a valid e-mail adress. Nothing else is required. Members can fabricate new accounts on AOL, using the multiple user features, and deactivate the account as fast as it is created, leaving an active ebay account. This allows people to bid on merchandise, and if they so happen to win an auction, the seller soon realizes that their ?winning bidder? is nothing more than an apparition is; a person conjured out of cyberspace, second cousin to Harvey the Rabbit.
However, we sellers much face much more scrutiny when it comes to the system. We are not allowed to run Dutch auctions, unless our feedback is at a certain level. Additionally we cannot sell certain products due to the value, unless we turn over drivers license, and other personal information. Moreover, customers scrutinize our products to an unbelievable extent.
Your firm continually perpetuates the growth of the ebay ?community.? When potential bidders ask, ?What protections as a buyer am I afforded?? there are many programs. Several of which Ebay pays outside firms to administer, ie: the insurance policy underwritten by Lloyds of London that protects bidders from fraudulent and misrepresented products.
However, I am forced to ask myself what protections does Ebay offer me, the seller. I believe I speak on behalf of the ENTIRE ebay seller community when I say that the answer is: next to nothing. Users coming from all walks of life, rich, poor, foreign, domestic, bid on the auctions we pay to list. Wether they pay us for the ?legally binding? transaction they have entered into is another story. Our non-refundable listing fees go paid, while our wares remain unsold. What do we sellers have to do, now that we have a ?winning bidder? (who has no intention to pay, has a fake e-mail, phone number, and probably has a fictitious name to complete the hat trick)? Well, safeharbor tells us to file our non-paying bidder warnings and our final value fee credits. Well, that still does not help me. As you already know, my listing fees are non-refundable.
My merchandise sits unsold in a warehouse because a 14 year old decided to bid on merchandise he could never afford in a hundred years. Lets explore Dutch featured auctions for a moment; I frequently decide the additional $20 is worth the additional exposure. However, people bid on my products and refuse to pay me, what am I expected to do with the situation. The $20 I pay to list 10 items works out to an additional $2 per item that I incur. For every user that fails to complete the sale, I am unfairly coerced into paying fees for a sale that never substantiates. The situation worsens when I have multiple bidders in the auction, and could easily have sold the product to another bidder (although I run the risk of a non paying bidder again). Am I supposed to hire legal counsel in order to finalize the transaction with a non-paying bidder? If so, should Ebay pick up the bill? In either case, I cannot. I know that a user has a valid credit card on file, but the billing adress is unable to be released to me. Why? ?Privacy reasons.? After entering into a $1,300 sale, I hardly think that the release of an adress used at registration constitutes an invasion of privacy. Especially since their e-mail adress was fake and the phone was already disconnected. Perhaps an entire delegation of third year law students should be hired in order to conclude the transactions that the non-paying bidders have instigated. I checked the company balance sheet, and I am sure that 50 person staffs working for the sellers in the ?community? will not bankrupt the company as a ?sellers boycott? would.
After tedious statistical analysis, my firm has computed the number of non-paying bidders that we have unfairly had to pay listing fees for. The reasons range from ?I just didn?t want it anymore?, ?I got this as a present 3 weeks after I won your auction (but sorry I haven?t paid you yet) so I wont be buying this from you?, ?I found it cheaper at a garage sale 3 days after I won, sorry?, ?Dude, that?s $800 CDN I cant afford that. I mean I know I bidded on it at $800 CDN and it had the currency converter deal there, but I just don?t feel like spending that much anymore.? Those instances or variations thereof approximate 40% of every closed auction I run.
That been said, I truly believe that the online auction concept can be economically viable and fiscally advantageous for sellers, however changes must be made to the system. Sellers cannot keep footing the bill from unnecessary expenses such as listing fees, as well as the time wasted by our staff from the emergence of a fraudulent bidder. Sellers must be able to access the bidder?s information, but not just their e-mail or a phone number. Bidder?s information should not be limited to just a phone number. I believe that all bidders, as well as sellers, should have a valid state identification on file, as well as an active credit card to confirm the information given, a valid phone number, and a valid physical adress. All this information should be available to sellers, in order to complete the transaction, even if it requires the hiring of an attorney and legal action. I can understand releasing the bidder (under proper circumstances) from their bid on a $10 item, on the other hand I cannot when a seller has listed a piece of real estate, an automobile, an item with a particularly high value being sold for charity, etc?
The requirements for bidders should tantamount the pre-requisites that sellers have to go through in order to protect the sanctity of the online ?community.? We sellers must answer to Ebay personnel when the validity of our products is questioned, or have our listing cancelled, as well as our account. Nonetheless, do bidders have anyone to answer to when we file our negative feedback and out final value credits? It is really a moot point since the bidder may or may not exist.
My advice is for your firm to get on the ball and start tightening the noose on the flood of fraudulent bids we are inundated with and start working for the sellers, not the bidders, because if sellers stop listing auctions Ebay stops reporting revenue.
Sincerely,
PAB of AnandTech
Managing Partner, PsychoAndy & Associates
-PAB
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