3 September 2009
EventHorizon1984
By now you're seen the joint General Motors (GM) and eBay joint communique, "eBay Motors and General Motors Extend California 'Click and Buy' Promotion Through September', trumpeting their success.
As they put it:
- "Since the beginning of the program through August 30, shoppers visited dealers’ virtual showroom sites more than 1 million times and logged more than 1.4 million searches of GM inventory. In addition, nearly 4,000 new car buyers entered into negotiations online, over the phone and in person"
However if you're the type that examines the hype and have a few questions, you may have spotted these articles:
- EBay Issues A Press Release Update About Their Innovative Relationship With GM
- TheBrewsNews.com - "So, let me get this straight… eBay put out a press release saying that a 57.1% feedback seller who has less than a handful of items that sold on the platform in a month, out of tens of thousands of listings, is part of a “successful” eBay experiment because the seller was able to generate almost 4,000 leads to conduct business outside of eBay. I guess the term “innovative relationship” is probably an accurate description for the eBay-GM partnership. The innovative relationship with GM does seem to fit in quite nicely with eBay’s whole disruptive innovation theme they currently have going on. And, as Rob Chesney says, it is what eBay does best."
- GM + eBay = Crash & Burn
- DiamondHaus.com - "Doing a search of GM’s completed listings currently yields over 39000 listings for the past two weeks. Going over the first five pages of 200 listings each yields no sales. In fact I’ve watched this seller for a few weeks and have yet to find a single sale after going through approximately 10 – 20 pages. However, yourgmdealer has received 9 feedbacks (more on that later) so there have been some sales. Based on eBay’s stated average of a 70% feedback participation rate that would mean yourgmdealer has made roughly 13 sales. This would yield a 0.03 % sell-through rate. That’s about 100 times worse than BUY’s sell-through rate."
- GM Extends Its eBay Partnership - But Why?
- SeekingAlpha.com Richard Read - "GM's vice president of U.S. sales, Mark LaNeve, says that "The numbers on eBay itself aren't significant, but we didn't think it would be." Unfortunately, that's the classic "Yeah, we meant to do that" explanation for poor performance that never convinces anyone."
- eBay Motors Extends Special Deal for GM
- AuctionBytes.com Ina Steiner -
- "AuctionBytes has received email letters from sellers pointing to the low feedback ratings consumers are leaving for the seller."
- "Another complaint is that eBay is condoning off-eBay sales through the agreement."
- General Motors brings its legacy of bad service to eBay
- WalletPop.com - "Exhibit A in the "Nothing has changed" file is this: the feedback rating for GM's eBay account."
- eBay Seller YOURGMDEALER Racking Up The Negs!
- eBayMotorsSucks.com - "Meanwhile 11,410 GM Vehicles are left to sell on eBay - At the rate they are selling, the 2011’s will be out!"
- General Motors' deal with eBay leads to few sales
- BloggingStocks.com - "In the program's first week, there were 2,400 offers that led to negotiations, but the companies declined to say how many of those actually culminated in sales -- which is never a good sign."
Yes, the above is blatant link gathering, abet we do make it easier for you to find these articles.
We do recommend reading the TheBrewsNews.com article, and subscribing to their site.
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"We know GM has the vehicles, if not they can build them. ~ LOL"
ebay_paid
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Below is the obligatory screen shot (click to enlarge) of the eBay feedback for General Motors (GM).
And a text copy of GM's feedback.
http://feedback.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewFeedback2&userid=yourgmdealer| 10 Feedback received |
| Feedback | From / Price | Date / Time | |
| Pleasant and easy to deal with | Buyer: | Sep-02-09 10:08 | |
| Chevrolet : Colorado (#390079847689) | US $28,427.00 | View Item | |
| no car to buy | Buyer: 1spongekitty ( 1 ) | Sep-01-09 08:08 | |
| Chevrolet : HHR (#350241521084) | US $25,214.00 | View Item | |
| BAIT AND SWITCH. POST BIN RAISED PRICE BY 950 FOR "TRUE COAT" ALA FARGO. | Buyer: | Aug-23-09 19:30 | |
| Pontiac : Solstice (#320410583374) | US $30,002.00 | View Item | |
| Dealer was very nic, item was as advertised and transaction was straightforward. | Buyer: | Aug-21-09 11:05 | |
| GMC : Canyon (#320410579385) | US $13,436.00 | View Item | |
| IT HAS BEEN A VERY EASY PROCESS | Buyer: 661henryglen ( 0 ) | Aug-21-09 10:48 | |
| Chevrolet : Equinox (#320413548483) | US $21,710.00 | View Item | |
| Great Deal for My Cobalt at Rotolo Chevrolet Superb Service by Shane Brown & All | Buyer: | Aug-21-09 09:41 | |
| Chevrolet : Cobalt (#390079847630) | US $16,131.00 | View Item | |
| Used "Buy It Now". Listed @ "wrong" price. Dealer refused to sell. GM no help !! | Buyer: | Aug-20-09 17:47 | |
| Chevrolet (#390080182961) | US $42,085.00 | View Item | |
| THIS A VERY SIMPLE PROCESS | Buyer: 661henryglen ( 0 ) | Aug-20-09 16:51 | |
| Chevrolet : Cobalt (#350241502303) | US $14,580.00 | View Item | |
| it was very easy | Buyer: 661henryglen ( 0 ) | Aug-20-09 15:37 | |
| Chevrolet : Equinox (#320412117336) | US $21,451.00 | View Item | |
| The dealer was excellent, and we are happy with the purchase. | Buyer: pyates1_2007 ( 0 ) | Aug-15-09 23:04 | |
| Pontiac : Vibe (#350238284907) | US $16,630.00 | View Item |
In keeping with the article title, let's look into zero feedback buyers 661henryglen and pyates1_2007. At the time of this article, neither has received any positive feedback from the sellers they made purchases from.
If you're wondering why zero feedback buyer strategicnetworksinc is not on our poke into list, we suspect they are Strategic Networks INC , a legitimate buyer.
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"Richard Kimble has been tried and convicted for the murder of his wife. But laws are made by men, carried out by men. And men are imperfect. Richard Kimble is innocent."
The Fugitive (1963)
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In the current rush to figure out what is going on with the GM and eBay deal, it's been posited that 661henryglen and pyates1_2007 are shill bidders. That they were sent in to boost feedback for GM.
This is wrong.
Consider for a moment that yourgmdealer (General Motors) was not the only seller that 661henryglen and pyates1_2007 and made purchases from. You do know that these two made purchases from other sellers? Ergo if you believe the shill bidder assumption, then 661henryglen and pyates1_2007 must be doing the same for the other sellers they made purchases from?
Really???No.
This is not to say that there is no shill bidding or feedback manipulation occurring on eBay. But considering the other sellers involved here, we don't see it.
Let's try the simpler explanation. That perhaps we're dealing with what's commonly known as a "joy bidder".
- "These particular group of people would just bid and win your item and then refuse to respond to your emails or calls for payment." paladin_star
( 79
)
Anyone take the time to ask these other sellers about these other closed transactions? Take a guess as to what we did.
We believe it is wrong and unfair to tarnish the reputations of the other sellers involved. If you feel the 'innocent unless proven guilty' is overly broad, honest sellers should consider that could have been you.
And with an abundance of joy bidders it can still be you.
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"The dealer was excellent, and we are happy with the purchase."
pyates1_2007 ( 0 )
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Buyer number one is pyates1_2007 and they've been an eBay member since November 27 2004. According to eBay they reside in California (United States).
These are their last three purchases, and they've received no feedback.
Buyer pyates1_2007 bought a set of four tires. For a very nice price.
Nine days later pyates1_2007 purchased a 2010 Pontiac Vibe w/1SA "4 cylinder 1.8L Anti-Lock Brakes Bucket Seats" from GM San Diego, and the next day another 2010 Pontiac Vibe w/1SA (Hatchback 4 cylinder 1.8L Anti-Lock Brakes Power Brakes) from GM Paso Robles. The only feedback they've given is for one of those cars.
- #350238284907 -- Paso Robles GM Dealer
- 2010 Pontiac Vibe w/1SA (Hatchback 4 cylinder 1.8L Anti-Lock Brakes Power Brakes)
- Purchased at: Aug-13-2009 11:15:24 PST
- Feedback left at: Aug-15-2009 23:04 PST
This looks like someone doing comparison shopping, then over the next two days taking what they consider the better deal. The making multiple purchases but paying for only one, is a type of buyer/transaction common on eBay.
Our verdict: Another satisfied GM customer.
Our condolences to the San Diego GM dealership.
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"it was very easy"
661henryglen ( 0 )
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We're sure it was easy.
Buyer number two is 661henryglen and they've been an eBay member since June 03 2009. According to eBay they reside in California (United States).
They made multiple purchases over a two day (24 hour) period, and they've received no feedback.
http://feedback.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewFeedback2&userid=661henryglen&ftab=FeedbackLeftForOthers| 9 Feedback left |
| Feedback | Left for | Date / Time | |
| THANK YOU | Seller: | Aug-21-09 14:31 | |
| -- (#390083797397) | -- | View Item | |
| thank you | Aug-21-09 14:26 | ||
| -- (#220466055499) | -- | View Item | |
| thank you | Aug-21-09 14:22 | ||
| -- (#270444908199) | -- | View Item | |
| THANK YOU | Aug-21-09 12:35 | ||
| -- (#180399022173) | -- | View Item | |
| THANK YOU | Aug-21-09 12:26 | ||
| -- (#400068379238) | -- | View Item | |
| THIS WAS VERY SIMPLE | Aug-21-09 12:24 | ||
| -- (#320414700852) | -- | View Item | |
| IT HAS BEEN A VERY EASY PROCESS | yourgmdealer ( 2 ) | Aug-21-09 10:48 | |
| -- (#320413548483) | -- | View Item | |
| THIS A VERY SIMPLE PROCESS | yourgmdealer ( 2 ) | Aug-20-09 16:51 | |
| -- (#350241502303) | -- | View Item | |
| it was very easy | yourgmdealer ( 2 ) | Aug-20-09 15:37 | |
| -- (#320412117336) | -- | View Item |
Here's where it gets interesting.
The list below shows on line one the item number and seller. Line two has the time the item was purchased and the time feedback was left and the time between the two events (Hours:Minutes:Seconds). Line three shows the purchase price and the name of the item.
Pay careful attention to the times in each line two.
- 390083797397 -- gigadirect ( 1280
) - Aug-21-2009 14:31:00 -- Aug-21-2009 14:31 PST -- 00:00:00
- $1,499.00 6 WWE - SummerSlam Tickets 8/23/09 (Los Angeles) VIP
- 220466055499 -- lmendezjr2003 ( 39
) - Aug-21-09 14:25:53 -- Aug-21-2009 14:26 PST -- 00:00.07
- $160.00 WWE - SummerSlam Tickets 8/23/09 (Los Angeles)
- 270444908199 -- miker397 ( 101
) - Aug-21-09 14:20:24 -- Aug-21-2009 14:22 PST -- 00:01:36
- $515.00 Walmart Gift Card $500.00 Balance - Free shipping
- 180399022173 -- appliancedirect321 ( 230
) - Aug-21-09 12:13:39 -- Aug-21-2009 12:35 PST -- 00:21:21
- $1,615.00 Maytag Epic Series 27" Front Load Washer and Dryer New
- 400068379238 -- buy ( 824671
) - Aug-21-09 12:11:36 -- Aug-21-2009 12:26 PST -- 00:24:24
- $90.71 NEW Haier 1.7 Cu. Ft. Compact Mini Refrigerator (Top...
- 320414700852 -- gmouse123 ( 2087
) - Aug-21-09 11:12:35 -- Aug-21-2009 12:24 PST -- 01:11:25
- $539.97 NEW NINTENDO WII+WII FIT+WII SPORTS RESORT+MARIO KART
- 320413548483 -- yourgmdealer ( 2 )
- Aug-21-2009 07:23:47 -- Aug-21-2009 10:48 PST -- 03:24:13
- $21,710.00 2009 Chevrolet Equinox LS
- 350241502303 -- yourgmdealer ( 2 )
- Aug-20-2009 16:48:01 -- Aug-20-2009 16:51 PST -- 00:02:59
- $14,580.00 2009 Chevrolet Cobalt LS
- 320412117336 -- yourgmdealer ( 2 )
- Aug-20-2009 15:33:11 -- Aug-20-2009 15:37 PST -- 00:03:49
- $21,451.00 2009 Chevrolet Equinox LS
A rather short time between purchase, delivery, and feedback wouldn't you say? Not that there appears to be at the moment any money changing hands. According to sellers 661henryglen never pays for their purchases, and unpaid item cases have been opened.
Our verdict: Possible "Joy Bidder". Consider putting this one in your Bidder Block List (BBL).
Because 661henryglen hit sellers that eBay has a vested interest in, buy (Buy.com) and yourgmdealer, we believe their buying spree days may be over.
But that does bring up an interesting conundrum. Big IF 661henryglen committed unwelcome and malicious buying against eBay vested interest sellers, why is their account not a registered user (NARU)?
Two answers:
- They're a legitimate buyer.
- If their account is NARU'd, this leaves open the possibility that ALL feedback left would be removed.
If we're dealing with case number two, this would have virtually no affect on buy (Buy.com). Buy (Buy.com) has 679,689 positive feedback over a 12 month period. Removing one positive feedback would result in an insignificant change in their Feedback Profile.
The GM yourgmdealer account is a another matter though. Over a 12 month period (or 1 month period), yourgmdealer has seven positive feedback and three negative feedback, resulting in a 62.5% Feedback Percentage.
What kind of visual image does the casual view see with three less positives? Does a Feedback Rating of four positives and three negatives look good? Which is the near coin toss chance of getting a good deal from GM/eBay.
Are we having fun yet?
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"It's my gift. It's my curse."
Frank Black, Millennium (1996-1999)
"It's a blessing, and a curse."
Adrian Monk, Monk (2002-2009)
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EventHorizon1984 Blog Log
© 1984-2009 Event Horizon







This article has 26 comments:
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eBay +++
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31 Comments
Dec 25 04:56 AMDinah Balk you have got to be kidding? To say something like this without knowing a anything about how eBay handles it's information is deformation of character with no basis. Watch out you Donahoe may freeze everything you have. LOL
There is no better way to pay on the internet than Paypal. I had an Account since they were bought by eBay use it frequently and have never once had an issue. I use it off eBay whenever it's offered. Can't how many times I've found something that I wanted to purchase and saw that they didn't offer Paypal and didn't feel like getting up to search for my Credit Card and just thought I'd come back to it latter and never purchased it. With Paypal I just log in and I'm done, no long CC # to punch in, just too easy. If I were a Seller that conversion acceleration alone is worth the fee.
That 21 days is nothing, it's keeping everybody safe including her. If her business can't weather that than it's time to find a new business...
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Watching the Wheels
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65 Comments
Dec 25 05:45 AMYou stated that you have a Paypal account, so it would be a fairly easy thing to click a few buttons and list an item or 2 on Ebay. It would be interesting to study how willing you would really be to ship an item to an unknown person without having the money in your hand.
You might want to read through the actual Paypal contractual segments before you attempt this so you can fully appreciate these wondrous protections.
I had planned to sell on Ebay because venues offer an incredibly low cost opportunity to start a business.After watching the sweeping policy shifts that began in January of 2008, I decided that there were NO PROTECTIONS in place for the seller.
I sell on a different venue and I do utilize Paypal because of the brand recognition and increase in sales that I will receive due to their service. Fortunately I have only encountered one minor problem. I did not appreciate attempting to resolve this problem via an outsourced call center because the phone rep didn't understand a single thing that I was attempting to convey. I did not appreciate the amoount of time it took to track down the TOLL NUMBER to be able ot speak with a rep whose primary language was the same as mine. I don't appreciate the cost of this phone call, but on the plus side, by being willing to incur said cost, I have also provide myself with better documentation.
During the time frame that I was dealing with a glitch I attempting all the online possible solutions and got nowhere. The supposed online help's transcripts are comical.If you repost and leave your address, I'll send you copies.
Have you reached your spending limit yet? Are you really comfortable giving Paypal access to a bank account?
I fail to see the sence of the 21 day hold. In order to sell, there has to be some sort of bank account attached to the Paypal in order to actually get your money. If there is the necessity of refunding money, Paypal can freeze said account making the 21 day hold completely unnecessary. I f Paypal or Ebay choose to extend credit to an individual, that's fine. I choose not to.
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Hirorir
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1 Comment
Dec 25 06:20 AMI'd advise you to go hardcore on this and file complaints on them for holding your funds for these 21 days (with intention to use on Holiday Season) with improper reasoning (if possible lead to sue). Your SSN should NOT be asked by Paypal, regardless of the reviewer. I believe Paypal should have a "don't ask, don't tell" policy? After all, they have all the information they'll ever need right in their storage.
On Dec 25 04:56 AM eBay +++ wrote:
> This is a real beauty -- "I don't blame her. I wouldn't give Paypal
> my SSN or license number either because all members' personal information
> is shared with eBay's entire corporate structure, subcontractors,
> and God knows who else, which is really scary when you think about
> it ."
>
> Dinah Balk you have got to be kidding? To say something like this
> without knowing a anything about how eBay handles it's information
> is deformation of character with no basis. Watch out you Donahoe
> may freeze everything you have. LOL
>
> There is no better way to pay on the internet than Paypal. I had
> an Account since they were bought by eBay use it frequently and have
> never once had an issue. I use it off eBay whenever it's offered.
> Can't how many times I've found something that I wanted to purchase
> and saw that they didn't offer Paypal and didn't feel like getting
> up to search for my Credit Card and just thought I'd come back to
> it latter and never purchased it. With Paypal I just log in and
> I'm done, no long CC # to punch in, just too easy. If I were a
> Seller that conversion acceleration alone is worth the fee.
>
> That 21 days is nothing, it's keeping everybody safe including her.
> If her business can't weather that than it's time to find a new business...
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lucky lenny
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33 Comments
Dec 25 06:29 AM-
fairytrixy
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5 Comments
My Website
Dec 25 06:43 AMNext time you post it might be wise to do so prior to having a cocktail:)
Cheers!
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eBuyer Feedback
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3 Comments
My Website
Dec 25 06:48 AMI had a customer from Russia that had paid the day before. I normally use Stamps.com and Endicia to do my postage but those wouldn't work for their address. USPS Click-n-ship wouldn't work either. That only left PayPal shipping. But since my account was limited I was expressly forbidden from printing postage through them.
PayPal took several days to clear up the block but by then my listings were all ruined and I lost several customers. I guess I trusted them with my personal information (that's the only thing I trust eBay/PayPal with) and that is what led to the different outcome for me.
I was very lucky that I avoided a wave of negative feedback and chargebacks in the middle of that ordeal. I know how eBay users are and if they strongly suspect a scam they'll rush their trading partner right out of business and then eBay uses those negs and chargebacks to justify kicking you off and holding your money indefinitely (which also leads to even more chargebacks).
Funny thing is one week they were congratulating me on becoming a gold powerseller. The next week they told me I was selling too much and almost trashed my 5 year old business.
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Paul Price
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176 Comments
Dec 25 06:52 AMWhy her account had been credited when the buyers paid. She could ship normally and her funds (if they were actually held up by PayPal) would have been released after 21 days.
We have no evidence that her story is even accurate. Anybody can say anything. Perhaps this whole episode was planted by someone short EBAY stock?
Regardless of that, I don't see how cancelling transactions was necessary or what it accomplished. The buyers get the merchandise- the seller got paid.
If she didn't like PayPal she could arrange for other forms of payment that she thinks are more acceptable to her.
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Paul Price
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176 Comments
Dec 25 06:58 AMShe does not appear to have any intent here on Seeking Alpha other than to create ill-will towards EBAY and/or to hurt the stock.
Dinah Balk is not a stock analyst- she is working for the shorts on EBAY.
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redbaron
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169 Comments
Dec 25 07:20 AMWithout some personal experience, your thoughts have no substance or credibility. Ebay and PayPal are changing the rules to their advantage, during the holiday seasonal selling climax, and putting their customers (sellers are the only ones paying fees here) at risk of financial ruin. You are making assumptions here on a situation about which you know nothing.
You are correct about one thing, however, Dinah Balk is not a stock analyst, and that to me makes her very much more credible.
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Dinah Balk
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157 Comments
My Website
Dec 25 08:37 AMGot lots of Xmas stuff to do. Will be stopping by later when I have more time.
Merry Xmas!
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arlin
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18 Comments
Dec 25 09:42 AMManty thanks for your informative reports throughout the year.
Merry Christmas.
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Paul Price
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176 Comments
Dec 25 11:03 AMI do sell through Ebay and use PayPal regularly with zero problems.
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fatseal
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5 Comments
Dec 25 11:33 AMOn Dec 25 06:52 AM Paul Price wrote:
> The vendor states she "had to give refunds" as her payments were
> being held up.
>
> Why her account had been credited when the buyers paid. She could
> ship normally and her funds (if they were actually held up by PayPal)
> would have been released after 21 days.
>
> We have no evidence that her story is even accurate. Anybody can
> say anything. Perhaps this whole episode was planted by someone short
> EBAY stock?
>
> Regardless of that, I don't see how cancelling transactions was necessary
> or what it accomplished. The buyers get the merchandise- the seller
> got paid.
>
> If she didn't like PayPal she could arrange for other forms of payment
> that she thinks are more acceptable to her.
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Dinah Balk
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157 Comments
My Website
Dec 25 11:34 AMYou must log into your Paypal account. Go to the bottom of the home page and click on Legal Agreements. On the next page, underneath Agreements For All Users, click on Privacy Policy.
Please note that eBay’s corporate family is substantially larger than what was stated. My website has a complete listing of the entire corporate family.
How we share personal information with other parties
We may share your personal information with:
Members of the eBay Inc. corporate family -- like eBay, Shopping.com or Skype -- to provide joint content and services (like registration, transactions and customer support), to help detect and prevent potentially illegal acts and violations of our policies, and to guide decisions about their products, services and communications. Members of our corporate family will use this information to send you marketing communications only if you have requested their services.
Service providers under contract who help with parts of our business operations; (fraud prevention, bill collection, marketing, technology services). Our contracts dictate that these service providers only use your information in connection with the services they perform for us and not for their own benefit.
Financial institutions that we partner with to jointly create and offer a product such as the PayPal Plus credit card where we share information with GE Money Bank to determine whether you should receive pre-approved offers for the PayPal Plus credit card. These financial institutions may only use this information to market PayPal-related products, unless you have given consent for other uses.
Credit bureaus to report outstanding negative balance accounts, as allowed by law.
Companies that we plan to merge with or be acquired by. (Should such a combination occur, we will require that the new combined entity follow this privacy policy with respect to your personal information. If your personal information could be used contrary to this policy, you will receive prior notice.)
Law enforcement, government officials, or other third parties when
we are compelled to do so by a subpoena, court order or similar legal procedure
we need to do so to comply with law
we believe in good faith that the disclosure of personal information is necessary to prevent physical harm or financial loss, to report suspected illegal activity, or to investigate violations of our User Agreement.
Other third parties with your consent or direction to do so.
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fatseal
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5 Comments
Dec 25 11:36 AMOn Dec 25 06:52 AM Paul Price wrote:
> The vendor states she "had to give refunds" as her payments were
> being held up.
>
> Why her account had been credited when the buyers paid. She could
> ship normally and her funds (if they were actually held up by PayPal)
> would have been released after 21 days.
>
> We have no evidence that her story is even accurate. Anybody can
> say anything. Perhaps this whole episode was planted by someone short
> EBAY stock?
>
> Regardless of that, I don't see how cancelling transactions was necessary
> or what it accomplished. The buyers get the merchandise- the seller
> got paid.
>
> If she didn't like PayPal she could arrange for other forms of payment
> that she thinks are more acceptable to her.
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ezduzit
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30 Comments
Dec 25 12:05 PMas far as the other posted comments, when you can't get in touch with customer service, without jumping through hoops, that's a serious problem. it shows a lack of respect and consideration towards people who work for a living.
bigger companies than e-bay have bitten the bullet because of flawed company management and poor customer relations.
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RicRoe
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4 Comments
Dec 25 12:22 PMeBay started to seriously slide when John Donahoe as CEO came out in front of changes which gutted the core of the marketplace and referred to any member that spoke out against the changes as 'noise'. His arrogant 'noise' label insulted the very customers he was trying to keep.
Led by an executive team that has barely used the marketplace, eBay is now headed for obscurity because they do not 'get' it anymore.
eBay, unlike Amazon, does not own inventory, and relies on sellers to provide merchandise to the site. This said, it is hard to understand why eBay executives have instituted so many anti seller policies over the past year.
Further proof of how out of sync eBay leadership is, they fail to understand that sellers are buyers as well. Alienating sellers diminishes their interest in purchasing from the site or doing business in any way with a company that is viewed as seller unfriendly.
eBay's increased fees across the board and forcing sellers to accept PayPal to entitle them to an even larger slice of sellers profits, has not improved the company's fortunes, but has motivated sellers to take their business elsewhere.
eBay has become a ship without a rudder, adrift in a marketplace they have lost control of.
eBay execs fail to understand that word of mouth is essential to the success of their marketplace. With sellers having nothing positive to say, buyers are going elsewhere.
Until eBay is led by a team of executives with vision and experience in what makes eBay tick, eBay is destined to become the next Internet bubble to burst.
Buyers and sellers alike have lost trust and confidence in current leadership over the series of poorly implemented policies, feedback changes, imposition of the failed DSR system, constant technical glitches, search that is horrible, forced PayPal etc...
eBay is now beyond reversing failed policy and system changes. eBay now has to replace the entire core of enthusiastic members which they have managed to chase in addition to changing the failed policies and defective systems.
The simplest solution would be for eBay to simply get out of being in the marketplace business since it is obvious they have no clue as to what it takes to make and keep a marketplace relevant and successful.
John Donahoe, Lorrie Norrington and company will go down in history as the executives that managed to screw up a free lunch.
They are not the team that will lead eBay out of the disaster they created, they are the team that turned a marketplace with millions of happy members into a poor imitation of its competition with customers who have nothing good to say about the new experience.
This is unlikely to change until the book smart MBA's are removed, and replaced by a team of executives that know and understand what the eBay marketplace is.
The fix would be for Mr Omidyer to get back to work, and restore the core principles upon which eBay was founded. He had the right ideas and the company became a worldwide multi billion dollar success under those principles.
eBay's only chance to restore itself to that level of success will be when the existing leadership is tossed and replaced with a team that 'gets' eBay.
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steve577
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9 Comments
Dec 25 12:51 PMebay for the wonderful changes that made it a better, safer place for
buyers. As to the specifics of this article, anybody that doesn't trust
paypal doesn't deserve PayPal's trust.
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o.c.d.collectibles
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34 Comments
My Website
Dec 25 01:12 PMAfter 10 good 100% 4.9 rated years, I just disconnected my reports subscription and deactivated the credit card associated with my account.
Not only will I not allow ebay to treat me this way as a customer, but I will make it my business to let every stock and financial site that I can register on, know what is going on amongst ebay's most loyal and longest law abiding citizens and their unscrupulous tactics in censorship.
Censoring the ability to mention the names of other sites to sell on is not advertising. If it WAS advertising, I would be making an income doing that. At this point in time, I have NOTHING posted to sell on any site AT ALL. I sell "live" in antique booths. I do not need online sales to make my life complete. I used to enjoy them, and the socialzation I had from ebay selling. Now that THAT is gone, I have nothing to lose letting the world know of ebay's censorship rules amongst their discussion boards.
I will not let up until I see the desired effect, you guys can all count on it!
So far, I have already described the ridiculous changes and the re-design of the site, with all of it's glitches, malfunctions, and breakages. Now I will be focusing on something else....abuse of it's oldest and most loyal, "high grade" sellers, who simply voice their opinions.
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riversniper
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2 Comments
Dec 25 01:23 PM-
o.c.d.collectibles
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34 Comments
My Website
Dec 25 01:43 PMMy rating is excellent. I left the site SIMPLY because of the WAY they treat their honest sellers.
They are selectively "deaf, dumb and blind" to their registered racketeers who really ARE swindling the new buyers on their site with poor service. They manipulate the bad ratings of these large retailers who get a free ride, listing on their site, just to make the seller still look good. There have been detections of this practice going on, and it is highly fraught with favoritism not based on ebay's own policies. Ebay is scamming every OTHER fee paying member/seller due to this issue, and it won't be long before someone exposes this publicly.
Paypal only practices the exploitive practices on ebay. They would not be doing that on anyone else's site
There is something really wrong on this site, they deserve a SEC investigation.
Dinah, thank you for posting invaluable information to the public. They deserve to read the truth about this company before they decide to invest.
I wouldn't invest unless I knew the CEO team was being fired.
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eBay +++
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31 Comments
Dec 25 02:06 PMOn Dec 25 05:45 AM Watching the Wheels wrote:
> Ebay+++, Don't you think that it might be a bit wiser to withhold
> commentary UNTIL You sell on Ebay ?
>
> You stated that you have a Paypal account, so it would be a fairly
> easy thing to click a few buttons and list an item or 2 on Ebay.
> It would be interesting to study how willing you would really be
> to ship an item to an unknown person without having the money in
> your hand.
>
> You might want to read through the actual Paypal contractual segments
> before you attempt this so you can fully appreciate these wondrous
> protections.
>
> I had planned to sell on Ebay because venues offer an incredibly
> low cost opportunity to start a business.After watching the sweeping
> policy shifts that began in January of 2008, I decided that there
> were NO PROTECTIONS in place for the seller.
>
> I sell on a different venue and I do utilize Paypal because of the
> brand recognition and increase in sales that I will receive due to
> their service. Fortunately I have only encountered one minor problem.
> I did not appreciate attempting to resolve this problem via an outsourced
> call center because the phone rep didn't understand a single thing
> that I was attempting to convey. I did not appreciate the amoount
> of time it took to track down the TOLL NUMBER to be able ot speak
> with a rep whose primary language was the same as mine. I don't appreciate
> the cost of this phone call, but on the plus side, by being willing
> to incur said cost, I have also provide myself with better documentation.
>
>
> During the time frame that I was dealing with a glitch I attempting
> all the online possible solutions and got nowhere. The supposed online
> help's transcripts are comical.If you repost and leave your address,
> I'll send you copies.
>
> Have you reached your spending limit yet? Are you really comfortable
> giving Paypal access to a bank account?
>
> I fail to see the sence of the 21 day hold. In order to sell, there
> has to be some sort of bank account attached to the Paypal in order
> to actually get your money. If there is the necessity of refunding
> money, Paypal can freeze said account making the 21 day hold completely
> unnecessary. I f Paypal or Ebay choose to extend credit to an individual,
> that's fine. I choose not to.
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o.c.d.collectibles
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34 Comments
My Website
Dec 25 02:20 PM-
Patricia013
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62 Comments
My Website
Dec 25 02:21 PM-
Philip Cohen
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11 Comments
Dec 25 02:45 PMCan anyone explain to me why users in Australia, the UK, Ireland and the Philippines, have the absolutely anonymous alias ("Bidder N") while New Zealand (and the rest of the world) has the effectively bidder-specific alias ("a***b (N)")?
The material difference between these two forms of anonymous alias is, in the case of the "a***b (N)" alias, at a given point in time when viewed in conjunction with the accompanying feedback count, it is effectively bidder-specific: experienced buyers can still check a seller’s other auctions to watch out for at least any instances of blatant shill bidding; and with the absolutely anonymous alias ("Bidder N"), buyers have got absolutely no chance of detecting even the most blatant of shill bidding by an unscrupulous seller.
And, please, don’t try to tell me that the new “Bidder History” page enables buyers to spot a shill bidder: that is simply one more blatantly nonsensical and disingenuous eBay claim. Nor does eBay have any “sophisticated software” for the detection of shill bidding: they still rely primarily on user reports: trouble is, users can no longer report, because users can no longer detect! And, eBay’s excuse for introducing such anonymous aliases, to stop fraudulent second chance offers, is pathetic and undoubtedly disingenuous.
Further, in the US, eBay initially introduced the absolutely anonymous alias ("Bidder N") and then retreated therefrom to the effectively bidder-specific alias ("a***b (N)"). Strangely, the opposite has been the case in the UK where eBay went from "a***b (N)" to "Bidder N"! (Does anyone in this organisation actually know what is going on?)
The application of the absolutely anonymous alias, "Bidder N", would appear to serve only one purpose and that is to obscure any blatant shill bidding, that would otherwise be obvious, so that buyers can’t detect it, can’t then report it, and eBay does not have to waste any of their valuable resources pretending to do anything about it.
Whether intentional or not, eBay’s application of the absolutely anonymous alias ("Bidder N") is effectively an “aiding and abetting” of fraud on buyers. What is our governmental consumer affairs regulators doing about this reprehensible behaviour by eBay?
Lengthy, detailed comments on this matter commence at
www.auctionbytes.com/f...
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User 325862
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1 Comment
Dec 25 03:09 PMthere is so much anti-ebay and paypal being posted. maybe your stories are true, only god knows. I dont want to just antogonize someone, atleast on christmas day (for god's sake). I see the same set of people posting junk about companies time and again in various forums.
I dont have any issues on ebay or paypal. if someone's account is locked, either they have been alerted on fraud for anti-money laundering or some other genuine reason.
why would anyone just freeze anyone's account, especially your customers? use commonsense.