posted on February 26, 2009 11:15:04 AM new
I got this email from an ebay sellers helper site and realized this is what had happened to me on ebay last week so just passing on the info.
"eBay Shuts Out Bid Snipers
NOTE: There WILL be coaching this week. See PS for details.
eBay Shuts Out Bid Snipers
Over the past 2 weeks I've gotten a few emails from eBay
with this message:
"We're writing to notify you that your account was taken
over by an unauthorized person.
"This person may have used your account to post listings on
eBay, or to change some of your current listings. The email
address on your account may also have been tampered with,
which is why you may not have received any emails before
this one."
Each email went on to inform me that eBay had changed the
password for my account and I needed to go online and
create a new password.
I didn't get these notices on my selling or dormant eBay
accounts. I only got them on the buying account.
Even more interesting I only got them when I had snipe bids
scheduled.
After getting four messages on the old buying account and
having to reset the password and then update the
information on the sniper site, I tried creating an
entirely new buying account.
Within 15 hours of setting up a snipe on the new account,
eBay had closed it for being compromised.
These actions by eBay blocked snipes on 6 items. I know I
would have lost 3 of those items, and I surely would have
won 1 auction because my bid was $207, and the item ended
at $22. I don't know if I would have won the other two
items.
Simply put, I need a new sniping program.
From a quick search online, many of the web based sniping
programs are having the same problem.
This means third-party sniping programs are now
incompatible with eBay's system. Web based programs.
So if you're a regular user of any web based sniping
program, you can not be confident your bid will be placed.
Your only option at this point is to bid early or go back
to manual sniping. I think the snipe programs that run on
your computer won't have this problem.
The reason I think programs on your computer will work is
the bid is being placed with the same internet connection
as your account.
At this point I'm not familiar with any downloaded snipe
programs. I've been happily using justsnipe for years and
haven't kept track of the other options.
Last time I looked at the downloaded programs, I wasn't
confident they were safe. But that was years ago so maybe
things have changed.
I'll need to check out the currently available downloaded
sniper programs. I started a thread in the TOOLS section of
the forum so you can share your experiences.
posted on February 26, 2009 11:34:11 AM new
I don't understand how placing a snipe (before an actual BID was placed) would cause eBay to shut down your account. EBay would not know when you placed the snipe - only when the snipe program bid on your behalf, right? Do you use a token with snipe programs (I've never used them) or give them your passwords? Are you certain that these emails are really from eBay and not some phishing attempt?
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posted on February 26, 2009 01:12:24 PM new
esnipe.com appears to still be working ok. I have had not problems getting bids placed while using them.
I can see where this can cause some serious losses for sellers who list without a reserve. Might also explain some of the ridiculously low prices I have seeing this week on items that normally have much higher final values.
posted on February 26, 2009 02:16:11 PM new
What snipe program do you use? When did you start having problems? I won a couple of auctions with eSnipe last week. -----o----o----o----o----o----o----o----o
“The illiterate of the future will be the person ignorant of the use of the camera as well as of the pen.”
Maholy-Nagy, Vision in Motion, 1947
posted on February 26, 2009 06:32:13 PM new
Very interesting Postcard....I had the exact same message sent to me that my account was compromised....it was the same "word for word" and I had to reset my password..it was a mess...I had 500 auctions running at that time.....the interesting thing is ..I was sniping at that time....what sniping program was I using? JUSTSNIPE.COM.....NEVER AGAIN
posted on February 27, 2009 06:23:41 PM new
bootclan wrote: and I had to reset my password..it was a mess...I had 500 auctions running at that time.....the interesting thing is ..I was sniping at that time....what sniping program was I using?
JustSnipe have said that eBay is at fault - check their forums for updates here and here. Other online sniping tools have also had similar problems now and over the past year.
The important thing for any eBay seller is: always us a separate eBay buying, selling and forum posting account!
Why?
Well, if you use the same eBay account for buying, selling and making forum postings, and get into any disputes while buying items or making controversial posting in the forums - any disgruntled person can make a purchase from you and leave you negative feedback & low DSRs. As a seller you'll have ZERO comeback (under the new, improved eBay selling experience&trade. Nasty people can also stalk your auctions and make high $$$ bids (using "throwaway" eBay accounts) then not pay or cancel their bids. All sorts of auction interference or "terrorism" can and do happen.
Separate eBay accounts mean much less chance or this or other auction "terrorism" a.k.a. interference. BTW you can have as many eBay accounts as you want; in fact eBay loves multiple accounts as they can pass them off as new customers to their few remaining investors.
. Nasty people can also stalk your auctions and make high $$$ bids (using "throwaway" eBay accounts) then not pay or cancel their bids. All sorts of auction interference or "terrorism" can and do happen.