posted on February 5, 2001 12:42:22 AM new
I am rather surprised the boards have been so quite about eBAY's upcoming plans to remove both the buyers and sellers email addresses from their auctions and I would like to hear comments in that regard.
eBAY 'says' this change is being made to stop SPAMMERS from getting the email addresses and while I hate SPAM as much as the next guy... I see a FAR GREATER PROBLEM.
Namely, as a buyer and/or seller I would have NO WAY of knowing the email I got after the auction was in fact from the person I was dealing with in my auction.
Example... as a buyer. I get an email from somebody 'claiming' to be my seller and asking that the payment be sent to an address.
Was this MY SELLER? All I can see on the auction is the USER NAME and I have no way to confirm that this email is from that USER.
Likewise, as a seller the same would be true.
Hi... I am your buyer and I just sent you a payment for this auction but I gave you the wrong address. When the payment shows up, please send the item to this address.
There are A LOT OF SCAMS and SCAMMERS out there and I see some pretty serious problems as a result of this email blocking.
I work at BidPay and we handle tens of thousand of payments per week for buyers and sellers on eBAY and other major auction sites and a large number of our buyers and sellers have expressed concern over this issue.
I realize the 'initial' email contact is 'supposed' to be done through eBAY and this affords 'some' protection but I also know that there are going to be a lot of loopholes.
For example... all I need to do to get a sellers email address is bid on some $5 item.
Now that I have the email address, I can sit back and wait for that seller to sell that $1,700 laptop computer and when the auction ends just send them an email saying I am the buyer and when the payment arrives... send the computer to my office address which is...
The REAL buyer will send the payment...and the seller will ship the computer off the SCAMMER not realizing that they are not one in the same person.
This is just ONE EXAMPLE... any body else see this problem or have comments I would love to see them posted.
posted on February 5, 2001 01:15:59 AM new
Marek...
You have some very good points... I have not read up fully on eBay's plans. But I am hoping that they will give all registered users the option of hiding their e-mail addy or not, that is if they plan to enforce this.
I also think that they should never stop a seller from listing their e-mail address in the auction ad.
Can someone post the link on eBay's site about their e-mail plans?
posted on February 5, 2001 01:31:18 AM new
I don't see this example happening. Even if you had sent payment before they would recieve it you would have recieved an email from the original seller so you could stop payment on your check, money order, or credit card.
I am not siding with eBay on this. I will probably have my email in my description. I have sold on Yahoo for years and it works this way and I have never had a problem.
posted on February 5, 2001 01:45:55 AM new
Hi, Marek!
I am under the impression (perhaps wrongly) that the seller and the high bidder only will be able to access each other's email accounts after the auction has ended.
I can imagine a lot of scenarios, only one of which is the potential for missed bids because the bidder can't email the seller to ask a pertinent question....unless he goes through eBay...and waiting on eBay is like backing up!!!!!!
BTW, I had an auction end a couple of weeks ago on Thursday night; I received emails from you guys Friday and, knowing what my experiences with you had been in the past, I shipped same day; buyer was tickled pink to have his merchandise Monday! Thanks!
I found that if your auction is open that the seller can view all email addresses of all the bidders, but the bidders cannot see the sellers. After the auction closes both the seller and winning bidder can see each others e-mail address only. The other lower bidders e-mail address will reconvert I guess back to just their user id's (not sure about this) for the seller to view. So I guess if your high bidder backs out and you wish to approach the 2nd highest bidder (which is ok per ebay rules) You will have to use the form to contact the 2nd highest bidder.
the problems I see is that a buyer having extra questions about the item you are selling will have to use the form. This maybe a hassle for some buyers, so I am guessing that sellers will be forced to give better and more complete descriptions in the ads or serious possible buyers will have to use the form and after you get the form letter you can send the inquiring bidder your e-mail address and they may do so also...
I see it forcing potential buyers to ask questions earlier in life of the auction so that they can be assured to get a reply way before the auction ends.
I must admit it sounds pretty darn fair... I really do not see any problems with it. Except forcing sellers to describe items better, shipping, terms, shipping carrier, etc...
Honestly... I think I will enjoy it as I run across many auctions that just do not give enough information. I am too lazy to e-mail so I just pass the auction by.
posted on February 5, 2001 03:21:48 AM new
MAREK -
SELLER and WINNING BIDDER will be able to see the email addresses after the auction is over. And the EOA (if it arrives), will have the addersses.
However, I am VERY dubious about eBay's ability to handle the email load.
posted on February 5, 2001 07:10:51 AM new
brigette - You said, "I see it forcing potential buyers to ask questions earlier in life of the auction so that they can be assured to get a reply way before the auction ends."
This won't work for me as a buyer, and maybe not for other potential buyers. There are too many listings in the catagories I do searches on each day. Only time to look through the 'ending today' auctions and I've seen other buyers say the same thing.
As you stated, if I have a question that isn't answered in the description, and my question is delayed going through ebays form, then I just won't be bidding.
posted on February 5, 2001 07:22:24 AM new
I would never accept an address for shipment that was not associated with the payment. If I got an address change request that was not associated with a payment the only way I would accept it was if it was from the same e-mail addy as the payment. I put my address in the auction description for quaestions. If someone spams me I can deal with that. One particularly persistant spammer by coincidence had a rather nasty denial of service attack after ignoring remove requests.
[ edited by brigette on Feb 5, 2001 02:04 AM ]