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User Comments on ebaY's Auction of America From the Chat Boards
User feedback 510 - I AM SO ANGRY I AM SURE THE PRESIDENT OF EBAY COULD CARE LESS...THIS IS A MESSAGE TO MR. OMIDYAR FOUNDER AND CHAIRMAN OF EBAY..... Fri was my 40th bday, if you want to know I spent Fri Night with a friends wife (whose has 2 kids) her husband was lost at the WTC...this morning I get a email from ebay that they are setting up a program where powersellers get to answer customer service questions from new people at ebay and this is going to honor the people lost...You are completely taking advantage of a situation to do something that helps ebay...ebay you want to help...then donate all your profits for the next year to the WTC relief fund...that would be real....regarding your "PROGRAM" SORRY BUT NO THANKS...TOMMOROW I GO TO A MEMORIAL SERVICE FOR A FRIEND WHO WAS LOST....I AM SO ANGRY AT EBAY, ITS EMPLOYEES, AND OWNERS
feedback 1798 - Heres my reponse to the self serving pigs at eBay....Congratulations, this has got to be the stupidest self serving idea that you knotheads have come up with yet. How dare you use the tragedy in NY to promote people to work for your site to help you with your workload.I have been in eBay for more than 3 years and seen dumb things done by your staff of idiots and this one has to be the best. There are not enough bad words in the english language to call you. This is one of the worst times in the history of the U.S. and there you folks sit in a company that makes millions of dollars and don't pay a penny to your shareholders in dividends and you just keep lining your pockets,you are the example they should use when little children say Dad why do they hate America? Corporate pigs!!!! powerseller Ron....
feedback 1260 - OMG...I thought I was going to be reading how we could HELP WITH THE NATIONAL TRAGEDY.......Ebayyyyyyyyyyyyy, you nitwits! People help newbies on this board all day long! Now, its th users job to police th site...to snitch...and now you want the users to show people how to use this site.......oh, I'm getting a headache.......and you pay pinkliners and customer support for what?????????? Those who signed up...good for you...sounds like Ebay needs all the help it can get....and someone please show them the way to OZ...maybe they can find a heart there! sheeeeesh! I am amazed!
feedback 538 - I know that many times I am thick as a brick, but, I am truly confused about the "request for volunteers" What part of this helps victims of the mess. I do not want to shoot self in foot, but, does'nt this sound like a request for free "unpaid" customer support for Ebay Corporate???? Someone please explain.
feedback 229 - I guess I'm just plain cynical when it comes to eBay and their way of doing things. I thought this was a way for eBay to donate to the cause not a way for them to inflate eBay's numbers on the back of the eBay community. If eBay had announced they were going to match the donations of the members rather than ask the eBay users to donate while they waive their excessive fees I was willing to put up something from my collection. No thanks cheapBAY I can donate on my own. Why don't you try donating $100 million of your cheapened dollars???????
feedback 25 - i don't want to take away from the tragedy that happened last week, but I don't agree with ebay's method of donation. I agree with having a link to donate funds, only if you wish. With attaching it to sell items, it starts a domino affect of patriotic guilt. I personally want to be able to carry on business, as normal as possible, without having people giving me a difficult time about my patriotism to this country. I am not trying to start a flame here, it is just that once you go down this road of "Do it for America" and associating it with daily actions, it can get out of hand. I just want to give my money and time on my terms to what I think will be help the situation and give me peace of mind.
feedback 2313 - Gwyneth.. How is billpoint going to handle the Chargebacks for this program? Will the seller be out the item and then also get the chargeback (plus $10 for billpoint) when billpoint doesn't verify the cardholder? Or will billpoint eat the Chargeback during this promotion? After 5 chargebacks where the name and address that billpoint provided was not even remotely close to the actual cardholder, it will be a cold day in hell before I use billpoint again.
feedback 229 - I discussed this plan with a tax advisor and he scoffed at the entire idea as one big tax dodge for eBay (CHEAPBAY) and a way for eBay to get their name associated with a big donation. He flatly stated that unless they agree to match the donations then they are seeking publicity and as I stated padding their numbers. eBay is only donating the listing and final value fees of selected auctions (That's no donation although they get a tax writeoff). The seller donates the item, pays the shipping and eBay gets all the credit. If eBay was donating some hard cash rather than some future credit back to your account then maybe they have something to crow about. Will this community fall for this??? Donate on your own and feel good; Don't donate to eBay's future and say it's the same feel good. Guess I'm just plain cynical when it comes to eBay and their way of doing things. I thought this was a sloppy way of doing things and ebay's way of acting like a good citizen. Make the donation CheapBaY.
feedback 1082 - We will continue to donate to those Americans in need thru other ways, they need ALL the support they can get!!! We are NOT going to be diluting what we ourselves can donate by donating shipping charges to eBay bidders. And we are certainly not going to be promoting eBays billpoint. In my opinion eBay is just using this tragedy to try to *force* Billpoint down our throats *again*, while using the goodwill of the so called community to fund this promotion. Pitiful pitiful eBay. Your true colors show again. So the bottom line is that eBay will BENEFIT by increased listing numbers and a huge promotion for Billpoint. It would be ooooh so easy for eBay to set up a PayPal and a Yahoo Paydirect account for payments also but instead is *forcing* the billpoint crapola again. Extremely disgusting. Set up a PayPal account and a Yahoo Paydirect account for payments!!! You can also set up a real banking account and HIRE a few of the out of work New Yorkers to process check & money order payments. But you wont cause this is just another self serving venture (in my opinion). I hope you prove me wrong.
feedback 433 - You have a lot of nerve to put an option under search to see only items that seller are donating proceeds to the NY effort on. I am out here trying to make a living. If you want to give sellers an option to participate that is great but do not discourage potential buyers but looking at items that are not participating. By the way, I have not seen Ebay donate anything to any effort other than their own.
feedback 151 - I think it is better to contribute directly unless there were matching contributions from a compnay, otherwise it makes no sense to partner up with one. I agree that this is another Billpoint pushing tool too.
feedback 1142 - gwyneth@ebay.com - sound like a recruitment drive for Billpoint to me albeit dressed up in a human tragedy ) Shame on you ! We will list two items, PAY the fees and donate those item payments WITHOUT eBay.
feedback 22 - Wow...How can we ever thank ebay for offering sellers the opportunity donate items for sale, volunteer our time to increase the numbers of registered members, prop up the falling auctions listing numbers, sign up ourselves and others for Billpoint, and work our tails off to give eBay one hell of a PR story, all in the name of patriotic charity?? But wait, how can I dare say this?? eBay is waiving listing fees and final value fees, and how about the of the money eBay will collect that will go to help?? The listing fees and FVF area a mere bagatelle to what ebay can expect in new registered members, and no doubt eBay is counting on people to continue to use Billpoint. Not to mention that eBay couldn't buy this kind of PR for any amount. God willing the only good thing to come out of this transparent self serving eBay program is that dollars will reach the people who need it. No thanks, I am not going to be a part of ebay's Auction America program. I wrote a check for more than I can afford to the Red Cross without any expectation that I would receive anything in return other than knowing I may have helped a little. I am so naive I have been waiting for eBay to step up to the bar and write a check for a few million out of the corporate coffers with no strings attached.
feedback 194 - One last point. If you are doing eBay for a living -- consider this. You have a $10 widget up for auction. AFA has a comparable widget up for auction. AFA has charity, patriotism & FREE SHIPPING. Do you think John Q. Public will buy YOUR widget to put food on your table -- or the AFA's free shipping, feel-good widget? They're hurting our business, getting nice PR, new Billpoint sign-ups -- and all at no cost to them. They think we're saps. Maybe we are.
feedback 152 - If they allow PayPal payments AND the buyer pays shipping then the playing field is leveled. The sellers who NEED their income to live on (not me BTW) will not have to eat their shipping costs just to be able to get bids on their regular auctions. This isn't about sellers not wanting to pay shipping it's about sellers with regular auctions not being put at a disadvantage. As for the bigger picture, look at the poll on the community page .. 69% of the 400+ people who voted said they will not participate because they have given in other ways. This whole plan is the equivalent of a company taking credit for a donation that was made by deducting it out of employees paychecks with some kind of 'deterrant' to NOT donating from that paycheck. THAT's what gets me! How hard would if have been for ebay to donate ALL fees or SOME fees for a period of time? How hard would it have been for them to do what PayPal did and set up just the donating $$ piece. They're messing with people's livlihoods! This plan serves to 1) increase listing numbers, 2) increase billpoint users, 3) make ebay look good, 4) allows ebay to say "Look we DO still have a community"! I have no problem with sellers who choose to participate! What I do have a problem with is the fact that those who don't are left at a disadvantage. Not participating does NOT in ANY way mean people are being selfish or don't care. It's about CHOICE! This is arm twisting being made to look like altruism. The altruism in this plan is NOT on the part of ebay! Well .. I'm off to do something else .. this has me steamed!
feedback 711 - On a sepeate, nothing to do with eBay, mail list and emails are saying about the same as others have posted here- the AFA auctions appear to be a billpoint registration drive to them. Accepting Paypal too would go a long way about now.
feedback 397 - i figure in 100 days some ebay sellers will be out of business, wish ebay would do something to promote the fact that ebay sellers are contributing and ask them to support us, instead of pushing the button for charity auction only. not being mean, but we need to keep business going also.
feedback 73 - Boy, Did Ebay screw up this time! The Road To Hell Is Paved With Good Intentions was never more true! The polling of people who see through their B-S A.F.A. is really starting to show! It is NOT going over well at all... PLEASE, look at the poll for yourself; and while you are at it look at "The Soapbox Board" There are people really pointing out the faults of this (albeit an interesting concept, Especially for adding new users to billpoint & a hefty tax break for Ebay) really cheap attempt for eBay to grab some headlines while giving literally nothing of their own! Thousands of man hours, come on, I coulda come up with this while sitting on the toilet! What kinda genius is taking the responsibilty for the White Elephant?!... People have overwhelmingly stated that this thing is questionable at best... Most would rather donate directly than have eBay had over their money (and take credit for it, gee... how nice of you eBay... sheeish! Give me a break!) Bill Gates, $10 Million, GE, $10 Million, Cisco, $6 Million, AOL... and the list goes on like a train... As soon as eBay steps up to the plate with $5+ million CASH, I'm not convinced of anything they say... I'll just count this as a another PROMOTIONAL hijacking of seller's good deeds... Sorry, I was really hoping for more! By the way, I'm still gonna voluteer to help other users as needed and continue to donate CA$H directly... Come on Ebay, do it RIGHT or shut up
feedback 999 - ***eBay Donates First Million to Auction for America*** .................... BIG freakin deal, that amounts to less than a single drop of sweat off of Peewees behind. If eBay really gave a rats azz they would send 10 million themselves instead of screwing with this "Auctions for America" PR B.S. scam. Just what the average seller on eBay needs is having to compete with auctions where the shipping is FREE for the buyer. Thanks eBay! You mindless maroons.
feedback 621 - I have tried to remain silent on this thing but I can't. I know each individual involved will act according to the dictates of his/her own conscience. I have given through the Red Cross, Paypal, the Sept 11th Fund and just can't afford to give things away to help Ebay's public image. In my mind Ebay, on a corporate level, represents everything bad about the capitalist system. Greed is their prime motivation at all times. Not allowing Paypal to be used just solidifies my first belief that this is another way to try and pump up Billpoint. It also is going to do a lot of financial damage to those sellers running standard auctions. I hope everybody involved does well and goes to bed at night thinking they have done the right thing. For myself, I will continue to give what I can afford DIRECTLY to whichever agency I choose. I will not, under any circumstances, use Billpoint, especially this way. (And will probably be looking for a real job before this 100 days is over!)
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