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TAGnotes Sat 24 Mar 2001 Vol 3 Number 41 Issue 302 |
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The
Auction Guild Notes for Sat 24 Mar 2001
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ebaY announced at 19:14:43 on 24 Mar, that they would
be taking the site down for emergency maintenance from
00:00 PT to 00:30 PT on Sunday 25 Mar. No refunds or
auction extensions were offered. The site was back at 00:36.
At 19:21:43 PT ebaY removed the post from the previous day about
the relist fee problem and replaced it with a post asking that sellers
hold off requesting credit until ebaY can figure out if they can issue
relist credits automatically. There was fury on the OAI/OTI
chat
boards today, as sellers realized that ebaY was not going to issue
refunds unless the seller did all the research to find which auction had
not received credit, and then request the credit from ebaY. Since the
problem was ebaYs fault, sellers felt they should not have to do all the
work to get money back that ebaY was not entitled to. This appeared to
be fraudulent activity on ebaY's part. ebaY is now saying that the
problem started on 15Mar not 14 Mar, and ended 20 Mar not 22 Mar.
Sellers are once again being asked for evidence that the original dates
of 14 - 22 Mar are the correct dates for the relist problem. ebaY says,
"the nature of the problem which caused the relist credits to not post
in the first place is similarly making the retroactive identification of
eligible relists extremely difficult. This is why we posted yesterday
that we needed sellers to write in with their credit requests. However,
in retrospect, we do realize the amount of time it would take our
sellers to gather this information, and we want to do everything in our
power to save you this trouble. Therefore, over the next several days,
we will be working with our database experts to try to find the best way
to correct this problem. "ebaY has promised to provide an update in the
next few days of the status of this problem.
TAG feels that the great pressure brought to bear on ebaY from
various sources, was important in influencing ebaY into correcting
there behavior into a more ethical and legal stance. Vigilance
should bring about the best result possible.
ebaY users continued to report the site as very slow. Cable modem
users still appear to be most effected by the slowness, but there have
been reports from Starband satellite users, and users on other ISPs.
Users who tried to access ebaY through http://www.safeweb.com
an anonymizer site, reported instant improvement with the situation.
This would seem to indicate that ebaY is blocking or trying to control
the flow of access to their site by certain service providers. The
access control could also be at Exodus, ebaYs service provider, though
most pings on the site appear to leave the problem right at ebaY's front
door.
For directions on requesting ebaY refunds go to
http://www.auctionguild.com/generic.html?pid=33
TAG strongly recommends ALL users read the new User and
Privacy Policy Agreements (UA/PP). We continue to probe it,
and so far it appears to be a good agreement, with no glaring
problems. It does state that though ebaY does not SELL personal
information, they d SHARE it. TAG is doing more research, and
reports will follow.
For a summary of the revisions to the UA and Privacy Policy, go to:
User Agreement: http://pages.ebay.com/help\basics\uarevision1-faq.html
Privacy Policy: http://pages.ebay.com/help/basics/pprevision1-faq.html
To view the entire revised User Agreement, go to:
http://pages.ebay.com/help/community/png-user.html
To view the enter revised Privacy Policy, go to:
http://pages.ebay.com/help/community/png-priv.html
Pink Quote of the Day Mae-@ebaY.Com at on 24 Mar when being
pushed to the wall by questions about what ebaY's policy on opt in
mailing/customer list links in auctions said. "TAG, I will answer
you straight up. eBay's preference is that the mail opt links are
provided on the Me page or are included in the email exchanged by the
seller and the high bidder. I cannot answer your question about the
auction page itself. I do not have enough information." These links are
not prohibited by ebaY's rules, but ebaY continues to hold the threat
of NARU over the heads of sellers who put these links in auctions, even
though ebaY itself does not know what it's policy is.
ebaY/Blackthorne 24/7 email response time - message sent 22 Mar
12:24 PT to s-@ebay.com, answer received on 24 Mar at 12:26:56 PT.
Response from support was to reboot the computer, providing absolutely
no help at all with the users problem. Several users reported that
downloading Seller Assistant Basic (SAB)was causing major problems on
their computers including crashing systems, distorting information, and
they feared, needing to reformat their hard drive to get all the bad
registry problems eliminated. One ebaY computer guru recommended that
no one download before insuring that you are prepared to do a full
reformat of your hard drive if something goes wrong. It appears obvious
that the 24/7 email support is virtually non existent.
After today's reports, TAG is giving SAB and SAP a proceed with
great caution notice. Back up your system prior to download, and
be prepared for contingencies.
For workarounds to ebaY's email system and attempt at exclusive
agency go to http://www.auctionguild.com/generic.html?pid=50
ebaY search lag times Title search 1.5 hours Title and Description
Search 3.5 hours. http://www.geocities.com/codclass/content/lag.html
ebaY Contact Information, analog mail and email addresses and
phone numbers, regular and toll free, refund info and insider
trading info go to http://www.auctionguild.com/generic.html?pid=17
* * * * *
Amazon Auctions, zShops and Marketplace
Amazon Marketplace users are still reporting better results
with books on Amazon that they get on Half.Com.
Amazon User chat board
http://amazon.remarq.com/amazon/threads.asp?g=discuss%2
Eamazon%2Eseller%2Econnection&nav=LAST
Amazon owned Bibliofind.Com is free for the
bookselling community.
http://www.bibliofind.com/joiningbibliofind.htm
Amazon live telephone customer service 16 hours a day Toll-free
in U.S. and Canada: (800)201-7575
http://auctions.amazon.com
* * * * *
Yahoo Auction
Yahoo announcement board
http://auctions.yahoo.com/phtml/auc/us/promo/announcements.html
Yahoo site map.
http://auctions.yahoo.com/phtml/auc/us/promo/sitemap.html
http://auctions.yahoo.com/
Yahoo Contact Information
http://www.auctionguild.com/generic.html?pid=38
Yahoo PayDirect phone number
1-877-521-1458
Actual auction count 21 Mar 267,761 of all auctions available via
the Yahoo category page. Spot check yields a 10% bid rate and an
approx 1.5% daily sell through rate including take it now sales.
http://list.auctions.yahoo.com/
* * * * *
The Truth About Fraud - interesting though long article about the
fact that it is merchants who suffer from internet fraud.
http://www.zdnet.com/enterprise/stories/main/0,10228,2688776,00.html
* * * * *
Automatic Complaint Letter Generator (on the lighter side)
http://www-csag.cs.uiuc.edu/individual/pakin/complaint
* * * * *
Online Auction Users Association
The March newsletter is out and can be viewed at
http://www.auctionusers.org/newsletter/
Thursday, March 29, 9 p.m. EST - Chat with Joe Force from
Bargin and Haggle. com (tentative, waiting for confirmation)
OAUA live chat http://www.auctionusers.org/chat.shtml
Interested in volunteering and serving the Online Auction Community?
Check out http://www.auctionusers.org/volunteerop.shtml
http://www.auctionusers.org
* * * * *
Online Auction & Trading Site Co-op
Interested in an OAT Site Co-op?
Interested in getting involved?
Information on co-ops -
http://www.rurdev.usda.gov/rbs/pub/cir55/cir55rpt.htm
http://www.wisc.edu/uwcc/
Ideas for co-ops continue to develop
http://pub51.ezboard.com/bletsbuildacoop
To participate in weekly live co-op chats go to
http://pages.zdnet.com/labellebooks/OnlineSellersCoop/
Every Sunday Night at 8:00 PM EST.
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***PLEASE NOTE: Many long links we post in TAGnotes must be
copy/pasted into your browsers URL/Address box in pieces, with no
extra spaces, to get them to work due to HTML limitations****
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If you would like an Auction House or Service Provider added to
this list, please email us at ta-@theauctionguild.com
Have any information for us? email us at ta-@theauctionguild.com
TAG Subscribers have often contributed to information reported on in
TAGnotes. Visit their auctions.
TAGassist Contributors
-
http://www.321gone.com/member/FBNeNotes
http://cgi6.ebaY.com/aw-cgi/ebaYISAPI.dll?MfcISAPICommand=
ViewListedItems&userid=aj14+&include=0&since=-1&sort=3&rows=200
http://s1.amazon.com/exec/varzea/ts/customer-glance/
A5TGMPMTNX03S/104-1323617-7144715
http://www.dandelionfarms.com
http://cgi6.ebaY.com.au/aw-cgi/ebaYISAPI.dll?MfcISAPICommand=
ViewListedItems&-@natronics.com.au+&include=0&
since=-1&sort=3&rows=200
http://cgi6.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?MfcISAPICommand=
ViewListedItems&userid=amunre&include=0&since=-1&sort=3&rows=200
http://cgi6.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewListedItems&userid=pcalton
http://cgi6.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?MfcISAPICommand=
ViewListedItems&userid=bllamb&include=0&since=-1&sort=3&rows=200
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