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TAGnotes Tue 29 May 2001 Vol 3 Number 64 Issue 325
 

The Auction Guild Notes for Tue 29 May 2001
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On Monday 28 May, listing problems continued, particularly with
AOL and ebaY pic services. For users on AOL, switching to
another browser such an IE or Opera, helped in some circumstances.
For those having problems with information disappearing when they
use their back button to correct a listing, go to this link for info on
changing settings for when you use the back button
http://pages.ebay.com/sell/help.html#BackButton.
Users continued to report problems with the auction listing page and
pic services throughout the day. At 18:32:40 PT ebaY posted that
they were having problems with adding new images or relisting items.
AOL users in particular may be affected. ebaY recommended using an
alternate browser for listing or relisting items, or using Mister Lister
or another alternate listing tool, rather than listing directly on ebaY.
At 19:53:54 PT users reported cgi problems, with no access to many
functions. Messages came up showing 'Network error Unable to read URL
from host cgi3.ebay.com: no response from server' on the chat boards,
'Network error Unable to read URL from host cgi6.ebay.com: no response
from server' when searching bid history, 'Network error Unable to read
URL from host cgi2.ebay.com: no response from server' when trying to
access feedback. At 20:35:02 PT Sonny@ebaY posted, "Hi guys, I'm sorry
this is happening :( Seems
like some of the machines in this pool are in and out - if you keep
trying, you might get through (as you've noticed, it's not down
across the board). We're working on trying to restore it - another pool
is also down, as are category listings. Ugh! This is NOT a good
Memorial Day! Be back when I can....Sonny" Users also reported
Search and seller search down. The site was back up at 20:44:40 PT.
At 20:49:28 PT users reported pictures in the gallery were missing.
At 21:10:36 PT ebaY posted that feedback, listings and the chat
boards were intermittently unavailable from 20:03 PT to 20:18 PT.
As usual, the ebaY posted times did not reflect the reality and extent
of the outages.

On 29 May 02:30:57 PT the problems with listing and pic services
continued. Users posted that no matter what variety of browser they
used, whether they listed with or without images they just could not
list. Using IE they got 'cgi1 or cgi5.ebay.com not found' and using
Netscape received 'unable to contact 64.209.172.152'. At 06:18:37 PT
http 404 error messages came up whilst loading pics. At 07:20:53 PT
users reported Mister Lister problems and at 08:09:29 PT relist not
working. ebaY posted at 22:03:17 PT "Over the past few days, many
of you have experienced issues when attempting to list or relist with
a Picture Services image. We would like to sincerely apologize for
the difficulties this has caused you. We recognize that this has had
an impact on your trading, and we are doing everything we can to
identify and solve these issues.

Several issues have been resolved over the past few days, but some
are still being addressed. Over the next 24 to 48 hours, we will be
working with our partners to implement some fixes, which we believe
will help resolve many of these issues. We hope that these fixes will
significantly reduce the amount of images that are not loading when
listing items.

After this round of fixes has been released, we will reassess the
situation. We will post at least daily updates on the Announcement
Board as to the status of this situation, and will inform you as soon
as it is resolved.

In the meantime, if you are experiencing difficulties you can use the
following links to try and access an older version of our Sell Your
Item form. Please note that all users may not be able to access one
or both of these links.

http://cgi5.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ListItemForSaleShow&oldstyle=1&category=0

http://cgi5.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ListItemForSaleShow&oldstyle

Also, some AOL users have experienced success by using Microsoft
Internet Explorer or Netscape outside of AOL. Mister Lister is also
an alternate listing route that can be used."

TAG is including that SAB post in its entirety, because it is the type
of post that has been absent from ebaY for years. Can we hope that
Gwyneth, the new ebaY SAB person will actually bring some integrity
to the ebaY announcement boards?

TO REQUEST REFUNDS from ebaY go to
http://www.auctionguild.com/generic.html?pid=33
Don't take no for an answer, keep requesting until you get them.

For sellers who feel they have not had adequate refunds, that ebaY is
restraining trade, defrauding sellers by not providing the services
paid for, or other situations not dealt with to your satisfaction,
you can file reports with The Attorney General of California and
also in your home state
http://caag.state.ca.us/piu/mailform.htm
The Better Business Bureau
http://www.bbbonline.com
The Federal Trade Commission
http://www.ftc.gov
The Office of Consumer Affair, US Department of Commerce
http://www.consumer.gov/sentinel/index.html
File Complaint
https://rn.ftc.gov/dod/wsolcq$.startup?Z_ORG_CODE=PU01
The FBI's Internet Fraud Units
http://www.nipc.gov/contact.htm#arrow,
National Fraud Information Center
http://www.fraud.org
eComplaints http://www.ecomplaints.com/

TAG editorial on ebaY's links ban, and what you can do about it.
ebaY Cuts The Threads of The Web? FIGHT BACK!!!
Updated today - more info, more companies to watch.
http://www.auctionguild.com/generic.html?pid=57

Pink Quote of the Day at 17:59:16 PT on 28 May, when asked about
the dearth of posting on the SAB about the ongoing listing problems,
Gwyneth@ebaY said, "I can see how that can be confusing. Definitely
we're not trying to be untruthful. Basically, we're posting what we
know, which unfortunately is not much. The change in shifts in Ops
didn't help either. I'm checking with them on the possibility of
reposting, but I'd like to find out more info before I do." and then
acknowledged the problems were still happening by posting at
18:13:36 PT," My latest info says that they're able to replicate some
of the issues. This is a good thing. " TAG is highly amused about
the "we're posting what we know, which unfortunately is not much"
as the state of being at ebaY. We also appreciate the straightforward
answers provided by Gwyneth and Son-@ebaY.


Pink Quote of the Day Number 2 - On 29 May 2001 a thread on the
ebaY threaded boards discussed the notice from other VOTE (venues
other than ebaY) auction sites, whereby VOTE sellers have been
notified by the VOTE sites that the sellers could not mention or use
a link to their ebaY feedback. This is allegedly due to threats by
ebaY to sue the VOTE sites that allow references to ebaY. At
12:52:38 PT in what appeared to be a confirmation of these
allegations, Katy@ebaY said, "unfortunately, there have been
instances where a seller on another site has used a reference to
eBay feedback when there was no way for the buyer to check that the
ID referred to, in fact, belonged to the other seller in question. eBay
feedback was never intended to be used anywhere but on eBay and
you agree to this when you register. eBay is concerned with
protecting the integrity of the feedback system, and this is an area
that creates confusion among buyers. EVEN if you use the same ID
on another site, it is often a simple matter to use an ID with high
feedback that is already in use on eBay belonging to someone else, so
I hope you will see that this also protects the integrity of YOUR
feedback and the reputation you have built up here.   Regards, Katy"
In TAG's view, since it is ebaY who prevented potential buyers from
verifying the legitimacy of a sellers claim, by not permitting an
email address comparison, the hypocrisy of this statement is
incredible. For ebaY to state they are doing this to protect the
integrity of the feedback system is a blatant lie. This is the same
company that allows deadbeat bidders, who violated their contract
to buy and broke their contract with both ebaY and the seller, to
leave negative retaliatory feedback, on purchases they did not
complete. TAG feels the best way to handle the feedback issue
on VOTE sites, is for all sellers to join the OAUA. The OAUA link
provides ALL the sellers User IDs on all the sites the seller does
business on - easily allowing potential buyers to cross reference
feedback and User IDs. You can also provide the link to the
Vrane.Com Feedback tool at
http://www.vrane.com/ef.html or the Feedback tool at No Bid -
http://www.feedbacksite.com/

ebaY is changing the Real Estate category. They are making
changes in Timeshares for Sale, dividing the Land category into
four discrete geographical regions, and adding categories to the
Commercial real estate section. Preview changes at
Details of the upcoming changes can be viewed at
http://pages.ebay.com/preview/chg-realestate.html
send comments to reale-@ebay.com.

On 29 May at 17:02:30 PT ebaY announced they were canceling
ebaY University Cincinnati, which was to take place 2,3 June.
For updated ebaY U calendar go to http://www.ebay.com/university

Gifs you can Use page, has an ebaY compliant About Me page
button, with the HTML code you need to add to your auction
descriptions to make it a clickable link. A lighter side GIF you
can copy and use is now on the website, as is an ebaY compliant
PayPal logo.   http://www.auctionguild.com/generic.html?pid=58

Announcement Board Marketing - (MAB)
http://www2.ebay.com/aw/marketing.shtml
Announcement Board Status (SAB)
http://www2.ebay.com/aw/announce.shtml

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

Approx 5.05 mil auctions inflated by approx
6% due to double listings yielding an actual count of approx 4.75 mil
On 29 May 2000 ebaY had approx 4.56 mil auctions
* * * * *
Amazon Auctions, zShops and Marketplace
Continues to have intermittent problems with their payment system
not working.
Announcement Board - http://amazon.remarq.com/list/16791839

Amazon live telephone customer service 16 hours a day Toll-free
in U.S. and Canada: (800)201-7575
http://auctions.amazon.com
* * * * *
Yahoo Auctions
http://auctions.yahoo.com/
* * * * *
United Airlines and American Airlines have started a new shipping
business venture called Integris. This company is geared towards
providing affordable shipping for items over 70 pounds geared towards
the person to person and small business shippers. Air shipping will be
provided by the two airlines, and ground by Roadway Express.
No web site info yet, but rates etc will be available online.
* * * * *
Online Auction Users Association
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/

More action on the co-op scene coming soon!
Go to http://www.auctionpie.com
They host live chats every Sunday night at 8:00PM EST

Vintage Items Co-Op info can be found at
http://www.ali-baba.org./ and
http://pages.zdnet.com/juststuff/vintmarket/
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