On Tue, 18 May 1999, Mike Ford wrote:
> eBay has no control over private email and direct sales are not only not
> sanctioned but are a violation of eBay rules and will draw sanctions
> from eBay when proven. They are very dangerous. Especially if the seller
> is not an eBay member in good standing. In fact these are not even "eBay
> scams or frauds", they are not eBay at all!
>
> eBay is not a party to the actual transactions that take place between
> members. eBay acts as a link between the buyer and seller. We just
> provide the automated bidding system. We do not authenticate users, we
> do not verify items, we do not guarantee that you will receive payment
> or the item. However, we are extremely concerned about our community and
> your safety within our community. To that end, we work with third
> parties to offer you services to authenticate users, insure and escrow
> your transactions.
Oh, OK. I see. They don't even guarantee auctions played out within
their construct, so they are just as at risk as sales done outside of
eBay, yet they claim direct sales are "very dangerous". ANY eBay sale is
dangerous. Feedback can be faked, but is at least one good way to size up
a seller. I say more power to the people who leech ebay to find willing
buyers to their crap, bypassing ebay altogether.
Sellam Alternate e-mail: dastar_at_siconic.com
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Don't rub the lamp if you don't want the genie to come out.
Coming this October 2-3: Vintage Computer Festival 3.0!
See
http://www.vintage.org/vcf for details!
[Last web site update: 04/03/99]
Received on Tue May 18 1999 - 15:39:16 BST