Mick, your humble opinion shows you to be wise, forthright, and honest beyond your years. This is a good thing. Like you, I have no problems going into battle on a matter of principle although I need to pick my battles as a practical matter of time. If you feel you are right, then go ahead an wage war (didn't Davy Crockett say something like this, at least on the TV show?). As you stated,
ebay isn't doing much to combat fraud, so it's a feeding ground for all the sharks out there. The problem is that there are so many sharks and so many prey fish with not enough shark-hunters that it's a target-rich environment for those of us with shark guns. I guess we do what we can do in the time we have to do it and hope that even just a little anti-fraud activity will have an effect.
One subject bears repetition:
ebay's feedback system sucks big-time. It is fraught with opportunity for abuse, mostly through seller feedback extortion and reprisal.
ebay absolutely refuses to correct the problem which is of its own making. Honest sellers such as myself with 100% feedback after almost seven years of eBaying (no negs, neutrals, mutual withdrawals) who have built a customer base founded upon openness and honesty are scared to death that someone might pop a neg on us for no reason and thus dissuade potential buyers who might perceive me as less than honest and hence hypocritical. (In addition to coins, I sell Boy Scouting memorabilia in which Trust is a key factor.) Thus, I work extremely hard at keeping my feedback pristine; like all eBayers, I have had a couple close calls but was able to work my way out through extreme measures which invariably cost me money. My suggestion has been to
ebay to withhold feedback posts until BOTH parties have posted; in this manner, feedback extortion and reprisal is eliminated (or at least, reduced). I have written
ebay a number of times on this subject to Bill Cobb,
ebay North America President <billcobb@ebay.com> and received little except boilerplate in return (with some exceptions and qualifications). However, for whatever reasons,
ebay has dug in its heels over its feedback system and change does not appear to be in its future.
First Page
Posted 06/08/2006 11:06 pm
) and charge $1.95. If I'm shipping more than one item I use a Priority box that USPS supplies for free and charge $4.05 as thats what USPS charges me to send in the lower 48.
