> And you can easily check the record of the sellers to avoid being ripped off.
Um, that's partially true at best...
The problem with eBay is that there is nothing to stop people from leaving you "retaliatory" feedback if you decide to "neg" them.
Yes, there is. If the feedback is truely "retaliatory" and not constructive, REPORT IT TO EBAY. They will review it and remove it if necessary. They'll even smak the abuser.
For me, this means that I don't dare leave negative feedback for a seller no matter *how* bad they are or how much "in the right" I might be.
So you are protecting the bad Sellers. Not cool.
Likewise, for a seller, a buyer can "neg" you _even if they don't pay for the item_. It's incredible that eBay does nothing to change this.
Errant feedback is against the rules. File a complaint. eBay fixes. Been there done that move on.
OTOH, I've negged a lot of Buyers over the years because they couldn't be bothered to send payments...
There's also the danger of someone's reputable eBay account being hacked
Yup. My housemate's got hit. He was (foolishly) using an easy to guess password. We brought the situation to eBay's attention and they fixed everything - undid the bogus feedback, etc. They even called us on the phone (we were quite shocked by that!) to confirm stuff.
There are also people who set up "shill" accounts to either bid their own items up, or simply to "trade" favorable feedback with other people.
REPORT THEM. eBay actively works with the FBI to prosecute these criminals.
The last time I looked, eBay did not require a credit card to establish an account with them, or take any meaningful security measures to keep naughty people from abusing accounts.
Last time you looked must have been years and years ago.
From my experience, eBay rarely cares about what goes on on their "trading platform," so long as they get their money. Read the eBay forums (click on the "site map" link) and check out some of the bitching; you'll be there awhile.
What you describe is totally not my experience. I've been on eBay since Feb '98. I have several accounts (for bookkeeping purposes) and decaoodles of feedback and such. eBay has always been reasonable about fixing any problem I've brought to their attention. Ditto for my housemates and friends (several of which are current power sellers).
But, being the 500-pound gorilla of the Internet auction business, eBay can do what it pretty much wants to and people will still do business there.
And being that big site on the block, they have attracted a lot of rifraf. Sellers *AND* Buyers that scam. That's just part of doing business on this planet. I remember the days when all of eBay's rules fit on two printed pages. As scams were brought to their attention, they added more rules. Not a good cycle to be in. But what else can they do?
- Dan.
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