18 May
1999
18 May
'99
8:39 a.m.
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(a)siconic.com
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