They are really hurting us!

[rokins_toys]

I agree too. I think eBid should start shutting down those who have not logged in in at least 6 months. I don't want potential buyers being put off coming to me because of these sellers who start a shop, list items and then never bother coming back. I would like to see something done about this.

[FBNeNotes]

If anyone cares... I could keep this thread active for Months and debate anyone here.

[dardonboi]

"I am sittin here Yellin !! can you hear me "

Stuffed the cotton in and hope someone that can fix it is listening.

[youmeus]

I had signed up with another auction site and was having no luck so didn't log in, had really forgotten all about it. I got an email saying I hadn't logged in for 30 days and I needed to visit again or my account would become inactive. That didn't offend me but I did remove my few listings, may try again as my account can still be reactivated.

[deltadelta48]

I don't think the stores or the listings should be deleted. We need the counts. However, I do believe they should be isolated from the active stores. When there are several pages of stores and you are at the bottom trying to work your way up, the customer has to wade through many abandoned stores before they get to you. By the time they get to you, they don't want to bother anymore.

I have seen signs on antique stores that read, "by appointment only". Could we have an active section and maybe another column with "open by appointment only"? That way we could put the inactive stores there, keep their item counts and keep their store counts. It would be up to the buyer if they want to contact the seller if they want to buy something. Most people would probably go to the active stores first to try and find what they want. But, if they wanted something from the inactive seller, they would know they need to contact them first.

I don't know-just a suggestion.

Truly though, I believe this is a real problem and it makes it harder for serious sellers as well as customers.

That is a interesting solution to the problem: essentually change these non active listings to their own category (non active, by appointment only, or whatever) that is moved under the run until solds listings. These do not get downloaded to google, do not move up the listings to compete with active seller's items, and no one can place a bid on them. Keep them separate. If the absentee seller comes back, the status could be changed to make the items active again. Maybe with a reinstatement fee? Why waste any time with them (i.e. reporting them, erasing them etc)?

Solves a lot of problems to change seemingly abandoned listings to a different status . The counts will not fluctuate wildly, buyers can't buy and then not not receive items, and items would not erased forever so process is reversable if seller returns. win-win situation. And consider how many sellers are coming back, we see them every day. Why take a very hard line when we need everyone to make ebid strong? People abandoned their listings for a lot of reasons, why cut off all of their reasons to return?

[luvintage]

amen! Thank you-that's just what I'm saying!!!!

[deltadelta48]

I agree.

In checking the stores in the clothing some of them have not been visited in 3 or 4 months. These sellers need to be either taken off the lists or at least warned that their store may be down graded. Maybe if they don't visit and maintain their store for a certain length of time, say 60 days that their store will be moved to the bottom of the list regardless of how many items they have, or something to that effect. Not that the adm. doesn't have enough to do. LOL

Some of these may just be sellers that just work from the emails on items sold and don't go in and upgrade or check inventory. Would that show up as a last seen?

It should be easier for prospective buyers to check on our status. I had never pushed that button before and had no idea what was behind it. One thing about it, I learned something new today and every little bit helps.

Thanks for posting this thread, Granny

That was my thought. Most of us come on each day to check for sales, do housekeeping etc, but others may be doing something different to monitor sales. We may have people who appear to have abandoned the listings/stores, but really handle everything thru their outside emails. Someone buys, seller gets the email, clicks on link, gets info on address etc, and mails item out. Or goes thru Paypal to check for sales, print postage etc. Will using a different procedure to handle sales penalize these sellers? Will it look like they never log in? How dependable is the log in procedure for catching people who never come back to check their stores?

[papagran40]

Morning folks , I see there is not a lot of people on this thread , and only one ( me ) who wants to vote ....perhaps , eBid would take a little more notice if they were to see members voting ???? but saying this we know there have been things voted on or ranted about in the past and nothing has been done....maybe this time we can get eBid to do something....the only problem I see is how long to give the store before closure......so why not have a vote , even if it only shows how some members feel.....Papa.

[luvintage]

Yep, I think voting would be good so the administrators can see how important of an issue this is. Little interest will beget no results but if people really want change, then we have to show that this is really a genuine concern that we, as a group, have.

But, I think we also need to help be a part of the solution. So all ideas are really valuable because we may be able to expand on each other's ideas and come up with a really good suggestion not just complaining!

[deltadelta48]

I had signed up with another auction site and was having no luck so didn't log in, had really forgotten all about it. I got an email saying I hadn't logged in for 30 days and I needed to visit again or my account would become inactive. That didn't offend me but I did remove my few listings, may try again as my account can still be reactivated.

That's a good idea and maybe could be the trigger for what we were just chatting about. Inactive people's listings could be downgraded, locked, put on bottom of listings or whatever. until they decide what they want to do, sell here or not. So perhaps if a person does not log in for 30 days, an email could go out, and if no reply, lock the account and change the status. No harm to anyone, if a mistake, nothing is erased.

The way it is set up now, we are always going to have this problem. ebid does not charge listing or relisting fees, so it is easy to forget to mind the store because there is no bill waiting and no penalty. If ebid is never going to change this policy (i.e. charge for listing/relisting) some sellers will continue to be lax. We will always be thinking about locking the barn door after the horse is stolen.

So it would seem that another process must be introduced to prevent the problems we keep seeing with inactive listings. It is not fair to active sellers to penalize them in any way, be it charging listing fees, or allowing these inactive listings to be run ahead of theirs. So we have to concentrate on getting absentee seller's attention while keeping potential buyers safe, and not inconveniencing anyone else. One answer could be freezing.

Pulling and freezing means less work for ebid, no downloading this category to google, and other sellers would not have to fight for a place in line with these listings with questionable status. If the process is kept simple, no one wastes time. Because why waste time on dead accounts which may never go live again?