Please eBid something needs to be done ...

[florida33549]

Agree with all. Something must be done. I know the number of listings would probably go down, but that's okay. It is ridiculous that buyers have to ask a question to see if seller is active. Ebid needs to require sellers to sign in within a reasonable time [once a month is sufficient in my opinion] and if the seller does not, then close [not delete] their listings. That way, if and when seller does decide to log back in, the seller can just restart listings.

[suesjools]

Agree with all. Something must be done. I know the number of listings would probably go down, but that's okay. It is ridiculous that buyers have to ask a question to see if seller is active. Ebid needs to require sellers to sign in within a reasonable time [once a month is sufficient in my opinion] and if the seller does not, then close [not delete] their listings. That way, if and when seller does decide to log back in, the seller can just restart listings.

Agree 110%. Hope this gets put on the to do list very soon. Dump and run sellers are not only aggravating but may also deter new buyers from using the site.

Best wishes for many sales to all,

[HerMajesty]

I dont beleive its monitored as it should be. I asked a seller a question waited a month, no response and listing was still active.

Ditto . I bid and won an item.............but didn't pay. Requested an invoice. Asked question................over a month - no reply, so I left neg feedback. Glad I didn't go ahead and pay right away. Very frustrating, and maddening for newbies who DO just click and pay ( as you would hope to do in a perfect world...........)

[adruml]

In an ideal world it should be 24 to 48 hours max with holiday notices in place to cover any absence but there has to be some leeway in case of emergency situations.

If there was a sensible time limit set to make sellers respond more then the listings could be removed from dump and run sellers that can't be bothered to log in and buyers would not be looking at items that they cannot buy !

I understand emergency siuations however this is an auction site where people come to buy and sell and needs to be treated almost as if it were a shopping mall.
Stores renting space in a mall (similar to sellers opening stores here/listing items for sale) must adhere to rules regarding their hours of operation. If a store within a mall does not open for 2 or 3 days within a week they get shut down or penalized.
Stores or sellers need to have an emergency plan. If it's a health issue then family or friends need to jump in and suspend listings, close bank accounts and whatever else needs to be done in an emergency situation. Stores, listings or anything else in the public eye needs to be taken more seriously and we must anticipate if something happens to us how will effect the rest of the community.
If folks want to sell online then start treating it as what it is: a business you are renting space from an online host. No different then a shopping mall. If you were to walk into a mall and find 10 of 30 stores where no one has showed up to open the store for a couple weeks would you want to go back to that mall?

[damian_steele]

...l and needs to be treated almost as if it were a shopping mall.

No, it doesn't.

If you want to shop in a mall and follow their policies, feel free. This is an independent site with it's own policies, members and "feel".

As you well know many of the sellers who have joined here are truly sick and tired of the Draconian approach taken by Feebay, so to copy the heavy handed "follow the rules OR ELSE" approach would see many people fleeing from here.

A 48 hour limit for sellers to login is too short. It ignores the fact that in the real world people can and do have other issues to deal with. There are many potential reasons for why a seller cannot administer their account for a couple of days - power loss, computer failure, sickness, family (or other) emergency, internet access failure and so on.

If eBid were to shut down a seller's listings because that seller had just had to face more "real world" trouble than they wanted to, imagine how that seller would feel on seeing what eBid did. Stressed out, angry sellers would be flooding the forums, both here and elsewhere, complaining about it; eBid's member numbers and reputation would take a considerable hit.


So I agree with those who suggest that 30 days is about right before a seller's listings are closed. Perhaps after 14 and 21 days an email warning (reminding the seller of their obligation to sign in and the consequence of not doing so) could be sent.

[cornishmaid1961]

I understand emergency siuations however this is an auction site where people come to buy and sell and needs to be treated almost as if it were a shopping mall.
Stores renting space in a mall (similar to sellers opening stores here/listing items for sale) must adhere to rules regarding their hours of operation. If a store within a mall does not open for 2 or 3 days within a week they get shut down or penalized.
Stores or sellers need to have an emergency plan. If it's a health issue then family or friends need to jump in and suspend listings, close bank accounts and whatever else needs to be done in an emergency situation. Stores, listings or anything else in the public eye needs to be taken more seriously and we must anticipate if something happens to us how will effect the rest of the community.
If folks want to sell online then start treating it as what it is: a business you are renting space from an online host. No different then a shopping mall. If you were to walk into a mall and find 10 of 30 stores where no one has showed up to open the store for a couple weeks would you want to go back to that mall?

I think we are talking about two different things here Al. You are talking about the actual buying situation where buyers are left hanging around and I can see what you mean. I'm talking about a way to remove dead listings so the buyers are not put into that position in the first place. I like the warning idea where a seller that hasn't logged in for a set time gets an email and if they don't respond then the listings get closed. This however must be fully monitored unlike the five bump question scenario which seems to have gone out the window these days.


In my opinion I think the 24-48 hour is too harsh. If your partner had a heart attack for example you would be in the back of the ambulance with them to be at their bedside not thinking about closing their eBid shop first, maybe a few days later it would cross your mind that it needs to be done.

[TiasTreasures]

A 48 hour limit for sellers to login is too short. It ignores the fact that in the real world people can and do have other issues to deal with. There are many potential reasons for why a seller cannot administer their account for a couple of days - power loss, computer failure, sickness, family (or other) emergency, internet access failure and so on.

If eBid were to shut down a seller's listings because that seller had just had to face more "real world" trouble than they wanted to, imagine how that seller would feel on seeing what eBid did. Stressed out, angry sellers would be flooding the forums, both here and elsewhere, complaining about it; eBid's member numbers and reputation would take a considerable hit.


So I agree with those who suggest that 30 days is about right before a seller's listings are closed. Perhaps after 14 and 21 days an email warning (reminding the seller of their obligation to sign in and the consequence of not doing so) could be sent.

Somewhere between 30 and 60 days with no login seems reasonable and relatively easy to implement.

Yes, the number of total listings will go down, but I really believe there will be enough new sellers to catch up. I think the delay is because management is focused on the total number of listings, sometimes to the exclusion of what is best for the site. In this case, it's what is best for both buyers and sellers.

I do wish support would respond to this thread.

[darklisruthven]

In my opinion I think the 24-48 hour is too harsh. If your partner had a heart attack for example you would be in the back of the ambulance with them to be at their bedside not thinking about closing their eBid shop first, maybe a few days later it would cross your mind that it needs to be done.

I have to agree, that is why there needs to be some leeway. Emergencies can and do happen and it is useless treating people badly because of things beyond thier control, like that. I also think thats why there needs to be something like a warning email to sellers who havent been on for a while, to give them a chance to login and check things.

[FirstGreenIsGold]

Would it be possible to have listings go on a suspended status after a certain period of time with a notification of "Seller's last log in date was ..... "? That way a buyer could ask questions, but not bid or BIN.

When I say suspended status, I don't mean a line through the name. I mean something like the existing holiday mode.

Then, after another period of time, the suspended listings would move to the closed folder and from there be deleted after 75 days (or whatever it is now). But, in the case of an emergency, the seller would still have over 3 months to get their listings relisted and back in order.

Not exactly certain what time frames would be most reasonable. Personally, I think that it's reasonable to allow for a seller to be away from their computer for weekend or for a long weekend without putting on holiday mode, but longer than that means the seller isn't a serious one (or has an emergency) and their actions hurt us all.

What about a week until the suspended status and then listings in the unsold folder after 30 days?

If the seller had set up an email address for eBid that they don't use anymore, email notifications don't do any good.

:-)

[kreativebargains]

While I agree that something should be done about dump and run, some of the suggestions are way too harsh. Many of these sellers have had listings running for a year or more without logging in, there are already policies that should prevent this, so the first thing should be implementing the existing policies, this may then solve the worst of this problem, then if it does not solve the problem look at adding or strengthening the existing measures. I have recently been caught out by a draconian implementation of measures, we do not want to become eBay where you sneeze and get banned for it. A sensible approach must be implemented in order to treat sellers fairly, but something must be done as the situation is hurting buyers and sellers.