Contact through the "All about me" page

[CopperLocker]

Just a thought I had about contacting eBid members from the "All about Me" page. Can a link be created so members can contact the other party from this page instead of going to one of their auction listings or copying and pasting it in a message?

[deanosaur1972]

Just a thought I had about contacting eBid members from the "All about Me" page. Can a link be created so members can contact the other party from this page instead of going to one of their auction listings or copying and pasting it in a message?

I understand your reasoning...... however...

It would be highly dangerous to have that feature - the potential for mis-use would be absolutely massive. Just one example: Buyers could be contacted by eBid members (who are not interesting in selling here) to promote their auctions available outside of eBid on other sites etc etc

It would open up the entire site to spammers and destroy buyer and seller confidence.

[CopperLocker]

I understand your reasoning...... however...

It would be highly dangerous to have that feature - the potential for mis-use would be absolutely massive. Just one example: Buyers could be contacted by eBid members (who are not interesting in selling here) to promote their auctions available outside of eBid on other sites etc etc

It would open up the entire site to spammers and destroy buyer and seller confidence.

I understand. But with email contacting, meeting outside or contacting outside of eBid, couldn't they still work an outside deal?

[deanosaur1972]

I understand. But with email contacting, meeting outside or contacting outside of eBid, couldn't they still work an outside deal?

No, there would have to be a transaction first. Being able to just contact members through the 'all about me' page would mean buyers would be able to be contacted with no transaction/sale having taken place.

Look at it this way....... You sell watches/jewelry..... Someone who has a website selling similar things can just join ebid, not bother listing anything and would be able to go through your sales history and contact all of your buyers to tell them about their own website selling watches and jewelry....... would you be happy with that?

[CopperLocker]

If someone is out to contact my customers, let them. If they have a better price and good service, then my customers might go there. In this business, the customer is looking for a good price and fair deal in the first place. I understand the worry some have. I understand eBids thinking as you put it. They want to keep the playing field fair. Besides, members can still leave personal messages to one another. If they wanted to set up something outside of eBid it wouldn't be hard for them. But lets face it, when someone plugs their site and if it deals in the same product as yours, then they are fishing for customers. Yours and any others. I'm sure that I get beaten out on sales a number of times like anyone else

[deanosaur1972]

If someone is out to contact my customers, let them.

Surely you can't be serious?

I gave one example - a few more:

Your buyers (and everyone else's) would, in a very short space of time, have 100's of spam messages: Links to website's - some legit others not legit, they would be offered everything from pills to fake diamond rings - directed to websites that would hack their accounts taking all their paypal money in the process. The result would be no buyers on eBid within a very short space of time.

Wouldn't work - I think you are a far more trusting person than I am

[CopperLocker]

Surely you can't be serious?

I gave one example - a few more:

Your buyers (and everyone else's) would, in a very short space of time, have 100's of spam messages: Links to website's - some legit others not legit, they would be offered everything from pills to fake diamond rings - directed to websites that would hack their accounts taking all their paypal money in the process. The result would be no buyers on eBid within a very short space of time.

Wouldn't work - I think you are a far more trusting person than I am

I'm at several other sites and my own. I can contact any member through these sites with the sites message/contact system. I have never opened a spam yet. That's one way of getting a bot/bug/virus put into your system. And as far as my site. I don't keep any finacial information of my customers on it, so my customers never reveal any financial info. If my server gets hacked and I do have safeguards for this, then I have to deal with it. I've been dealing for several years and have never had any monies removed from my accounts. If I get spam, I never open it. I block it and report it. Speaking of blocking. If a seller spammed you, you can black list/block them and report it to eBid. I know I would!

So how about this. I see that you have a item for sale. I look at your listing and think Um, I like to see more about this seller. So, I go to the about page. If I want to contact him then I have to go back to the listing. Or I could contact them if they receive private messages. If I spammed him or her, or if I said lets talk outside of this then I'm taking a chance on being reported for my actions and I will more or less not like the outcome with eBid.

But my business practice is a lot different. I do not promote my other places of dealings. So if I contact a customer or seller then I would still follow those guide lines set down by eBid. But sometimes a quick question/message is important.

So thieves are the reason for this factor and why so many are wary.

I was wondering why they don't have this option of contacting someone. I think I understand now

[tony41]

Just a thought I had about contacting eBid members from the "All about Me" page. Can a link be created so members can contact the other party from this page instead of going to one of their auction listings or copying and pasting it in a message?

I would also not be happy if this facility was introduced mainly for the reasons which have already been clearly stated. If anyone has a question about an item I am selling they can always ask a question. Similarly if I wish to ask a question. I cannot think of any other reason why anyone should want to contact me or I contact any other member.

[CopperLocker]

I would also not be happy if this facility was introduced mainly for the reasons which have already been clearly stated. If anyone has a question about an item I am selling they can always ask a question. Similarly if I wish to ask a question. I cannot think of any other reason why anyone should want to contact me or I contact any other member.

Your points have been noticed. There must be some strong paranoia's here. I too do not like spam and I have dealt with it very few times on the other sites. As I said. I don't waste my time and I will report the spammer. As for sellers going after buyers. Tony, there are other stamp sellers here, right? I'm sure that if one of your customers buys from another seller, that its not unethical or happens because of some sneaky behind the scenes dealing.

What about the private messages then? Maybe we shouldn't have this option. A unscrupulous buyer or seller could use this avenue can't they? Of course I'm sure that if we had someone solicit us through this manner we would notify eBid. But if you say that you don't care for it and the majority goes along, I won't rock your boat.

Before I go though I would like you two to know about what I've gotten from your postings.

You two or someone you know or you've heard, has had some bad experiences with the internet or dealers that are lower than slime. I'm sorry to hear, if this happen. I've been fortunate not to have had any bad experiences, that caused any major problems. We all know that if we buy something over the net that we can't see personally or feel in our fingers, and have not bought from that specific dealer before, that it could not be what it is represented to be. Good gravy, how many times do we read about this happening on the forums. If anyone has money removed from their PayPal account or any other payment gateway services, that was not handled by the accounts owner, then its because they either unwittingly gave out specific information or it was done as an inside job by an employee of the company. People must be careful on the net. I've seen a lot of bad mistakes. I've cleaned and repaired other peoples systems because of some virus they picked up because of something they did, open an unfamiliar email, go to that site they weren't suppose to go to or click on the agree button when they shouldn't. Or they let someone else on their system and they caused their problems. Seen and heard them all.

Maybe I'm blessed, but thank goodness my PayPal account has never had a problem. I've got a great virus scanning program. I won't even bother to open and read spam and I'll rat on a spammer.

But I understand your point of view and have no qualms. Its a necessary step to protect the good folks here and there's nothing wrong with that. It is unfortunate that the honest pay for the deeds of the dishonest.

No hard feelings.

You two have a great day!