RE: Messenging System

[Riverwood]

RE: Messenging System

Just wondering, is it just me or does anyone else find the messenging system cumbersome and not very efficient?

Three times in the last two days, I have tried to contact a seller about an item - they respond - and then when I try to respond back, I get this message "This auction has already closed or has been deleted.
If the auction closed normally and was not deleted you can click here to review it's details." You click there, and there are no details.

Now there is no way for me to get back to the seller - that question & contents has disappeared completely (not even in MyEbid), and I have to go back & do a search for the item or seller again.

It would be far more efficient once contact is made to be able to email back & forth freely It's unlikely that anyone here is trying to circumvent fees - I'm certainly not and it's in everyone's interest to see Ebid succeed. I mean, even ebay allows email addresses in your listings.

Just my 2 cents.

[Riverwood]

Hmmmpph! I guess it works fine for everyone else! LOL!

[lofty100e]

I agree, if you haven't bought the item it can be difficult. However if you have bought the item if you click on the tab for it in the items bought section you will be presented with the AAL (after auction log). This gives you the option to send a message using the send **** a question tab.

I think eBid would benefit from an integrated message service which could be used regardless of if a person has bought.

[Riverwood]

I agree, if you haven't bought the item it can be difficult. However if you have bought the item if you click on the tab for it in the items bought section you will be presented with the AAL (after auction log). This gives you the option to send a message using the send **** a question tab.

I think eBid would benefit from an integrated message service which could be used regardless of if a person has bought.

Well, I had a heck of a time getting back to the listings I was asking about. If I'd been able to just reply directly to the seller at their own email, it would have made my life easier. Those messages should really have a link to the item as well. The easier it is to contact the seller, and vice versa, and also easy access to the listing in question, the more sales will be made. That's my opinion anyway.

[PgsJeweler]

I've used that feature on e*ay to get the seller's email. I'd then go ahead and try to do a deal off-site as well, because everyone else was trying to do the deal off-site.

Having the option of a no-fee listing with 0% FVF means it would be easy for someone to pull an auction and re-list, leaving eBid out entirely. And we ought to pay for the upkeep of our playground.

This thread is related to the previous thread on the private/public ASQ issue....

[Riverwood]

I've used that feature on e*ay to get the seller's email. I'd then go ahead and try to do a deal off-site as well, because everyone else was trying to do the deal off-site.

Having the option of a no-fee listing with 0% FVF means it would be easy for someone to pull an auction and re-list, leaving eBid out entirely. And we ought to pay for the upkeep of our playground.

This thread is related to the previous thread on the private/public ASQ issue....

I think you've missed the point here. I'm not talking about fee avoidance - even if there was a fee, and who in their right mind is going to ruin their reputation making offsite deals to avoid a lousy 2% FVF if you happen to use a gallery. That would be the ultimate in cheapness! Like I said before, we all have an interest in seeing Ebid do well.

I'm talking about easier & more efficient communication between buyers and sellers. Messaging systems are notorious for being glitchy and I've had nothing but trouble with them in the past, and already with this one over a short period of time.

[PgsJeweler]

No, actually I was bringing up the point that there are more than one issue related to the messaging system. The previous thread on public/private ASQ touched about some of them. Unreliability of the messaging system is only a part of the whole picture.

By the way, even 1% on some items is a large sum of money and watch dealers will negotiate down to fractions of percent with each other. If there isn't already an option to have 0% FVF legitimately, I'd be very much inclined to take that 2% for myself every time I could get away with it. Buyers will negotiate off-site because they can argue that the seller will no longer have to pay the FVF (this is on ebay) and so they can split the difference. On a $5k - $10k watch, that's not a trivial amount.

[Riverwood]

No, actually I was bringing up the point that there are more than one issue related to the messaging system. The previous thread on public/private ASQ touched about some of them. Unreliability of the messaging system is only a part of the whole picture.

By the way, even 1% on some items is a large sum of money and watch dealers will negotiate down to fractions of percent with each other. If there isn't already an option to have 0% FVF legitimately, I'd be very much inclined to take that 2% for myself every time I could get away with it. Buyers will negotiate off-site because they can argue that the seller will no longer have to pay the FVF (this is on ebay) and so they can split the difference. On a $5k - $10k watch, that's not a trivial amount.

Well, I admit I know nothing about selling high priced jewelry, but I'm happy to pay the 2% if I get the sales - seems more than reasonable to me. Where is this public/private ASQ thread you're referring to?
I couldn't find it.

[PgsJeweler]

Thread is:
http://helpdesk.ebid.net/showthread.php?t=103127

If you wade through it, it touches upon financial issues (fee avoidance), and fraudulent auctions in addition to privacy.

If the ASQ becomes something similar to what ebay has, where a seller would give up his email automatically, then all the associated problems would crop up. I would argue that having the problems with communications is a small price to pay to keep everything above board to protect buyers, sellers and eBid.

[exoticincense]

RE: Messenging System

Just wondering, is it just me or does anyone else find the messenging system cumbersome and not very efficient?

Three times in the last two days, I have tried to contact a seller about an item - they respond - and then when I try to respond back, I get this message "This auction has already closed or has been deleted.
If the auction closed normally and was not deleted you can click here to review it's details." You click there, and there are no details.

Now there is no way for me to get back to the seller - that question & contents has disappeared completely (not even in MyEbid), and I have to go back & do a search for the item or seller again.

It would be far more efficient once contact is made to be able to email back & forth freely It's unlikely that anyone here is trying to circumvent fees - I'm certainly not and it's in everyone's interest to see Ebid succeed. I mean, even ebay allows email addresses in your listings.

Just my 2 cents.

I think I should chime in here because I am the person to whom you asked the original question to. This is what happened, I wanted to change the shipping charge to Canada on all my listings so I had to bulk delete them all and then relist them. I did respond to your question but I guess when I deleted all my auctions and relisted, the question and answer history vanished and the auction number changed. I could have edited them one by one but that would have taken forever. I have made a few posts asking when API will be available. When it does become available I will be able to make changes to all my auctions easily without deleting them. This would solve the messaging problem in this case. However I do agree that the messaging system is cumbersome. I assumed there was a way for a buyer to ask the seller a question without using the form on the item auction page. If this is not the case then it needs to be changed.