Internet Auction Blog

HOLY HELL.

First of all, I was duped into the stupid .10 cent “sale” for store owners. Supposedly the deal was for July 27th and 28th to allow store subscribers to list auctions with ANY starting price, for only 10 cents per auction.

So I used the “Bulk” feature to send a TON of my items from “fixed price” to “auction.”

eBay FROZE halfway through the process and went no further. I had no option but to refresh the page.

I then go to check my auctions, and I see that it successfully ended all of my Fixed Price listings as it was supposed to, and sent a PORTION of them to online auctions…but there was a problem…THE AUCTIONS WERE ALL SCREWED UP. Some of the titles had been switched, for example, I had listed a vintage hardback book and another item was an autographed football. Now, my description and photos for the BOOK are listed with the title of the AUTOGRAPHED FOOTBALL, and the FOOTBALL description and photos have the title of the BOOK.

WHAT. THE. HELL. This is how it is with ALL of the items I tried to move to auction today.

Sooo… I phone eBay. Hard enough finding a phone number. I’m a powerseller (not to mention, a shareholder), aren’t I supposed to have some kind of easy access? Yeah right. Wait on the phone for awhile, talk to some guy who provides NO HELP. I told him clearly, all you need to do is END the damn auctions I listed today. He says it is impossible for them to do that.

WHAT? Since when is it impossible for eBay to end auctions? They do it EVERY DAY. So this guy was no help at all, in fact he pretty much tells me I can take my stuff to another auction site after I threaten to do so.

Then I have to leave for an appt so I need to get off the phone. I call later when I get home (like 5 minutes ago), and talk to another guy, he puts me on hold several times, I can tell he’s going to be no help, he tells me to use the “Bulk End” item command.

Sure, I try that. What happens then? I get this STUPID message:

Edit Listings: Review Alerts

The editing feature is not available for some of your listings.

These listings cannot be edited, because of following restrictions: This feature cannot be used with this item because it is not a Fixed Price Format item.

eBay, ARE YOU KIDDING ME RIGHT NOW?

So I immediately call eBay back to let them now about not being able to even END my auctions. Like I said, I JUST got off the phone with them minutes ago. This time, THEY ARE CLOSED and have a stupid automated message telling me to call back during office hours.

DURING OFFICE HOURS? WHAT HAPPENED TO THIS 24/7 NONSENSE? (see pic below)

Oh Ok, so maybe I’ll try the CHAT feature.I’m #11 in queue, and estimated wait time is 51 minutes. That’s right, FIFTY ONE MINUTES TO WAIT…and it says I need to be ready to ask my question as soon as an available Live Help Agent comes on.

Damn you, eBay, Damn you. You owe me a refund for the auctions you’ve screwed up, and you owe me compensation for my troubles you have caused. I didn’t want to post this message, I’m a shareholder, but if I’m done typing it before a “Live Help Agent” comes on my chat box, I will be sending this message to Twitter, Facebook, Digg, Posterous, My own personal blogs, and via email to every contact I know.

…I’ll feel like pulling my hair out. For the last several days, whenever I try to list something, I get the following pain-in-the-neck error message for no reason (click the image for a larger view):

Basically, when I click “Continue” to go to the “Submit your item” page, it tells me “You can not submit your listing due to the following problems: An error has occurred. Please enter a valid value.” It then wants me to go specify a return policy, which I had ALREADY DONE.

So it is very annoying because it LOSES my description that I spent time typing!! eBay is wasting my time!! Every listing, I end up having to go back and do my description twice. GET IT FIXED, EBAY! I’ve already tried deleting my cookies and everything else. The problem is obviously on eBay’s end, as usual.

…is the ability to add store categories from within the “Create your listing” page. As it is now, we are only able to choose from our existing categories, but not add new ones. This would make things a bit easier for eBay Store owners, and it should happen, especially since we’re now paying $49.95 per month instead of $15.95.

Please quit making these default when I list my items on your site. It really pisses me off. I do NOT want your damn “Picture Pack” or “Gallery Plus” automatically going on my listings. I do not care if they are free features right now. I do not want them. They may be free now, but I’m sure you will start charging some ridiculous amount for them in the future, and I’ll have to revise all of my listings.

Did I already say I don’t want your “Picture Pack?” Quit making it default.

WOW @ the ridiculous amount of “sponsored links” on EBAY search result pages. EBAY is taking money away from most sellers that way, as novice/casual buyers on EBAY will not ever see how to get to page two of the search results.

I just looked at one of my completed listings, which I started as a “fixed price” 30-day listing, with Free Shipping. Now I go look at the completed auction and it is full of external links to other peoples stuff for sale.

Not cool, eBay. You are supposed to be helping us sell our OWN stuff, I still have other items on auction, but yet my completed listings have a huge box for “Check out similar items from all eBay sellers” and then below that another huge box of “Sponsored links” that take youaway from the eBay site entirely.

Then, under all that, is a huge box saying “Find more items from the same seller. Bid or Buy Now!”

Thanks eBay, that is lame.

While leaving a feedback on an item I purchased, I noticed a new feedback system in place. Luckily, I took a screenshot image of it, because it seems to be gone now. It only happened for me on 1 item, and the stars weren’t working (I couldn’t fill-in the stars). Here is the image below, I’m not sure when they’ll put it in place permanently. (Click the image for a larger view)

I saw this guys “About Me” page posted on a forum today. His eBay username is “noexcusebuyer.” He is easily one of the biggest idiots I have ever seen on eBay, and he’s obviously never had to run any kind of real business for himself. Also, he typed all this crap in just two paragraphs. I will paste this idiot’s rant below:

TO ALL MY SELLERS

I DO NOT CARE ABOUT YOUR PERSONAL LIFE, PERSONAL PROBLEMS AND ISSUES, THAT IS YOUR CONCERN! I HAVE PAID YOU PROMPTLY, IN FULL WITH US CURRENCY, THIS IS A BUSINESS TRANSACTION, WE ARE PERFECT STRANGERS, I WANT MY ITEM SHIPPED QUICKLY, NO EXCUSES, PACKED WELL AND DELIVERED SAFELY IN A PROMPT FASHION! I DO NOT WANT TO BE YOUR FRIEND OR HAVE A PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP, I WANT WHAT I PAID FOR, PERIOD. I DO NOT PURCHASE HARD TO FIND, RARE, COLLECTABLES OR ITEMS ON EBAY, I AM NOT AN IDIOT. EVERY ITEM I PURCHASE HAS MULTIPLE PAGES OF ITEM LISTINGS, EVERY ONE OF THEM! I AM NOT IMPRESSED WITH THE “BLOCKED BIDDER” LIST THREAT, LET’S BE CLEAR HERE, I AM A BUYER, I HAVE CASH TO SPEND, THAT CASH SPENDS EVERYWHERE, YOU AS A SELLER HAVE AN ITEM TO SELL, YOU ARE SEEKING CASH FOR THAT ITEM, I AS THE BUYER HAVE THE ABSOLUTE UPPER HAND IN THIS SITUATION, I KNOW IT, YOU KNOW IT, LET’S NOT WASTE TIME WITH WORD GAMES. When I pay for priority, And you send by first class, I will neg you because you pocketed the difference. I will also leave you 1s on ALL your DSR ratings. Sames goes if you send me a damaged or missing item and refuse to fully refund or replace the item, at your sole expense! I am deadly serious about this, I WILL NOT BE RIPPED OFF!! ABOUT FREE SHIPPING, PLEASE DON’T INSULT ME BY TRYING TO SHAME ME WITH YOU SENT MY ITEM, FREE SHIPPING. NO SUCH THING EXISTS UNLESS YOU ARE AN IDIOT AS A SELLER! YOU HAVE INCLUDED ALL YOUR SHIPPING COSTS IN THE PRICE OF YOUR ITEM. YES, I know ebay gives you enhanced search results when you offer free shipping, THAT is your choice and between you and ebay, has nothing at all to do with me.

I expect that you, my seller, will respond to my communications, that I can communicate directly with you through ebay, that you will provide me with a DC# for my purchase and if asked for it, will respond quickly. IF you say in your ad that you ship in ONE BUSINESS DAY, THREE DAYS IS NOT ACCEPTABLE. ESPECIALLY IF YOU DEMAND PAYMENT BY A CERTAIN TIME. When I buy, I AM NOT LAIDBACK and I DO NOT RESPOND WELL IF YOU HAVE MY MONEY AND GET LAIDBACK ABOUT SHIPPING MY PAID ITEM. SOME OF MY SELLERS ARE NOT TAKING ME SERIOUSLY, CHECK MY FEEDBACK LEFT PAGE, I AM AS SERIOUS AS A HEARTATTACK, REALLY! ONE FINAL THING, DON’T SEND ME ANY RELIGIOUS LITERATURE, TELL ME GOD BLESS OR WHATEVER, I AM NOT IMPRESSED, I DIDN’T BUY FROM YOU IN ORDER TO GIVE YOU THE OPPORTUNITY TO SHARE YOUR PERSONAL RELIGIOUS BELIEFS WITH ME, I NEG FOR THAT, BE AWARE. I DON’T WANT TO HEAR ABOUT HOW MUCH YOU LOVE GOD, JESUS, BUDDAHA OR WHOMEVER OR WHATEVER YOU WORSHIP, I DON’T CARE, I DIDN’T PAY YOU FOR THAT NONSENSE! YOU ARE PUSHY, OVERBEARING AND DOMINEERING WHEN YOU TRY TO INTRODUCE YOUR RELIGIOUS BELIEFS INTO A BUSINESS TRANSACTION, THERE WILL BE CONSEQUENCES FROM ME FOR DOING SO!TO THE SELLER WHO IS SO UPSET ABOUT THE NEG LEFT WITHIN HOURS, YEA I LEFT IT. FIRST OFF, YOUR PAYPAL EMAIL ADDY WAS UNREGISTERED, WHICH FOR A SELLER WITH YOUR RECORD WAS MORE THAN STRANGE. SO I PULLED YOUR CONTACT INFORMATION AND CALLED THE PHONE NUMBER THAT YOU HAD LISTED ON YOUR EBAY ACCOUNT, SEEMS THAT THE PERSON WHO ANSWERED HAS SPORADICALLY GOTTEN CALLS FOR YOU OVER THE PAST FOUR YEARS? SEEMS THAT EVEN YOUR NEW SON-IN-LAW WITHIN THE PAST 3 WEEKS TRIED CALLING YOU AT THAT NUMBER, ONLY THIS WOMAN AND HER HUSBAND HAS HAD THIS NUMBER FOR FOUR YEARS? YOU COULDN’T BE REACHED BY EMAIL. I HAVE THE PAYPAL EMAILS AND THE EBAY CONTACT INFORMATION EMAIL, AS WELL AS THE NAME OF THE WOMAN WHO ACTUALLY HAVE THE PHONE # YOU LISTED WITH EBAY. CRY ME A RIVER HERE, OK! Thank You!