eBay status question

[cybertrax]

Just a general enquiry;

When spotting these auctions that are potentially against eBay policy, as well as notifying eBay, Paypal and the bidders potentially at risk, do you contact the sellers as well? I have never seen any mention here of sellers replies.

[mercinary]

It is eBay's job to contact the sellers. I really don't know what we would say to the sellers if we contacted them anyhow.

Logistically speaking, we really don't have the resources to even do this if we wanted to. Just look how far behind we are on contacting bidders....

-Merc

[cybertrax]

It just occurs to me that you are attacking the branches of a tree, where the seller would be the roots. Contact with the seller politely explaining that they are contravening eBay rules would potentially save alot of time and energy.

There are many bidders on each auction, but only one seller. Attack at the root of the problem, and get a far more impressive result with less resources used. It appears to me to be common sense.

[jokach]

I (and I believe merc as well) have personally attempted in the past to contact the sellers themselves, and found it to be of no use. The attitude is the same as that of a matrix site owner, arrogance. They don't feel they are doing anything wrong, even when the terms and conditions are explained outright to them. Either they give that attitude or they don't respond to the email at all and make no attempt to stop.

[mercinary]

Jokach is right. Very few sellers (if any) cease and desist when told they are violating eBay policy.

Contacting them in the way you suggest could potentially get us into trouble, as it is not our decision whether or not the auction violates eBay's TOS. We report the auctions, and they close them as they see fit.

-Merc

[mercinary]

Also....

We do attack "at the root" when we report these auctions. Eventually these sellers get NARUed and all their auctions are stopped. Of course, this never stops them all, as a lot of these guys just find new ways to get eBay accounts. Take a look at our status...we are well over 1000 sellers suspended. I think that is a pretty good job of attacking "at the root".

On a even higher level, by getting matrix sites themselves shut down, we attack at the TRUE source of the problem. No matrix sites, no matrix auctions, no scammed bidders.

-Merc