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March 07, 2010
the "right" to not be offended -- for thee, but not for me?
While I've used Ebay to buy and sell for many years, about a year ago I decided that I would never be a seller again. That's because after many years of a feedback system that allowed both buyers and sellers to leave negative feedback, Ebay suddenly instituted a "no-negative feedack" rule -- but only against buyers. What that means is that the buyers now have all the power and sellers have none. If I sell an item and the buyer never pays for it, I cannot leave negative feedback, but there is nothing to stop him from leaving negative feedback against me. Sellers are screwed. They might complain, but it's the rule. It's NOT fair at all that buyers can leave Neg fb for sellers but not the other way around. It should be EQUAL for EVERYONE. I'm a buyer AND a seller so it's not like I'm saying this because i'm a bitter seller or anything. It's the TRUTH. EVERYTHING is aimed to please the buyers now - because that's where ebay gets most of their money. You know what they did? They reeled everyone in with "normal" and "fair" rules when they first started, and then, when they became popular and the #1 auction site in the world, THATS when they changed all the rules - when they already had everyone at their every beck and call.Not content merely to stop sellers from leaving negative feedback, Ebay also prevents sellers from listing deadbeat buyers. This has not stopped sellers from starting their own deadbeat buyer lists using blogs like this, but that's hardly a remedy. But none of this is really news. What prompted this post is that I recently learned that sellers are now no longer allowed to warn "deadbeat buyers" or "deadbeat bidders" not to bid on their listings! The reason for the rule? People might be offended! Ebay explains: A listing can't include words like "deadbeat bidder" or "deadbeat buyer" because they can offend people and discourage them from buying your item.The poor seller said, "I can't call deadbeats deadbeats for fear that deadbeats might be offended." Sure it's unfair, but what else is new? It's not censorship, as no one is required to sell on Ebay. Still, what most fascinates me is the Orwellian condescension on the part of Ebay. As I said in an email to a friend who sells a lot and complained about this policy, The only people who might be offended are deadbeat buyers. In which case, I would WANT them to be offended, and thereby discouraged from bidding!Even if I give Ebay every possible benefit of the doubt, let's assume that there are some legitimate buyers who might just possibly be offended by the word "deadbeat." Well, what if you'd rather not deal with thin-skinned buyers who are so easily offended? Why isn't there a right not to be offended by people being easily offended? Such people might be offended by a lot of other things, like slowness of mail delivery, or the use of packing materials that were not deemed sufficiently "green." What if you as a seller offended by that? Isn't there a market operating here? Is it really Ebay's business to ensure that no one might ever be offended by a seller's phraseology? What about people who get offended by morons who cannot write a simple English sentence? Why isn't it offensive to misspell? And if we return to the original feedback theme, isn't negative feedback offensive by its very nature? If so, then why does Ebay allow it at all? Is the idea that it's OK to offend some people, but not others? By any standard, that's not fair. Because, if there is a right not to be offended, then it is a right held by all people, not just some people. posted by Eric on 03.07.10 at 11:01 AM
Comments
So would it be offensive if I were to say, "Sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt me"? Veeshir · March 7, 2010 03:34 PM ebay has been incrementally "cracking down" on sellers for years and as a result I don't even look there for price checks, much less actually intending to buy anything. Far too many of the remaining sellers are rip-off artists. Donna B. · March 8, 2010 06:51 PM The sellers abused the old system. They would wait until a buyer gave them a positive rating before they would give the buyer a positive rating. If you as a buyer complained about a seller, your own positive ranking was at risk. What ebay should have done was require sellers to rate buyers as soon as payment was made. flenser · March 9, 2010 11:59 PM Post a comment
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The only answer is to demand a bond from bidders. Of course E-Bay is not set up for that.
So business will decline. Perhaps Amazon will pick up the slack.