Can you be Booted off

I'm pretty sure eBay goes through a range of increasingly severe penalties which may end in barring a seller from eBay. I don't know how many negatives are involved, or if negatives (as opposed to ripping off buyers, misrepresenting goods, etc.) matter that much at all.

This is pretty nonspecific, but it's copied from eBay's Policies for Sellers:

"Notes:
eBay will consider the circumstances of an alleged policy violation and the user's trading record before taking action.
Disciplinary action may result in a formal warning, temporary sanction, or indefinite suspension.
If a complaint can't be proven with certainty, we may take no action."

I kind of had in mind negatives that infer ripoffs, etc. I started, in fact, sniped and then canceled one today that the negs. looked very serious...and I wondered about it.

rsmiller40

You posted your reply while I was amending my previous post.

Thanks Steve. When I see sellers that are so consistantly bad, makes me wonder who would chance doing business with them.

rsmiller40

Maybe nobody, or more likely fewer people. That could be more effective in driving them off eBay than any sanctions eBay might -- or might not -- choose to impose.

Probably the biggest problem is that people do not follow through to the proper channels so many times bad business practices by the seller go unnoticed by Ebay.

rsmiller40

Sorry, it must be past my bedtime. That's what you might call a running sentence! LOL.

rsmiller40

We all tend to give strangers the benefit of the doubt, at least I know I do. I'm reluctant to report a seller/buyer unless I'm absolutely sure they've been deliberately dishonest. The only occasion on which I did, I contacted several other sellers with whom a buyer been dealing and got their responses first. It's all too easy to fall out with someone you've never met when your only means of communication is the written word.

The problem I find with many sellers/buyers is that they don't communicate and keep you in touch with regular updates even when there's a legitimate problem or delay, which can lead to frustration and short, sharp emails.

Yes, this is very true. Many times I have read a neg. and the response will be that they never tried to contact the seller before they left a neg. But, also, I know , for example, a seller that kept selling an expensive automotive part and never delivered one! They complained to him and he made excuses such as a warehouse error, etc. and kept on bilking the buyers because they didn't report it to Ebay, itself.

rsmiller40

The only time I ever got ripped off was by a dealer in Oriental rugs. I paid for the rug I won but nothing was forthcoming. I e-mailed him repeatedly but no answer. Finally I got his phone number and called him down in Florida. His line was "Thank goodness you've called! My computer crashed big-time and I don't know who won my auctions or for how much. If you'll give me the item number I'll match it against my written records and ship your rug off to you immediately." Well, I was suspicious but it was a pretty good line so I gave him the item number and waited...still no rug. I tried calling him again and his phone had been disconnected. That's when I reported him to eBay only to learn that he'd already been suspended indefinitely. So since I had his name and Florida address I reported him to the Postal Service's Office of the Inspector General. Now if that jerk tries to open a business anywhere in the US he'll find a Postal Inspector sitting on his doorstep. Those guys carry guns and have arrest powers.

Good for you, Steve. I went through a simular experience with a person selling auto A/C.

rsmiller40

quote:

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Originally posted by Gardengnome:
It's all too easy to fall out with someone you've never met when your only means of communication is the written word.

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That's true, of course, but the "written word" use to be the only means of communication outside of shouting distance. Has this become similar to math skills? Letters still seem to be popular with seniors. Have we lost the ability to communicate thru writing? One would think that these forums and emails would improve that skill.

Rick, the answer to your question might certainly be found in some posts today. Orrrr, well maybe I am having a "senior moment", but I could not grasp what was being relayed.

rsmiller40

Two respected members of a group I belong to harked back to the time when they were teenagers in the 1970s. There were no PCs, and if you wanted to communicate you wrote a letter, put a stamp on it, and mailed it. They opined that the letter-writing process, being slower, forced the writer to slow down and reflect on what he was trying to say, with the results that the handwritten letter was often more informative and thoughtful than today's instant communications.

quote:

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Originally posted by Steve:
They opined that the letter-writing process, being slower, forced the writer to slow down and reflect on what he was trying to say, with the results that the handwritten letter was often more informative and thoughtful than today's instant communications.

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Since you're well read, that would also apply to novels. The great novels were written before computers, and some of them on typewriters. They were "written" when "cut and paste" meant something. Ah, those were the days - run on sentences (paragraphs), double negatives - made for more interesting and challenging reading.

Steve, maybe, but I also think that the writing skills of the younger people, as a group, are going the way of the math skills as Rick mentioned. I watch my grand children and they don't read books,but readily watch TV. And, go to the market...my complaint daily is that they cannot count your change back properly. I'm afraid we are raising a bunch of eletronic idiots! My grandchildren are honor students, but their writng skills in highschool match my third grade level!!

rsmiller40

I'd go along with all that. I must admit to deliberately giving a "checkout chick" the precise money, but in the smallest possible denominations, just to see if they could count. Only do this if I'm not in a hurry of course. When I worked on a post office counter (before calculators) the mental arithmetic was quick and accurate, and we rarely resorted to pen and paper. Very different now, but I wonder if it really matters.

The point about novels is well made but we have to get our meaning across in a few lines, not a whole book (or even letter), and that takes a different kind of skill.

Yes, I think it matters because it is important to use your brain . In my opinion, we start down the wrong track in early childhood when children play with toys that leave no place for imagination..brain development.. and as children mature they depend on other things to do the "thinking" for them. I really believe if you don't use it, you loose it.

rsmiller40

quote:

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Originally posted by Gardengnome:
I must admit to deliberately giving a "checkout chick" the precise money, but in the smallest possible denominations, just to see if they could count.

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Thanks - Tomorrow at Blockbuster.

quote:

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Originally posted by Gardengnome:
... but we have to get our meaning across in a few lines.

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You have my full support, but why is that? What has changed?

Gardengnome, what I am refering to is the clerk handing you back a wad of money and not having the ability to count it back and reconcile it from the purchase price to what you gave them. Steve, you are probably the only one here that understands that besides me!

rsmiller40

Recently I acquired two copies of an old Bobbsey Twins story. The first edition was printed in 1913 and a later edition of the same story was printed in 1947.

The later version was shorter and omitted much of the descriptive language and high quality vocabulary. It would seem that even in the inter-war years, there was already a gradual decline in reading skills and attention span of youths. With the advent of mass media in the 1920's (magazines, radio, telephone), it would seem that America's attention span was already ebbing. Hence, what we are seeing today is merely a continuation of this trend, though perhaps at an accelerated rate, as media images tend more toward a lower common denominator.

OTOH, look at the success of Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings, which is challenging reading for children, to say the least. But even that phenomenon is media-driven, rather than literature-driven.

Well, LOTR is pictures, not a book, so far as the youngsters are concerned. After all Tolkien wrote that...when? Back in the 40s, IIRC. There are a whole series of books leading up to LOTR, starting with the Sylmarillon and The Hobbit. But I hear tell that the Potter stories come out as books before the movies and videos are made. Is that true?

quote:

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Originally posted by Steve:
Is that true?

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That's the way I heard it - success of the books drove the movie.

Yes, it is true. I bought them all for one of my grandchildren. I must say, I did have TV from the time I was seven. My father bought the first in our area. However, it never took the place of reading and it still doesn't. We were allowed to see a very limited number of movies. He always pointed us to the library and told us to read the book and save our quarters...and I still do.

rsmiller40

Our family was the last in the neighborhood to get a TV...a Muntz, as I remember. It was turned off most of the time because my brother and I were too wrapped up in books to bother with TV. My Dad grudgingly bought it to watch sporting events like the 1967 NFL Championship game. It never did become ingrained in our family; it reposed in a corner of the dining room but we were forbidden to turn it on at mealtimes, so we had to (horrors! ) talk about what happened to us that day and other things.

Yes, it was that way at our home too. I think our's was a Motorola, but I am not sure. I know that it was only on for a few hours a day and when wrestling came on, our neighbors lined our front glassed-in porch to watch. We always had dinner together with a properly set table. We ate everything on our plate and discussed the ventures of the day. I suppose dinner lasted an hour or so.

rsmiller40

RSMILLER40 - Actually I understood you perfectly, it was also an art I practised in those far off days behind the counter. In fact it was part of the training for the job, if I remember correctly. I haven't seen it done for years though, not even in the post office.

Several months ago I was given the wrong change. When I asked the clerk to please count it back, she didn't know how. Finally, she called another clerk who couldn't and she called the manager. No, he couldn't either. I was totally dismayed. I finally counted it back to them, then returned their $20.00 too much!

rsmiller40

Maybe credit cards and checks have something to do with it - you don't get much change back when you use them.

Of course, trying to add a tip at the restaurant can be trying.

It may be so, but what I hate is when I give the clerk a twenty or such and she hands me back a wad of money. Anytime someone has change coming, I count it back from the purchase to the original money. I then I know I am right and they are assured they got the correct money back. In the case I stated earlier,the super market computer that regulates the cash drawers was off....And Good morning!

rsmiller40

quote:

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Originally posted by rsmiller40:
Anytime someone has change coming, I count it back from the purchase to the original money.

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I think in a generation or two it will go the way of the telegram, black & white TV, and dial phones.

You are more than likely right. Where I live, a person is lucky to get a clerk that speaks the English language, let alone can count.

rsmiller40

Think I will clarify that ststement. They probably can speak English, they don't.

rsmiller40

I remember when I was in the 7th and 8th grade, calculators were just beginning to be seen in the classroom. Kids would bring them in and try to use them in math class.
At that time, it was strictly against the rules to have a calculator in class - it was considered cheating.
Nowadays, it is a requirement that students have a calculator for math class!

I think that technology. although wonderful to have, has really taken away the skills that people once had to use the mind for calculations, reading, imagination and problem-solving. Even social skills and work ethic has been affected.

I think that although the Harry Potter books are popular with kids, I feel that people think of it as a bit of a phenomenon for this generation.
50 years ago, Nancy Drew Mysteries, the Hardy Boys, etc were whole series that kids would read and no one thought of that as exceptional.

Sigh, its sort of scary to think of what might become of us as a society without these rudimentory skills.

-bjt

Maybe in a generation or two, cash will only be used by drug dealers.

Bjt, you are soooooooooo right!

Rick,...ROFLMAO!!!!

rsmiller40

I am new to all those acronyms people use - what does ROFLMAO mean?

-bjt

rolling on the floor laughing my a-- off

rsmiller40

quote:

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Originally posted by bjt:
50 years ago, Nancy Drew Mysteries, the Hardy Boys, etc were whole series that kids would read and no one thought of that as exceptional.

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You're right. Our educational standards/expectations seem to be a lot lower. But, the kids know karate.

Good thing Horatio Alger wasn't born in the 60's.