Ebay sucks overall Rich. They allow endless free listings, hopeless junking up the listings; they block most communication between the buyer and seller; no communications allowed between buyers; they have bogus "hidden reserve" listings; the feedback system is useless now, all names are hidden, purchases are hidden; prices are hidden for "best offer accepted"; no auction history;
It's gone from a "B" to a "D" in the last three years IMO. This hobby is very fortunate to have several independent auction houses....
I do agree that the free listings that clog up the system are onerous, but I have figured out how to block alot of them by saving my searches without displaying dealers I wouldn't be doing biz with because they would never have anything I ever want if they sell key fobs and celebrity dollars, but I'm not sure I agree on all the rest at all.
I did not allow buyer-to-buyer contact when I had other dealers on the old site (There aren't other dealers on the new site) and as to "hidden" bidder names I have spoken to many of my bidders and people who aren't bidders and they all want to be anonymous. Facts are that there is no website where you really know who the bidders are to any great measure. We may know that Marklawd is our friend, but does the average person who never steps foot in an online forum know? Is A*****9 any different than seeing Ar518479? (note: on MPB you now see only A*****9 but that exact code is only used for a single member, so only one person will ever be A*****9).
Realistically, if people wanted you to know who they are and if
ANY auction company wanted you to know exactly who they are, then every auction would require you to use your real name for screen display. I understand how you would like to be able to track back information as you used to be able to on eBay years ago, but there were good reasons (for ebay) to go the route they went and the way I now have it. If any dealer - any dealer - believes that bidders should not be anonymous as bidders wish to be, they should institute actual name bidder id's. Their buyers won't like it very much
auction history and the other issues.. maybe some could be changed, but to the vast majority of people it is not a priority. I really don't think business is a one-size-that-must-fit-all situation Mel.
One thing you said confused me though.. why is the FB system useless?
it works fine for me and keeps sellers in line.
If you think that the information you can no longer get is a neg, do you require the same transparency from every retailer you deal with? Should Dillards be posting a list every day of all their sales for customers to read?
