Friday, April 30, 2010

OOOOOOOOOOOooooo! eBay SUCKS ! ! ! !

Oh, I'm sure a few of you remember when ebay announced that they were changing the way they handled their rating system, where buyers and sellers could rate the experience when purchasing or selling an item. They decided to NOT allow sellers to leave negative feedback. At the time, I though "eh, whatever."

Well, I just had the following experience: listed a brand new unopened Blackberry Bold 9700. Sweet! At the end of the auction, a bidder ran it up to $378 and won. Sweet! When I did not hear from him, I sent him an invoice. He wrote back and said "oh, I forgot I was bidding on two and can I not but yours." The asshole's ebay ID is hyungwooooo. Digging around ebay, they have a complicated process when this happens. In the end, I get refunded my listing and transaction fees. I have my Bold and no cash.

Then I tried to leave some comment so another buyer won't get screwed by this dufus. Nope. No way, no how. And here is what ebay had to say to me when I contacted them . . . .

Translation: IT IS ALL TO INCREASE BUYER CONFIDENCE, FUCK THE SELLER


"


Dear Michael,


Thank you for contacting eBay. To better serve our members, we're
changing the way we work with you when you have a question. If the information below doesn't answer your question, a Customer
Service agent can assist you more quickly by chatting with you online.
To chat with an agent about this issue, go to http://pages.ebay.com/help/basics/n-livehelpemail.html.To ask a different question, go to
 http://contact.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ContactUsNextGen.

With regards to your concern on leaving negative Feedback to a buyer.

Seller can't leave negative Feedback because the goal is to improve the buying experience on the site by regaining the confidence of buyers. A big issue with the older Feedback system was that buyers feared retaliatory Feedback from sellers, which made it harder for buyers to distinguish between good and bad sellers. Also, buyers who received negative Feedback in the past were less likely to buy again in the future.

By improving buyer confidence on the site, we hope to increase buying activity -- which is also good for sellers.

We have made some changes in our feedback system. An important change right now that affects your concern is that sellers are no longer able to leave negative or neutral feedback to buyers. Please allow me some time to explain this change well for you as this was made for the interest of both buyers and sellers. It will be best that you hold your questions until later, after I'm done explaining everything. Will this be okay with you?

We have found that negative Feedback left for buyers reduces buyer activities on the site. In the past, we have seen many buyers who would rather leave eBay than give accurate feedback about their transaction within the site since there is threat of receiving negative Feedback. Sellers then do not benefit when buyers leave.

With the new system, the eBay marketplace will actually be improved as a whole since both buyers and sellers will benefit from it. As buyers, they will increase confidence in bidding as they will be able to build trust in sellers. As sellers, this means more sales at a possible higher price since there will be more buyers who'll have confidence in bidding.

I'd also like to emphasize that sellers will also be protected from
buyers who violate our policies via the Unpaid Item system and other
means of reporting. All neutral and negative feedback given by a buyer will be removed if the buyer is found to violate our policies and thus become suspended.

It is my pleasure to assist you. Thank you for choosing eBay.

Sincerely,
Kristine Al.
eBay Customer Support 
"
(emphasis added)
Grrrr

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Moment, uninterrupted

It was a much slower time
When you had to wait until you got home to get a phone call.
You could live in the moment, uninterrupted.

Life didn't seem slow then,
But what did we know?
People wonder how we managed to get things done before smartphones and computers.
I wonder how we manage to get things done now.

The real funny thing is,
Life is life,
Proceeding at the same reckless pace as always.
The difference is that now, we just skim across the surface, cramming our pockets full of every worthless thing we can grab.

Would that we all could live,
In the moment,
Uninterrupted.

Friday, April 02, 2010

Unlucky in Love - July 9, 1983

I feel like the little spider
In the lady black widow's web.
I'm wondering if I'll get of here with my head.

Sunset - July 20 1983

High Tide at dusk
Bluest of blues, tinted rust

When You Smile

Your face, when you smile, like the clouds at dawn
Illumin that comes from within.
Innocent and open, as warm as the promise
Of a new day about to begin.

Your eyes, when you smile, like swells on the sea
Cerulean deep in the sun.
Innocen and open, as warm as the promise
Of a new day already begun.

Your lips, when you smile, like leaves in the fall
Fresh fallen, fire on clover.
Innocent and open, as warm as the promise
Of the stars when a new day is over.