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[Darrin]

Originally Posted by redrumloa

At least in Alabama, restaurants are required to post their inspection reports which grades the cleanliness scores. Then you have websites like Angie's List which rate local businesses..

Trust me, any possible sale won't be funding a European vacation or put rims on some Porsche 911. It would be to pay off my credit card balance so I can keep floating along for a while.

I'm just going to miss YOU as a seller. It's always been a pleasure doing business with you.

[Darrin]

Originally Posted by dannyp1

Anyone who buys a store or a business is paying for the reputation of the business. Otherwise they would be farther ahead just to start the business from scratch. On Ebay your reputation is your feedback rating. This goes on everyday in the business world. EBay is no different.

Anybody who buys a real store or business is available to punch in the face if they rip you off.

[redrumloa]

Originally Posted by Darrin

I'm just going to miss YOU as a seller. It's always been a pleasure doing business with you.

Likewise! I was really very fortunate to have done business with so many great customers such as you. You were a great repeat customer and always a gentleman. I couldn't have asked for more

[Boudicca]

Originally Posted by redrumloa

Why wouldn't it be ethical? eBay does allow sale of accounts, with their aproval. If it was sold to someone unethical, they would lose the Top Rated Seller rating very, very fast. It wouldn't make sense for a scamster to buy it to attempt a scam. They would never recoup their investment.

2000 dollars,the last scam I heard of netted 140,000 dollars in 24 hours

[amigaksi]

Originally Posted by Boudicca

2000 dollars,the last scam I heard of netted 140,000 dollars in 24 hours

I almost fell for some scammer-- he put up some NIB laptop up for sale on ebay which went for about $1000 and then sent second chance offers to everyone since I was the 10th highest bidder and got a second chance offer. I was a bit suspicious so I bought the second chance offer but told him that I would pick up the item. It looked like he hijacked someone else's account with 100% feedback.

I don't think the feedback means much on ebay the way it is today (except for the discount on ebay fees). I get treated nicely by sellers even with feedback < 10 and harshly by some with high feedback so it's not that big of deal. And some people are around for many years but don't have a big feedback number.

[coldfish]

The way I see it, if someone's gaining, someone else is losing out.

The loser in this situation is the prospective ebay customer thinking they are dealing with an individual with 12 years worth of credibility, but getting who knows what?

[Amiga_Nut]

It's no different to me going up the road and buying 'Konsole Korner' for 1000s of bucks and then running the shop. People ringing up to purchase extremely expensive exotic consoles have no idea that the shop has changed hands and they may/may not receive the same quality of service said import business has built up for 3 decades. Ebay is a virtual business and so the same thing will apply as to people who buy real business. Just look at all the fancy restaurant's people buy and cock up on Kitchen Nightmares LOL they buy it for the name and run the business into the ground with shoddy food.

At the same time I am surprised this has been sanctioned by ebay. 3 years ago I had an enviable 100% record on an account selling just expensive hardware, nothing else no parts for a few bucks. Prices for sales ranged from 1000 to 300 bucks and at 1000+ sales that's a lot of respect to purchase. Ebay certainly didn't allow me to sell that 'business' though so I just closed my account.

Good luck to you anyway Red

[Gavilan]

At first, i was thinking as some kind of "internal joke" or something.

Now, after reading all this...i feel the same way Darrin feels. Im going to miss redrumbloa as a seller. Bought couplf of times from you Jim, and also made all other argentinian amiga enthusiasts buy from you with totally confidence.

You were/are some kind of lighthouse and a truly gentleman, with me, and with all my fellow surrounding me...

Hope you can fix everything Jim. Again, as i said, its always a pleasure dealing with you, and even tough im not that much here, its also a pleasure to read you, your C=128 blog project and your Commodore Bounty project

Hats off to you sir


Sebastian

[Pentad]

Wow, I had no idea you could 'buy your way to the top' on eBay. I guess I will add this to my (long) list of reasons to never do business on eBay.

I'm not saying the OP is doing anything wrong. I find it unethical that eBay allows such a situation to occur.

eBay has allowed the perception that a seller's rating is based on his or her own merit with regard to doing business with many different customers. That rating is then used by the shopper to evaluate the seller since they (the shopper) have very little else to make an informed judgment.

It would appear that I could be a dishonest seller, buy a very high ranking seller account, and then 'screw people over' until eBay steps in or my rating plummets.

Finally, as the person that built up that reputation, I would demand the new owner of the account change the name so that their decisions do not reflect upon me.


-P


BTW: Non-Competes are very, very difficult to uphold in court. In the state I live, its nearly impossible to have them enforced...

[ajlwalker]

Does anyone know if it is declared anywhere whether a person is operating a bought reputation?

Personally I don not see this as analogous to a real life situation. It is common knowledge that over time a restaurant for example will change hands, and more often or not it will declare in advertising, or its window, that it is under new management.

I doubt very much it is common knowledge that ebay stores/reputations can change hands. In this regard I consider it dubious ethically.

That being said, it appears to be within the rules and I wish red well. I've never been a customer of his, but by all accounts he is a reliable sort.

[Iggy]

I, too, am surprised that accounts are sell able. My wife and I have, over the last several years, sold hundreds of items on Ebay and have 211 feedback responses that are 100% positive.

And I wouldn't worry about buying from Ebay. If the item doesn't match its description or you don't receive it, you're going to get your money back.

In fact, the majority of scams I've dealt with have been buyer scams. The latest was a buyer who bought a TV Tuner from us, then complained that it wouldn't display HD cable signals (it wasn't designed for this, nor did the listing imply that it could).

Not only did Ebay step in and side with the buyer, they paid for the item (probably because I, frankly, was a bit offended) and closed the case in a matter of days.

To be honest, I've gotten great deal via the vast majority of transactions I've made on Ebay and would recommend them without qualification.

BTW - Good luck, Jim. Are you sure you want to give it up? I know its probably actually lost me money, but it is a good way of quickly selling surplus items.