On Sat, 16 Jan 1999 13:46:37 -0500, Rob Roy <rroy@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>At 09:26 AM 16/01/99 -0800, you wrote:
>>I think it's the thrill of the chase. I've been contacting unsuccessful
>>bidders to sell stuff, and although I've had some success, several times
>>I've offered something below several of the bidders, and no one's even
>>replied.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>
>My wife says it's not cricket to do this, so if others think the
>same.........?
I agree with your wife, Rob, and I have already made Jan aware of my
view about this (I was one of the bidders who got some unwanted
offers). The fact that the bidders won't reply is probably because
they share our view, and consider it as a form of non-welcome
unsolicited email selling.
Jan says that Ebay agrees with his way of acting - but I can hardly
imagine that they do, because it certainly interferes with their
business and makes them loose profit.
Instead of starting an auction himself (which he should pay commission
for) he contacts bidders directly, whose addresses he's taken from
their system. Because this happened in a more or less automated way
(standard email content) I think it is very close to spamming and told
Jan in my conversation with him. But of course some of the bidders
will be happy with Jan's offers too - I can understand that.
I must admit that I myself also offered an Olympus item
(varimagnifinder) to an unsuccessful bidder whom I knew from this very
mailing list. I did so in a personal message because I knew he was
really anxious to get one. And he indeed bought my item, just when I
was about to start an auction for the thing...
Frank van Lindert
Utrecht NL.
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