Re: seller - city dot com. - conflict of interest

[ibuyufly09]

Thanks

[retroleds]

You probably should let people know you own that site, Pete. Raving on about no fees, etc. is/was a little mis-leading, IMO. A total turn off to bidding after someone emailed me a few days ago and brought it to my attention. Which I verified through a "whois" search. Much as we complain about ebay. at least they have no vested interest in any particular sale or seller.

And of course, anyone who signed up for your site using their ebay username and password(for convenience many do this) should change them asap.

[ibuyufly09]

take a pill

[retroleds]

Not really busting your balls over it Pete, but you made it sound like "they" don't charge you fees - it would be funny if you charged yourself. There is a value to a third-party handling auctions, for a number of obvious reasons, shilling being the most prominent.. Many find a degree of comfort in ebay & Paypals' "Big Brother" style coverage. Who in their right mind would participate in an auction, where the auctioneer and the seller are one and the same?!

On the passwords issue - I looked at that software, it runs against a MySql database, you most certainly could pop it open.

As far as ebay charging $14 to list an item - realistically you have to take photos, draft some text, upload all, so your work is the same as posting to ebay. You had to purchase the software and pay for hosting. And you don't get the millions of participants. So if your item sells for $14 less because one fervent collector didn't join in, how you are ahead? How you sell isn't my concern or even business- but you did invite all. Caveat emptor applies - the person who PM'd me was agitated and wondered about the large number of auctions that seemed to be won by one buyer....

Again, many find a degree of comfort in ebay & Paypals' "Big Brother" style coverage. It's like McDonalds - not great eating, but you pretty much know what you are getting.

Per your request via private email, I will remove all references to your site, to help protect your privacy.

[LEDluvr]

Hmm.. interesting. LED-land owns Seller City.
There's nothing wrong with that. In fact it makes sense that if you are a high volume seller that you would have your own auction site.
But IMO it's a good idea to disclose that too. At least to the 'members of the community'.

[retroleds]

Pete's lack of disclosure is the really irritating part. Damn it, I've always encouraged everyone who is a seller or repairer to advertise their site here via a website URL in their signature line(I even give instructions in the forum information area), the website URL in their profile and posting items up for sale in this area. 14 of the sites referenced in the custom Google search are "competitors" - that's not an issue for me. I know I can't fix every watch out there, can't sell every watch that is needed or wanted - frankly I wouldn't want to. But I do feel I have a great obligation to the community of people who are involved in this genre of items. To my thinking it's analogous to "host liability" - you don't let friends drive away from your house drunk so they can kill themselves or someone else. My "host liability" is to not serve up people who aren't being above board with their actions. I know a lot of people think it is no big deal, but I have no intention of ever allowing this to be a haven for those that mislead, sell bogus items or otherwise twist the rules to serve nobody but themselves. It's crap like this that stops probably 70-80% of those who enjoy digital watches from joining forums or at very least, joining in. I encourage every person who contacts me to visit here - I get an awful lot of people who tell me they have no interest due to the fanatical behaviors and the crooks who are seemingly lurking in forums, WHATEVER the genre of interest.

I'm going to chill for the next two days, try to enjoy some holiday cheer and will resume the good fight on Friday, December, 26, 2008.

The final words from the owner of Link removed per domain owner's request:
"You are not welcome on this site,and are banned for good unlike Ebay you do not get 3 strikes here.".

I'm trying to choke back my tears.

[Pulsarlover]

Not really busting your balls over it Pete, but you made it sound like "they" don't charge you fees - it would be funny if you charged yourself. There is a value to a third-party handling auctions, for a number of obvious reasons, shilling being the most prominent.. Many find a degree of comfort in ebay & Paypals' "Big Brother" style coverage. Who in their right mind would participate in an auction, where the auctioneer and the seller are one and the same?!

On the passwords issue - I looked at that software, it runs against a MySql database, you most certainly could pop it open.

As far as ebay charging $14 to list an item - realistically you have to take photos, draft some text, upload all, so your work is the same as posting to ebay. You had to purchase the software and pay for hosting. And you don't get the millions of participants. So if your item sells for $14 less because one fervent collector didn't join in, how you are ahead? How you sell isn't my concern or even business- but you did invite all. Caveat emptor applies - the person who PM'd me was agitated and wondered about the large number of auctions that seemed to be won by one buyer....

Again, many find a degree of comfort in ebay & Paypals' "Big Brother" style coverage. It's like McDonalds - not great eating, but you pretty much know what you are getting.

Per your request via private email, I will remove all references to your site, to help protect your privacy.

I believe I am the person that purchased most of the watches you refer to from Link removed per domain owner's request. I found it searching Yahoo! for pulsar led watches. I was the only bidder on each purchase and thought they were a great buy.

I am just starting out with this as a hobby, though I got my first Pulsar, a Date II Classic in 1974.

I appreciate all the sites out there that help those that love Pulsar LED watches.