posted 01-12-2007 03:29 PM               

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A Message from Rob Chesnut – Launch of Safeguarding Member IDs on eBay.com and eBay Canada

A couple of months ago, I told you about an important new initiative called Safeguarding Member IDs (read my announcement from November 2, 2006). Safeguarding Member IDs (SMI) is a significant step forward in protecting eBay's bidders, who have increasingly become targets for unwanted commercial and malicious spam, such as phishing, spoof, and fake Second Chance Offers.

SMI adds a new layer of privacy by replacing specific User IDs with aliases (bidder 1, bidder 2, bidder 3, etc.). To ensure buyers continue to feel trust in the bidding process, SMI also provides an updated Bid History page with aggregate information about the bidders involved in a given listing, as well as their other recent activity with the listing's seller.

Coming this week: eBay.com and eBay Canada to Launch SMI

Following SMI's introduction last fall on eBay Motors, our eBay sites in the United Kingdom and Australia also made the decision to launch SMI. The results we're seeing for all three launches indicate that these changes are having the impact we are striving for – in short, a reduction in unwanted commercial and malicious spam (including Fake Second Chance Offers) to bidders on higher-priced auction-style listings.

As a result eBay.com and eBay.ca will be launching SMI later this week. SMI will impact listings on eBay.com that start at or reach a bid level of $200 or greater. On eBay Canada, it will impact listings above the C$220 level. Please read our Safeguarding Member IDs Frequently Asked Questions for more information.

Community Concerns

I'd like to acknowledge the concerns we've heard from some members who believe these changes may encourage shill bidding (the act of using friends or alias User IDs to bid on a seller's own listing to artificially increase the bidding level.) First, let me make it very clear that shill bidding is not tolerated on eBay. Not only is this activity prohibited by our policies (read our shill bidding policy), it is also a crime in many states.

In addition to the Bid History changes I've described above which are designed to give buyers the information they need to feel confident, it's important to know that over the years, eBay has invested heavily in shill detection systems. We can proactively detect and investigate possible shill bidding scenarios with a higher rate of accuracy than ever before. These backend systems collect more information on selling and bidding activity than our Community has access to, so we can detect patterns and ascertain identities much more accurately.

Be assured that we will continue to monitor the sites where SMI has launched to ensure that increased shill bidding does not become an unintended consequence of SMI.

I want to thank the Community for the support you've shown for these changes thus far. While reducing transparency on the site is understandably controversial, I believe these changes strike the right balance between the need for openness and the need to protect our members from online threats.

Sincerely,

Rob Chesnut
Senior Vice President, eBay Global Trust & Safety

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posted 01-12-2007 03:30 PM               

I've sent Ebay dozens of auctions that were selling obvious forgeries and they've responded by saying "thanks for your time" but they do nothing to stop people from being ripped off.

I guess Ebay is more interested in making money and protecting their sellers, than they are of protecting the public against thieves.

Maybe it's time to jump on the bandwagon, open a space autograph Ebay store in Germany, (they really do the nicest forgeries), and make money the old fashioned way.

posted 01-12-2007 03:30 PM               

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I am the editor/founder of an online community representing over 100,000 space history memorabilia enthusiasts (collectSPACE), many of whom use eBay's services. The recent introduction of Safeguarding Member IDs (SMI), while admirable for its spam and spoof protections, leaves us very concerned about the potential for eBay sellers to offer fraudulent, fake and forged items for sale. While we understand that eBay cannot become involved in the day-to-day authentication of the items its members offer, previously, it was possible for concerned and knowledge collectors to contact bidders through eBay, suggesting that the items on which they were bidding were at the least suspect.

Under SMI, this is impossible for high-ticket items, the same type of items that most who seek to commit fraud focus their sales. Was this issue taken under consideration before moving to SMI and if it was, were there any suggestions on how to accommodate this now missing level of protection?

I would greatly appreciate a reply that I can share with our readers, who are remain concerned.

— Robert Pearlman, Editor, collectSPACE.com

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posted 01-14-2007 08:51 PM               

This new policy prevents anyone from offering congratulations to auction winners.

Last year I worked on a model which was purchased by a CollectSpace member. She remembered getting my congratulatory email via ebay when she won the auction. In fact, she had kept it in her email files even though it was back a couple of years.

And long before that, I received a message of similar content from one of the three individuals whom I credit in the CS article "Magnificent Creations" for getting me so involved with the lunar module's unique place in history.

If Jim hadn't emailed me long ago about an ebay auction I won, he and I would have never shared the hundreds of emails we shared. Perhaps there never would have been an article entitled "Magnificent Creations". Perhaps that other CS'ers model might never have made the trip to Dr. Lem's little workshop, maybe because I might never have become "Dr. Lem" in the first place?

posted 01-15-2007 08:38 AM               

You can't protect ignorant people from making ignorant decisions ..... but penalising those of us who make an honest effort to educate others by way of this policy change (irrespective of whether or not that is the intent) just illustrates how dumb and thick ebay management are in arriving at supposed solutions to prevent fraudulent behaviour.

At what point do we put the society car into "park" and ask that people assume responsibility for their individual decisons and wear the consequences of those actions ?

When we have warned potential buyers about items, they are free to ignore or accept that advice. But for ebay to effectively deny that goodwill (which I'm sure would outweigh deceit in any field outside of this community) speaks volumes regarding their management capability.

I wouldn't trust them to feed my pet.

posted 01-15-2007 02:04 PM            

EBay is trying to stay one step ahead of the scammers.

Its a tough job, but I applaud them for trying.

posted 01-15-2007 02:29 PM            

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Originally posted by Spacepsycho:
Gee....so much for trying to warn unsuspecting buyers that the item their bidding on is a forgery. All this has done is to further protect the lowlifes who make a very nice living from selling forgeries.

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For what its worth, the winning bidders ID is revealed after the auction closes.

They can still be notified of the forgery.

This will probably be a long on going debate, but from my bidding experience, its a step in the right direction.

cS members headaches with eBay forgeries are very similar to my headaches with "bogus" second chance offers that are done extremely well these days.

Rizz

posted 01-15-2007 02:58 PM               

b i l l

posted 01-15-2007 03:38 PM               

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Originally posted by Rizz:
cS members headaches with eBay forgeries are very similar to my headaches with "bogus" second chance offers that are done extremely well these days.

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For example, they could still allow anonymous communication with bidders were they to enable its members the ability to direct messages to Bidder 1, Bidder 2, Bidder 3, etc., via their "My eBay" pages. This would circumvent e-mail (and the spoof offers that come with it) while still retaining the open communication channels that eBay has always offered its users.

posted 01-16-2007 12:59 PM               

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Another side effect of SMI is that it prevents friends from recognizing other friends as bidders. Based on prior discussions, many have said that they will refrain from bidding on an item if they notice a friend is already competing for it, or at the least, they will first e-mail their friend to learn of their intentions. While anonymous bidding might be better for sellers it could lead to hurt feelings or worse should a losing bidder learn that his/her friend was the winner of a prize piece. eBay advertises itself, in part, as a community. It's hard to to see them maintaining that community while promoting a network of blind bidders.

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posted 01-17-2007 01:05 AM               

There is just no support what so ever from Safe Harbour or whatever 'safe' buying policy, they just put the ball in the buyer's corner no matter what you call it, it's up to you the make the sale or the right decision.

It still hurts loosing $5,000 on eBay.

posted 01-19-2007 09:17 PM               

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Originally posted by Robert Pearlman:
I'd like to see what, if any response the above query elicits.

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Thank you for writing eBay in regard to the suggestion about SMI.

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Read the e-mail I sent them above: wherein did I make a suggestion? So maybe they misread, I simply need to reply and tell them right?

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Our Product Development Team... will be unable to provide any additional information with respect to your email.

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posted 01-19-2007 10:00 PM               

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Scott Schneeweis

URL http://www.SPACEAHOLIC.com/

posted 01-20-2007 06:41 AM               

For all the good it does, you might as well be talking to the wall. Patronising and self serving "we'll look ino it and thank you for contacting us" responses such as these underpin my convictions.

.... and this rubbish from a company that can't even control exploits of their own site .... ineptitude in the extreme.