[CR]e-bay bullshit meters

Comment: DomainKeys? See http://antispam.yahoo.com/domainkeys
Date: Fri, 7 Jan 2005 21:52:27 -0800 (PST)
From: "Dale B. Phelps" <losgatos_dale@yahoo.com>
To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
Subject: [CR]e-bay bullshit meters

Date: Fri, 7 Jan 2005 17:56:53 -0600 From: Todd Kuzma <tullio@theramp.net> To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org Subject: Re: [CR] Now: eBay ratings

Oops! I have less than a 99% rating. In fact, it's a terrible 98.5% (one negative out of 67). So, obviously, I am a professional rip-off artist. Please do yourself a favor and refrain from conducting ANY business with me. I am likely to rob you blind.

Todd Kuzma Tullio's Big Dog Cyclery Heron Bicycles LaSalle IL 815-223-1776 http://www.tullios.com/ http://www.heronbicycles.com/ You've missed the point entirely Todd! Sheesh! I didn't expect this from you. The raw numbers are just that - raw. It's how you crunch the data to minimize risk on a bid / don't bid decision that matters. It's really quite easy IMO to spot the problem sellers on eBay about 99.5% of the time. They are a very small minority, after all. The data is there, but it has to be mined properly. Long-term, 99% is bad. That's why eBay puts the "Power Seller" threshold at 98% - it's pretty hard to slip below that under any legitimate circumstances. eBay wants everything to look peachy-keen to the outside world at first blush. That's why you can get a negative withdrawn for twenty bucks. Remember collalbo? His overall rating at the end was about 96% or so IIRC. Something like 75% of his copious negatives were over items that "got lost in the mail." Pretty much pegged the BS meter. Greg Parker Ann Arbor, Michigan

Greg,

The power seller is fine for one reason, it designates a status of sellers on e-bay (99% likely businesses) who make good bread for e-bay and are rewarded for it with the designation. Personally I think it is no more relevant to business ethics than membership in the local better business bureau, but thats probably because I received multiple negatives from a couple rabid baseball card sellers a few YEARS ago and will NEVER be able to attain a "reputable" rating (certainly not in your eyes, eh?)

f.w.i.w. I have gotten a couple of frames from people offered directly to the list that arrived with bent top and down tubes, and the reply to my ensuing enquiry was "oh, really? I didn't notice" Why don't we use this list to self-destruct each other with belly-aches about deals that were less than perfect?

also f.w.i.w.....SOME of us consider ourselves hobbiests still, and all this babbling b.s. about e-bay seems more like a detraction from our hobby than a complement....but I am sure (like teddy bear) that I am in a woeful minority.

I have a friend with a machine shop in SLO that fabricated the wheels for the mars rovers, even if that is off-topic, who cares anymore?

Yes, I know this was babble, and random too, perhaps not "on-topic" but certainly "in context" nonetheless.

I liked Richard saying "I need a life"....what we need to consider is that we're a bunch of consumption-oriented sheep who need some decent riding weather to get stable again!

Dale "don't trust this seller/bidder with a 96.6% rating, terrible after EIGHT years with e-bay" Phelps, Longmont CO