Ebay creates a trail by making the ratings of all users available.
Suppose you create ten to twenty false ratings. Each of the people
named in those ratings would have ratings displayed as well. Their
ratings would lead to other names, adding perhaps several thousand more
names to the trail. If you find ten to twenty ratings, all of whom have
no feedback, then you know it's phony. It's quite simple really.
Paul
On Oct 18, 2005, at 11:01 PM, Tom C wrote:
I agree creating hundreds of rating and buyers would be time
consuming. Creating 10 or 20 to get started wouldn't be hard. How
does e-bay verify anything? I respectfully disagree, in part. I
think it would be very easy to create a fradulent trail, but possibly
difficult to keep that trail going if you were a con-artist... but
easy to start a new trail all over again.
I'm not trying to discourage anyone from using e-bay. It is an
excellent source of gear. Common sense with an extra dose of common
sense piled on top is needed.
Tom C.
From: Paul Stenquist <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Reply-To: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: Used gear
Date: Tue, 18 Oct 2005 22:46:41 -0400
Ebay ratings tell you how many ratings the seller or buyer has and
from how many different sellers and buyers they came. It would be very
difficult to create several hundred ratings from several hundred
unique buyers. In part, because you can also trace the ratings of the
sellers and buyers who are cited. The system allows for multiple
levels of tracking and verification. It would be extremely difficult
if not impossible to create a fraudulent trail.
On Oct 18, 2005, at 10:16 PM, Tom C wrote:
I may be asking this out of total ignorance Paul, I hope not. As far
as reliability of ratings goes, what makes them reliable?
What's to stop me from conducting a series of BIN auctions on e-bay
and having my wife create multiple e-bay accounts with different
e-mail addresses from multiple locations, and then having her make
the 'purchase' and leave positive feedback? Little I suspect.
The one time I got ripped on the guitar, the seller had a rating of
over 99.5% with 1000's of transactions. I am inclined to believe that
the vast majority of transactions go smoothly, but a seller who
decides to be occasionally unscrupulous is easily able to hide the
fact in the numbers. The more successful transactions a seller may
have, the easier it can get to hide the stinkers.
Tom C.
From: Paul Stenquist <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Reply-To: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: Used gear
Date: Tue, 18 Oct 2005 21:19:04 -0400
Fraudulent auctions aren't hard to spot, except for the fact that
they're very few in number. Ebay seller ratings are reliable, and
the site is closely monitored. Have you used ebay extensively? I
have. Without problems. But each to his own. I just think it's a
shame to skip what is actually a valuable resource due to
misinformation.
Paul
On Oct 18, 2005, at 9:20 PM, Tom Reese wrote:
Paul Stenquist wrote:
I've made literally hundreds of purchases on ebay without any
problems.
I received two lenses that were defective. In both cases, the seller
took them back. Of course the days of really great deals on ebay are
probably over, unless you can get lucky on a just posted buy it now.
But there's nothing to fear.
I've seen way too many fraudulent auctions to agree with your
nothing to
fear statement.
Tom Reese
