ebay spamming!?

Moderators: cataclysm80, hammr7, l0qii, Apocalypse2K, berkumps, dragsamou, mystical_tutor, pp

User avatar
AXIOS
Legendary Fungusaur Collector
Posts: 726
Joined: Fri Aug 08, 2003 1:55 pm
Location: Netherlands
Contact:

Post by AXIOS » Tue Oct 11, 2005 6:55 pm

bigfatkitty wrote:
ende73 wrote:I hope I won't die before you send me my surprise incidentally :roll:
Good luck with that. I've been waiting over 6 months. :evil:

And to stay on track...spammers are bad.
ende73 wrote:
I hope I won't die before you send me my surprise incidentally :roll:
ImageImage
Fungusaur legend
find me on facebook: nico jongsma
into all kind of fungusaurs and bog wraiths, especially foreign, misprinted

User avatar
squt
Legendary Misprint Error Collector
Posts: 482
Joined: Mon Dec 01, 2003 9:51 pm
Location: Seattle, WA
Contact:

Post by squt » Tue Oct 11, 2005 8:43 pm

While this might not be the popular opinion here, I really think that what normalbrains did IS ebay spamming. When I was working hard to complete my beta set, I would search e-bay twice a day on each of the specific rares that I needed.

It was really, REALLY annoying to me to see how many people put 'not beta' in their titles to snag my search. Sometimes, it would even be for a revised or unlimited card! Right now on e-bay, there's a guy running 27 auctions with the line "Not alpha or CE" in the title!!!!! Conversely, there are two CE rares up with "like beta" in the title. Yeah, CE Bayou "like beta"...except minus $300 and tournament-legal status. And the square corners. And gold back. But other than that, *just* like beta! I WAS in need of a beta Bayou to complete my Beta collection, but maybe I'll buy this CE one instead! (note sarcasm)

If there is a concern about which set the card is from, I think it is perfectly appropriate for the seller to clairify that in the description of the item - that it is 'alpha, definitely not beta'. I do not think it is appropriate or neccesary to do it in the title, where it also serves the purpose of snagging searches.

For a card like a alpha Chaos Orb, it's going to be a serious card collector that wants the card. This isn't going to some Spike who wants it for his killer Legacy deck and doesn't care what set it's from or condition it's in. It's most likely going to someone who is trying to put a set together. He probably knows exactly what set he needs it to be from, and what condition it needs to be in to fit his needs. It's an expensive card!

While I DO think it is spamming to put 'not beta' or 'like beta' in a listing, in this case it's about as minor a spamming offense I can think of. He's not saying "Bog rats, dark NOT BETA!". He's not deliberately trying to mislead bidders.

I don't condone reporting normalbrains to e-bay. The members of this forum have been such a great help to me in finding out info and trading for cards I needed over the years. I would like to think that we could all have more respect for one another, and be able to voice our irritations to a member privately before having his or her auctions shut down. After all, while I think the spamming is irritating, I don't think it's malicious, and I think that tha Gunslinga went for overkill.

In the immortal words of Rodney King, "Can't we all just get along"?

Squt

User avatar
GraueEminenz
Librarities Legend
Posts: 200
Joined: Tue Nov 11, 2003 1:19 pm
Location: Germany

Post by GraueEminenz » Tue Oct 11, 2005 9:08 pm

I don't want to blame you all but have you ever heard of
regular expressions?
Advise:
It's not that hard to include "-no*" to your search!

EDIT: BTW where shall this end? Do you want to end auctions like
"Ravnica french FBB blackbordered" too? Cause they are suggerating french 'Beta' edition? Not all of us are perfect like you are. And hell what world would that be if everybody is following guidelines like you are?

Tha_Gunslinga
Librarities Legend
Posts: 811
Joined: Thu Aug 07, 2003 8:48 am
Location: Milwaukee, WI, USA
Contact:

Post by Tha_Gunslinga » Wed Oct 12, 2005 12:15 am

Wow, you people have issues. You really think he put "not Beta" in his title to be INFORMATIVE? It's to get more hits. It's title spamming. I reported it, and usually it doesn't get closed, but this time it did. Voila, a lesson learned. You people need to totally chill out; it's not like I ripped him off or something.

[edit]: In the future, can you put "not beta foil summer" in the title, so I know it's not a beta foil summer Chaos Orb? The pictures don't make it clear. :roll:

User avatar
GraueEminenz
Librarities Legend
Posts: 200
Joined: Tue Nov 11, 2003 1:19 pm
Location: Germany

Post by GraueEminenz » Wed Oct 12, 2005 12:22 am

You are not sure anymore about your opinion, so you see your "furs floating away" (german idiom)?
You are exaggerating that thing a bit too much.
Peace.
Jan

User avatar
dragsamou
Administrator
Posts: 5806
Joined: Sat Aug 02, 2003 1:17 pm
Location: Paris

Post by dragsamou » Wed Oct 12, 2005 6:29 am

Tha_Gunslinga wrote:Wow, you people have issues. You really think he put "not Beta" in his title to be INFORMATIVE? It's to get more hits. It's title spamming. I reported it, and usually it doesn't get closed, but this time it did. Voila, a lesson learned. You people need to totally chill out; it's not like I ripped him off or something.

[edit]: In the future, can you put "not beta foil summer" in the title, so I know it's not a beta foil summer Chaos Orb? The pictures don't make it clear. :roll:
Hi.
You are the First Member to report another one for Total Bullshit,why don't you do that with ALL the Ebay Auctions,millions are there and far worse than the one of Normalbrains.What's your next step to report Members having Crystalline Sliver DCI or others ?If you do not understand that some Members feel that we have now a TRAITOR among us,as you say,voilà,You will learn a lesson.To have sent a Private E-mail to Normalbrains,was the way to proceed when you have education and are a Member of a Community,by acting this way,you have shown the Backstabber that you can be,and I REALLY HATE IT,at least you're honnest to admit that you are one of those.
PS:I always kick the ass from Elementary School to University of the Reporting Kids,so you can see,it's not a new story for me.As we say in French...Les Fayots c'est comme les Racailles,on mitraille ;D
Want/Have Lists.
viewtopic.php?f=8&t=8903
viewtopic.php?f=7&t=1515
I Love you Dad.R.I.P.

User avatar
Archivist
Librarities Legend
Posts: 213
Joined: Sat Aug 02, 2003 6:22 pm
Location: USA
Contact:

Re: ebay spamming!?

Post by Archivist » Wed Oct 12, 2005 3:08 pm

normalbrains wrote:ok, the first time i listed an alpha chaos orb on eBay i put "not beta" in the title to attract more potential buyers.
I think this quote acknowledges that normalbrains did this to attract buyers, not to just be "more informative". We can continue to discuss this all you want, but in this case, the motive is clear and the auctions were rightfully pulled.

It is a poor argument to say "there are so many worse title spammers out there" or "a lot of people do it".
Boxes: @TCGPlayer | Singles: @CardShark | Trades: @PucaTrade

User avatar
ende73
Legendary Righteous Phoenix Mage
Posts: 866
Joined: Fri Feb 06, 2004 3:17 pm
Location: Rome (Italy)

Re: ebay spamming!?

Post by ende73 » Wed Oct 12, 2005 3:15 pm

Archivist wrote:
normalbrains wrote:ok, the first time i listed an alpha chaos orb on eBay i put "not beta" in the title to attract more potential buyers.
I think this quote acknowledges that normalbrains did this to attract buyers, not to just be "more informative". We can continue to discuss this all you want, but in this case, the motive is clear and the auctions were rightfully pulled.

It is a poor argument to say "there are so many worse title spammers out there" or "a lot of people do it".
This is deliberately failing to see what Normalbrains had to say.

The first time he put "not Beta". This is not very informative and is certainly a mild form of spamming. I would not title an Ebay auction like that but would certainly not expect to be reported by a member of this community for it. Anyway, I can understand some people might get upset by it and act consequently (especially if they're used to acting as Mod on other websites).

But
the second time Normalbrains put "like Beta". In this case the argument for having the auction reported and pulled off is so inconsistent that actually going ahead to report it is... well... not very intelligent.

Tha_Gunslinga
Librarities Legend
Posts: 811
Joined: Thu Aug 07, 2003 8:48 am
Location: Milwaukee, WI, USA
Contact:

Post by Tha_Gunslinga » Wed Oct 12, 2005 4:11 pm

dragsamou wrote: You are the First Member to report another one for Total Bullshit,why don't you do that with ALL the Ebay Auctions,millions are there and far worse than the one of Normalbrains.What's your next step to report Members having Crystalline Sliver DCI or others ?If you do not understand that some Members feel that we have now a TRAITOR among us,as you say,voilà,You will learn a lesson.To have sent a Private E-mail to Normalbrains,was the way to proceed when you have education and are a Member of a Community,by acting this way,you have shown the Backstabber that you can be,and I REALLY HATE IT,at least you're honnest to admit that you are one of those.
PS:I always kick the ass from Elementary School to University of the Reporting Kids,so you can see,it's not a new story for me.As we say in French...Les Fayots c'est comme les Racailles,on mitraille ;D
I report what I find. I'm obviously not going to go out and look for these. If I had just emailed him, he would have just said "screw you;" he wouldn't have changed his modus operandi.

As far as the DCI Crystallines go, they're illegal stolen property; do you really WANT me to contact Wizards? Because I haven't in the past, but I'd be glad to try if I thought they would do something.

User avatar
dragsamou
Administrator
Posts: 5806
Joined: Sat Aug 02, 2003 1:17 pm
Location: Paris

Post by dragsamou » Wed Oct 12, 2005 4:18 pm

Tha_Gunslinga wrote:
dragsamou wrote: You are the First Member to report another one for Total Bullshit,why don't you do that with ALL the Ebay Auctions,millions are there and far worse than the one of Normalbrains.What's your next step to report Members having Crystalline Sliver DCI or others ?If you do not understand that some Members feel that we have now a TRAITOR among us,as you say,voilà,You will learn a lesson.To have sent a Private E-mail to Normalbrains,was the way to proceed when you have education and are a Member of a Community,by acting this way,you have shown the Backstabber that you can be,and I REALLY HATE IT,at least you're honnest to admit that you are one of those.
PS:I always kick the ass from Elementary School to University of the Reporting Kids,so you can see,it's not a new story for me.As we say in French...Les Fayots c'est comme les Racailles,on mitraille ;D
I report what I find. I'm obviously not going to go out and look for these. If I had just emailed him, he would have just said "screw you;" he wouldn't have changed his modus operandi.

As far as the DCI Crystallines go, they're illegal stolen property; do you really WANT me to contact Wizards? Because I haven't in the past, but I'd be glad to try if I thought they would do something.
Hi.
Like I say,you must have a miserable life,to think this way.Never your Parents told you to take care of your own butt....See the result.
Anyway,you bring bad feeling on this forum by acting like a Would be Ebay and WOTC Puppet....Shame on you [-X
Want/Have Lists.
viewtopic.php?f=8&t=8903
viewtopic.php?f=7&t=1515
I Love you Dad.R.I.P.

User avatar
squt
Legendary Misprint Error Collector
Posts: 482
Joined: Mon Dec 01, 2003 9:51 pm
Location: Seattle, WA
Contact:

Post by squt » Wed Oct 12, 2005 4:49 pm

GraueEminenz wrote:I don't want to blame you all but have you ever heard of
regular expressions?
Graue, there are two problems with this: 1: If I wanted that Alpha Chaos Orb so badly that I would be willing to buy an auction that had both an Alpha AND a Beta Chaos Orb, I would miss it in a search if it were titled "Alpha AND Beta Chaos Orb".

Problem #2 I have with this statement is, why should *I* be the one that has to change my search habits? That is extra work for me because someone is spamming.
GraueEminenz wrote: EDIT: BTW where shall this end? Do you want to end auctions like
"Ravnica french FBB blackbordered" too? Cause they are suggerating french 'Beta' edition?
Yes. I would consider that e-bay spamming too.

Even though I believe this IS e-bay spamming, I wouldn't ever go so far as to have someone shut down for it (especially a rarities forum member). I consider it an annoyance more than anything else.

I don't want anyone to think that I'm defending tha Gunslinga here - I don't think two wrongs make a right.
GraueEminenz wrote: Not all of us are perfect like you are. And hell what world would that be if everybody is following guidelines like you are?

I don't recall claiming to be perfect, and I think that this personal attack was inappropriate on your part.

Squt

Tha_Gunslinga
Librarities Legend
Posts: 811
Joined: Thu Aug 07, 2003 8:48 am
Location: Milwaukee, WI, USA
Contact:

Post by Tha_Gunslinga » Wed Oct 12, 2005 5:31 pm

dragsamou wrote: Hi.
Like I say,you must have a miserable life,to think this way.Never your Parents told you to take care of your own butt....See the result.
Anyway,you bring bad feeling on this forum by acting like a Would be Ebay and WOTC Puppet....Shame on you [-X
I love you too, honeybunch.

User avatar
dragsamou
Administrator
Posts: 5806
Joined: Sat Aug 02, 2003 1:17 pm
Location: Paris

Post by dragsamou » Wed Oct 12, 2005 5:36 pm

Tha_Gunslinga wrote:
dragsamou wrote: Hi.
Like I say,you must have a miserable life,to think this way.Never your Parents told you to take care of your own butt....See the result.
Anyway,you bring bad feeling on this forum by acting like a Would be Ebay and WOTC Puppet....Shame on you [-X
I love you too, honeybunch.
Me too,but that's not the point ;D
Want/Have Lists.
viewtopic.php?f=8&t=8903
viewtopic.php?f=7&t=1515
I Love you Dad.R.I.P.

User avatar
GraueEminenz
Librarities Legend
Posts: 200
Joined: Tue Nov 11, 2003 1:19 pm
Location: Germany

Post by GraueEminenz » Wed Oct 12, 2005 5:39 pm

squt wrote:
GraueEminenz wrote: EDIT: BTW where shall this end? Do you want to end auctions like
"Ravnica french FBB blackbordered" too? Cause they are suggerating french 'Beta' edition?
Yes. I would consider that e-bay spamming too.

Even though I believe this IS e-bay spamming, I wouldn't ever go so far as to have someone shut down for it (especially a rarities forum member). I consider it an annoyance more than anything else.
Sorry, squt, but if you are judging by common rules, this auction title is 100% legit with ebay statement and federal law. The cards ARE french, they ARE FBB and they ARE blackbordered!
They may not be up to your mind but I'm sure many laws aren't that either.
squt wrote: I don't recall claiming to be perfect, and I think that this personal attack was inappropriate on your part.
I'm not fighting some kind of a holy war here. That's far from my intension. I'm peaceloving. So please recall who started this good-guy-bad-guy-story! Me only talking of living and let live.
Greetings
Jan

PS: And please do not take anything PERSONAL, I only want to discover and show the weak points of this opinions and so were you in my point of view.

hammr7
Librarities Legend
Posts: 698
Joined: Wed Feb 11, 2004 11:29 pm
Location: Southern New Jersey

Post by hammr7 » Wed Oct 12, 2005 5:58 pm

The harsh reality is that there are certain situations with collectibles, including Magic cards, where cards are so similar that some differentiation is required. In many places Collectors Edition cards are known as "Beta CE", to differentiate them from the various Pro Tour decks which are included as generic "CE" cards. So some sellers of Beta or CE cards want to let people know they aren't "CE" or aren't "Beta" to spare potential buyers from having to open the link (its not a view unless you actually look at the auction).

And there are far too many sellers who are clueless or truly deceitful. My current estimate is that as many as 50% of the listed Unlimited cards on eBay without pictures, and 10% to 20% of those with pictures are not Unlimited (Note: these numbers obviously relate to cards common between Unlimited and Revised or 4th Edition). As stated before, many seemingly reputable sellers, with feedback levels in the hundreds or even thousands, have sent me Revised cards listed as Unlimted cards.

According to Gunslinga's logic, a Revised card listed as an "Unlimited" (or an Alpha card listed as "Beta") is far preferable to a card listed as "Unlimited, not Revised" (or "Alpha, not Beta"). As the victim of at least 30 such misrepresentations in the past year, I disagree completely. I would rather find out in the auction header that the card is or isn't what I am interested in than find out after receiving the card. I'm tired of chasing sellers who don't want to take back cards, or who think I should pay postage or a restocking charge for their problems.

Post Reply

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 8 guests