? for Leon about posting

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Posted By: Al

Pls see post "eBay question please help".

The crux of the issue is that the seller encountered a slow pay buyer. The seller solicits input from the board as to what to do. The seller also considers outing the buyer as a deadbeat and some members agree that the buyer should be outed. Keep in mind we are talking about a buyer with 1,500 transactions and a 100% rating.

I took the position that the buyer should NOT be outed as I interpreted your posting rules under "Things you can not post about", which refer to personal info, phone #s, addresses, email adresses, etc, without permission. Not likely the buyer would give permission IMO.

Furthermore, the recourse for the seller is to file a NPB with eBay and resolve the issue there. If the seller wishes to spread the buyer's info around privately, that's another matter. Should the outing take place here, and becomes commonplace, I suspect there could be a liability issue, which I think would fall on you, not the poster. In NO way do I condone the actions of the buyer, but this is a business transaction gone sour and outing should be reserved for extremely egregious situations, if at all.

Pls correct me if I'm wrong, but do you feel it is appropriate to out someone under these circumstances? I surmised the buyer had some financial difficulty as expressed by the seller today. There is no question that the buyer (who appears to be an experienced eBayer with 1.5k transactions), should not have bid unless he could pay immediately. However, are we to openly out every person with whom we have a difficult or grossly unpleasant eBay experience?

What say you?

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Posted By: leon

First of all I can assure you I have absolutely no liability for what anyone says on this board except for myself. Each person is liable for their own actions. There is a very strong federal law that protects owners of blogs and chat boards. As a matter of fact the law has found that I can edit someone's post, and if it doesn't change the material content, I am still not liable. You lawyers can check me on this, if you want to?

As for outing someone it is NOT against the rules to do if someone has committed an injustice. That being said I would always use prudence in outing someone and it should be done as a last resort. Also, anonymity is frowned upon in these situations too. On our new board anonymity won't be an issue. Please let me know if this answered your question(s)...regards

edited to add that personal info about the person, other than their name, would not be allowed to be posted on the board per Network54.com rules...

and edited typo

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Posted By: Al

Fair enough, thanks fot the time to post.

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Posted By: Matt

"Should the outing take place here, and becomes commonplace, I suspect there could be a liability issue"

I didn't stay at a Holiday Inn last night, but I am of the impression that so long as the seller is factual in his account of what happened, there could be no liability. Again, all that was discussed was disclosing the buyer's eBay ID - not his home address or phone number.

My Trade/Sale Page

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Posted By: Steve Murray

you're way too fast for me. My take exactly. We're not asking for his name, address, social security number, wife's name or anything other than his ebay ID.

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Posted By: Steve

I was under the impression that 'outing the buyer'
would be his/her ebay name. No one was asking for
Name, address, phone number, email address etc.

Had the OP that day said, last week (ebay name) bought
500.00 worth of cards from me and now wants to pay me in 8 weeks.

I'd have no problem with that.


Steve

Edit cuz I don't no ;-)the difference between 'know and now'



Steve

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Posted By: Steve

Al I do agree with you in that the transgression
was not severe enough for me to out a customer of mine.

For all we know the guy had the dough when he bid and then had a calamity
in his life happen.

Steve

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Posted By: leon

Of course it's not against the "law" to post personal info on this board but it is against Network54.com policy and our own policy.

Generally speaking the collective board's wisdom is quite great and things get adjudicated in a fair manner, in the long run. In the short run all he** can break loose though. I will usually leave it up to the individual person and almost always say "if you want to it's your call" in cases like this...regards

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Posted By: Al

First, I think the seller was a bit anxious to out the guy, given his 1.5k eBay transactions and 100% rating. It was obvious to me that he came upon some sort of unfortunate circumstance which precluded him from paying as he should. The buyer at least acknowledged his obligation to the seller. Again, I believe he should not have bid if he couldn't pay right away.

Those that were anxious to penalize the buyer by blocking him were, IMO a bit too quick to pull the trigger. And yes, I am well aware his SSN, home address, phone # would not be posted, BUT I think some were to anxious to throw him under the bus.

If he were a total deadbeat with a much lower rating and a history of problematic eBay dealings I would see this differently. Besides, he may have been a decent customer in the future. One mistake does not = outing in my book.

Like Leon wrote, "prudence" and "last resort".

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Posted By: leon

For the record we are in agreement. I think looking at the history shows the person just had a specific issue and is probably not a deadbeat etc... I know I make mistakes all of the time *(I know, it's hard to believe) and I always try to over compensate for them. Just this weekend I bought something that had 2 scans of 2 different cards in the description. After I won it I emailed the seller and asked if I could back out of it as I thought I was bidding on the other card. It was a $200 item and I told him I would give him $20 for his hassles and any associated fees. He said $10 would do it and was very polite. I paypal'd him $15 and moved on.....We were both satisfied and the mistake was handled in a professional, courteous manner.