eBay enforcers crack down
Published July 31st, 2006
EBay’s enforcers cracked down last month on Julie Ann Brown, a marketing professor who sells prayer cards and Victorian paper in her spare time.
She had violated a policy against bidding on one of her own items, or “shill bidding,” an incident she acknowledges took place but said was an accident that should be outweighed by years of good behavior.
In the past, her punishment would probably have been a warning, or she could have been kicked off the San Jose e-commerce giant. Instead, eBay used one of its newer strategies: It took the middle ground and charged Brown with the equivalent of a misdemeanor and suspended her auctions for a week and made her pass a test to prove that she was familiar with eBay’s rules.
“I felt like I had the scarlet letter on me,” Brown said.
An increasing number of eBay’s 78 million users are facing similar, intermediate consequences for violating the Web site’s rules. Gradually implemented during the past year, the policy is intended to educate and rehabilitate buyers and sellers and reserve more serious punishment for major offenders.
Like many of the changes on eBay, this one has elicited intense criticism. Many users complain that some punishments are excessive and that the company fails to listen when the accused offer reasonable explanations.
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