Online auction thingy ...

Latest Articles

Online auction thingy ... - updated
Page 1, 2 Next

Downsizer Forum Index -> Small Business Questions, Ideas and Advice

Author

Message

chez

Joined: 13 Aug 2006
Posts: 35934
Location: The Hive of the Uberbee, Quantock Hills, Somerset

Posted: Thu Jun 11, 09 9:28 pm Post subject: Online auction thingy ... - updated

I have just had a MOST peculiar phone call (at 9.50PM) from someone from the bid4poultry website, saying that they have suspended my account because my email address breaches copyright and 'someone has reported me' - I used bid4poultry at thegreenmeadow.co.uk in the same way that I use downsizer at thegreenmeadow.co.uk here, so I can track where my spam comes from.

Very aggressive and very unprofessional, telling me that using that email address is illegal. Does anyone know if that's true?

I've just phoned them back, on a mobile number, and had a weird conversation with them - they tried to tell me that cancelling an online auction before anyone had bid on it was illegal - I sold the birds elsewhere and they don't have any up front way to stop the thing running - apparently you have to email them and they charge you a fiver to take it down.

I then noticed that the address is in Conwy - which is where a load of the birds available for sale are. I'm really pissed off - I feel like I've been taken for a ride. It's a small site and I've been interested in supporting it, because it looked like it was doing small breeders a service; but this has left a very peculiar taste in my mouth, as if they are running it for their own convenience and aren't really interested in dealing fairly with anyone else.

I'm also really angry and upset, because I was asleep before ten o'clock for the first time for about three weeks - what was so urgent that they had to phone at this hour of the night?

You know when you feel like one straw in itself isn't too much, but along with everything else? Arvo is away and I don't seem to be able to stop crying

.

Last edited by chez on Wed Mar 17, 10 2:39 pm; edited 1 time in total

Nick

Joined: 02 Nov 2004
Posts: 34535
Location: Hereford

Posted: Thu Jun 11, 09 9:30 pm Post subject:
Give me their phone number.

jamanda
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 22 Oct 2006
Posts: 35056
Location: Devon

Posted: Thu Jun 11, 09 9:37 pm Post subject:
Sound like a bunch of shysters to me! Let Nick have a chat.

Spruengli

Joined: 12 Jul 2006
Posts: 537
Location: Dorking(ish)

Posted: Thu Jun 11, 09 9:40 pm Post subject:
Quite apart from the upset involved, they appear to be talking bo**ocks regarding the copyright stuff - the most significant bit of the email address is yours and not theirs (not that I'm an expert). Anyone who phones at that sort of time with that sort of exchange in mind doesn't deserve your time or attention.

stumbling goat

Joined: 20 Jan 2009
Posts: 1990

Posted: Thu Jun 11, 09 10:04 pm Post subject:
fone a friend and have a chatter, u will feel better. dont worry about them, sound like a bunch of wasters. tv

Nick

Joined: 02 Nov 2004
Posts: 34535
Location: Hereford

Posted: Thu Jun 11, 09 10:09 pm Post subject:
I'm assured she's chilled and has retired to bed. Grrr. Where's the 'release the hounds' button?

smith.j.chris

Joined: 10 Jun 2009
Posts: 17

Posted: Thu Jun 11, 09 11:14 pm Post subject:

I have to deal with rubbbish like this occasionally...

It's 100% not illegal and does not breach copyright even if it is a trademark as it's used to carry out business with them. It is subject to the same restrictions that a contact entry in your address book on the PC is or having a dedicated number one customer or supplier can call you on (i.e. none).

Unfortunately it's up to them to determine the terms and conditions that you use their site with so you're pretty screwed.

It's all sharecropping at the end of the day - you play on their land (their equipment) so you have to play by their rules. Best bet is to call them, explain your usage (mail routing), create another alias and ask them to confirm that it's ok and tell them the other is decomissioned.

TheGrange

Joined: 12 Apr 2009
Posts: 874

Posted: Thu Jun 11, 09 11:20 pm Post subject:
either what he said up there^^^^ or tell them to blow smoke out of it - they need people to sell stuff on auction sites - more variety brings more punters more punters attracts more sellers more sellers means more variety and round and round we go .. YOU however CHOOSE where to sell.. they're screwed without you not viceversa

resistance is fertile

Joined: 24 Oct 2008
Posts: 1534
Location: The heart of North Devon

Posted: Fri Jun 12, 09 6:16 am Post subject:

smith.j.chris wrote:

Best bet is to call them, explain your usage (mail routing), create another alias and ask them to confirm that it's ok and tell them the other is decomissioned.

no offence, but stuff that. just tell them, in an email from bid4poultry@ , to 'go forth and multiply' and forget about it

Gervase

Joined: 17 Nov 2004
Posts: 8655

Posted: Fri Jun 12, 09 7:07 am Post subject:

They're talkng rot. There is no way that your use of the prefix in in an email address can be seen as impersonation or passing off, although - as has been said - if it's in the T&Cs, they can do pretty much what they like if it ain't illegal. Nobbers, I say.
So anyone fancy getting a few variants of bid4poultry@ up and running with gmail and hotmail and sending them some inane queries?
Sorry, I just have a childish streak...

chez

Joined: 13 Aug 2006
Posts: 35934
Location: The Hive of the Uberbee, Quantock Hills, Somerset

Posted: Fri Jun 12, 09 9:13 am Post subject:
I heart your childish streak, Gervase . The people who bought my eggs have just come to collect them - they seem very nice and are just as confused as I am about it all. And they certainly haven't complained about me; so goodness knows where it's all come from.

marigold

Joined: 02 Sep 2005
Posts: 12458
Location: West Sussex

Posted: Fri Jun 12, 09 9:23 am Post subject:
The people running the site sound like idiots - just put it behind you (yeah, I know, easier said than done ) and have nothing more to do with them.

Tavascarow

Joined: 06 Aug 2006
Posts: 8407
Location: South Cornwall

Posted: Fri Jun 12, 09 9:45 am Post subject:
Just a thought but do you need any qualifications to run such a site as you do to be a genuine auctioneer? Looking at how busy the site is, & the number of hits it has on google I imagine its a waste of space anyway. PM me their number & I'll give them a ring later regarding some ficticious poultry related thingy.

chez

Joined: 13 Aug 2006
Posts: 35934
Location: The Hive of the Uberbee, Quantock Hills, Somerset

Posted: Sat Jun 13, 09 8:15 am Post subject:
So, as a further confusion, this morning I received an email from these people - I assume automated - with an invoice for the amount I owe them. I need to log in to my account to pay it. But they have disabled my account so I can't log in. It's all going a bit Esher-like .

Nick

Joined: 02 Nov 2004
Posts: 34535
Location: Hereford

Posted: Sat Jun 13, 09 10:13 am Post subject:
Heheheheh. Ring her at 4am tomorrow and ask how she'd like the payment. Clearly, you'll be levelling an admin fee for having to chase her up.

	Downsizer Forum Index -> Small Business Questions, Ideas and Advice	All times are GMT Page 1, 2 Next
Page 1 of 2

View Latest Posts