Ebay sales listing and the letter of the law at B&B

6. Avoid posting links to live auctions on eBay or other sites (both to prevent endless advertisement of listings, but also in case a fellow member is hoping to get their bid in under the radar!).

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Pretty simple no?
Well....... I have been seeing a trend that I find discouraging on our fine and gentlemanly website.

Example: If you go to ebay and search for item x you will find it.

Example: You just have to go to seller xyz and you will find the item.

Example: just search for blah blah blah.....

I hope you can see the trend I am trying to describe. I find this "Sea lawyer" thinking to be very poor form and certainly not in the spirit of our fine site.

Thoughts?

Agreed. Especially since it really serves no purpose. If the purpose is to tip on a low-priced item, the post will have the opposite effect. If the desire is to show a crazily-priced item, it can easily wait till the auction is over. Otherwise, bid yourself or walk away. If anyone knows how to use eBay, it's the folks on here

+1

If all eBay discussion here were to end, I wouldn't mind it at all.

I imagine that all rules here came about because there was a need for them (ie. Ebay postings were causing some sort of problem). It doesn't bother me either way, but what was the original reason that links were banned? A few of the other forums I frequent (guitars, cars, cameras) post and discuss Ebay links all the time. As I mentioned, I have no vested interest in whether they be allowed or nay, but I would be interested to know how their 'banning' came about. Were you ending up with an 'endless advertisement of listings' as mentioned in the rule itself or were people complaining that members were drawing attention to items that they wanted to win 'under the radar'?

I agree about no live links, but most of these "search for item 81342" threads seem pretty harmless to me.

Usually it's just one of the veterans pointing out how hilarious it is that someone's trying to sell a vintage Mach 3 for $85, or a new member that's asking if a specific ebay listing is a good buy or not.

I really don't see the point of allowing ZERO eBay talk. It's a huge part of the vintage shaving experience, how can we ignore it?

Now, if someone were to post something to the effect of, "Hey, check this out! Just one day left, someone better bid quick!" then to me that's cause for suspension or banning.

If this is just about live auctions, and not about pointing members to where someone can buy things... Uhm... yeah... so... then it would seem like it should be okay to point to a particular vendor or product that happens to be sold regularly on an auction site. It kind of becomes a fine point at that point, depending on the meaning of regularly.

I would like to see a complete end to discussions of any live auctions. I see no difference between a live link to ebay, "search for item 12345," or "hey guys, do you know anything about the lather catcher that's on ebay right now?" The messages all have the same (unintended) effect: they often anger other members who are bidding or planning to bid on the item.

It's too hard to enforce a rule that allows discussions of comicly rediculous auctions, like the famous Argentinian Gillette that has more rust than metal. Because it's too hard to moderate exceptions to the rule, I would just suggest a rule that prohibits all discussions of items currently being offered for auction, period.

I encourage discussing completed auctions or BIN items. A rule that prohibits discussing a live auction would have no effect on vendors or someone offering items with a BIN price.

DSB said:

I would like to see a complete end to discussions of any live auctions. I see no difference between a live link to ebay, "search for item 12345," or "hey guys, do you know anything about the lather catcher that's on ebay right now?" The messages all have the same (unintended) effect: they often anger other members who are bidding or planning to bid on the item.

It's too hard to enforce a rule that allows discussions of comicly rediculous auctions, like the famous Argentinian Gillette that has more rust than metal. Because it's too hard to moderate exceptions to the rule, I would just suggest a rule that prohibits all discussions of items currently being offered for auction, period.

I encourage discussing completed auctions or BIN items. A rule that prohibits discussing a live auction would have no effect on vendors or someone offering items with a BIN price.

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I agree with Dave, but would also discourage EBoy BIN discussions as well - they serve only two purposes while the auction is still running as I see it, comic relief, or to shill something (whether intentioned or not) .. and figuring out intent is tough on the web

I think Dave has hit the nail on the head- there is no difference between pointing to an auction with a link or giving hints that do not technically break the letter of the law but get you there anyway.

I would agree with the original post that some of the things that specifically single out an auction (i.e. search for this item number or that description or this seller) are not in the spirit of the terms of use. But, while I realize that this may be a nit picky thing and seeking to evade the spirit of the rule, the item in question is phrased as 'avoid' not 'do not.' Using 'avoid' as opposed to 'do not' gives the implication that there might be some instances in which directly referencing a live auction might be appropriate. I agree that this is trivial and probably trying to evade the spirit of it, but there is some ambiguity in the way it is phrased that allows for some looser interpretations. So, perhaps it should be amended to 'do not' in order to hopefully avoid the potential for interpretations that aren't consistent with the general spirit of the item. Additionally, perhaps it would be helpful to specifically mention that directing people to a specific auction number, seller, or description is not okay. As has been suggested, there really is no difference between doing something like this and linking to an auction.

But with this said, I want new folks (and experienced folks, for that matter) to be able to ask questions about something that they see on eBay, while the auction is still running. And to be clear, I don't think anybody is questioning that. There was an instance just this week, in which someone bought what they thought was a complete Tuckaway set, but it had an Old Type head and not a New Improved head. In this instance, it would have been nice for the person to be able to at least post a photo of it and say, 'I've recently seen this photo of a razor (or brush, soap, whatever). Is something amiss?' Perhaps it would be a good idea to include something in this rule that would state that posting photos of something is most definitely okay and even asking specific questions about it, but that it is not okay to use anything that could easily lead someone else to the specific auction.

DSB said:

I would like to see a complete end to discussions of any live auctions. I see no difference between a live link to ebay, "search for item 12345," or "hey guys, do you know anything about the lather catcher that's on ebay right now?" The messages all have the same (unintended) effect: they often anger other members who are bidding or planning to bid on the item.

It's too hard to enforce a rule that allows discussions of comicly rediculous auctions, like the famous Argentinian Gillette that has more rust than metal. Because it's too hard to moderate exceptions to the rule, I would just suggest a rule that prohibits all discussions of items currently being offered for auction, period.

I encourage discussing completed auctions or BIN items. A rule that prohibits discussing a live auction would have no effect on vendors or someone offering items with a BIN price.

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I agree with this 1000 percent.

Completed auctions or BIN items are a different category alltogether from a live auction in progress.

I understand the idea behind the rule, and the criticism of using technicalities to circumvent it.

On the other hand, sometimes someone will mention something about a grossly misrepresented item, or one that has reached a ridiculous price with days left in the auction. This gives enough information that someone could find the item, but the idea is just to call attention to something amusing or outrageous, not to spoil an auction for anybody, and certainly not to shill for a seller. I'll admit I've been guilty of this kind of comment myself, seeing no harm.

If the rule is simply don't say anything about a live auction at all, case closed, no arguing, I'll comply. It just seems there are some situations where no harm is done by dropping hints of this kind.

DSB said:

I would like to see a complete end to discussions of any live auctions. I see no difference between a live link to ebay, "search for item 12345," or "hey guys, do you know anything about the lather catcher that's on ebay right now?" The messages all have the same (unintended) effect: they often anger other members who are bidding or planning to bid on the item.

It's too hard to enforce a rule that allows discussions of comicly rediculous auctions, like the famous Argentinian Gillette that has more rust than metal. Because it's too hard to moderate exceptions to the rule, I would just suggest a rule that prohibits all discussions of items currently being offered for auction, period.

I encourage discussing completed auctions or BIN items. A rule that prohibits discussing a live auction would have no effect on vendors or someone offering items with a BIN price.

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What he said

How about posting a link in a hopeless attempt to be outbid?

Jim said:

I find this "Sea lawyer" thinking to be very poor form and certainly not in the spirit of our fine site.

Thoughts?

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My thought is that the term "Sea lawyer" on a shaving forum cracks me up. I vote that we coin a new phrase, "Shaving Lawyer" to take the place of the oddly inappropriate "Sea Lawyer".

In fact, you can buy "Shaving Lawyer" T-shirts from my Ebay Store.

ateace said:

+1

If all eBay discussion here were to end, I wouldn't mind it at all.

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Here here. If you let a B&Ber nip an item for a good price on Ebay...there's a really good chance it will make it into the B&B B/S/T at some point anyway and we'll all get to try it...so keep the bidding and ebay deals off B&B!

Jim said:

Thoughts?

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Totally agree. It does ticks me a little when someone posts up a bread crumb trail to something I'm watching. GRR. Now I myself have made general "look on the Bay" comments regarding questions like "Where can I find an overpriced FatBoy," but I won't go past that.

I'd really prefer ALL eBay discussions (especially the tiresome "I just got sniped, WAAAH") threads to end.

Omnichron said:

How about posting a link in a hopeless attempt to be outbid?

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How about contacting the seller and requesting a bid cancellation instead? Just a thought.

Topgumby said:

In fact, you can buy "Shaving Lawyer" T-shirts from my Ebay Store.

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That link was very funny by the way.

Topgumby said:

My thought is that the term "Sea lawyer" on a shaving forum cracks me up. I vote that we coin a new phrase, "Shaving Lawyer" to take the place of the oddly inappropriate "Sea Lawyer".

In fact, you can buy "Shaving Lawyer" T-shirts from my Ebay Store.

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It doesn't work as well with a DE. If you want a snappy t-shirt everyone will enjoy, replace it with a "cut throat" razor.

May as well add an ebay sniper t-shirt with a scoped rifle and a dumb, happy bidder in the crosshairs.

SiBurning said:

It doesn't work as well with a DE. If you want a snappy t-shirt everyone will enjoy, replace it with a "cut throat" razor.

May as well add an ebay sniper t-shirt with a scoped rifle and a dumb, happy bidder in the crosshairs.

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Too Late.
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To be honest, this practice does not really bother me, but I can see both sides of the argument.