Philip Cohen's Techdirt Profile

Philip Cohen

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  • Jun 04, 2013 @ 07:03pm

    The eBay Criminal Complex ...

    Oh no, not another "reduction" in eBay user fees ... http://bit.ly/YvxFEg

    eBay is demonstrably the greatest calculated facilitator of auction fraud on consumers that the world is ever likely to know ... http://bit.ly/11F2eas

    And the ugly reality for consumers, particularly smaller payees, dealing with the clunky, unscrupulous PayPal ... http://bit.ly/UVXx53

    Regardless, hello "MasterPass", goodbye clunky PreyPal?it has not been nice knowing you ...

  • Mar 06, 2013 @ 04:25pm

    Re: eBay getting to big for its britches

    "... all payment transactions go through a reserve bank."

    What utter nonsense ...

    And the ugly reality for consumers dealing with the clunky, unscrupulous eBay/PayPal complex ... http://bit.ly/11F2eas

  • Feb 01, 2013 @ 09:50am

    "Shill Bidding Fraud on eBay: Case Study #5"

    The ugly reality for consumers dealing with the unscrupulous eBay/PayPal complex ... http://bit.ly/11F2eas

  • Aug 26, 2012 @ 06:51pm

    Fraud on eBay

    This lawsuit was never anything but an absurdity; the plaintiff and attorney involved must both be idiots ...

    Now, if you want to see real eBay calculated and knowingly facilitated fraud in action ...

    ?Shill Bidding Fraud on eBay: Case Study #5?
    http://www.ecommercebytes.com/forums/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=167554

    eBay / PayPal / Donahoe: Dead Men Walking

  • Mar 10, 2012 @ 04:01pm

    And, just for fun, a comment on ?The New Way To Pay In-Store? with PreyPal

    http://forums.auctionbytes.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=24611

    eBay / PayPal / Donahoe: Dead Men Walking

  • Mar 10, 2012 @ 01:28pm

    PreyPal: clunky, unprofessional, unscrupulous

    "When Do We Start Calling eBay A Payments Company?"

    A tale of two clunky, unprofessional and utterly unscrupulous commercial entities: eBay and PayPal

    http://bit.ly/wpl5DT

    eBay / PayPal / Donahoe: Dead Men Walking

  • Mar 05, 2012 @ 04:19pm

    PreyPal

    "When Do We Start Calling eBay A Payments Company?"

    A tale of two clunky, unprofessional and utterly unscrupulous commercial entities: eBay and PayPal

    http://bit.ly/wpl5DT

    eBay / PayPal / Donahoe: Dead Men Walking

  • Feb 02, 2012 @ 01:29pm

    eBay / PayPal / Donahoe: Dead Men Walking

    ?When Do We Start Calling eBay A Payments Company??

    http://www.businessinsider.com/ebays-transformation-when-do-we-start-calling-ebay-a-payments-company-2012-1

    A picture is worth a thousand words, so they say. This linked ?Business Insider? article contains a graph of eBay revenues since 2003. It shows, quite starkly, how eBay?s Marketplace revenue has stagnated since 2008, about the time that the headless turkey from Bain & Co, John Donahoe, got hold of the tiller and started his ?destructive renovations?, and eBay?s share price has moved little in the same period; ergo the eBay Marketplace has effectively been in decline since 2008.

    It should be obvious, even to the simplest of analysts, that as time passes, the Amazon River flows ever more strongly, whereas the eBay Marketplace now consists of little more than a chain of stagnant ponds covered in slimy green algae?and isn?t that a couple of rusting Chinese-made shopping trolleys that I can see dumped therein?

    The graph also shows the eBay-underpinning increases in revenue eBay has received from PreyPal during the same period, that is, from roughly when the ?eBafia Don? effectively mandated PreyPal?s use on the eBay Marketplace. Some analysts therefore think then that eBay?s future lays in PreyPal.

    Well, if anyone thinks that the retail banks are going to let such a clunky, parasitic, flea-sized, upstart, middleman, ?merchant of sorts? such as PreyPal?who after all does no more than ride precariously on the back of those banks? own payments processing systems?continue to nibble away at one of the banks? principal areas of business for any length of time, all I can say is, dream on ?

    PreyPal is little more than a clumsy, fraud-enabling middleman that also nullifies the statutory protections that, in many countries, would otherwise be available to users paying directly with a real bank?s credit card.

    Then there is PreyPal?s current testing of ?mobile payments? at POS in Home Depot stores. Are people actually leaving their funds ?on deposit? with this clunky, unlicensed, prudentially unregulated, PayPal ?non-bank? that is itself not even licensed to provide credit? Otherwise, how are the funds for such mobile payments being sourced by PreyPal from the payer?s real banking account in a way that the merchant can be sure of ultimately getting paid by PreyPal? Not with the standard non-guarantee of payment that PreyPal serves up to its online merchants, I hope.

    And, unfortunately for eBay?s chief headless turkey, Visa?s professional online offering ?V.me?, when it is up and running later this year, will undoubtedly put paid to whatever success that the clunky PreyPal has had with professional online merchants outside of its mandated use on the eBay Marketplace?and soon thereafter both these unscrupulous and clunky entities should commence/continue their long-deserved journeys down the gurgler.

    Scott Thompson saw the writing on the wall; John Donahoe remains delusional, that fact confirmed by the many reported sightings of him waving his mobile phone about and mumbling about UFO sightings over San Jose.

    ?How secure is PayPal for sellers???UK ?Guardian?
    http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2012/jan/27/is-paypal-safe-protection?commentpage=last#end-of-comments

    And an interesting follow up to this UK "Guardian" article at:
    http://www.hadess.net/2012/01/getting-conned-ebaypaypal-fun.html

    ?Vendor Claims eBay Plays Dirty? (Who could have believed it?)
    http://www.courthousenews.com/2012/02/01/43529.htm

    Scott Thompson abandons the struggling eBay for the struggling Yahoo
    http://forums.auctionbytes.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=166803#post166803

    PayPal claims PayPal not a debit card or payment network!
    http://forums.auctionbytes.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=24148

    eBay / PayPal / Donahoe: Dead Men Walking

  • Jan 15, 2012 @ 02:24pm

    Anything that irritates that bumbling "Pain from Bain" John Donahoe is OK with me.

    eBay / PayPal / Donahoe: Dead Men Walking

  • Jan 15, 2012 @ 11:52am

    @ Steve Stav,

    Well, if you really want to open the unscrupulous eBay's "can of worms":

    A tale of two unscrupulous and clunky commercial entities: eBay and PayPal
    http://forums.auctionbytes.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=24533

    eBay-Facilitated Shill Bidding Fraud on eBay Auctions: Case Study #1
    http://forums.auctionbytes.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=22659

    eBay-Facilitated Shill Bidding Fraud on eBay Auctions: Case Study #2
    http://forums.auctionbytes.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=22904

    eBay-Facilitated Shill Bidding Fraud on eBay Auctions: Case Study #3
    http://forums.auctionbytes.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=22986

    eBay-Facilitated Shill Bidding Fraud on eBay Auctions: Case Study #4
    http://forums.auctionbytes.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=23540

    PayPal claims PayPal Is Not a Payments Processor!
    http://forums.auctionbytes.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=24148

    Amazon and eBay on the collection of state sales taxes
    http://forums.auctionbytes.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=24517

    And from along the way a compilation of (mostly inane) quotes from eBay executives:
    http://forums.auctionbytes.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=24159

  • Jan 14, 2012 @ 02:01pm

    Proxy bidding

    Still, the fact that a nutter and his idiot shyster have taken this absurd case to court tells us something about the total absence of intelligence of some in this world. Sheesh! Or, as some would say, "only in America".

  • Jan 06, 2012 @ 02:40pm

    Where do these nutters spring from?

    I do hope that the shyster was not stupid enough to have taken the case on a "no win no fee" basis.

    But, how could any one, even this idiot lawyer, think that it was lawful/ethical for the auctioneer to disclose the maximum bid of an "absentee/proxy" bidder?

    Well, as most of us already know, if the seller is smart enough, the eBay system will disclose the maximum proxy bid. This dill apparently has not yet figured that out.

    eBay / PayPal / Donahoe: Dead Men Walking.

  • Jan 06, 2012 @ 02:40pm

    Where do these nutters spring from?

    I do hope that the shyster was not stupid enough to have taken the case on a "no win no fee" basis.

    But, how could any one, even this idiot lawyer, think that it was lawful/ethical for the auctioneer to disclose the maximum bid of an "absentee/proxy" bidder?

    Well, as most of us already know, if the seller is smart enough, the eBay system will disclose the maximum proxy bid. This dill apparently has not yet figured that out.

    eBay / PayPal / Donahoe: Dead Men Walking.

  • Jan 06, 2012 @ 02:39pm

    Where do these nutters spring from?

    I do hope that the shyster was not stupid enough to have taken the case on a "no win no fee" basis.

    But, how could any one, even this idiot lawyer, think that it was lawful/ethical for the auctioneer to disclose the maximum bid of an "absentee/proxy" bidder?

    Well, as most of us already know, if the seller is smart enough, the eBay system will disclose the maximum proxy bid. This dill apparently has not yet figured that out.

    eBay / PayPal / Donahoe: Dead Men Walking.

  • Apr 02, 2010 @ 06:27pm

    eBay/PayPal: Dead Men Walking

    “EBay argued to the court that it has spent as much as $20 million annually to rid the site of fraud, including buyer protection programs and employees whose sole job is to monitor infringement issues.”
    http://www.foxbusiness.com/story/markets/industries/media/tiffany--ebay-continue-battle-infringement/

    And is that not the whole problem? eBay is spending (only) $20 million annually to rid the site of “fraud, including buyer protection programs and employees whose sole job is to monitor infringement issues”.

    On his way to bringing the eBay marketplace to its knees, one person, the eBafia Don himself, was effectively taking home $20 million annually …

    For those with a longer attention span, an evening’s entertainment of detail and facts on eBay’s deliberate facilitating of wire fraud on its consumers world wide and a list of links to a number of PayPal horror stories is contained in my post at:
    http://www.auctionbytes.com/forum/phpBB/viewtopic.php?p=6502877

  • Oct 21, 2009 @ 01:31am

    Shill Bidding on eBay

    And, some more food for thought …

    Shill Bidding on eBay: Case Study #2

    Shining some light on the more sophisticated and therefore harder to detect shill bidding activity by many “professional” sellers on eBay auctions

    This time a spreadsheet analysis of multiple auctions, from some "professional" sellers from the US and Australia. Needless to say the analysis demonstrates, once again, that, contrary to eBay’s claims, shill bidding by many “professional” sellers is rampant on eBay auctions. The full comment and spreadsheet download links at:
    http://www.auctionbytes.com/forum/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=24296

  • Jun 03, 2009 @ 12:51am

    Shill Bidding on eBay: A Case Study

    For anyone that is interested, a detailed case study of a blatant shill bidder on eBay, and a comment on eBay’s apparent attitude thereto, at http://www.auctionbytes.com/forum/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=24033

  • Jun 01, 2009 @ 01:19am

    Shill bidding on eBay

    For anyone interested, a detailed case study of a classic, blatant shill bidder on eBay, and a comment on eBay’s attitude thereto, at http://www.auctionbytes.com/forum/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=24033

  • Dec 14, 2008 @ 04:16am

    eBay is knowingly "aiding and abetting" fraudsters!

    Do you think there is a problem with fraud on eBay? Do you think that eBay is doing anything to protect you from such fraud? Do you think that only sellers have problems with eBay? Well, actually, in what will undoubtedly be a counterproductive attempt to improve their "bottom line", greedy eBay is now knowingly "aiding and abetting" shill-bidding fraudsters to prey on everyone buying on eBay. For full details start at: http://www.auctionbytes.com/forum/phpBB/viewtopic.php?p=6499794#6499794

  • Jul 13, 2008 @ 10:58pm

    eBay introduces absolute anonymity for (shill) bidders

    In Australia, the UK, Ireland and the Philippines, eBay has obscured auction bidding to the point that genuine bidders have got absolutely no chance of detecting and thereby protecting themselves from "shill" bidding (a criminal offence in most civilised countries) by unethical vendors. Notwithstanding eBay's statements to the contrary, this application of absolute anonymity (ie, Bidder 1, Bidder 2, etc) by eBay on these sites serves absolutely no purpose other than to deceive consumers by making even any otherwise obvious shill bidding undetectable; and the same criticism has always been applicable to eBay's other shill bidders' facility, "User ID kept private". Again, notwithstanding eBay's various pronouncements about shill bidding being banned on eBay, eBay is now effectively (and knowingly) "aiding and abetting" such shill bidders on these sites, at the expense of consumers.

    A lengthy critical analysis of this matter appears at:
    http://www.auctionbytes.com/forum/phpBB/viewtopic.php?p=6498345#6498345

    I apologise in advance for the length of the above-linked "rant". If you are an unethical shill-bidding seller or a buyer who is not concerned that on the above-mentioned national sites eBay is effectively "aiding and abetting" such shill-bidding sellers to cheat you, read no further.