3 of my experiences you can gain from

eBay Confidential eZine
24 October 2007

***
- Editorial

- Don't Assume: It makes an ASS of U and ME

- How My Silent Partner Conned the World's Biggest
Conman

- Passwords and a Major Problem I Fell Victim to
Only Today
***

Hi,

This week's newsletter is written entirely by me. No
guest essays, or editorial from my daughter.

Now, this is not because I am filled with self-importance
and not because I have more than my usual share of
time to fill.

This week's newsletter is all about things that have
happened to me in the last few days that really did make
me sit up and take notice and which, if I chose not to sit
up and take notice, would have found me in a right old
pickle by now.

It's been a strange week, I've encountered lots of deeper
than deep potential pitfalls and met more than my fair
share of difficult people.

Best of all, not for me but definitely for you, these are
events, faced by me, with solutions that will benefit you,
so I'll let you in on my experiences, starting now!

***
SPECIAL ENDORSEMENT
***

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in the pound of their true value and selling them
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Click here for the full story

***
Don't Assume: It makes an ASS of U and ME
***

There's no doubt about it, people do assume and often
quite incorrectly. Which in my books is bad, very bad,
especially assumptions made by people who then
confront someone with accusations based on their
mistakes.

Scenario Number One

Today a man emailed telling me not to email him quite
so often, in his words (disguised to preserve my modesty
and his privacy):

'PLEASE! I have received four emails from you this
week. I can't stand any more, can't you stop sending
these things so often? In fact I'd rather you stopped
sending them at all. Who gave you permission to email
me?

My Answer: "Actually, you gave me permission to email
you, you've been applying for all my free gifts, adding
your name to my lists, even confirming you have opted
in to receive those gifts. You have applied for so many
which is why you are on so many of my lists. No matter
though, I have removed you from all of my lists, you will
not receive any more emails from me from now on."

His reply: "I didn't want to be removed from all of your
lists, I want the free gifts and if you remove me from your
lists it means I won't get your free gifts in future, doesn't
it?"

Yes, it does, sorry about that! NOT!

Now I don't care what this man does next, he bought
from me several times on eBay and he has added his
name to several of my lists for gifts. It works like this:
someone buys from me on eBay, I send the product, I
include a compliments slip inviting buyers to join my
mailing list and get a gift, some people sign up every
time. I use different email broadcasting companies to
compile my mailing lists, I can't check or remove
duplicate email addresses from across a range of lists.

What worries me most is, this man is also a big UK
PowerSeller and, if he got it all so badly wrong on this
occasion, he probably gets it wrong many more times in
communications with his own eBay buyers.

Which, in a nutshell, sort of suggests the reason he
receives so many negative feedback points each month!

And which, also in a nutshell, gave me the idea to
include a notice at the head of all emails sent to my past
buyers on eBay. You can copy it if you like, it goes like
this:

'This email is never sent unsolicited. You are receiving it
because you bought from me on eBay or you signed up
to receive my eBay Shop Newsletter (or other as
appropriate). If you prefer not to receive further emails
please unsubscribe at the foot of this email'.

Scenario Number Two

Last week a man emailed another eBay seller, who
coincidentally is also an 'eBay Confidential' subscriber,
who recognised my name and contacted me.

The man asked her about something unconnected with
eBay, assuming she was me purely because we share a
similar eBay ID. I got his message via the back door
and was able to answer him. The story ventured on a
query he had about one of my products which is not
even available on eBay.

I answered his query right away, informed him about his
mistake, he went away happy. But it shows, doesn't it,
that assumptions can cause problems and interfere with
otherwise good communications channels provided by
eBay and elsewhere on line. Consider, for example, if
the man queried someone else about something he
bought from me on eBay and imagined, wrongly, that I
was ignoring his questions and decided to leave
negative feedback.

Scanarios One and Two

There's no doubt about it, it really does pay to check
one's facts before acting in haste, especially on eBay!

I'm very guilty of acting in haste, I do it quite often, but
from today I'll be very careful to check I am emailing the
correct person and asking the correct questions.

Why not join me, take time out, don't assume, assuming
- incorrectly - really doesn't do your eBay business
much good in the long run.

***
How My Silent Partner Conned the World's Best
Conman
***

There's a very plausible con doing the rounds right now,
it's the best I have ever encountered, and I felt sure the
warning I got from PayPal today was the genuine article.

The message told me I had a problem inside my PayPal
account and even referred to me by my full name. Most,
in fact all scams I have seen purportedly from PayPal,
address the recipient as 'Dear Member', or 'Dear PayPal
Member, never, as this one did, as 'Dear Avril Harper'.
'Dear Avril Harper' is a big clue to the email actually
coming directly from PayPal. Or not, as I just
discovered.

I read the email which wanted me to click on a link to
enter my PayPal account to sort out the details and,
unsurprisingly, it all looked totally professional and well
above board.

I ignored it for a while, went back to bed and laid thinking
about my PayPal account being compromised. I
decided the warning had to be from PayPal, based on
my full name being included in the email. I got up,
turned on the computer, opened the email, clicked to
continue, then it happened - a big red box appeared on
my screen with a huge cross and 'Stop' notice telling me
this was a phishing site (so-called because conmen as
'fishing' for your personal details) and under no
circumstances should I click through to the next page.

That intervention came about due to my latest virus
updating software, installed just last week and I'm quite
sure before it was installed I would have continued
thinking this email was genuine.

Two things spring to mind:

* Watch out for this particular email and its other really
credible looking counterparts. And don't, EVER, NOT
EVER, enter your user name and password for any
account or Internet site unless you enter via the
appropriate company's main web site and there is a
closed lock icon at the bottom of your monitor indicating
the site is secure.

* If your computer is not already virus protected, I
recommend you install a suitable program right away. I
have always been virus protected, I actually have
several programs working concurrently, but this new one
is the best by far. I can still see that warning notice
flashing before my eyes, there's no way I could miss that
unlike some virus checking systems that just place a red
and easily overlooked dot bottom of the computer
screen. I've tried them all, they all work, but this new
one is magic. It's by Norton and it's called the 'Norton
360 Fraud Monitoring' program. And, No, I'm not getting
paid to tell you this. I really am totally enthralled with this
program.

***
Passwords and a Major Problem I Fell Victim to Only
Today
***

Remaining with passwords and the opportunity to share
yours with all and sundry, let me give you another bit of
advice based on a stupid mistake I made today. Actually
I have made this mistake many times but usually on
really professional company sites such as ClickBank,
eBay, aWeber, PayPal.

Basically, I get up early, make a cup of coffee, then go
back to bed. While the kettle is boiling and before I'm
fully awake, I turn on the computer, log onto the Internet
and take a look at how things are progressing at my
selling sites.

And more than I care to confess, I get a message that
'your user name and password do not match', which of
course is true because I'm not thinking properly and I've
just given my personal details to access another
completely different site.

Easily done and well worth taking steps to avoid in future
especially for less professional sites than those
mentioned earlier. And me, what have I learned from
these mix-ups? Nothing much, except not to use the
computer until I am fully conscious.

Oh yes, and I also have a funny message to myself on
the computer screen telling me not to take such
dangerous risks in future!

Happy eBaying!

Until next time,

Avril

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