MegaManFan Posted November 18, 2002 Share Posted November 18, 2002 http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...&item=802417111 I got this one on a search for "Atari 7800" - why? Because the seller put "not 7800" at the end of his auction's listing title. I was so disgusted by this one I actually reported it to eBay; I really wish people wouldn't try to pull this juvenile crap to display auctions for things I don't even want. Atari 7800 is often a horrible search for reasons just like these. Half of the time, you get people who describe the game as "2600/7800" in the title to get 2600 games that pop in a search. Technically true that they work in a 7800, but I still think that's cheap. At least this time I've got a clear cut violation there can be NO doubt about. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CPUWIZ Posted November 18, 2002 Share Posted November 18, 2002 That is clearly not a violation as it states "not 7800", people do this to get more exposure. Even hardcore collectors like Rick do this, check his auctions ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MegaManFan Posted November 18, 2002 Author Share Posted November 18, 2002 That is clearly not a violation as it states "not 7800", people do this to get more exposure. Even hardcore collectors like Rick do this, check his auctions ! It absolutely is. I read through eBay's listing policies with a fine toothed comb before I reported this one. If you doubt me, you can check here: http://pages.ebay.com/help/community/png-wordspam.html They even have "not this, not that" marked with a bullet head just to make it absolutely clear this is not allowed by eBay. It's precisely because it DOES get more exposure that it's wrong, it gives false hits on legitimate searches. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CPUWIZ Posted November 18, 2002 Share Posted November 18, 2002 Hmm, you're right but I don't think anything will be done about it, there is hundreds of people doing it just with Atari items and they have been doing it for years. Personally I don't mind if people do this because I know what I am looking for. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albert Posted November 18, 2002 Share Posted November 18, 2002 Personally I don't mind if people do this because I know what I am looking for. This is quite clearly keyword spamming and I wish eBay would crack down more on it. There are already enough items to search through on eBay, and it wastes my time (and countless others) when we have to wade through auctions that are deceptively titled in order to get wider exposure via eBay's search function (or just people browsing listings). Even if I was interested in an item and saw someone keyword spamming, I'll go out of my way *not* to reward that person by bidding on their auction. ..Al Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CPUWIZ Posted November 18, 2002 Share Posted November 18, 2002 I just checked by the way and Rick is doing it right now, in a more offensive way actually. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...&item=802844909 And I still don't care because I have found rare items due to strange listing descriptions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lemmi Posted November 18, 2002 Share Posted November 18, 2002 I just checked by the way and Rick is doing it right now, in a more offensive way actually. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...&item=802844909 And I still don't care because I have found rare items due to strange listing descriptions. i found the 3DO/MSX/XBOX one kinda funny I dont mind that since its a 3do items i search for, and i dont search for msx or xbox EDIT--- what does MSX stand for anyway? Its the Atari 2600/7800 listings that get tiresome, even tho you can play the 2600 games in the 7800, cause i dont collect many 2600 games i have to weed though all the 2600 games to find the 7800 ones im looking for @ Megamanfan - i actually noticed that auction last night when i looked though the 7800 listings, and i did think thats NOT right Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cap5750 Posted November 18, 2002 Share Posted November 18, 2002 I would never have found that one because I never go into anything, but the Atari section. For a good laugh though, type boxed sometime and see how many items that come up that are not boxed! Cap Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sku_u Posted November 18, 2002 Share Posted November 18, 2002 I don't think too many people who do this are intentionally trying to word spam. Has anyone tried emailing the person to see what his intentions were? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MegaManFan Posted November 18, 2002 Author Share Posted November 18, 2002 @ Megamanfan - i actually noticed that auction last night when i looked though the 7800 listings, and i did think thats NOT right Lemmi, you crack me up. Next topic: Boolean logic does NOT make good eBay auctions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bcprs1 Posted November 18, 2002 Share Posted November 18, 2002 I know it is a pain to do so, but use the advanced search in ebay to only search for Atari 7800. I think if you type "atari 7800 -2600", you will exclude all the 2600/7800 entries. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick Weis Posted November 19, 2002 Share Posted November 19, 2002 I just checked by the way and Rick is doing it right now' date=' in a more offensive way actually. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...&item=802844909 Hello guys, i'm very sorry if my auctions offend anyone! i listed them for a friend and he made out all the descriptions and headers! i'm just helping out a friend!! i do apologize if it offended anyone!! Take Care, Rick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick Weis Posted November 19, 2002 Share Posted November 19, 2002 I EDIT--- what does MSX stand for anyway? @Lemmi, to be honest i have NO idea!! that's what the paper said to put in (MSX) Take care, Rick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lemmi Posted November 19, 2002 Share Posted November 19, 2002 I EDIT--- what does MSX stand for anyway? @Lemmi' date=' to be honest i have NO idea!! that's what the paper said to put in (MSX) Take care, Rick[/quote'] No need to apologize rick, if thats the way your friend wanted it to read thats fine, i just dont know what MSX stood for, and i think 90% of us know that you buy and not sell on ebay Im not offended in any way, as i have alot of time on my hands to search though ebay throughly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albert Posted November 19, 2002 Share Posted November 19, 2002 EDIT--- what does MSX stand for anyway? MSX is an old computer platform developed by ASCII and Microsoft back in the early 80s. It was an attempt at defining a standard that could be used by many manufacturers and released in many countries. Here's a brief snippet from The Ultimate MSX FAQ: MSX is an old Z80-based family of home computers which appeared in autumn 1983 as an attempt to establish a single standard in home computing similar to VHS in video. They were popular in Asian (Korea, Japan) and South American (Brazil, Chile) countries as well as in Europe (Netherlands, France, Spain) and former Soviet Union, but they are virtually unknown in USA. Although the MSX standard quietly died from year 1988, the world got to see MSX2, MSX2+ and TurboR extensions of it. ..Al Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CPUWIZ Posted November 19, 2002 Share Posted November 19, 2002 I just checked by the way and Rick is doing it right now' date=' in a more offensive way actually. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...&item=802844909 Hello guys, i'm very sorry if my auctions offend anyone! i listed them for a friend and he made out all the descriptions and headers! i'm just helping out a friend!! i do apologize if it offended anyone!! Take Care, Rick No need to apologize, it doesn't offend me, I was merely saying that everybody does it and I could care less. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maximebeauvais Posted November 19, 2002 Share Posted November 19, 2002 And I still don't care because I have found rare items due to strange listing descriptions. Same here, I was locking for some atari 2600 and I found a great deal on a colecovision!!!!! I don't really care what the seller will put on a title. If it attrack me I will take a look.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nimtene Posted November 21, 2002 Share Posted November 21, 2002 I think the above offenses are hardly even worth mentioning. At least they are not as blatant in utilizing keyword spam as the below auction is. It even goes so far as trying to hide the spam by displaying it as secret 'invisible' text: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...item=1790337927 It's crap like this that Ebay really needs to really start cracking down on. Please. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albert Posted November 21, 2002 Share Posted November 21, 2002 I think the above offenses are hardlyeven worth mentioning. At least they are not as blatant in utilizing keyword spam as the below auction is. It even goes so far as trying to hide the spam by displaying it as secret 'invisible' text: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...item=1790337927 Wow! You're not kidding! I took a look at the source on that page and could not *believe* how much hidden text is sitting in there. Simply amazing. Having hidden text like this is also explicitly spelled out as against eBay policy, and I'm sure if this auction was brought to their attention they'd quickly end it. ..Al Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Player Posted November 22, 2002 Share Posted November 22, 2002 This type of crap has been going on for years at ebay. When I used to search for Intellivision, I would get tons of auctions for those CD's where you can find all sort of information on people. I never saw Intellivision anywhere in the text, so I guess it must have been hidden text as well. This was a couple of years ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glitch Posted November 22, 2002 Share Posted November 22, 2002 That's the reason a lot of my ebay searches now have -(cd) tacked on to the end. God, I hated those cd auctions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nimtene Posted November 25, 2002 Share Posted November 25, 2002 I'm sure if this auction was brought to their attention they'd quickly end it. ..Al I guess that depends on your definition of 'quickly.' I reported the auction to them nearly 6 days ago, But it continues to troll forward, finally to end in another twenty hours, most likely to be immediately re-listed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Allan Posted November 26, 2002 Share Posted November 26, 2002 I think the above offenses are hardlyeven worth mentioning. At least they are not as blatant in utilizing keyword spam as the below auction is. It even goes so far as trying to hide the spam by displaying it as secret 'invisible' text: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...item=1790337927 It's crap like this that Ebay really needs to really start cracking down on. Please. Wow, your not kidding. I just checked the source and after copying out all the hidden words I did a word count on them and got over 2,600 hidden words. What a scumbag. Allan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lemmi Posted November 26, 2002 Share Posted November 26, 2002 Here is another one http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...item=1941532558 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nimtene Posted December 2, 2002 Share Posted December 2, 2002 Just when I thought the seller I mentioned above could do no worse, he starts another auction, this time overlapping the spam text: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...item=1792185566 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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