Question
I had some questions and some quick action on one of my 10c listings from this week. Someone wrote to ask about specific colors in the artwork, but before I could reply someone else pulled the trigger and purchased the item. I responded through eBay's system and sent my condolences to the prospective buyer who lost out. She wrote back, using eBay's system, and asked if I had any more. I tried to reply, again using eBay's system, but kept getting error messages. So, I went to my email instead and clicked reply on the message that eBay had forwarded. Instead of the buyers email address the "to" field read:
UseTheYellowButton * ebay.com
I went back to her previous question and it brought up her email address just fine. So, I assumed eBay software caught the words "Do you have more" in her query and blocked out her email address to me so I couldn't try to sell to her off-site without them noticing.
Pretty cool, huh?
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Hmmmm....
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Look away from the light... LOOK AWAY FROM THE LIGHT!!
We're stronger than this... We can shake their control...
{{SHIVER}}
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It was for the first time today I noticed the email address UseTheYellowButton*ebay.com on one of my emails. Thought it seemed familiar so I did a search and noticed I had lots from different buyers. Stupid me simply responded to the message (I mean, who pays much attention to address) so all these people I have responded to never got my emails and now think I totally didn't answer them. I went back in over my emails in My Messages and answered again all the questions from the past couple of weeks.
Jill
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Until usetheyellowbutton bacame semi regular, I replied to every enquiry. Now if I am "half hearted" or a little suspect about the question, and I have to go through Ebay's system, I just don't bother.
Unlike Jill, because of my geographic location, I always look at the reply email address to see what country the (potential) buyer is in, so I do notice that I get a number of "usetheyellowbutton" emails (and usually find them to be a PITA). I do wonder how many reply emails go to usetheyellowbutton*ebay.com, and whether they feel that it does affect trade. I suspect that even making usetheyellowbutton*ebay.com bounce back, may at least help some sellers notice that they have sent an inneffective reply.
Kevin
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Originally Posted by johnny
So, I assumed eBay software caught the words "Do you have more" in her query and blocked out her email address to me so I couldn't try to sell to her off-site without them noticing.
I don't know- I don't think it's that. I sent email to a winning bidder today which bounced. Included in that email was a quote for an item he asked about purchasing which wasn't in the auction (he emailed me through eBay's system before I sent my EOA notice). When I got the bounced email back, I went through eBay to send an invoce, in which I noted that email to his listed address was bouncing, along with the quote for the additional item. That invoice was delivered by eBay, and the buyer replied to me directly.
If eBay is trying to stop sales of stuff which hasn't been listed on their site, they need to work on their screening system some more...
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Yep, you're right Mr. P. And, as an added bonus, I'm a dumbass!
The mystery explained.... http://www.therossshow.com/showthrea...9247#post99247
Uh, no. The UseTheYellowButton*ebay.com is the standard return address when an email address is hidden - it is nothing sinister.
On one message the box was probably checked that says "Hide email address" (when the buyer composed the message) and in the other it probably wasn't. This is a bug in the eBay Message System that has been around forever. When you open up the window to send a message - sometimes the box is checked by default and sometimes it isn't ... but it was probably already checked before the buyer typed their message.
... or the buyer checked the box for some reason in the second message.
For some strange reason I prefer the conspiracy theory.
Thanks Cartman.
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Originally Posted by johnny
For some strange reason I prefer the conspiracy theory.
Hmmm.... that's awfully suspicious. What exactly do you mean by that?
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Originally Posted by mrpotatoheadd
Hmmm.... that's awfully suspicious. What exactly do you mean by that?
Do you now or at any time work for eBay or any of their subsidiary companies or otherwise consult, fornicate, or have anything to do with them on more than a buyer or seller relationship?
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fornicate,
<tapping foot here>
I am waiting for the answer to this question too