Question
Ebay sent me this message
Dear eBay Seller,
You are receiving this email because you are an eBay seller utilizing the services of Andale, a third party services provider. As you are most likely aware, Andale has experienced some technical difficulties over the past 2 weeks. Andale is providing updates on their site while they work to restore service to normal levels.
If you are considering alternative products provided by eBay or third party companies during this time, we recommend you visit the eBay Solutions Directory and review your available options. eBay offers several selling solutions including eBay Turbo Lister, eBay Selling Manager, Selling Manager Pro, and eBay Picture Manager. If you would like assistance in determining which products to use, we also encourage you to use our helpful eBay Solutions Finder.
Regards,
eBay
Does this mean that they think Andale is down for the count ... or are they trying to drive people to Turbo Lister ...or what?
(Having been through several Andale outages - to my eternal gratitude I don't rely on eBay for my income - this last one has stretched my patience)
(BTW Am I the only person who remembers that Andale had a real "business protection" guarantee when they first began?)
Christine
Answer
I guess you could interpret the email both ways. But since I have a more sinister and skeptical view of Ebay, my vote would be for the latter. They're kicking a competitor while they're down, and pointing you in the direction of Ebay products.
booyah
http://evilebayempire.blogspot.com
Answer
Originally Posted by booyah
They're kicking a competitor while they're down, and pointing you in the direction of Ebay products.
That is the least they deserve. About the only entity more sinister than eBay is Andale.
Answer
Originally Posted by prairiedawg
That is the least they deserve. About the only entity more sinister than eBay is Andale.
IMO, I can guarantee you that the above statement is definitely not true.
Christine, I got so angry with that email from eBay that I replied to them about their spamming my email and how rude they were for trying to grab Andale's customers.
Answer
I haven't been following the Andale situation that closely, but that email from Ebay strikes me as odd. If Andale has been having problems for 2 weeks, and many Ebayers have also been having problems with the Ebay site for what seems to be just as long (Ebay's boards have been littered with complaints on Ebay itself, with Omniture,with Andale, etc), coudln't these problems be rooted in code changes instituted by Ebay? Or has Andale accepted blame and said that the problems werewholly on their end? I seem to recall that Ebay has been blaming Omniture for its problems, but there are just too many things failing at once for me not to believe that when the dots are connected they'll point to Ebay.
If the problems at Andale were instigated by Ebay code changes, and Ebay took advantage of the problem that they created themselves by trolling for injured Andale customers, that would seem to be doubly reprehensible of Ebay.
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Oh and I forgot to mention this part. Someone from eBay telephoned me today regarding Andale's checkout, the Andale/PayPal redirect feature, etc., etc. I immediately told him that I did not use the Redirect Feature and had no problems with my customers paying me while Andale was down (the ones who were going to pay anyway). I suggested that he asked the people he was calling if they use the Redirect Feature first. Then, I went into a rah rah Andale spiel. He was eager to finish the conversation when that started.
Christine, did eBay call you also?
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Booyah, it's my understanding that Andale's problems were due to a corrupted database.
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Originally Posted by elizdale
IMO, I can guarantee you that the above statement is definitely not true.
Really? http://cgi6.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?SolutionsDirectory&subgroup=1&page=a llReviews&solutionId=168 Some of us beg to differ!
Answer
mea culpa
Answer
Originally Posted by elizdale
However, I still think that eBay does not like any 3rd party companies and will do whatever it takes to get those 3rd party companies' business.
Some people enjoy b-i-t-c-h-ing and moaning.
Amen, syster grrl!!!
eBay tried to cause trouble for Channel Advisor a few years ago with some software shenanigans (on eBay's part)...eBay wants to be the only game in town...if they can't buy it (like Pay Pal) they want to make it history.
As for the b!tching and moaning comment well......all I can say is that you have made a very astute observation!
Cheers,
TCG