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Articles - March - 2006 Issue

Creating an Ignore List of eBay Sellers

- by Bruce E. McKinney

I don't blame the seller. I just don't want to have to look at it.

I don't blame the seller. I just don't want to have to look at it.


Now its time to give bidders some control over not only what they see but also whose material they see. Just as I can choose to follow a seller's auctions let me also exclude others.

Bidder dislike for a particular seller can arise for a multitude of reasons. Once in a while the issue is ethics. More often it is simply impatience with consistent over-description. This is not a list to share. That would be unfair to sellers because it suggests a strongly negative view and may be entirely personal. Whatever the buyer's motivation for excluding a seller it will be a helpful tool - improving the eBay experience, saving time and very subtly informing [but only by your absence] the occasional seller you prefer to exclude from searches. In time I believe it may change behavior.

eBay already makes it easy to identify and follow sellers whose material you like. When I find an item of interest I usually then click on VIEW SELLER'S OTHER ITEMS. On that page is an option to ADD TO FAVORITE SEARCHES. On the next screen you can add a seller and choose a period for receiving emails whenever they post new material. To track interesting sellers who post infrequently this is particularly helpful.

So if eBay goes this far to make it possible to follow the listings of specific sellers it seems only appropriate they also make it possible to exclude specific sellers. The online world, which has been dominated by those who pay to list, should now make room at the table for those who pay to buy.

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