eBay is caught in one controversy after another. The latest one being the “Holiday Doorbuster’s” contest where anyone can buy from a GPS System to a diamond engagement ring for just $1.
The contest has brought in widespread interest to get those lucky give aways. Thousands of eBay users try to get hold of an item but in vain. The reason being there are a large number of automated scripts that buy those products automatically before anyone could manually purchase them. This has resulted in a lot of frustration and controversy.
The Holiday Doorbuster terms and conditions mentions, “The Promotion begins at 12:00:00 am Pacific Time (PT) on November 24, 2008 and ends 11:59:59 pm PT on December 8, 2008. (“Promotion Period”). Eligible Participants will have the opportunity to purchase a “Hidden Listing” item for $1.00” The automated programs keep watch of the time and automatically grab the give away even before one could realize it.
Though the terms also clearly mention that the sponsers have the right to cancel or suspend the promotion if any illegal activity is found, it does not mention any terms for the law breakers.
eBay stats that, “Sponsor reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to cancel or suspend part or all of this Promotion at any time without notice, if in the Sponsor’s opinion there is any suspected or actual evidence of electronic or non-electronic tampering with any portion of the Promotion, or if virus, bugs, non-authorized human intervention or other causes corrupt or impair the administration, security, fairness or integrity of the Promotion or for any other reason in its sole discretion. In such event, Sponsor may void any purchases they suspect are at issue.”
With eBay users moving to other online shopping sites due to severe seller issues, this holiday offer issue can drive out more irate users as the issue is directly related to ebay.