Whether it's E-Bay or Amazon, the two largest online retailers, they have problems with providing for their clients.
E-Bay... my last post was the story of how a perfectly good coin was rejected. It was determined by E-Bay that the coin was a copy or counterfeit and not listed as such. Considering it's a legitimate coin listing it as a copy or counterfeit is not an option. Their suggestion is to get it professionally grade. However, from the client/consumer POV doing so is not cost effective. It's not!
It's expensive to get a coin graded - a membership fee is required. Depending on the value of the coin this may be prohibitive. So what if, E-Bay accuses a person of posting a "bogus something"? Well, no criminal charges - gee thanks... but that's it for the item... find someplace else to sell it.
That someplace else is not a simple option within our society of monopolies. Whether it's Walmart, Amazon or E-bay, we are at their mercy.
My newest issue or concern... this time with Amazon.
Please understand... about me... I'm 66 with cancer that is in remission. Having cancer is a lifesaver but that's beside the point. The point is the change a person goes through finding out they have cancer and what they have to endure to be in remission. It changes a person.
I need to sell stuff I own like books. Old comics. Graphic novels. All collected over the past 45 years. Why? Having cancer is a good indicator one will die... even if in remission, one knows the end will come.
Apparently several years ago I had a seller account on Amazon. Apparently the account expired. Well, it did expire. Now I want to start it up again. I get an error about my account when I try to do that. "Account already exists - setup a new one."
Setting up a new one requires a change of address! There are three things, okay, maybe four, that define legally who one is. They are address, phone #, e-mail address and of course social security number. Recently I needed to update my phone # with my bank. They consider that a threat to a persons identity and as such the process to change it is pretty involved.
Amazon is now telling me that because my seller account has expired, I will need to setup a new seller account under a different e-mail address. I explained to them that my e-mail address is me, part of my identity. Too bad they said... you'll need to provide a new e-mail address. I refused. Which screws ME! But I will not submit to validation as a human being by changing any of the four primary criteria about myself.
They are: 1) physical address 2) phone # 3) e-mail address 4) social security number
