stopping pins on ebay?

[KappaStargirl]

Originally posted by lauren1874



This guy was selling pins on eBay the other day -- like a whole collection of his fraternity and sorority pins -- and he actually said in his description that he knows these are the property of the respective organizations, but that that means nothing to him and he doesn't care. Nice, I thought.

Yeah. That gives me the strong urge to kick something. It's one thing when someone gets a badge and they're clueless as to what to do with it, but that's entirely another. I don't even go looking for pins on Ebay anymore, it just stirs up violent sickish feelings inside me.

Grrrr. But anyway...

Here's a just-for-interesting-conversation on this topic: WHY are pins such a popular item to collect? They don't appreciate in face value...well maybe a little, but I know that the worth of the amount of gold in my one-inch badge isn't going to go through the roof anytime soon, they don't mean anything to the collectors (not the way we see it as fraternity and sorority members, anyway)...what's the appeal? And if GLO's are no longer going to pan out large amounts of money to retrieve badges, do the pins only appreciate in value to other collectors? Maybe they go around in a giant Ebay circle?

Definitely time for me to go to bed.

[wptw]

Sorry SAEActive, but I don't see any flames in that other thread. I do see a disagreement that was [for the most part] logically argued on both sides. It is my observation these last few months that GC as a community does not handle dissenting opinions very well. That's unfortunate because dissent is often an excellent catalyst for learning and growth. Oh well.

By the way, I wasn't arguing the right and wrong of pin collecting in that other thread. SAEActive claimed that selling pins was illegal and I disagreed. End of story. FuzzieAlum just summed up my whole point from that other thread in one sentence:
"Obviously pin selling isn't illegal or it wouldn't happen on eBay - they make a policy of not selling anything that breaks the law (getting sued doesn't make for profits). "

Here's a just-for-interesting-conversation on this topic: WHY are pins such a popular item to collect? ...They don't mean anything to the collectors (not the way we see it as fraternity and sorority members, anyway)...what's the appeal?

Good question. Remember that the overwhelming majority of collectors are fraternity and sorority members themselves (I would estimate more than 95%). So in fact they DO mean something to us. Sure, they can't mean the same things that they would mean to an initiated member of that group, but they still represent a tradition and history that we appreciate and enjoy. That's the appeal. Value to a collector is based mainly on age and rarity and historical significance - not really on gold or gem content.

wptw

[Tom Earp]

I have love for my Badge Only, I would love to have a Badge and New Member Button from each Fraternity/Soroity that could be placed in my Chapter House to Show Respect to all Greek Organizations! In a Prominent Place!

I know LXA International Has a Badge and Button from each Local that they associated with! There are 2 sets of mine, The Ones I have and the Ones that International has!

These are on Display at Head Quarters!

Hell If I tried to Get one of each, I would be a lot poorer than I am now!

[SAEalumnus]

Originally posted by wptw
"Obviously pin selling isn't illegal or it wouldn't happen on eBay - they make a policy of not selling anything that breaks the law (getting sued doesn't make for profits). "

Not true!!! The major reason why I put up that post about ebay in the first place was the fact that they allowed an alumni directory of my fraternity to be sold on their site. Their policies explicitly forbid items to be sold which include personal contact information, etc. The directory was the 2001 edition just published this fall! I reported it both to ebay and to SAE HQ. I don't think that HQ had enough time to do anything about it since the auction only lasted a week to begin with. Ebay not only didn't do jack about an auction that CLEARLY violated their OWN policies, they DIDN'T EVEN RESPOND TO MY COMPLAINT!!! I'm STILL waiting to hear from them about it! Bottom line: just because it happens, doesn't make it legal!

[FuzzieAlum]

Not true!!! The major reason why I put up that post about ebay in the first place was the fact that they allowed an alumni directory of my fraternity to be sold on their site. Their policies explicitly forbid items to be sold which include personal contact information, etc. The directory was the 2001 edition just published this fall! I reported it both to ebay and to SAE HQ. I don't think that HQ had enough time to do anything about it since the auction only lasted a week to begin with. Ebay not only didn't

I'm sorry that happened. No one's address should be out there for sale! However, one problem with eBay is that is relies on self-policing - someone has to report an item, and then they may take their own poky time to do something about it. I am allowed to post a liver for sale, and someone has to tell eBay it's there before my auction will get shut down. eBay doesn't employ people to review each sale item. (But I'm sure if I tried to sell a liver, eBay would work more quickly to take it off since that's high-profile.) But it sounds as if they goofed up on this one - they should have taken that down as soon as you reported it.

This is a persistent problem I've seen with other items eBay has banned that aren't quite as mediagenic as sales of body parts. Even once you convince eBay that they really oughtn't sell something, the concerned citizens still have to spend THEIR time patrolling eBay to make sure no one tries to sell it anyway. This, as far as I am concerned, should be eBay's job, not the users' job!