Aldo Antics on ebay

Glasgow, Birmingham and London, IIRC.

We could also discuss the statistical bias in such a survey.

R.

OK here goes.

I live in Sydney, NSW and I still have a bank account in Edinburgh.

I think you beat me - I live in Melbourne, Victoria, and have a bank account in Birmingham.

John Dennis

Perhaps, but as I said that was just while they were in my sight, and the ones that were not breaking the law were not in much of a position to do so, eg cycling along a straight piece of road. I am sure they would at the next red light!!!

Jeff

Jeremy,

I think Lerwick to Northampton beats Dumbarton to Chipping Sodbury :-)

Jim.

Fascinating that you're able to predict the behaviour of a complete stranger.

The Transport Research Laboratory had this to say a year or so back (research report 549):

"A key finding which should be noted was that, when commenting on the scenarios it was usually the behaviour of the cyclist that was criticised ? no matter how small the misdemeanour. Few links were made between the cyclist?s behaviour and any external influences that could be affecting their choice of behaviour; i.e. the respondents? comments indicated that they thought the cyclist?s actions were inherent and dispositional behaviours. In contrast, the motorists? misdemeanours were excused or justified in terms of the situational influences. As this tendency seemed to continue across the groups and the individual depth interviews and was unprompted, it is unlikely that group dynamics had any significant effect on this finding. [...] This aligns with the psychological prediction of targeting of members of an ?out group?.."

R.

"> "A key finding which should be noted was that, when commenting on the

Ah! so I can go through a red light or pull out of a junction without looking in my car and excuse my misdemeanour!!!

I was applying the same standard to cyclists as I would to motorists, it is wrong to ignore red lights, no entry signs, drive on the pavement, pull out of junctions without looking, have no lights at night. All of the above would get me in trouble.

The cyclists know they are doing wrong, I understand why, it is effort to stop and start or travel a longer route, but that doesn't make it right.

I agree that most motorists speed, but far fewer totally disobey red lights, no entry signs, or drive without lights.

Jeff

Er, no.

Personally, I apply far higher standards when I am driving half a ton of metal than when I am driving 30 lbs of metal. The potential for killing or maiming an innocent bystander is far greater should I, or someone around me, make a mistake.

Note that this does not imply that my standards for cycling (and the standards I would hope of other cyclists) are low. They are high. My standards for motoring are even higher (in the same way that my care when handling a gun is greater than when handling a knife).

Indeed not. However, I suspect (from many anecdotal conversations with other cyclists, of all standards) that things like driving on the pavement are because the cyclist has been intimidated off the road by the appalling standard of driving of some motorists.

I have no reliable statistical data on those, although I am aware that some drivers have a sad ignorance of what constitutes a one-way street.

R.

I think you beat me - I live in Melbourne, Victoria, and have a bank

Beats me. Victoria, BC, and an account in Havant.

-- Cheers Roger T.

Home of the Great Eastern Railway

My wife, here in Ontario, has a Barclays offshore Sterling chequing account in the Isle of Man, which is very useful when ordering items from UK dealers who don't accept credit cards. Costs £1 per cheque.

On 22/04/2005 13:29, Jeff wrote,

Try telling motorists in what was Avon and Somerset that the above is wrong - they think what you have described is normal behaviour! Red lights? Pah! Roundabouts? Giving way is so old-fashioned!! I've been totting up roughly how many times cars and particularly buses jump a set of ped. crossing lights near me, and I reckon it is 7 or 8 out of 10 times that I use the crossing. I was even shouted at when I was halfway across (on the green man) because a car driver was in a hurry and I was in his way! I have already got the council to put a barrier up to stop cars leaving a car park from using the ped. crossing (I kid you not!) to get out, but they have to wait until someone is killed before they are allowed to consider red-light-jumper cameras.

On 22/04/2005 10:29, Fil Downs wrote,

If you do that as well, then yes - you don't have to accept a cheque. What I was getting at is that there has been a mis-conception that if you block bidders who don't have a Paypal account, then that *on it's own* doesn't mean you only have to accept Paypal. You're right - you need to not tick the cheques etc option as well to make it watertight.

Anyone for Mornington Crescent?

On 22/04/2005 10:34, Adrian wrote, I think it

Ah - so it was you who bought that box - just kidding! Yes, eBay have a requirement to make sure stuff is described correctly, but I think it is just the sheer number of items to police that make it impossible. How many times do you search on, say, "hornby hymek", and get pages of guff with "not hornby" in the description? That is specifically mentioned as not being allowed by eBay, and yet it is extremely commonplace and I would have thought easy to automatically police. "Lada Riva NOT Rolls Royce, Jaguar, Daimler" - you get the drift!

On 22/04/2005 10:40, Adrian wrote,

Oh yes there are - believe me - I've had some cracking deals! You have to watch and be patient, and not bid for the first thing you see. Go for the one that everyone else seems to have missed because the description is a bit vague, or whatever. As an example, a certain model of something I'm keeping an eye on has three current listings: One is currently at £410, another at £205, and the middle one, by finish time, is £52. Guess which one has the crap description? Guess who emailed the seller to find out what exactly he was selling? Guess who is desperately hoping that no-one else has noticed!?!?!?!?!

"Paul Boyd" wrote

But even then you are at their mercy if they decide not to play the Paypal ball, even if all the rules are on your side. No amount of options will stop prannys from bidding on your auctions. Shame the "block bidders who..." options weren't more flexible - I'd like to block those below a certain percentage feedback, or those that were below 10 have a hold on their bid until I'd clicked on an "allow" button or similar.

Safest thing is to do is accept cheque, but build in room for a £1.00 or more discount or similar into the 'packing' side of your postage and packing fee. That way you can discount this amount off Paypal payments to disuade cheque payment!

~Fil

On 23/04/2005 12:20, Fil Downs wrote,

An awful lot of people have expressed that sentiment. Personally, I want a "Block bidders who have *ever* had a NPB alert", not just 2 in 30 days. Blocking those below a certain percentage is an option us ebayers at work would like. I can see eBay's reasons for not blocking people below a certain score or zero, but it doesn't make me feel any better! Mind you, I was selling some Lima wagons, and a guy who had just registered on the final day of the auction, obviously with zero feedback, was bidding higher and higher, to what I saw as getting silly, and he won them. If I could have worked out in time how to do it, I would actually have cancelled his bids, especially as he ignored my request to contact me before bidding if you have zero feedback, and didn't respond to my emails. Anyway, not only did he pay up very quickly (by cheque!), he bought some more stuff "offline". You never can tell!

The opposite extreme is someone my mother sold something to (never too old!), who had a feedback score well in the hundreds, at 100%, no neutrals and comments about fast payment. It took bl**dy ages for her to get the money, and no response to any emails. The seller now has a neutral, as my mother didn't want to be the one who broke the 100%!!!!

Probably not much in it John. What we need is someone with a GPS or something that can calculate the great circle distance between two points. Unfortunately that someone is not me!

In message , John Nuttall writes

Surely you can find something better to do with your time? :-)