EventHorizon1984 Log

Jettison Salvage Was Here

Jettison Salvage Was Here
17 July 2009
EventHorizon1984

The topic of preserving the Apollo moon landing sites is brought up in the article "Is the Apollo 11 Moon Landing Flag Still Standing?".

Beth O'Leary who "created the NASA-funded project to make the Apollo 11 Landing site on the moon as a National Historic Landmark" notes:

• 'the possibility exists to locate humankind's lunar leftovers precisely, assess their condition and most importantly decide then what and how to preserve this record for future generations'

There are six Apollo landing sites.

• Apollo 11    Mare Tranquilitatis  (Sea of Tranquility)
• Apollo 12    Oceanus Procellarum  (Ocean of Storms)
• Apollo 14    Fra Mauro  (edge Imbrium Basin)
• Apollo 15    Hadley Rille  (edge Imbrium Basin)
• Apollo 16    Descartes Mountains
• Apollo 17    Taurus-Littrow  (edge Mare Serenitatis, i.e. Sea of Serenity)

The current protection for these landing sites are the quarter of a million miles distance to reach them, and the cost.

But anyone who's lived a good part of the 20th Century might tell you, and science fiction fans will attest to, is that sometimes science fiction becomes fact.

 

Vulture of the Salvage-1 lunar mission at Serenity Base *.  Salvage (1979)

.

"I want to build a spaceship, go to the moon, salvage all the junk that's up there, bring it back and sell it."
Harry Broderick (Andy Griffith), Jettison Scrap & Salvage Company, Salvage (1979)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mR-gz9EFO8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDa25M-de70
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSsqsbv0FWg

* Possibly referring to the Apollo 17 landing site, or COL Steve Austin's** Apollo 19 landing site.

** "Salvage", "Salvage 1", and "The Six Million Dollar Man" are Universal Pictures properties.

We use some Salvage references from:

Salvage 1

Salvage-1: The Best Space Movie You've Probably Never Heard Of...

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Update 2013.09.11

We goofed.  Although a newscaster at the beginning of the first episode "Dark Island" describes his location as the "Jettison Salvage yard", and Harry Broderick in the pilot answer's the phone as "Jettison Salvage", that's not the full name of fictional company.  Harry Broderick's company is not the "Jettison Salvage", but "Jettison Scrap & Salvage Company."  Apologies to all fans of the show.

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The eBay Weed of the Day

The eBay Weed of the Day
16 July 2009
EventHorizon1984

 

In the article 'TripAdvisor Warns Of Hotels Posting Fake Reviews' author Melissa Trujillo reported one company "has been quietly posting disclaimers to warn customers of hotels writing fake reviews to improve their popularity rankings or hurt competitors".

This is a common problem. As referenced in the article:

• "Apple required that consumers purchase or download an application before they can review it online in the App Store"
• "A plastic surgery company, Lifestyle Lift Inc., agreed to pay $300,000 to resolve an investigation into positive online reviews written by employees, the New York attorney general announced Tuesday"
• "travel industry insiders — but often not casual travelers — understand the financial incentives hotels have to artificially inflate their rankings on the site. Some offer discounts or freebies to patrons who write positive reviews or hire public relations companies who say they can improve the reviews"

Common and widespread to the extent that the U.S. FTC (Federal Trade Commission) wrote the FTC GUIDES CONCERNING USE OF ENDORSEMENTS AND TESTIMONIALS IN ADVERTISING in 1975 and 1980.

Very briefly that Guide requires companies to identify themselves when commenting on their products. And people making comments about a product, that a company shows to the public, must be independent of the company. Or the person or company must provide to the public their relationship.

This Federal Guide apparently is so abused that the "Federal Trade Commission is revising guidelines on testimonials and endorsements to reflect the growth of online marketing".

Which brings us to what is a "Weed"?

We use the term "Weed" to describe people paid to post. The term derives from how these individuals are viewed. For example the featured article notes, "company has policies to weed out suspicious reviews".

A Wall Street Journal poster provided a partial description of the tactics an eBay Weed employs. This edited version is similar to PowerPoint discussion points given by public relations companies to writers.

1. Blame the messenger.
2. Attack the messenger or message.
3. Downplay the message.
4. Twist what the messenger is trying to say.
5. Spin everything positive for Ebay
6. Never blame Ebay for anything
7. Tell users to go elsewhere if they don’t like it

For the Weeds that will use some of those tactics on this article, tell your supervisor to study a little history. Or actually read the various Public Relations text books. Some of us did.

Philip Morris Public Relations 1992:

• Change the focus of the issue
• Explore and exploit the opposition's weaknesses
• Investigate legal challenges to opposition efforts
• Develop alliances with other groups being attacked by the opposition
• Begin large-scale program of journalism education (focusing on accuracy, accountability, objectivity, etc.)
• Become a source of information and expertise

The above combined checklists sounds familiar doesn't it?

One persona missing from the public relations tactics is the 'friend'. A theatrical example is Security Officer Price from the film Stalag 17 (1953). This personae and it's subtypes are the hardest to detect, and we'll leave that for a future article.

Which brings us to the eBay Weed of the Day.

Disclaimer: We are commenting on individual(s) associated with the following posts, who may have attempted to influence public opinion through methods unsanctioned by the FTC. This opinion should not be taken as fact, and the reader should form their own unbiased opinion.

This part of a recent post was made on a recent article involving eBay.

• #1  "Some people just can't handle change or changing markets. A handful of people have been complaining for more than a year now (mostly the same ones on every blog they can find in a day); they need to learn to move on."

Interestingly months earlier the following comment was made on a different article by another independent voice.

• #2  "if you take out the 10 or 15 most vocal anti-eBay people blogging all over the place (sometimes with different names as well), you realize that the noise is pretty low if noticeable at all. Life goes on, adapt or die.

To be obvious:

1. "Some people just can't handle change or changing markets"
2. "adapt or die"

1. "they need to learn to move on"
2. "Life goes on"

1. "A handful of people have been complaining for more than a year now"
2. "if you take out the 10 or 15 most vocal anti-eBay people"

1. "(mostly the same ones on every blog they can find in a day)"
2. " blogging all over the place (sometimes with different names as well)"

The dissimilar writing styles 'sound' like two separate writers. Which begs the questions. Two different people stating near identical talking points months apart?  Down to the parenthesis; "(", ")"?

We leave you with this thought. Those are not the only examples.

"Sure. Fine. Whatever."
Dana Scully, X-Files (Syzygy)

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Back In Time - eBay Would Like Your Input

Back In Time - eBay Would Like Your Input
7 July 2009
EventHorizon1984

 

eBay sends out surveys to gather data to justify their future plans. And we get a lot of them.

We received yesterday (7/6/2009) the survey email below (personal information edited out). And it told us a great deal about how organized eBay is today.

The email is dated "From eBay Research Wed Jun 17 21:24:51 2009 "

"Tell me Doctor, where are we going this time? Is this the 50's or 1999?"
Huey Lewis and The News
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4hwY061yQ4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgyvMp5YWcI

//

Dear *****,

We would like to invite you to participate in a survey about your experiences on eBay. Your input will help eBay to improve its communications and ability to meet customer needs. Your feedback is highly valued!

eBay has partnered with Decipher, an independent marketing research firm, to conduct this survey. This survey is for research purposes only. All the information you provide will be treated as strictly confidential and will be used only for bona fide market research purposes. Survey results are viewed in aggregate. Individual responses are not identified.

We hope that you will take the time to complete this 12-minute survey, as it is an effective and easy way to share your feedback with eBay.

To take the survey: Please click here

Thanks for being a part of the eBay community, and we hope to see you on eBay again soon.

Kind Regards,

eBay Research Department

---

This email was sent to you (*****) because your Notification Preferences indicate that you want to receive eBay product surveys. These surveys will ask you for your opinion on various topics; you will never be asked for personal information such as your password or credit card/bank numbers. If you do not wish to receive further communications, please sign into "My eBay" by clicking on the "My eBay" link found at the top of the eBay home page, and change your Notification Preferences. Please note that this change may take up to 10 days to process.

Decipher, Inc., an independent market research firm, is conducting this online survey for eBay. For questions about its validity, you may email us at [email protected]. To stop receiving e-mails from Decipher, Inc., please click here.

Have safety concerns? Learn how to protect yourself from spoof (fake) emails at:
http://pages.ebay.com/help/account/reporting-spoof.html

For questions about eBay's communication policies, please visit our privacy policy at
http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/privacy-policy.html and our User Agreement at
http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/user-agreement.html

Copyright © 2009 eBay, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
eBay and the eBay logo are registered trademarks of eBay Inc.
Other trademarks and brands are the property of their respective owners.
eBay is located at 2145 Hamilton Avenue, San Jose, CA 95125.

//
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Comments

mylegacy-treasures ( 815) View seller's items | View Blog Recently, it appears that Mr D. and staff aren't asking Qs just to get the answers that they want to hear. Perhaps we can return to 2005, 2003, 2001 or even 1999! And have a happier, healthier and more successful buying and selling environment. Jul-07-09 14:17:48 PDT

madcat1010 ( 1536) View seller's items | View Blog I got one that asked for my age!! I assumed it was a scam and sent it in to ebay.....they said it was legit. Jul-07-09 14:22:49 PDT

cdlucel ( 481) View seller's items | View Blog check your ebay email first, before responding to your normal email provider..always go through Ebay..for all your needs..lol ;) woof woof Jul-07-09 14:26:50 PDT

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Richard Ambrose Is Leaving eBay. Does It Matter?

Richard Ambrose Is Leaving eBay.  Does It Matter?
1 July 2009
EventHorizon1984

 

During the irregular perusal of Tamebay we came across the article Richard Ambrose leaves eBay for new challenges.

Not being in the eBay European theatre of operations we (including me) went, "Who??"

For those unfamiliar with Tamebay, it an excellent blog covering eBay from the European point of view. Or for some posters over there, the British interpretation of how best to use eBay.

Getting back to "Who??", in the article, Chris Dawson of Tamebay wrote:

"With over 1000 feedback (and no negs!) Richard knows eBay inside out. He was a valued and valuable member of the community, spending his own time on boards and forums talking to buyers and sellers and taking their concerns back to eBay’s internal teams."

The impressive description was followed by multiple posts, including one that stated:

Since he took the reins – incidences of serious fraud
affecting multiple users have become the exception rather than rule

"We" being the curious type decided to ask:

Citation with actual numbers please?

And promptly received multiple responses, none with numbers.

Still leaving the issue of "Who??".  Not to mention the new issue of a rise in hits from eBay related IP addresses, after we made the tiny post.

This interest in Richard Ambrose got our collective interest up.  And like the keepers of The Prisoner, "we want information."

 

"Trust me. I know what I'm doing."
Sledge Hammer!

Richard Ambrose's eBay.co.uk ID is medievalist (918).

Richard Ambrose

From article dated, 14 November 2007.

Feedback Profile

	medievalist ( 918)
	Positive Feedback (last 12 months): 100%
	Member since: 12-Jan-99 in United Kingdom

Recent Feedback Ratings (last 12 months)   1 month 6 months 12 months Positive 39 115 205 Neutral 0 0 0 Negative 0 0 0

Detailed Seller Ratings (last 12 months) Criteria Average rating Number of ratings Item as described 57 Communication 57 Dispatch time 57 Postage and packaging charges 56

Feedback is excellent, but as wryly noted by many he is an eBay employee.

Speaking of which if you check his complete listings you will find something missing. 

eBay Employee Trading and Community Content Policy

The following are the rules that all eBay Inc. company employees must follow to use an eBay company Web site:

• When eBay company employees list an item for sale on eBay, the eBay company employees must identify themselves as eBay employees and include the link to this Web page in their listing.

The above required disclosure remains oddly missing from Richard Ambrose's listings.

Not to worry though as Richard Ambrose, before leaving eBay, was "UK's Head of Customer Support and Trust & Safety."

 

"So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish"
Douglas Adams (1984)

Here's his goodbye post on an eBay forum.  European style date of "01-07-09" is equivalent to U.S. format "07-01-09".

Mr Ambrose, if you're lurking

medievalist  (915 ) View Listings | Report Afternoon everyone, Thanks for the (mostly!) good wishes. It's been a great privilege to spend six years at eBay supporting the buyers and sellers on the site. I've particularly enjoyed posting on the boards during that time (though I haven't done it much this year) - it's the best place there is to take the pulse of the community and understand how the changes we make are really affecting people. I'm pleased to say that James is doing a great job of making sure that all the staff who don't come here so much see the posts that are made and read the opinions that are aired here. They are more widely read, and have more impact on the decisions that eBay makes, than you might imagine. It's also been a pleasure getting to know some of you personally. Sorry for those of you who have ever found me direct in the past - I prefer not to mince my words, and I apologise for any times when that may have caused offence. I'll still lurk from time to time, and wish you all many happy and profitable years to come on eBay. Cheers Richard PS trufflington, many thanks for your post. James now owes me a fiver		01-07-09 16:31 BST	39 of 303

Since this was an informal goodbye, we'll overlook the violations involved.

• When eBay company employees submit Community content as members, not as employees, they must identify themselves as eBay employees and state that the content reflects their personal views and is not written on behalf of eBay Inc.
• Content posted by eBay employees acting in an official eBay capacity will normally be identified by a different treatment from content published by members; for example, a pink bar highlighting the User name.

"I hired you because you look good. It's like having a nice piece of art in the lobby."
Dr. Gregory House, House

According to Linkedin, like the mythical 'Elephant Graveyard' a company where ex-eBay employees end up:

Linkedin Profile:

Richard Ambrose
Director, Trust & Safety at eBay Europe
London, United Kingdom

• Director, Trust & Safety

• eBay Europe
• (Internet industry)
• November 2008 — Present (9 months)

• Head of Trust & Safety

• eBay
• (Public Company; ebay; Internet industry)
• October 2007 — October 2008 (1 year 1 month)

• Head of Finding

• eBay
• (Public Company; 10,001 or more employees; ebay; Internet industry)
• September 2004 — September 2007 (3 years 1 month)

• Senior Manager, Collectables & Entertainment

• eBay
• (Public Company; 10,001 or more employees; ebay; Internet industry)
• September 2003 — September 2004 (1 year 1 month)

• Head of Business Development

• Music Choice Europe
• (Public Company; 51-200 employees; Media Production industry)
• January 2002 — June 2003 (1 year 6 months)

• Commercial Manager

• Talkcast
• (Privately Held; 51-200 employees; Internet industry)
• January 2000 — September 2000 (9 months)

• Consultant

• Decipher
• (Privately Held; 1-10 employees; Management Consulting industry)
• June 1999 — January 2000 (8 months)

• Analyst 
Mercer Management Consulting

• (Public Company; Internet industry)
• 1996 — 1999 (3 years)

"The trouble with being infallible is that you have to deal with everyone else making mistakes."
Emperor Cartagia, Babylon 5

Anyone who's gone through stacks of resumes might be thinking 'what's behind the titles?'.

Glad you asked that.  Here's a small sampler of Richard Ambrose projects.

eBay to make free P&P compulsory for DVDs
Saturday, October 11th, 2008 at 1:08 pm

• "Richard Ambrose from eBay stated that some of the maximum rates will be below actual cost and for DVDs they will insist sellers offer free post, although upgrade to priority services and overseas postage can still be charged."

Ebay Spokesman Richard Ambrose on Feedback Strike Boycott
February 22 2008

eBay Hopes to Boost Membership by Removing Seller Feedback
3:22 PM Feb 7, 2008

• Starting Feb. 20, the online auction site will block sellers from leaving negative feedback about buyers.
• "The feedback system has been around for more than ten years, and it remains right at the heart of what makes eBay work," said Richard Ambrose, of eBay UK.
• "But it needs to evolve a little bit."
• But eBay says sellers shouldn't worry.
• "As buyers are more honest about their feedback, good sellers are going to stand out more and more," stated Ambrose.
• "We're also going to increase the help we give to sellers when they occasionally encounter a buyer who doesn't pay. And we're going to make it much easier for them to report that and get their money back."

eBay 'sorry' over policy change
Friday, 20 April 2007, 17:01 GMT 18:01 UK

• "eBay's Richard Ambrose says the changes make the site 'fairer'"
• "Until recently, items put up for sale by eBay customers on the UK site automatically appeared in the search results on the bigger American ebay.com site.
• But since February, the most common 'simple search' on ebay.com only brings up items for sale by US sellers."

eBay's 10-year rise to world fame
Friday, 2 September 2005, 17:11 GMT 18:11 UK

• EBay spokesman Richard Ambrose confirms that the company intends to make the site more user-friendly for businesses trading in bulk.
• "If you want to sell, say, 50,000 Jiffy bags or 25,000 bricks, you can do it, but it's not a great experience," he told the BBC News website. "In the next few years, we will be making it easier to wholesale items on the site."
• Mr Ambrose says that despite eBay's dominant market position in many countries, the company is not complacent about the future.
• "We're in a strong, but not impregnable position," he says. "We're under severe pressure from Yahoo! in Asia - we're in a fierce battle with them in China."
• EBay stirred up controversy among users by increasing some of its fees earlier this year. Mr Ambrose says this was to ensure that certain popular ways of making sellers' listings stand out were not devalued through overuse.
• "From the outside, it's easy for it to seem that we're trying to flex our muscles. But in the long term, we want people to grow on eBay and maximise their profits. When they grow, so do we."

The inspector calls on eBay
12:01AM BST 26 Sep 2004

• However, the Government is increasingly concerned that the sheer size of eBay means the Revenue is losing millions of pounds in tax.
• "What has really made the growth explode is the shift which we have seen from being a site that is associated with collectable, quirky, hard-to-find, used, vintage items to one where people buy what we call practicles," says Richard Ambrose, eBay's UK category manager.
• "By practicles we're talking clothes, cars, golf clubs, watches. We're seeing more professional traders and we're also seeing more private individuals who are just thinking of eBay as a place to sell things that they wouldn't have in the past."
• But just how easy is it for tax authorities to investigate traders? After all, this is cyberspace. How can investigators be sure tax dodgers can be tracked back to the real world?
• "When people register with us we do check that their personal details are accurate and that their phone number is accurate," Ambrose says. "Any seller is obliged to register a credit card with us."
• And what about the taxman? "Anybody buying or selling on eBay needs to be aware of what their tax responsibilities are," Ambrose maintains. "But we are not in a position to enforce it . . . although we can and do co-operate with outside bodies."

"Even though your wording was within the letter of the policy, it could easily have been interpreted as violating the spirit of it."
Richard Ambrose, eBay

Coming back to the original question, 'does it matter that Richard Ambrose is leaving eBay?'.

Based on what we've learned over the intervening hours:

Even though Richard Ambrose was working within the letter of the law, his actions could easily have been interpreted as violating the eBay Community spirit.

We find Richard Ambrose leaving eBay to be a non-event.

END RUN

"Gentlemen, I'm simply an honest businessman."
Harcourt Fenton Mudd, Star Trek

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How To Guide - FTC Guides Concerning Use Of Endorsements And Testimonials In Advertising

How To Guide - FTC Guides Concerning Use Of Endorsements And Testimonials In Advertising
18 May 2009
EventHorizon1984
Commentary

This comment isn't really about the material violations made by certain corporations and their paid shills.  Although we're including the link and text, because eBay spams the Internet with these eBay blogs and associated keywords. And we like to help them along.

Today's lesson, so to speak, is what we've noticed in the actual online FTC complaint process. 

If you don't feel like writing an actual letter and mailing it (http://www.ftc.gov/ftc/cmplanding.shtm), here's the link to the online complaint form.

FTC Complaint Assistant
https://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov/

What do we see first?

Step 1: Let's Get Started
Is your complaint concerning identity theft?
( ) Yes
( ) No

For this example, select "No".

Is your complaint most closely related to:
( ) Debt collectors or debt collection practices
( ) Credit Reports
( ) Dissatisfaction with other business practices

You get to the interesting part when you select "Dissatisfaction".

What kind of company are you complaining about?

Automobile
Business Opportunities
Home Furnishings/Repair
Internet
Lending Financial / Services
Lottery of Sweepstakes
Telephone/Cable
Work-related
Other

Want to hazard a guess as to what choices you get when "Internet" is selected?

Auctions
Internet Service Provider
Spyware/Computer Viruses
Web Design Services
Other Internet Practices

Auctions
Internet Service Provider
Spyware/Computer Viruses
Web Design Services
Other Internet Practices

It is truly amazing at the amount of Federal attention the "Internet" "Auctions" business has garnered recently.  Think the FTC is referring to eBay here?  Or perhaps eBay's paid and undisclosed speakers?

Unless some "Internet" "Auctions" business plans to spin this as 'Auctions means Amazon too'.

In case you're wondering.  Yes, there's more to the form.  Yes, we are doing some spring cleaning bulk filings.  Don't need this type of distraction and "noise" during the summer.

And you may be asking too, does this go anywhere?  Based on past history, see our end quote.

"Oooh That's Gotta Hurt!"
Ash (Bruce Campbell), Army of Darkness (1992)
http://www.geocities.com/evildeadpage/gotahurt.wav

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http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/guides/endorse.htm

FTC GUIDES CONCERNING USE OF
ENDORSEMENTS AND TESTIMONIALS IN ADVERTISING

---

Sec.255.0 255.1 255.2 255.3 255.4 255.5

Definitions. General considerations. Consumer endorsements Expert endorsements. Endorsements by organizations. Disclosure of material connections.

Authority: 38 Stat. 717, as amended; 15 U.S.C. 41 - 58.

§255.0 Definitions.

(a) The Commission intends to treat endorsements and testimonials identically in the context of its enforcement of the Federal Trade Commission Act and for purposes of this part. The term endorsements is therefore generally used hereinafter to cover both terms and situations.

(b) For purposes of this part, an endorsement means any advertising message (including verbal statements, demonstrations, or depictions of the name, signature, likeness or other identifying personal characteristics of an individual or the name or seal of an organization) which message consumers are likely to believe reflects the opinions, beliefs, findings, or experience of a party other than the sponsoring advertiser. The party whose opinions, beliefs, findings, or experience the message appears to reflect will be called the endorser and may be an individual, group or institution.

(c) For purposes of this part, the term product includes any product, service, company or industry.

(d) For purposes of this part, an expert is an individual, group or institution possessing, as a result of experience, study or training, knowledge of a particular subject, which knowledge is superior to that generally acquired by ordinary individuals.

Example 1: A film critic's review of a movie is excerpted in an advertisement. When so used, the review meets the definition of an endorsement since it is viewed by readers as a statement of the critic's own opinions and not those of the film producer, distributor or exhibitor. Therefore, any alteration in or quotation from the text of the review which does not fairly reflect its substance would be a violation of the standards set by this part.

 

Example 2: A TV commercial depicts two women in a supermarket buying a laundry detergent. The women are not identified outside the context of the advertisement. One comments to the other how clean her brand makes her family's clothes, and the other then comments that she will try it because she has not been fully satisfied with her own brand. This obvious fictional dramatization of a real life situation would not be an endorsement.

 

Example 3: In an advertisement for a pain remedy, an announcer who is not familiar to consumers except as a spokesman for the advertising drug company praises the drug's ability to deliver fast and lasting pain relief. He purports to speak, not on the basis of his own opinions, but rather in the place of and on behalf of the drug company. Such an advertisement would not be an endorsement.

 

Example 4: A manufacturer of automobile tires hires a well known professional automobile racing driver to deliver its advertising message in television commercials. In these commercials, the driver speaks of the smooth ride, strength, and long life of the tires. Even though the message is not expressly declared to be the personal opinion of the driver, it may nevertheless constitute an endorsement of the tires. Many consumers will recognize this individual as being primarily a racing driver and not merely a spokesman or announcer for the advertiser. Accordingly, they may well believe the driver would not speak for an automotive product unless he/she actually believed in what he/she was saying and had personal knowledge sufficient to form that belief. Hence they would think that the advertising message reflects the driver's personal views as well as those of the sponsoring advertiser. This attribution of the underlying views to the driver brings the advertisement within the definition of an endorsement for purposes of this part.

 

Example 5: A television advertisement for golf balls shows a prominent and well-recognized professional golfer hitting the golf balls. This would be an endorsement by the golfer even though he makes no verbal statement in the advertisement.

[40 FR 22128, May 21, 1975, as amended at 45 FR 3872, Jan. 18, 1980]

§255.1 General considerations.

(a) Endorsements must always reflect the honest opinions, findings, beliefs, or experience of the endorser. Furthermore, they may not contain any representations which would be deceptive, or could not be substantiated if made directly by the advertiser. [See Example 2 to Guide 3 (§255.3) illustrating that a valid endorsement may constitute all or part of an advertiser's substantiation.]

(b) The endorsement message need not be phrased in the exact words of the endorser, unless the advertisement affirmatively so represents. However, the endorsement may neither be presented out of context nor reworded so as to distort in any way the endorser's opinion or experience with the product. An advertiser may use an endorsement of an expert or celebrity only as long as it has good reason to believe that the endorser continues to subscribe to the views presented. An advertiser may satisfy this obligation by securing the endorser's views at reasonable intervals where reasonableness will be determined by such factors as new information on the performance or effectiveness of the product, a material alteration in the product, changes in the performance of competitors' products, and the advertiser's contract commitments.

(c) In particular, where the advertisement represents that the endorser uses the endorsed product, then the endorser must have been a bona fide user of it at the time the endorsement was given, Additionally, the advertiser may continue to run the advertisement only so long as he has good reason to believe that the endorser remains a bona fide user of the product. [See §255.1(b) regarding the ``good reason to believe'' requirement.]

Guide 1, Example 1: A building contractor states in an advertisement that he specifies the advertiser's exterior house paint because of its remarkable quick drying properties and its durability. This endorsement must comply with the pertinent requirements of Guide 3. Subsequently, the advertiser reformulates its paint to enable it to cover exterior surfaces with only one coat. Prior to continued use of the contractor's endorsement, the advertiser must contact the contractor in order to determine whether the contractor would continue to specify the paint and to subscribe to the views presented previously.

 

Example 2: A television advertisement portrays a woman seated at a desk on which rest five unmarked electric typewriters. An announcer says ``We asked Mrs. X, an executive secretary for over ten years, to try these five unmarked typewriters and tell us which one she liked best.''

 

The advertisement portrays the secretary typing on each machine, and then picking the advertiser's brand. The announcer asks her why, and Mrs. X gives her reasons. Assuming that consumers would perceive this presentation as a ``blind'' test, this endorsement would probably not represent that Mrs. X actually uses the advertiser's machines in her work. In addition, the endorsement may also be required to meet the standards of Guide 3 on Expert Endorsements.

[Guide 1]
[45 FR 3872, Jan. 18, 1980]

§255.2 Consumer endorsements.

(a) An advertisement employing an endorsement reflecting the experience of an individual or a group of consumers on a central or key attribute of the product or service will be interpreted as representing that the endorser's experience is representative of what consumers will generally achieve with the advertised product in actual, albeit variable, conditions of use. Therefore, unless the advertiser possesses and relies upon adequate substantiation for this representation, the advertisement should either clearly and conspicuously disclose what the generally expected performance would be in the depicted circumstances or clearly and conspicuously disclose the limited applicability of the endorser's experience to what consumers may generally expect to achieve. The Commission's position regarding the acceptance of disclaimers or disclosures is described in the preamble to these Guides published in the Federal Register on January 18, 1980.

(b) Advertisements presenting endorsements by what are represented, directly or by implication, to be ``actual consumers'' should utilize actual consumers, in both the audio and video or clearly and conspicuously disclose that the persons in such advertisements are not actual consumers of the advertised product.

(c) Claims concerning the efficacy of any drug or device as defined in the Federal Trade Commission Act, 15 U.S.C. 55, shall not be made in lay endorsements unless (1) the advertiser has adequate scientific substantiation for such claims and (2) the claims are not inconsistent with any determination that has been made by the Food and Drug Administration with respect to the drug or device that is the subject of the claim.

Guide 2, Example 1: An advertisement presents the endorsement of an owner of one of the advertiser's television sets. The consumer states that she has needed to take the set to the shop for repairs only one time during her 2-year period of ownership and the costs of servicing the set to date have been under $10.00. Unless the advertiser possesses and relied upon adequate substantiation for the implied claim that such performance reflects that which a significant proportion of consumers would be likely to experience, the advertiser should include a disclosure that either states clearly and conspicuously what the generally expectable performance would be or clearly and conspicuously informs consumers that the performance experienced by the endorser is not what they should expect to experience. The mere disclosure that ``not all consumers will get this result'' is insufficient because it can imply that while all consumers cannot expect the advertised results, a substantial number can expect them. [See the cross reference in Guide 2(a) regarding the acceptability of disclaimers or disclosures.]

Example 2: An advertiser presents the results of a poll of consumers who have used the advertiser's cake mixes as well as their own recipes. The results purport to show that the majority believed that their families could not tell the difference between the advertised mix and their own cakes baked from scratch. Many of the consumers are actually pictured in the advertisement along with relevant, quoted portions of their statements endorsing the product. This use of the results of a poll or survey of consumers probably represents a promise to consumers that this is the typical result that ordinary consumers can expect from the advertiser's cake mix.

Example 3: An advertisement purports to portray a ``hidden camera'' situation in a crowded cafeteria at breakfast time. A spokesperson for the advertiser asks a series of actual patrons of the cafeteria for their spontaneous, honest opinions of the advertiser's recently introduced breakfast cereal. Even though the words ``hidden camera'' are not displayed on the screen, and even though none of the actual patrons is specifically identified during the advertisement, the net impression conveyed to consumers may well be that these are actual customers, and not actors. If actors have been employed, this fact should be disclosed.

[Guide 2]
[45 FR 3872, Jan. 18, 1980]

§255.3 Expert endorsements.

(a) Whenever an advertisement represents, directly or by implication, that the endorser is an expert with respect to the endorsement message, then the endorser's qualifications must in fact give him the expertise that he is represented as possessing with respect to the endorsement.

(b) While the expert may, in endorsing a product, take into account factors not within his expertise (e.g., matters of taste or price), his endorsement must be supported by an actual exercise of his expertise in evaluating product features or characteristics with respect to which he is expert and which are both relevant to an ordinary consumer's use of or experience with the product and also are available to the ordinary consumer. This evaluation must have included an examination or testing of the product at least as extensive as someone with the same degree of expertise would normally need to conduct in order to support the conclusions presented in the endorsement. Where, and to the extent that, the advertisement implies that the endorsement was based upon a comparison such comparison must have been included in his evaluation; and as a result of such comparison, he must have concluded that, with respect to those features on which he is expert and which are relevant and available to an ordinary consumer, the endorsed product is at least equal overall to the competitors' products. Moreover, where the net impression created by the endorsement is that the advertised product is superior to other products with respect to any such feature or features, then the expert must in fact have found such superiority.

Example 1: An endorsement of a particular automobile by one described as an ``engineer'' implies that the endorser's professional training and experience are such that he is well acquainted with the design and performance of automobiles. If the endorser's field is, for example, chemical engineering, the endorsement would be deceptive.

Example 2: A manufacturer of automobile parts advertises that its products are approved by the ``American Institute of Science.'' From its very name, consumers would infer that the ``American Institute of Science'' is a bona fide independent testing organization with expertise in judging automobile parts and that, as such, it would not approve any automobile part without first testing its efficacy by means of valid scientific methods. Even if the American Institute of Science is such a bona fide expert testing organization, as consumers would expect, the endorsement may nevertheless be deceptive unless the Institute has conducted valid scientific tests of the advertised products and the test results support the endorsement message.

Example 3: A manufacturer of a non-prescription drug product represents that its product has been selected in preference to competing products by a large metropolitan hospital. The hospital has selected the product because the manufacturer, unlike its competitors, has packaged each dose of the product separately. This package form is not generally available to the public. Under the circumstances, the endorsement would be deceptive because the basis for the choice of the manufacturer's product, convenience of packaging, is neither relevant nor available to consumers.

Example 4: The president of a commercial ``home cleaning service'' states in a television advertisement that the service uses a particular brand of cleanser in its business. Since the cleaning service's professional success depends largely upon the performance of the cleansers it uses, consumers would expect the service to be expert with respect to judging cleansing ability, and not be satisfied using an inferior cleanser in its business when it knows of a better one available to it. Accordingly, the cleaning service's endorsement must at least conform to those consumer expectations. The service must, of course, actually use the endorsed cleanser. Additionally, on the basis of its expertise, it must have determined that the cleansing ability of the endorsed cleanser is at least equal (or superior, if such is the net impression conveyed by the advertisement) to that of competing products with which the service has had experience and which remain reasonably available to it. Since in this example, the cleaning service's president makes no mention that the endorsed cleanser was ``chosen,'' ``selected,'' or otherwise evaluated in side-by-side comparisons against its competitors, it is sufficient if the service has relied solely upon its accumulated experience in evaluating cleansers without having to have performed side-by-side or scientific comparisons.

Example 5: An association of professional athletes states in an advertisement that it has ``selected'' a particular brand of beverages as its ``official breakfast drink''. As in Example 4, the association would be regarded as expert in the field of nutrition for purposes of this section, because consumers would expect it to rely upon the selection of nutritious foods as part of its business needs. Consequently, the association's endorsement must be based upon an expert evaluation of the nutritional value of the endorsed beverage. Furthermore, unlike Example 4, the use of the words ``selected'' and ``official'' in this endorsement imply that it was given only after direct comparisons had been performed among competing brands. Hence, the advertisement would be deceptive unless the association has in fact performed such comparisons between the endorsed brand and its leading competitors in terms of nutritional criteria, and the results of such comparisons conform to the net impression created by the advertisement.

[Guide 3]
[40 FR 22128, May 21, 1975]

§255.4 Endorsements by organizations.

Endorsements by organizations, especially expert ones, are viewed as representing the judgment of a group whose collective experience exceeds that of any individual member, and whose judgments are generally free of the sort of subjective factors which vary from individual to individual. Therefore an organization's endorsement must be reached by a process sufficient to ensure that the endorsement fairly reflects the collective judgment of the organization. Moreover, if an organization is represented as being expert, then, in conjunction with a proper exercise of its expertise in evaluating the product under §255.3 of this part (Expert endorsements), it must utilize an expert or experts recognized as such by the organization or standards previously adopted by the organization and suitable for judging the relevant merits of such products.

Example: A mattress seller advertises that its product is endorsed by a chiropractic association. Since the association would be regarded as expert with respect to judging mattresses, its endorsement must be supported by an expert evaluation by an expert or experts recognized as such by the organization, or by compliance with standards previously adopted by the organization and aimed at measuring the performance of mattresses in general and not designed with the particular attributes of the advertised mattress in mind. (See also §255.3, Example 5.)

[Guide 4]
[40 FR 22128, May 21, 1975]

§255.5 Disclosure of material connections.

When there exists a connection between the endorser and the seller of the advertised product which might materially affect the weight or credibility of the endorsement (i.e., the connection is not reasonably expected by the audience) such connection must be fully disclosed. An example of a connection that is ordinarily expected by viewers and need not be disclosed is the payment or promise of payment to an endorser who is an expert or well known personality, as long as the advertiser does not represent that the endorsement was given without compensation. However, when the endorser is neither represented in the advertisement as an expert nor is known to a significant portion of the viewing public, then the advertiser should clearly and conspicuously disclose either the payment or promise of compensation prior to and in exchange for the endorsement or the fact that the endorser knew or had reasons to know or to believe that if the endorsement favors the advertised product some benefit, such as an appearance on TV, would be extended to the endorser.

Example 1: A drug company commissions research on its product by a well-known research organization. The drug company pays a substantial share of the expenses of the research project, but the test design is under the control of the research organization. A subsequent advertisement by the drug company mentions the research results as the ``findings'' of the well-known research organization. The advertiser's payment of expenses to the research organization need not be disclosed in this advertisement. Application of the standards set by Guides 3 and 4 provides sufficient assurance that the advertiser's payment will not affect the weight or credibility of the endorsement.

Example 2: A film star endorses a particular food product. The endorsement regards only points of taste and individual preference. This endorsement must of course comply with §255.1; but even though the compensation paid the endorser is substantial, neither the fact nor the amount of compensation need be revealed.

Example 3: An actual patron of a restaurant, who is neither known to the public nor presented as an expert, is shown seated at the counter. He is asked for his ``spontaneous'' opinion of a new food product served in the restaurant. Assume, first, that the advertiser had posted a sign on the door of the restaurant informing all who entered that day that patrons would be interviewed by the advertiser as part of its TV promotion of its new soy protein ``steak''. This notification would materially affect the weight or credibility of the patron's endorsement, and, therefore, viewers of the advertisement should be clearly and conspicuously informed of the circumstances under which the endorsement was obtained.

Assume, in the alternative, that the advertiser had not posted a sign on the door of the restaurant, but had informed all interviewed customers of the ``hidden camera'' only after interviews were completed and the customers had no reason to know or believe that their response was being recorded for use in an advertisement. Even if patrons were also told that they would be paid for allowing the use of their opinions in advertising, these facts need not be disclosed.

[Guide 5]
[45 FR 3873, Jan. 18, 1980]

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DESTROY ALL COUNTERFEITS! - eBay's New June 2009 User Agreement

DESTROY ALL COUNTERFEITS! - eBay's New June 2009 User Agreement
14 May 2009
EventHorizon1984
Commentary

We made a condensed comment on the AuctionByte blog "eBay Revises Fakes Policy: Return, not Destroy".  What follows is a full article.

The material in this article is provided to you free of charge, "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, OR NON-INFRINGEMENT.

Basically talk to a attorney figuratively face-to-face when seeking legal advice.  Not that we're dispensing any.

 

The May 13th AuctionBytes articles "eBay's New Policy Instructs Buyers to Destroy Fakes" and "Questions over eBay's New Fakes Policy" brought to light a section in eBay's User Agreement, that would be implemented 14 June 2009.

 

• For covered claims that meet the conditions and are not excluded, buyers are required to destroy an item if they claim it is not authentic. Once a buyer confirms destruction of the item, eBay will reimburse the buyer.
• For covered claims that meet the conditions and are not excluded, sellers agree to not hold buyers or eBay responsible for the destruction of an item if it is not believed to be authentic

 

Looking at the California statutes, eBay INC being located in the State of California, this type of action is covered under "California Criminal Law", "Crimes Against Property", "Larceny", "Grand Theft", etal. 

All 50 U.S. States and U.S. Territories have similar laws.  Then there's the matter of Interstate Commerce, and it's coverage by the U.S. Attorney General and the F.B.I.

And yes, there's more.

A day later someone at eBay with a legal background must have read the MBA produced User Agreement.

***Updated: Changes to the eBay User Agreement***
May 14, 2009 | 04:46PM PST/PT

Scott Shipman

 

 

On May 15, eBay will be releasing a revised user agreement. This revision will address the obligations of buyers and sellers in transactions where a buyer has alleged receipt of a counterfeit item.

Under the revised agreement:

• Buyers and sellers shall work in good faith during the resolution process to determine that the item is not counterfeit.
• If buyer and seller cannot determine that the item is not counterfeit, buyers are required to send the item back to the seller. Cost of return shipping will be paid by the buyer or eBay, unless both buyer and seller have agreed otherwise.
• Covered claims that meet the conditions and are not excluded will count as a violation by the seller of our prohibited and infringing items policy.
• If eBay determines the buyer is not acting in good faith, eBay may restrict or eliminate their ability to return items or make future claims.
• Sellers shall not list, advertise, or cause that item to appear for sale, barter or trade, on any eBay Inc. web site or service.

These revisions to the user agreement are being made to:

• Provide sellers protections against inaccurate counterfeit claims.
• Provide buyers assurances about the authenticity of the item received.
• Maintain integrity of the eBay marketplace.

The new User Agreement is effective immediately for new members registering on or after today, and on June 14, 2009, for current members. You don't need to do anything to accept the new User Agreement. If you don't wish to accept it, you can follow these instructions to close your account.

Sincerely,
Scott Shipman
Senior Counsel
eBay Inc.

 

For the casual reader, these are eBay User Agreement sections being referenced:

http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/user-agreement.html

Buyer Obligations:

• Buyers agree to file claims in accordance with the conditions, exclusions and coverage limitations as further explained in the eBay Purchase Protection policy.

• For covered claims that meet the conditions and are not excluded, eBay will reimburse eligible buyers by PayPal or by coupon redeemable on eBay, in eBay’s discretion, based upon a number of factors, such as whether the buyer has a PayPal account, the type of payment made to the seller and the payment amount.

• Buyers who eBay believes are not acting in good faith, abusing the program or a seller, attempting to commit or committing fraud, or trying to unjustly benefit from the program may become ineligible for eBay Purchase Protection. Buyers who become ineligible will be notified by eBay prior to ineligibility.  eBay reserves the right to temporarily, indefinitely or permanently suspend the eBay Purchase Protection program immediately if we suspect abuse, excessive claims, tampering, or interference with the proper working of the program.

• eBay Purchase Protection doesn’t cover certain types and categories of goods or services, false, abusive or illegitimate claims, or transactions where you have been or may be compensated from another third party. Please read the eBay Purchase Protection policy for more details.

 Seller Obligations:

• Sellers agree to follow the program requirements as explained in the eBay Purchase Protection policy.

• All sellers with an open claim must work in good faith to resolve the claim, refund money and/or provide a replacement item, and accept a return of the item as explained by the eBay Purchase Protection Policy.

• If a seller doesn't resolve a claim, the seller agrees to pay eBay the amount paid by eBay to the buyer in accordance with the eBay Purchase Protection policy. eBay will invoice the seller for these amounts and seller agrees to pay eBay in accordance with the invoice terms.

Obligations when a buyer opens a claim alleging an item is counterfeit:

• Sellers shall work with the buyer in good faith during the resolution process to provide buyer with appropriate documentation or other assurances to satisfy the buyer that the item is not counterfeit, if such information is available.

• If buyer and seller cannot agree that the item is not counterfeit, for covered claims that meet the conditions and are not excluded, buyers are required to send the item back to the seller. Cost of return shipping will be paid by the buyer or eBay in our sole discretion, unless otherwise agreed upon by the buyer and seller.

• Covered claims that meet the conditions and are not excluded will count as a violation by the seller of our prohibited and infringing items policy.

• Sellers shall not list, advertise, or cause that item to appear for sale, barter or trade, on any eBay Inc. (including our subsidiaries, joint ventures, and other members of the group) web site or service located around the world.

• While buyers are not obligated to provide third party confirmation that an item is counterfeit in order to open a claim, in cases where there is written confirmation from the manufacturer that the item is counterfeit, or in additional circumstances where eBay elects to exercise its discretion, eBay may request the destruction of the item by an authorized third party and at eBay’s expense.

Let us briefly go through the new legalize.  Keep in mind that legal documents are written to minimize, or eliminate, vague, and subject to multiple interpretation, language.  At least that is the goal.

Condensing the above counterfeit section down to a more understandable form:

• "If buyer and seller cannot agree that the item is not counterfeit" this "will count as a violation by the seller of our prohibited and infringing items policy", and "buyers are not obligated to provide third party confirmation that an item is counterfeit".

Same as Scott Shipman's announcement, got it?

This part is solid:

• "in cases where there is written confirmation from the manufacturer that the item is counterfeit"

However there remains more language that eBay's legal team must clean up.  Which is not necessarily Scott Shipman's pervue. See http://news.ebay.com/team.cfm Michael Jacobson, eBay Senior Vice President and General Counsel.

Take a look at this:

• "or in additional circumstances where eBay elects to exercise its discretion, eBay may request the destruction of the item by an authorized third party and at eBay’s expense."

Read it very carefully.  eBay can destroy seller property when "eBay elects to exercise its discretion".  This part does not clearly explain "discretion".  In less legalize, "discretion" could be very very very very loosely replaced with 'whim'.

This has a bit more clarity:

•  "eBay may request the destruction of the item by an authorized third party".

But lacks the explanation of what happens should eBay NOT request destruction.  Because of the word "may", the statement can be interpreted as:

• "or in additional circumstances where eBay elects to exercise its discretion, eBay may or may not request the destruction of the item by an authorized third party and at eBay’s expense."

Consider what happens in the event that eBay does NOT request destruction of the item?  Do you know what happens to the seller's item?  There are multiple possibilities, indicating that this part is vague, and NOT clearly written.

Eventually eBay's legal team needs to put in a list of authorized third parties that will be used for destruction.  That is fairly minor though.

This part is not minor:

• "at eBay’s expense."

This CAN be interpreted as, 'eBay will pay for the cost of destruction'.  Fine, but incomplete.  Remember IN CONTEXT "at eBay’s expense" refers to the cost of destruction PERIOD.

Lets revisit the original issue in the original User Agreement.  eBay makes the buyer whole and pays for destruction of a seller's item, but THEN who ultimately pays for the money given back to the buyer?  The rewritten user agreement remains ambiguous or missing in this matter.

Consider what happens when a seller resolves the claim in good faith, informs the buyer to return the item for a refund, the buyer maintains the item is counterfeit, and eBay chooses to "exercise its discretion"?

• "If a seller doesn't resolve a claim, the seller agrees to pay eBay the amount paid by eBay to the buyer"

Is it likely that this provision, under Seller Obligations, would be applied whereby eBay unilaterally chooses to "exercise its discretion", declares the claim is not resolved, and eBay has the now seller's item destroyed?

• "eBay will invoice the seller for these amounts and seller agrees to pay eBay in accordance with the invoice terms."

Anyone notice there is more 'whim' in the new rewritten user agreement?  Is this deliberate or an oversight?

And as William Cobb would put it, soooo Is there more?  Yes. 

Think it's time to hit to personally hit the word processor Michael Jacobson ESQ, and clean up this mess?

 

"It's sort of an obsession with me to do the best I can for a client. My clients aren't blameless. Many of them are crooks. Probably a lot of them are guilty. That's not for me to determine. That's for a jury to determine."
Perry Mason

"The character of every act depends upon the circumstances in which it is done."
Oliver Wendell Holmes JR, U.S. Supreme Court

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The "DESTROY ALL COUNTERFEITS!" is homage to the Toho Company movie "Kaiju soshingeki" or "Destroy All Monsters!" (1968).

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eBay Media Center - Senior Management
http://news.ebay.com/team.cfm

Michael Jacobson
Senior Vice President and General Counsel, eBay Inc.

Download image

As senior vice president and general counsel at eBay, Mike Jacobson's responsibilities include overseeing eBay's legal department, its risk management program, and its policy group. He is responsible for interactions with content regulators, law enforcement, contracts, SEC compliance, and other legal matters. Prior to eBay, Mike was a partner with Cooley Godward LLP where he was recognized as an expert in securities law. His responsibilities included corporate and securities transactions, including mergers and acquisition transactions, public offerings, and venture capital financing. Mike earned a Bachelor of Arts in Economics, Magna Cum Laude, in 1975 from Harvard College, where he was a member of Phi Beta Kappa. He subsequently received his law degree from Stanford University in 1981, where he was a Nathan Abbot Scholar and a member of Order of the Coif. He also received the Hilmer Oehlmann Jr. award as well as first and second year honors.

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Notable Comments

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Questions over eBay's New Fakes Policy
by: Grab your torches

Wed May 13 14:28:53 2009
Just calm down, you silly people
When the smoke that you yourselves are generating clears, you'll see that a third party verification is needed. This system is already in place and has been used for a long time.

 

.

4343martino ( 1851) View seller's items | View Blog Well fer sure...every buyer is a honest upstanding citizen of what ever third world country they happen to be in..You should know that by now world-secure....there never has been or ever will be a dishonest e-bay buyer...they dont exist..not in this world or the next..just ask e-bay they will tell ya...LOL>>>What a crock of sh*t e-bay has created with this one..chalk up another one for the lawyers...LOL>>> Mark May-13-09 15:27:25 PDT

 .

 

Questions over eBay's New Fakes Policy
by: Grab your torches
Thu May 14 13:45:31 2009

So much hype here.
Where does this false info about mailing counterfeits come from? It is illegal to sell them, yes. Illegal to use USPS to sell them, yes. NOT illegal to use USPS to send them to be authenticated/destroyed.
The eBay UA only states that a buyer must "confirm" that a counterfeit has been destroyed. It says nothing about the manner of that confirmation. The current process for a destroying a counterfeit is not spelled out either. Do you assume this means the buyer just has to say they did? No, they ship it to Texas, where it is supposedly destroyed if counterfeit, or resold if authentic. Is there any reason to believe that this won't be pretty much the same thing?

Any idiot knows that if all eBay will require is a buyer saying they destroyed it, then this cannot possibly be legal. Why then, do you all believe this is what eBay is going to do?

It seems much more likely that the user agreement is being left deliberately vague, for any number of reasons.

I swear, Ina could tell you that eBay Singapore was adding a category for human trafficking and you would all eat it up and repeat it everywhere.
Clowns, all of you.

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Questions over eBay's New Fakes Policy
by: Grab your torches
Thu May 14 14:18:52 2009

 

 

Why doesn't somebody here just go ahead and buy a fake purse? Do it. You'll be making the world a better place removing a counterfeit. Much better than reporting it, getting the listing removed so the seller can peddle it somewhere else. Actually buy it and the fake seller is out the money and the counterfeit.
Now, tell eBay it's a fake and see what they ask you to do.

.

Questions over eBay's New Fakes Policy
by: Grab your torches
Thu May 14 15:04:12 2009

"If ebay doesn't want incorrect information floating around about ANY of its policies, then the policy should be completely transparent and 100% of it posted."

Seriously? This is a defense?
I would like a little more clarity over this policy as well, but that DOES NOT JUSTIFY MAKING THINGS UP!

.

Questions over eBay's New Fakes Policy
by: Grab your torches
Thu May 14 15:11:55 2009

Some secret policies are good.
The list of words in a title that restrict how many of a certain thing you can sell, for example. Make that known and people selling counterfeits know exactly what to avoid.
Exactly how best match works also. Remember when some unscrupulous sellers figured out to put NEW NEW NEW in the title to push their items to the top?

While I do not see the logic behind their vagueness in this case, I wont deign to say that it does not exist. I can't say with any certainty that 100% transparency wouldn't create an opening for the counterfeit sellers to abuse.

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A "Pay with PayPal" Requirement On eBay End Of Auction Message

A "Pay with PayPal" Requirement on eBay End of Auction Message
13 May 2009
EventHorizon1984
Commentary

Nothing like watching eBay push for an investigation of PayPal due to Sherman Antitrust violations.

For a good part of the this year and up until the second weekend in May, after a buyer made a purchase on eBay.com, that buyer received a standard End Of Auction email.  And that email started like this:

Dear **customer**,

Congratulations! You committed to buy the following item:Check out and send your payment now to get your item within 4-5 days.

But beginning the second weekend in May 2009, eBay altered the message text.  The brand new payment message looks like this:

Hi **customer**,

We hope you enjoy your latest purchase. The next step is pay the seller.
Don't wait. Pay now to get your item within 4-5 days.

Pay with PayPal, the safe and easy way to pay for your eBay purchases.

 

It does not matter whether a sellers uses direct credit card processing through a merchant account, or one of eBay's straw dog alternatives like ProPay, Moneybookers, Paymate, the buyer will see "Pay with PayPal".

This is what eBay defines as "convenient payment options".  That is "convenient" to eBay equals "Pay with PayPal".  Or maybe 'Any eBay seller can have a any payment method they want so long as it is PayPal.'

 

"Any customer can have a car painted any colour that he want so long as it is black."
Attributed to Henry Ford 1909

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Comments

tryork5ifp ( 262) View seller's items | View Blog first there was paypal.......then toothbrushpal.....Now there's vegetablepal and genetaliapal!!!! when will eBAy STOP!!! May-14-09 12:22:52 PDT

mylegacy-treasures ( 800) View seller's items | View Blog eBay will stop when they have become the 'we-own-the-world-pal' and Mr. "D" can go to his country club without being embarrassed to admit that he manages a multibillion dollar corporation named eBay. (psssst - don't look at the share price) May-14-09 12:39:46 PDT

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eBay PayFlow Checkout, Hacker Approved??

eBay PayFlow Checkout, Hacker Approved??
26 March 2009
EventHorizon1984


eBay plans to deactivate 3rd party checkout around June 2009.  Meaning eBay Sellers with Merchant Accounts (using 3rd party checkout), allowing non-PayPal credit card payments, are required to sign up for a mandatory PayFlow account beginning March 1st 2009. 

Well an event that appears interestingly timed with eBay's new PayFlow checkout occurred.  It appears that someone may have conducted the first large scale test of the vulnerability of eBay's new eBay/PayFlow checkout.

Cyber Attack: Unsolicited, Unstoppable PayPal Payments
By: Ina Steiner
Wed Mar 18 2009 22:42:14

• "There were several disturbing characteristics of this attack. It appears that scammers could use bogus information (including email address, physical address, and phone number) to send payments with credit cards that were, one would conclude, compromised or stolen. In some of those cases, it seems PayPal failed to identify them as suspicious to the merchant in a timely fashion."
• "But we know that when one incident surfaces, they are bound to be followed by more, so keep an eye out for strange activity in your PayPal account, and keep a close eye on your credit cards!"

Not that we find this surprising.

Look up active registered eBay Developer spopa2006 ( 3 ) sometime, as we blog back in time.

• "According to the affidavit, Popa was sentenced to 71 days in jail in Michigan in 2006 after being charged for using a hijacked eBay account to defraud someone into paying $1,448 for an item that didn't exist."

Remember, eBay code monkeys and Developers are working on and implementing software to allow buyers to input their credit card information directly on the eBay site and through eBay owned PayPal/PayFlow.

So your credit card can be safe.

"What's in Your wallet?"*

* What can we say, we like the Capital One commercials.

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spopa2006
Re: Mail address of an ebay User ?
Posted: Jun 7, 2007 12:41 AM   

Hey there. I wrote a similar project in C++ by using pointers. However, the implemented network interface i used in C++ is no longer supported and I am not a C# guru as I am in c++. Tell me whether or not you got your solution. You can email me at [email protected]

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Suspect in 'phishing' scheme indicted
A Romanian immigrant is accused of using e-mails to dupe thousands of people into sharing financial records.

By Dan Browning, Star Tribune

  Last update: June 20, 2007 –  9:55 PM

• "A Romanian immigrant was indicted Tuesday in federal court in Minneapolis on charges that he operated a computerized "phishing" scheme for several years that raked in financial records and personal identification from thousands of individuals, including many from Minnesota."
• "Sergiu Daniel Popa, 20, of Shelby Township, Mich., was indicted on three counts of possessing 15 or more devices designed to collect data on the Internet without authorization, and three counts of aggravated identity theft."
• "According to {FBI Special Agent Theodore} Theisen's affidavit and the indictment:"

• "Popa had more than 7,000 identities of victims of various phishing schemes, together with bank account, credit card and Social Security numbers, and passwords for some eBay, online banking and e-mail accounts. He offered to sell the stolen information to others."

• "Popa was convicted of larceny by conversion on June 12, 2006, stemming from a case in Saline, Mich. He was accused of using a hijacked eBay account to trick an individual into sending him $1,448 to buy a product that didn't exist. He served 71 days, Theisen said."

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From eBay Stores Forum
Phisher Indicted - check out this article

spopa2006 (2 ) View Listings | Report                 Jun-26-07 13:34 PDT       3 of 3
Listen guys. I am Sergiu D. Popa. I am that horrible guy!

Now let me make things a bit clear for you. First and foremost, I think that the Feds are a bit mentally challenged to put me behind bars because I have access to a lot of databases and I can predict every single move one tries to make against me.

And by the way, employing the described techniques by the newspaper article I successfully obtained about 1.1 Million dollars. I never run a Western Union Scheme as the newspaper says. I run an insurance scheme and therefore there shouldn't be any complaints. Insurances have plenty of money.

They also fail to mention in the newspapers reports who I really am in terms of my education and my real story. If you would really know my background and my level of education, you would probably realize that I can listen to your phone conversation, or maybe take a refinance loan on your house without you knowing. I am really appalled by the fact that you guys are making such comments on my behalf. Who are you to judge me? You guys make me laugh.

They also failed to say that I used to work as a mortgage broker and I regret the mistakes I made by scamming insurance companies but I was only 16 at the time I was doing it. I also offered to pay restitution to the Government. However, they always have to win, and they will never accept restitution because they want to prosecute me.

I have also seen a newspaper article where I was described as speaking a broken English. Let's analyze that for a second. At 14 I was teaching Differential Equations and Mechanics at a 4 yr college in New Hampshire, and by the time I was 15 I graduated high school. I am not a wannabe. As a matter of fact, I think I read more books in my life than the whole FBI Minnesota office. If the newspapers are going to write an article about me, I ask them to tell the whole truth. Call my college professors and ask them who I really am.

I know FBI, NASA, BOP and all those other government bonehead agencies are not happy when a kid who immigrated from another country penetrates their systems, but such is life. Get used to it. If in this life, we would all have an equal level of intelligence the world would come to an end. But how would you guys know that? I bet you guys never actually read a sociology, philosophy or psychology book and actually made something out of it.

But here is a warning to everybody who will post bogus information about me:

I will make your life a hell. Do not test me. Do not post information that is not accurate. I already have enough bad publicity and I do not want more. I want to be left alone.

This also applies to the Feds. I have been a nice guy with you, but once again, you are not smart enough to catch me for one, and I would really hate to see you guys back to stone age. How much would the Feds loose if one of their databases were to be completely deleted?

I am not an evil person, but I could be if I wanted to. Let's all live in peace and harmony. Mind your own business and I will mind my own.

Very Truly Yours,
Sergiu D. Popa

.

spopa2006 (2 ) View Listings | Report        Jun-26-07 23:56 PDT       5 of 5
Why would you think it is a joke? Better yet, what are the reasons for which you think this is a joke?

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Romanian national cops to $700,000 phishing trip

Who's your underworld Popa?

By Dan Goodin in San Francisco 

Posted in Crime, 9th October 2008 18:47 GMT

• "Sergiu Daniel Popa, who for the past seven years has lived in New York and Michigan, pleaded guilty in federal court in Minneapolis to two felonies related to the scheme. He faces a maximum of 10 years in federal prison and a fine of $500,000. Sentencing has not yet been scheduled."
• "According to Popa's plea agreement, the scheme snagged the identities of 7,000 individuals who suffered a net loss of about $700,000. When his house was searched earlier this year, authorities found a machine for imprinting graphics on blank plastic cards, foil ribbons for making holographic images that appear on finished cards, blank cards, and partially created fraudulent drivers' licenses."
• Popa also possessed pre-built websites spoofing the online destinations of multiple financial institutions, such as PayPal, SunTrust Bank, and CitiBank, according to an affidavit filed in the case. He offered to sell phishing kits with step-by-step instructions for $1,500 and software and hardware capable of counterfeiting credit cards.
• According to the affidavit, Popa was sentenced to 71 days in jail in Michigan in 2006 after being charged for using a hijacked eBay account to defraud someone into paying $1,448 for an item that didn't exist.

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John Donahoe eBay CEO Analyst Day Quotes and Comments

John Donahoe eBay CEO Analyst Day Quotes and Comments
EventHorizon1984
12 March 2009

John Donahoe eBay CEO quotes and comments:

EBay Outlines Three-Year Revival Plan

"The eBay you knew is not the eBay of today or the eBay of the future."

• Translation: eBay of yesterday is dead.

"We were the biggest and the best. And when you're the biggest and the best, there's a strong tendency to try to preserve that," "EBay has a storied past. But frankly, it's a past we've held onto too much."

• Translation: eBay was successful, and we're changing that.

Donahoe pointed out that e-commerce is just 6% of real-world retail.

• Translation: eBay may think it's the 800 pound gorilla, but it's not.

Ecommerce Giant To Target 'Secondary Market'

"We are not a retailer"

• Translation: We don't know what we are.

Donahoe also declared that online payments unit PayPal was a second core business for the company with "an enormous potential."

• Translation: PayPal fees will increase this year.

It's open-mike day at eBay!

“Far be it for me to tell them how to value the company” said Swan, demurely.  “Give them hints,” suggested Donahoe.

• Translation: Please overvalue us.

Ebay: 'We Were Wrong'

EBay's pitch: Skype would help eBay users buy and sell goods.  "We were wrong," eBay Chief Executive John Donahoe told analysts and investors Wednesday at its San Jose, Calif., campus. "We thought it would reduce friction in commerce and payments.”

• Translation: Take my Skype. Please!*

* With apologies to Henny Youngman.

 

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Comments

mylegacy-treasures ( 791) View seller's items | View Blog Gosh, you went ahead and translated the Donahoe double-speak into English. Mar-12-09 14:30:05 PDT

observations-of-life ( 3536) View seller's items | View Blog Congratulations.I always enjoy reading your posts but this one is great.They all are.Thanks.LOL Mar-12-09 16:59:35 PDT

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eBay Garage - Do you really want eBay IN your computer?

Do you really want eBay IN your computer?
24 February 2009
EventHorizon1984

Following in the wake of the hack of eBay 3rd party service provider Auctiva, eBay has announce a protection service.

1. eBay: Let us look inside your PC, Nick Heath, 23 February 2009 17:30 GMT
2. eBay to Introduce Malware Scanning Service Called Garage, Ina Steiner, 24 February 2009

According to the reports, "eBay Garage, will run an embedded application that will scan users' PCs for any viruses or spyware" and "the user will be directed to the site of a security vendor."  And "eBay is partnering with two, as yet unnamed, security companies."

One of the companies will probably be Symantec.  And based on past history, the other company is likely to be owned by eBay, or eBay will have a financial stake in it, or eBay has plans to buy or invest in it.

The eBay Garage program will be run under the auspices of Dave Cullinane, eBay Marketplaces CISO (Chief Information Security Officer).  It appears one of his last assignments was CISO of Washington Mutual.

To any serious user of eBay we ask, 'do you really want eBay code monkey written applications loaded onto your hard drive, and running around in your computer?'

 

"Life was simple before World War II. After that, we had systems."
Admiral Grace Hopper

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The eBay PayPal 20% Hold Solution

The eBay PayPal 20% Hold Solution
17 February 2009
EventHorizon1984

• See also The eBay PayPal 5% Hold Solution.
• Related article, TameBay: PayPal reserves: here's what's really happening

eBay tests "improvements" on it's International sites, before applying them to the U.S. site.  An interesting "improvement" coming soon to U.S. eBay sellers is PayPal holding up to 20% of a sellers gross.

You can see Paypal's draconian application of it's "Reserves for Premier and Business Accounts" policy in the Great Britain thread (PayPal Reserve and Rolling Reserve) below.

With PayPal required to report U.S. seller sales to the IRS in 2011, this is a golden opportunity for PayPal to withhold 10% of a U.S. seller's funds for tax purposes.

Plus up to 20% for U.S. seller reserves.

 

"Ah arrogance and stupidity all in the same package. How efficient of you!"
Ambassador Londo Mollari, Babylon 5

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http://forums.ebay.co.uk/thread.jspa?threadID=1100224092
Paypal Reserve and Rolling Reserve

always-authentic-auctions (3925 )  10-02-09 07:43 GMT
We received an email out of the blue from Paypal on Saturday to let us know that our account that we have held for six years will now be subject to a rolling reserve of 6%. This means that from now on Paypal will deduct 6% of all of payments and hold them on a rolling 6 month basis to protect itself against chargeback's. It also on the same day took the minimum reserve amount from our account of £500.

Over the next six months Paypal will hold somewhere in the region of £6000 - £7000 of our money. As this is a rolling amount as long as we are trading we will not see this amount back. If we stopped trading in six months it would take a further six months to get then money fully back.

According to the person I spoke to at Paypal yesterday this is something that is rolling out to ALL Paypal accounts and that we are 'lucky' as some people are being charged up to 20% with 10% being the norm.

Over the last six years we have sold the same items and have had a tiny amount of chargeback's and buyer complaints, I would estimate that is easily less than 0.5% of our total sales, and that would be a high estimate.

How then Paypal can justify this I have no idea, in the past when there was a buyer complaint or chargeback they simply reversed a pending withdrawal, this has worked fine for the last years.

As the reserve is a rolling amount this effectively means our Paypal fees have increased by 3 time's overnight withy no notice.

Has anyone else experienced this ?

*dimebar* (74 )  10-02-09 09:12 GMT 1 of 23
There have been a small number of reports - from high volume sellers.

It isn't the norm, PayPal are telling you porkies.

Sadly, what they are doing is in their UA:

https://www.paypal.com/uk/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=p/gen/ua/policy_payments-outside#biz-policy

10.4 Reserves for Premier and Business Accounts. When managing risk for Premier and Business Accounts, we may take various steps, such as establishing a Reserve, changing the speed or method of payment for withdrawals, set off amounts from your Balance and/or requiring you to deposit funds with us as security for your obligations to us or third parties. The following types of events may cause us to establish a Reserve:

1. You cease a substantial portion of or all of your business or adversely alter your business/operations;

2. There is a material adverse change in your business;

3. You or your business becomes insolvent or is otherwise unable to pay debts as they fall due;

4. We receive a disproportionate number of customer complaints, Reversals, Chargebacks, Claims, fees, fines, penalties or other liability related to your Account; or

5. We reasonably believe that you will not be able to perform your obligations under this Agreement, the Card Processing Agreement, or any other agreement you have entered into with PayPal.

We may immediately establish a Reserve if we reasonably believe that it is warranted under this section. If we establish a Reserve, we will provide you with notice specifying the terms of the Reserve. You may close your Account if you object to the Reserve. We may increase or decrease the amount of the Reserve, provided that in our reasonable judgment the amount of the Reserve is related to the risk for which it was created. If your Premier or Business Account is closed for any reason, we have the right to hold the Reserve for up to 180 Days. You agree to provide us, upon our reasonable request and at your own expense, information about your finance and operations, including your most recent financial statements (certified or otherwise) and merchant processing statements (if applicable). You also agree to undertake, at your own expense, any further action (including, without limitation, executing any necessary documents and registering any form of document reasonably required by us to allow us to perfect any form of security interest or otherwise) required to establish a Reserve in a manner reasonably determined by us.

---

Has your account had any payment reversals, charge-backs or claims within the last 6 months?

Do you sell scammable or expensive items?

---

Personally, I think it's another excuse to create another revenue stream.

One man can make a difference.
Need help? Click here for the Popular Links and Useful Me Pages thread

always-authentic-auctions (3925 )  10-02-09 09:18 GMT 2 of 23
Hi, yes I read the terms and conditions and none of the reasons they quote apply to us. I have just got off the phone to them, they cannot help me with the specifics of our reserve, I am awaiting a call back from the team that applied the reserve. The shocking thing about this is that because the reserve is rolling this effectively means an increase in our fees of 6% which is a huge amount over a year, it's basically our profit that they have just wiped out.

always-authentic-auctions (3925 )  10-02-09 09:21 GMT 3 of 23
Just another point to add. We were given no notice of this happening other than the email from the US, although when I checked our account straight after reading the email the reserve had already been applied.

When I asked why we had not had any notice and when this was announced I was told by the Paypal agent that this was an ongoing process that started at the beginning of the year and that they had 60 million accounts to go through.

So other sellers should be prepared for the same thing.

global_megastore (21239 )  10-02-09 10:54 GMT 4 of 23
Paypal did this to us last November. They put a 3% rolling reserve on our account and then later that day sent us an email telling us they were doing it. We ended up having a conference call with Paypal in Ireland and the States and were told that this was because we sell high risk items and have a high rate of non-deliveries!? We sell children's duvet covers (hardly 'high risk'), Paypal refused to explain how they decided we have a high rate of non-deliveries, and wouldn't give us any specifics.

Currently they are holding over £6,000 of our eBay payments.

This reserve made us decide to stop accepting Paypal as a payment option for our non-eBay business. This means Paypal now lose out on approx £500,000 worth of business from us.

Would be interested to hear from anyone else affected by these rolling reserves.

*dimebar* (74 )  10-02-09 11:38 GMT 5 of 23
"This means Paypal now lose out on approx £500,000 worth of business from us."



I hope you told them that to boot


One man can make a difference.
Need help? Click here for the Popular Links and Useful Me Pages thread

global_megastore (21239 )  10-02-09 14:23 GMT 6 of 23
We did explain this to the representative we spoke to in the States. He said he was only concerned with 'risk' and it was our decision how we accept payments. He made it very easy for us to decide that Paypal wasn't the answer.

global_megastore (21239 )  10-02-09 14:29 GMT 7 of 23
To make things clear, let me state that I am not posting here simply to knock Paypal. But holding a % of our money for long periods of time could badly affect our business, especially in these financial times. All it does is drive us away from Paypal, and in doing so, away from eBay. Amazon, VISA, Mastercard etc don't give us these kind of problems.

*dimebar* (74 )  10-02-09 20:40 GMT 8 of 23
Some corporations can't see the woods for the trees.


One man can make a difference.
Need help? Click here for the Popular Links and Useful Me Pages thread

global_megastore (21239 )  11-02-09 09:52 GMT 10 of 23
I think that one of the reasons Paypal aren't keen to discuss this is because they do not fully understand how and why the reversals are placed. We got lots of conflicting information from different Paypal representatives (in the UK and Ireland), none of whom seemed to have been fully informed/educated.

After approx 3 weeks we got a call from 'Risk' in the States who explained that the reserve had been placed and offered very vague reasons for it.

He also made it clear to us that Paypal could increase the % of the reserve if they wanted to.

*dimebar* (74 )  11-02-09 10:38 GMT 11 of 23
Same old story from the PayPal chimps.


One man can make a difference.
Need help? Click here for the Popular Links and Useful Me Pages thread

junkerking (0 )  11-02-09 10:42 GMT 12 of 23
We got lots of conflicting information from different Paypal representatives (in the UK and Ireland), none of whom seemed to have been fully informed/educated.

as dime said paypal chimps

cheryl30uk78 (Private )  11-02-09 17:07 GMT 13 of 23
and in the meantime they hold ppls money while they get the intrest another pp profit makeing enterprize

secure4life (40 )  12-02-09 01:07 GMT 14 of 23
We just received our reserve info today...out of the blue. We just started our store in September, therefore I don't know where this is all coming from. Anyway, does anyone know how to maybe avoid this? Or get rid of the reserve on our PayPal account? 5% is a lot - makes me re-think this whole PayPal method...

global_megastore (21239 )  12-02-09 11:06 GMT 15 of 23
I'd like to ask the same question as secure4life; "Does anyone know how to maybe avoid this? Or get rid of the reserve on our PayPal account?".

I have a feeling that once Paypal have put a reserve in place (i.e. once they get used to holding a sellers money), there is very little chance of the reserve being removed. It looks like we might just have to accept this as an additional cost for selling on eBay.

It's still early days, but it will be interesting to see the reaction should Paypal start rolling this out to more and more sellers. After reading about eBay's poor sales figures for the last year, I'm surprised they're putting more and more obstacles infront of sellers.

banannasarego (26 )  12-02-09 16:10 GMT 16 of 23
I think it is a simple situation :

PayPal want to be a bank ( and have registered as one in Luxemburg ).

A bank requires a stable supply of capital to lend against - and preferably free of any interest charge.

They can then make discreet loans to other businesses at relatively high interest but knowing what their rolling 6 month capitalisation is.

In effect they are taking a rolling six month loan from you - against your wishes at 0% interest.

secure4life (40 )  12-02-09 16:32 GMT 17 of 23
Yes...this whole Rollback Reserve idea is very unfortunate. For my situation we have a 5% reserve - even for money which we bring into the account from our own bank account. We ended up putting our store on hold (Vacation Mode)- in order to change all our prices to make up for this 5%. I have been told by PayPal that after 90 days they will review my case and see if the reserve will be taken off. In my opinion this will not be a very good thing for eBay and PayPal. Not only will they lose their customers - they will also lose a lot of money and business. I literally got laughed at when I said that this might cause us to shut down the whole eBay operation...I do not think that is funny. Anyway, I guess we will have to deal with it as sellers and the more people find out and get put on a reserve the more eBay and PayPal will get hurt in the long-run.

global_megastore (21239 )  12-02-09 16:56 GMT 18 of 23
Thankfully we didn't have to up all our prices, but it has given us a very negative impression of Paypal. We hope to continue using eBay in future, but it makes sense for us from a finacial point of view to concentrate more on avenues that aren't actively hampering our business. It's certainly made us more pro-active to non-eBay sales.

Ebay's not the only place to sell online, but it is the only place that wants to hold a % of our profits for 3 months.

banannasarego (26 )  12-02-09 17:04 GMT 19 of 23
secure4life:

1) You have not been charged any extra fees - they are just ho;ding a minimum of £500 or x% ( whichever is the greater ) for at least 6 months or until 6 months after: your last trade, and / or closure of your account. Unless there are chargebacks in which case the amount will be reduced accordingly.

2) Having reviewed rhe status of ebays attitude to their members I believe ebay and paypal are very happy to get as many accounts as possible closed: They do not want sellers any more neither do they want buyers - the idea that ebay want to become a mall or like amazon may be incorrect --> THEY WANT TO BE A SEARCH ENGINE to compete with google! so all they want are listings to publish and collect a fee per click!

ndc-uk (8747 )  15-02-09 12:42 GMT 20 of 23
They hold 5% of every transaction you receive weather or not you refund it. So if you refund a payment you have to subsidise the 5% they hold out of your own pocket.

Our solution?
Up to now we have kept eBay prices in line with our website/amazon/other venues. Now however we will increase our prices by 10% and then offer a 10% discount to people who pay us directly with a credit/debit card or via bank transfer/cheque. Although this may initially slow the sales down once people get used to our policy I beleive the slump in sales will be negligible. Furthermore it will probably push more people to just buy off owr own website which charges us NO commision!

I suggest others join this revolt!

ndc-uk (8747 )  15-02-09 12:44 GMT 21 of 23
and if someone does decide to pay by paypal they can hold 5% if they wish as the customer would have paid 10% over our desired selling price anyway!

global_megastore (21239 )  16-02-09 08:47 GMT 22 of 23
Will putting your prices up by 10% not badly affect your standings in Best Match, and drive customers away?

I like the idea of offering a discount for non-Paypal payments, hope this works for you.

ndc-uk (8747 )  16-02-09 13:51 GMT 23 of 23
it depends on how unique your product is and what your sales strategy is. For us currently the important thing is getting brand recognition for our website and trying to attract as many people as possible to that. We know that our prices are keen and we have a product which has a high demand, and beleive that once customers see tehy will get a lower price than listed if they pay by credit card etc then ultimately they will buy. We anticipate 1-2 slow weeks but we're prepared to buffer that.

Also we are now advertising quite clearly the 10% discount. Have a look at one of our ads.

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Greg Fant - ***Free Picture Price change***

Not So Free, eBay Free Picture Price Change
12 February 2009
By EventHorizon1984

• "I’d like to share some news regarding fee changes for eBay-hosted pictures that we’re making in the Collectibles, Art, Antiques and Pottery & Glass categories. The first eBay-hosted picture in an item is already free. Effective February 18, 2009, we are making all additional pictures, Picture Pack and Gallery Plus FREE for listings in all four categories on the US site", Greg Fant, eBay VP of Marketing & Buyer Experience
• eBay Gives Photo-Freebie to Collectibles Dealers, Ina Steiner, 13 February 2009

We wonder if sellers realize that according to eBay's User Agreement, eBay will own the rights to the photos you host on eBay?

When you give us content, you grant us a non-exclusive, worldwide, perpetual, irrevocable, royalty-free, sublicensable (through multiple tiers) right to exercise the copyright, trademark, publicity, and database rights (but no other rights) you have in the content, in any media known now or in the future.

If you want to know what eBay will do with your photos, here's what follows the User Agreement parargraph above.

For the convenience of sellers, we may offer catalogs of stock images, descriptions and product specifications, which are provided by third-parties.

The catalogs may include copyrighted, trademarked or other proprietary materials.

The reader may wonder why eBay needs "Collectibles, Art, Antiques and Pottery & Glass" photos, when eBay has a ready supply of stock photos available to sellers.  The answer is eBay does not have a large supply of stock photos for collectibles.

Yet.

Unless sellers continue to host their own high quality photos, after February 18th eBay will own the rights to a growing supply of royalty-free "Collectibles, Art, Antiques and Pottery & Glass" photos.

Which eBay will gladly loan out to all sellers.  Translation for eBay sellers: Give to your competitors.

Really think about it, before taking eBay up on it's "free" offer.

"I teach you to lie, cheat, and steal, and as soon as my back's turned you wait in line?"
Gregory House, M.D., House

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http://www2.ebay.com/aw/core/200902121347522.html

***Free Picture Price change***
February 12, 2009 | 01:48PM PST/PT

Greg Fant

Hello everyone...I’d like to share some news regarding fee changes for eBay-hosted pictures that we’re making in the Collectibles, Art, Antiques and Pottery & Glass categories. The first eBay-hosted picture in an item is already free.

Effective February 18, 2009, we are making all additional pictures, Picture Pack and Gallery Plus FREE for listings in all four categories on the US site (www.ebay.com). This includes all formats and all durations.

eBay is committed to providing a great experience to its users. Buyers in these categories have asked for more photos to help them decide which items to compare and which item to purchase. We believe that more free photos will allow sellers to provide buyers the visual details they need to make these decisions, lower buyer questions, and increase seller sales.

By the way, we're also working on improving the visual shopping experience for buyers with new ways to browse and view multiple, large pictures, which should further increase the benefits of free pictures for both sellers and buyers. Stay tuned for more information about these upcoming visual enhancements.

We’re excited to make these changes, and believe they will enhance the marketplace on eBay for everyone. I encourage you to click here for full pricing details.

Sincerely,
Greg Fant
VP of Marketing & Buyer Experience

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Dinah Balk - Special Alert – New Paypal Amendment Lowers eBay Sellers’ Credit Scores!

Once more, with Feeling.
30 January 2009
EventHorizon1984


Below is an excerpt from the latest article from Seeking Alpha writer Dinah Balk.

http://dinahbalk.com/

 

Dinah Balk 
Friday, January 30, 2009 10:33 AM

Special Alert - New PayPal Amendment Lowers eBay Sellers' Credit Scores!

 

  Over the next few weeks eBay sellers who have a Paypal Premier or Business account to processes buyers’ credit card payments will have a big decision to make.  They will have to decide whether to 1) close their eBay & Paypal accounts and then move to another venue like Bonanzle, Go Daddy, or Etsy or 2) cross their fingers and hope for the best.

 

Why?  The following Paypal amendment goes into effect on February 11, 2009. 

 

 2.4  Credit Report Authorization for Premier and Business Accounts. If you open a Premier or Business Account, you are providing PayPal with your written instructions to obtain your personal and/or business credit report from a credit bureau.  PayPal may obtain your credit report: (a) when you open (or upgrade to) a Premier or Business Account, or (b) any time thereafter if PayPal reasonably believes there may be an increased level of risk associated with your Account.  An increased level of risk includes, but is not limited to, a high number of chargeback’s or reversals, or suspicious activity associated with your Account."

 

Unfortunately for Dinah Balk's audience, you may never see this article on Seeking Alpha.

There is the appearance that self-important individuals from eBay and PayPal have been pressing Seeking Alpha to censor articles and authors considered "insensitive" to their needs.  And Seeking Alpha appears to be dutifully performing this task.

While Seeking Alpha does state:

Seeking Alpha does not allow its editors to accept or reject an article due to the stock covered or the editor's agreement or disagreement with the contributor's viewpoint on the stock. (other than the $1.00 rule above)

They did publish and then willfully censored Dinah Balk's 2008 article "PayPal Ruins Christmas for eBay Customers".

Whether this is the mere appearance of censorship or the work of outside corporate influences attempting to manipulate stockholder perception, remains to be seen.

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According to eBay Customer Service, Alaska Is NOT In The United States

According to eBay Customer Service, Alaska Is NOT In The United States
EventHorizon1984
20 January 2009

If you've dealt with any form of eBay Customer Service, you'll find between the Eliza canned responses that they have little or no understanding of United States geography.

For example take this piece of pure ignorance from eBay Customer Service.

Thank you for writing eBay in regard to your question.
I have reviewed the listing and show that they ship to the united states
only at the price of $49. In the listing they do not state that they
offer shipping to Alaska.
Therefore they do not have to honor that shipping price.
If you have further questions I suggest you contact the seller.
Thank you for your time

Sincerely,
******
eBay Customer Support

Over the years eBay Customer Service, and for that matter some eBay California based moderators, have made similar gaffs relating to three States of the United States; Alaska, Hawaii, New Mexico.  That is eBay representatives believe that NONE of the States mentioned are part of the United States.

As a service to a multi-billion dollar corporation That Should Know Better, here are the facts about these three States.  Read IT and learn.

Alaska
49th State of the United States

• Territory of the United States, 24 August 1912
• State of the United States, 3 January 1959

Hawaii
50th State of the United States

• Territory of the United States, 7 July 1898
• State of the United States, 21 August 1959

New Mexico
47th State of the United States

• Territory of the United States, 9 September 1850
• State of the United States, 6 January 1912

And a final reminder to eBay Customer Service and IT's representatives, a Territory of the United States IS part of the United States.  Like an equally misplaced in the United States locations, Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia.

Disclaimer:  Some of us resided in the Territory of Hawaii.

...

"The person you are trying to reach is out of the area or has turned off their phone."
Dr. Eric Foreman, House

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The eBay PayPal 5% Hold Solution

The eBay PayPal 5% Hold Solution
EventHorizon1984
17 January 2009

• "In a very small percentage of cases, eBay asks PayPal to hold a payment in a seller’s PayPal account for up to 21 days."  Monroe Labouisse, "Director of PayPal’s business on eBay in the US and Canada"

eBay Public Relations published another puff piece, eBay Item Holds Explained (eBay Ink, Richard Breyer-Hay), regarding PayPal's holding of seller funds for "21 days".  As in prior years, eBay-PayPal described the account holds as affecting a small percentage of sellers.

And then they quantified IT.

This is what eBay-PayPal said in the January 16th article:

"We’re talking about single-digit percentages. Usually less than 5% of transactions."
Monroe Labouisse

To understand the magnitude of what "5%" represents, here's what was said earlier in the article:

"PayPal’s history with hundreds of millions of eBay transactions"
Monroe Labouisse

Based on "PayPal's history", "5%" would represent 5 million transactions put on hold for every 100 million transactions.

Here are the numbers from eBay's SEC (U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission) filing, 23 October 2008 10-Q Quarterly Report  Form 10-Q. 

Quarter 3, 1 July 2008 to 30 September 2008

Active users:  83,000,000
Number of new listings:  555,600,000
Gross merchandise volume:  $14,395,000,000

Active registered accounts:  54,800,000
Net total payment volume:  $11,569,000,000

Given that neither transactions nor sellers are homogeneous, here's what a "5%" hold policy could represent in a completely off-the-cuff fashion:

Active eBay users affected:  4,150,000
Number of new listings affected:  27,780,000
Gross merchandise volume, HELD:  $719,750,000

Active registered PayPal accounts affected:  2,740,000
Net total payment volume, HELD:  $578,450,000

eBay-PayPal considers numbers like these "small."  We wonder what they would consider to be 'big'?

...

"What's life without the ability to make stupid decisions?"
Dr. Gregory House, House

...

See also our follow up article The eBay PayPal 20% Hold Solution.

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PayPal / eBay - Important: PayPal is eliminating some automatic emails

17 December 2008
by Event Horizon 1984

The following email is a PayPal email, regarding the cessation of specific PayPal notification emails.

The reason for the change is fairly obvious.  By not immediately notifying a business that their payment funds are available, this allows PayPal/eBay to earn more float interest on those business earnings.

This short additional delay on a small amount for a single transaction, adds up as PayPal/eBay deals with millions of transactions.

This is not a large amount, for multi-billion dollar corporations. Like additional banking fees, this does show greed, in this squeezing out of every extra "penny" from PayPal/eBay customers.  And desperation, in the need to perform this action.

//
//
//

From:  "PayPal" <[email protected]> 

To: {edited out}

Hello {edited out},

Tired of email clutter? So are we. To make your life easier, we're eliminating some of the automatic emails we send after transactions. These changes will take effect on February 11, 2009. Though you will no longer receive certain emails, all transaction details will still show up in your PayPal account for your record keeping.

What you need to do:

• If you don't use PayPal emails to trigger any automated processes, do nothing.
• If you've been using any of the emails listed below to trigger actions such as updating accounting and inventory or sending customer communications, you will be able to access this information on the "History" page in your PayPal account. If you want to automate your processing, you may implement Instant Payment Notification (IPN). IPN provides a free, reliable solution for automatically notifying businesses of transaction status. For more details send your developer to www.paypal.com/ipninfo

The emails we're discontinuing are:

• The email you receive when you cancel an order (Merchant cancel email: ID# PP594)
• The email your customer receives when you cancel an order (Buyer void email: ID# PP592)
• The email you receive when funds move out of your customer's PayPal account (Merchant capture email: ID# PP593)
• The email your customer receives when funds move out of their PayPal account (Buyer capture email: ID# PP591)
• The email you receive after you initiate a refund to a customer (Merchant refund email: ID# PP286)

To see examples of these emails, visit www.paypal.com/discontinuedemails.

Thanks,
PayPal

 

 

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"Say it ain't so, Joe." - Isn't that the odd American sport of Baseball?

"Say it ain't so, Joe." - Isn't that the odd American sport of Baseball?
4 October 2008
Event Horizon 1984

"This is like deja vu all over again."
Yogi Berra

We're loathe to putting day to day politics on this blog.  There's enough aggravation in daily reading.  But with Major League Baseball into the playoff season, the injection of politics has us crossing the line.

"If you build it ... HE will come."
Shoeless Joe Jackson, Field of Dreams (1989)

If you're a fan of Baseball, or happen to be be the average American glued to the television or radio, you do know this piece of baseball history and mythology.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoeless_Joe_Jackson

In testimony before the grand jury, Jackson admitted under oath that he agreed to participate in the fix. He also admitted to complaining to other conspirators that he had not received his full $20,000 share. Legend has it that as Jackson was leaving the courthouse during the trial, a young boy begged of him, "Say it ain't so, Joe," and that Joe did not respond. In his 1949 interview in Sport Magazine, Jackson debunked this story as a myth.

In 1921, a Chicago jury acquitted him and his seven White Sox teammates of wrongdoing. Nevertheless, Kenesaw Mountain Landis, the newly appointed Commissioner of Baseball, banned all eight accused players, claiming baseball's need to clean up its image took precedence over legal judgments. As a result, Jackson never played major league baseball after the 1920 season.

If you didn't know baseball, you probably wouldn't know this has been floating around the last 80 or so years.

"Say it ain't so, Joe"
Governor Palin, October 2008

"If you can't imitate him, don't copy him."
Yogi Berra

Or not?

"I grew up watching the summer baseball on these fields."
"In fact started out as a sports reporter. Sports have been a passion of mine of mine all my life, so I feel not at home here but I feel very ah comfortable in like this is a fun booth to be in."
Governor Sarah Palin, 29 August 2008
Donny Baarns interview during the Alaska Goldpanners of Fairbanks and Mat-Su Miners game.
http://ballhype.com/video/alaska_governor_sarah_palin_interview/

Every four years American President's and Presidential contenders attend or watch the playoffs.  Mostly leaving the politics out of Baseball.  But this Presidential cycle just had to mix politics with American's most beloved pastime.

Politicians do us a favor. Leave Baseball out of it.

You should know better.

//
//
//

"And they'll walk out to the bleachers; sit in shirtsleeves on a perfect afternoon. They'll find they have reserved seats somewhere along one of the baselines, where they sat when they were children and cheered their heroes. And they'll watch the game and it'll be as if they dipped themselves in magic waters. The memories will be so thick they'll have to brush them away from their faces. People will come Ray. The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It has been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game: it's a part of our past, Ray. It reminds of us of all that once was good and it could be again."
Terence Mann, Field of Dreams (1989)

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eBay San Dimas Desktop Application Unwanted And On Life Support?

eBay San Dimas Desktop Application Unwanted And On Life Support?
29 September 2008
Event Horizon 1984

eBay's great experiment, the San Dimas Desktop application announced on 16 April 2007, gives the appearance of being unwanted, brain dead, and on life support.

Perhaps eBay's San Dimas Desktop Customer Service attitude from the start had much to do with that.  And yes while the question had nothing to do with San Dimas, read the response.

The poster "[email protected]" is an eBay employee in charge of the eBay San Dimas Desktop, Alan Lewis, eBay Desktop Product Manager.

//

http://forums.ebay.com/db1/forum.jspa?forumID=1000000044
eBay (San Dimas) Desktop Forum

http://forums.ebay.com/db1/thread.jspa?threadID=2000455218&tstart=0&mod=1222651398921
New page layout sucks

jbem58  (140 )      Oct-21-07 16:24 PDT
Hello,
I'm absolutely sick of Ebay changing the page setup. My bookmarks do not take me to where I want to go within ebay. Overall this new setup TOTALLY SUCKS!!!

[email protected]      Oct-22-07 19:37 PDT     2 of 82
jbem58 - Are you talking about the layout of eBay Desktop? I assume that because you posted in this forum that you are. If so, you can go back to using the website if you don't like it.

-Alan

//

http://forums.ebay.com/db1/thread.jspa?messageID=1011965763&forumID=1000000044&x#1011965763

[email protected]        Feb-16-08 12:23 PST       6 of 12
> So do you really think that I would trust you with something as sacred as my desktop??????

Hi redroad31 - One of the reasons that we are working on a desktop eBay application is so that those with slower internet connections can still have a fast eBay experience. The basic idea is that if you download a client application once, there is less back and forth between the client and the server (more efficient data transfer) and so the eBay experience should work better. We will continue to optimize performance past the 1.0 release, paying attention to both the dial-up and lower-powered PC scenarios.

Alan Lewis
eBay Desktop Product Manager

//

You would think that eBay San Dimas Desktop personnel would have had this question answered BEFORE development.

This also appears to be Alan Lewis's final post on the eBay Desktop Forum.

http://forums.ebay.com/db1/thread.jspa?messageID=1012567237&forumID=1000000044&x#1012567237

[email protected]       Apr-03-08 11:44 PDT       2 of 2
What sort of features would you want in eBay Desktop for sellers? Have you tried the existing desktop-based selling tools that eBay and 3rd parties offer?

-Alan

//

Must be difficult to tell Live World, the company eBay hired to run the eBay's Forums, to delete the off topic posts?

http://forums.ebay.com/db1/thread.jspa?messageID=2009898204&forumID=1000000044&x#2009898204

[email protected]        Apr-02-08 17:07 PDT
Unfortunately this forum has become overwhelmed with off-topic discussions. Not to diminish the concerns or issues that are being brought up, but they have drowned out any discussion of the intended topic: eBay Desktop.

So I haven't been participating much in this forum... instead I've been discussing issues with users on the eBay Desktop blog: http://desktop.ebay.com/blog

I encourage you to ask questions, suggest blog topics, challenge me, berate me, whatever you want... but it WILL be moderated in order to keep the discussion on topic. I also have been using the blog to identify issues that are being reported since we aren't staffed with a full customer service group for eBay Desktop yet (still just me doing it).

Thanks for your understanding,

//

About Alan Lewis's San Dimas blog.

For a self-described dynamic software application, the latest post on San Dimas is dated 16 July 2008.

http://desktop.ebay.com/blog/
1 Million eBay Desktop Downloads and Counting!
July 16th, 2008

eBay Desktop surpassed a significant milestone earlier this week with the 1,000,000th download since the launch in late February. eBay Desktop has surpassed even the most optimist projections (mine), more than doubling the number of projected downloads at this point post-launch. Just think… there are now more downloads of eBay Desktop than there are residents of San Jose!

I wish I could send thanks to whoever number 1,000,000 was, but I will instead extend my virtual thanks to that anonymous downloader (as well as extending my thanks to the other 999,999 as well). We have lots of great enhancements to eBay Desktop in the works, so stay tuned…

//

One million eBay San Dimas Desktop Beta downloads would be impressive, except in the context of what eBay reported to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on 24 July 2008.

http://biz.yahoo.com/e/080724/ebay10-q.html
30 June 2008
Registered eBay users - 338.2 Million
Active eBay users - 84.5 million

If this were a must have application the adoption rate would be much higher.

So stay tuned...

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Gilligan's Island - An eBay Tune - The Ballad of MiniMeg's Island

Gilligan's Island first aired
26 September 1964. 

Happy Birthday!

And now with apologies to Gilligan's Island, and ode to eBay.

The Ballad of MiniMeg's* Island

Just sit right back and we'll blog a tale,
A tale of a fateful COM
That started from this sunny bay
This side of San Jose

The mate was a ole Meg protege
The skipper Bain Exec.
Five eBayer's set sail that day
For a three year tour, a three year tour.

The stock market was getting rough,
The tiny COM was tossed,
If not for the courage of the peerless crew
The eBay would be lost, the eBay would be lost.

The COM set ground on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange
With MiniMeg,
The Don.A.Hoe,
The Buy dot COM, and their shills,
The Uncle Griff,
The cheerleaders and eBay Pinks,
Here on MiniMegs Isle.


* Lorrie Norrington

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From eBay PR and Uncle_Griff - Some Needed Clarification

In regards to the AuctionBytes.com article “eBay’s Operation Catalog Flies under the Radar”, eBay personality Uncle Griff has posted two responses on eBay's PR blog.

Uncle Griff signed off with:

"I sell (and have bought and sold) on eBay since November 1996 under my civilian user id uncle_griff. I always have merchandise up for sale"

...

"Rest assured I have earned honestly my PS status, my ratings, my feedback and the loyalty of my regular customers."

Being curious we decided to check out Griff's bonafides.

According to TeraPeak these are Griff's selling statistics from 7 June 2008 to 4 September 2008:

.

Item Title	Sold	Format	Start Price	End Price	Bids	End Date
	Antique Heriz Serapi Goravan Oriental Rug Carpet 13 x 9	Yes	Bid	$49.99	$4,550.00	36	2008-06-15
	Jacques Fath Yang Gift Set EDT AS Shampoo Body Wash	Yes		$40.00	$40.00	1	2008-06-16
	NEW Synrgy Oyster White Blazer Sport Coat 52L Long Tall	No		$75.00	$0.00		2008-06-15

.
General Stats

Total Sales	$4,590
Total Listings	3
Successful Listings	2
Total Bids	37
Items Offered	3
Items Sold	2
Bids per Listing	12.33
Sell-Through	66.67%

 

Keep in mind that a Bronze Powerseller needs to have an average sale or $1,000 per month.  Therefore the 2 items sold are sufficient for Uncle Griff to maintain his Powerseller status.

We do notice sizable gaps in the Terapeak selling record.  Well, Terapeak is supplied data from eBay, and eBay does recommend Terapeak to sellers.

Okay, let's try getting a better picture through eBay itself.

Feedback for uncle_griff.
http://feedback.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewFeedback2&userid=uncle_griff

eBay user uncle_griff has 1984 positive feedback. An oddly familiar sounding number. And since 26 May 1996, eBay user uncle_griff has received 2,223 feedback. As a buyer and seller. 

As a seller uncle_griff has received ... 119 feedback, beginning 11 November 2001.

hmmm?

In the last two weeks uncle_griff has sold one item.
.

Mens Hathaway Cotton Indigo Dyed LS Shirt NWT XXL Free Shipping to North America View similar active items | Sell one like this

$18.89

Sep-08 14:41

.

Seller uncle_griff currently has 16 items up for sale

Price

Time Left

Featured Items

Vintage French Beaded Flower Flowers Bouquet Basket Free Shipping within the USA

1 Bid

$9.99

4d 20h 52m

Caucasian Fachralo Style Kazak Oriental Rug Carpet Free Shipping within the USA

3 Bids

$54.26

4d 14h 0m

Antique Wrought Iron Hanging Lantern Early 20th Century Free Shipping within the USA

5 Bids

$31.00

4d 21h 19m

Caucasian Dragon Style Soumak Carpet Free Shipping within the USA

0 Bids

$24.99 $225.00

4d 15h 10m

Optimize your selling success! Find out how to promote your items

Vintage French Beaded Flower Flowers Bouquet Basket Free Shipping within the USA

1 Bid

$9.99

4d 20h 52m

Ungaro II Pour L'Homme Eau De Toilette 75 ml 2.5 oz FREE SHIPPING

$85.00

3d 14h 48m

NEW Synrgy Oyster White Blazer Sport Coat 52L Long Tall Free Shipping within the USA

$75.00

4d 10h 52m

Caucasian Fachralo Style Kazak Oriental Rug Carpet Free Shipping within the USA

3 Bids

$54.26

4d 14h 0m

4 Vintage Painted Iron Tole Tulip Shaped Cup Holders Free Shipping within the USA

0 Bids

$1.99

4d 21h 42m

Antique Wrought Iron Hanging Lantern Early 20th Century Free Shipping within the USA

5 Bids

$31.00

4d 21h 19m

Mens Hathaway Cotton Indigo Dyed LS Shirt NWT XXL Free Shipping to USA | Other Sizes in My eBay Store

$14.99

5d 14h 14m

Caucasian Dragon Style Soumak Carpet Free Shipping within the USA

0 Bids

$24.99 $225.00

4d 15h 10m

Japanese Style Cast Iron Hanging Lantern Mid 20th Cent Free Shipping within the USA

2 Bids

$15.50

4d 21h 56m

Japanese Style Cast Iron Hanging Lantern Mid 20th Cent Free Shipping within the USA

1 Bid

$9.99

4d 22h 19m

Aramis Portos After Shave / Cologne 4 OZ Unused FREE SHIPPING

$104.50

14d 10h 5m

AD Alain Delon Eau de Toilette EDT 4.4 oz Spray Bottle FREE SHIPPING

$95.00

27d 10h 29m

Lorenzo Villoresi Erba Room Spray 100ml 3.3 oz NIB FREE SHIPPING

$23.00

27d 15h 45m

Mens Hathaway Cotton Indigo Dyed LS Shirt NWT XXL Free Shipping to North America

$18.89

27d 20h 56m

Mens Hathaway Cotton Indigo Dyed LS Shirt NWT XXL Free Shipping to North America

$18.89

27d 21h 0m

Mens Hathaway Cotton Indigo Dyed LS Shirt NWT XXL Free Shipping to North America

$18.89

27d 21h 2m

.

So is uncle_griff the epitome of eBay Sellers, with a selling record to back it up?

You tell us.

//
//
//

Monday, September 8th, 2008

http://ebayinkblog.com/2008/09/08/some-needed-clarification/comment-page-4/#comments

Some Needed Clarification

Over the weekend, AuctionBytes.com ran a story under the headline: “eBay’s Operation Catalog Flies under the Radar”. It generated a number of responses (at last count 89 comments) and I received a few emails from folks asking about the validity of the post.

Even though I knew the meat of the post was primarily speculative and, as a result, inaccurate in some places, I thought it best to go internally to better address the post directly. Having met with a couple of folks today about it, I came to the conclusion that it was best coming straight from someone who knew more about the topic at hand than I (otherwise, you just get regurgitation from me). So, without further ado, I welcome Jim “Griff” Griffith to eBay Ink. 

Cheers,
RBH

Thanks, Richard. I would be more than happy to offer some responses. I think its best if I just break down Ina’s post point-by-point to make sure we don’t lose anything in translation.

“eBay announced a Diamond-level PowerSeller tier in June, and as I blogged in mid-August, more companies will be joining Buy.com and be allowed to list on the site for free.”

The new Diamond-level of the PowerSeller program is no secret. Any business who qualifies for this level – whether currently on or off eBay - is welcome to list on eBay . However, this is pure speculation with regard to the listing fees. I think it has been covered on Ink before (that fees charged to Diamond-tier PowerSellers are negotiated on a case-by-case basis).

“Now I’m hearing that eBay is introducing a pilot program next month in which a number of manufacturer and big-box retailer catalogs will be launched to eBay.”

Cataloged data is nothing new on eBay and has in fact, been available for certain categories for several years. These include all media and most electronic consumer goods. Potentially expanding the breadth and depth of catalog data on eBay would in fact, be a benefit to all sellers and to buyers as well. For one, as is true today, all catalogs currently used on eBay are available to all sellers. In addition, having access to more cataloged item information would speed the listing process since all sellers will be able to use this new catalog data to describe their items, much as they can now do in the media category. For buyers, it would mean a more consistent experience.

“Third-party vendors will work with these sellers to get them onto the eBay platform - no small feat given the quantity of product SKUs in their catalogs… These Diamond PowerSellers will be given special privileges. Commission (FVF) fees will be negotiated individually, and it’s my understanding that participants in this pilot will not be charged listing fees, nor will they have to meet eBay’s seller standards during the 90-day pilot program, which I’ve dubbed Operation Catalog.”

Again, the statements regarding fees are uninformed speculation. It is no secret that since earlier this year, we have opened up the concept of fee discounts to all qualifying sellers, something that, in my opinion, we should have done a lot sooner. However, the statement about seller standards not applying to Diamond Level PowerSellers is absolutely false. In fact, the standards are actually higher for all Diamond Level PowerSellers who must maintain 4.8 across all DSRs or risk voiding any arrangement they have made with eBay.

There are no shortcuts. There are no special dispensations for existing policy compliance given to any eBay seller. All eBay sellers, no matter the size of their business on or off eBay, are held to the same seller standards and for Diamond PowerSeller, the privilege of selling on eBay is tied to even higher standards then the rest of the eBay seller community.

“The potential Gross Merchandise Volume of these sellers is enormous, and it fills out eBay’s product line and helps it move toward providing a more uniform buying experience on the site, or so it hopes… The flood of inventory onto the site in October could have a major impact on certain sellers in categories affected. As I write in tomorrow’s editorial in AuctionBytes-Update, not only will some sellers find themselves competing with the manufacturer of the product they sell, but that competitor is getting free listings and better exposure.”

The statements regarding free listings are, again, pure speculation on the part of the author. The statement regarding “better exposure” for certain sellers is absolutely incorrect. A seller with a large inventory is not necessarily going to get better exposure than a seller with less inventory. As any eBay-interested party knows from reading Jeff King’s July 31st Announcement Board post, the changes to Finding that limit duplicate listings and the number of listings for one seller that appear on a page of results cover all sellers, including Diamond PowerSellers. Again, it is about the quality of the seller – specifically, the quality of their merchandise and of their customer service – not the size of the seller’s inventory.

“If Operation Catalog does roll out in October as expected, sellers will find themselves going up against competition they never knew existed, with no time to adjust their selling strategy during the all-important holiday shopping season.”

The idea of bringing on Diamond PowerSeller level business (which include bigger sellers or retail stores) as competition is, with all due respect, absurd. eBay sellers are already competing with these businesses both online and in search engines. By bringing Diamond PowerSeller qualified businesses into the eBay marketplace, these businesses will bring along their sizeable buyer traffic. This is a huge benefit for the enterprising smaller eBay seller of similar merchandise since they get to compete right alongside of the retailer and offer the retailer’s customers a better deal.

The view among some that eBay is somehow a protected marketplace (”don’t let in my competition!”) or that said competition will be detrimental to the business of seller’s with less inventory is unfortunately, misinformed and has no basis in reality. In fact, big sellers have been a part of eBay since nearly the beginning; Sears, Disney, IBM, Dell, HP, etc to name a few. Some remain. But some found they couldn’t compete with existing sellers on eBay who by dint of their smaller size of operations, tend to operate much more efficiently than a bigger business. So, despite the uniformed predictions of some, selling on eBay is not and has never been, an “Either/ Or” proposition with regards to big and small businesses. Any attempt to portray online commerce, and commerce on eBay in particular, as Big vs Small, is lacking in any real understanding of business .

On eBay, all sellers, regardless of the size of their operations or inventory, succeed or fail on eBay working under the same rules, standards and listing policies.

- Griff

//
//
//

Griff On 09.09.2008 at 10:39 pm Said:

Hi all,

Thanks for your comments. I do appreciate your passion for eBay.

The sole purpose of my post was to correct some alarmingly incorrect statements made on another site. Allow me clear up a few points made here since I posted.

1. The post is mine. My words written by me. No one asked me or told me to write it. Anyone who thinks otherwise does not know me or my history with eBay. I approached Richard yesterday and asked him if he wouldn’t mind my posting to the Ink blog. He agreed. I posted.

2. The statements I pointed out (regarding standards, treatment, and exposure for certain sellers) were wrong. Period. I corrected them and I stand by the corrections.

3. Although I cannot fault anyone for engaging in speculation, let’s be clear: speculation is speculation. Nothing more. Comments made by anyone about the undisclosed details of any relationship between eBay and any eBay member are pure speculation.

4. About those details: We cannot and will not publicly discuss the details of any member’s eBay account, regardless of who the buyer or seller might be (and that includes every seller of any size, who has ever sold on eBay).

5. I sell (and have bought and sold) on eBay since November 1996 under my civilian user id uncle_griff. I always have merchandise up for sale.

Employees get no special dispensation, deals or treatment when selling on eBay. We have to meet the same PowerSeller eligibility requirements that other sellers must. We have to follow the same rules and we have to maintain the same performance standards.

Rest assured I have earned honestly my PS status, my ratings, my feedback and the loyalty of my regular customers.

Feel free to email me at any time: [email protected] My IN Box is always open (and I answer my own email).

regards,

Griff

 

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The eBay Shopping.com Affair Part Deux

The eBay Shoping.com Affair Part Deux

By Event Horizon
1 May 2008 Edition
Revision: 2 May 2008 12:21 HST

This is a short follow up to our previous articles about the faux sdc_prod listings.

• The eBay Shopping.com Affair
  15 March 2008
  http://eventhorizon1984.typepad.com/event_horizon_1984_blog/2008/03/internet-transa.html

• From eBay Seller Central - Ebay is padding their listings
  1 March 2008
  http://eventhorizon1984.typepad.com/event_horizon_1984_blog/2008/02/from-ebay-sel-1.html

Our research indicates between 161 thousand and half-a-million faux listings were posted on eBay, by eBay, that Leap day weekend.

eBay's official statement regarding the faux listings of 29 February 2008:
"Some Shopping.com listings appeared accidentally on eBay.com over the past two days. This system issue has been resolved. We apologize for any confusion or inconvenience this may have caused."
eBay, 2 March 2008

Apology accepted, BUT sorry eBay. Those listings appear to be making a comeback.

Or never left, since we've been receiving regular "eBay Item Ending" emails for all sdc_prod* listings we put on a watch list. 

Since March 2008.

1 May 2008

There are 10,001 fake listings for seller sdc_prod_9074_35
http://cgi6.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewListedItems&userid=sdc_prod_9074_35&sort=3&page=40&rows=50&since=30&rdir=0

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There are 754 fake listings for seller sdc_prod_9391_43
http://cgi6.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewListedItems&include=0&since=-1&rdir=0&rows=25&userid=sdc_prod_9391_43

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There are 10,001 fake listings for seller sdc_prod_442675_57
http://cgi6.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewListedItems&include=0&since=-1&rdir=0&rows=25&userid=sdc_prod_442675_57

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There are 10,001 fake listings for seller sdc_prod_90076
http://cgi6.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewListedItems&userid=sdc_prod_90076&sort=3&page=1&rows=25&since=-1&rdir=0

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Apparently if one uses a non-eBay expected method to obtain a product list, you'll see the faux listings.

And do keep in mind that this method used to print out products has a limit of, you guessed it, 10001. It is highly probably that the sellers showing "10001" have more than ten-thousand-one items.

For perspective, here are the fake listing counts taken during the Leap Day 'test, accident, glitch'.

• 21,481 - sdc_prod_9074_35
• 11,102 - sdc_prod_9391_43
• 4,702 - sdc_prod_442675_57
• unknown - sdc_prod_90076

There are three interesting points about all this.

1. These products are hidden in a standard search. But show up as valid listings using different methods.
2. The number of listings or count is obtainable, and presumably ends up in various auction count tallies. By inference, listing counts eBay included in their report to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
3. Has anyone given any thought to how much each faux listing adds to eBay's GMV (Gross Merchandise Value) total? Ten's of millions of dollars? Hundred's of millions of dollars? Enough to show a significant quarter to quarter increase?

Final questions. Are there more of these? And how long before eBay hides them even better?

Here's a list of the sellers reported to have faux February 29th listings.

1. sdc_prod_301013_74  The Twister Group
2. sdc_prod_305839_99  BargainBasementBatteries
3. sdc_prod_310426  ANTOnline
4. sdc_prod_409455_97  Sababa Shopping
5. sdc_prod_434012  SpectrumSuperStore
6. sdc_prod_442675_57  Boyne & Kelly L.L.C.
7. sdc_prod_9021_2  Buy.com
8. sdc_prod_9055  Focus Camera
9. sdc_prod_9074_35  pcRUSH.com
10. sdc_prod_9074_47  pcRUSH.com
11. sdc_prod_9090  CompSource Inc.
12. sdc_prod_9124_14  TheNerds, Inc.
13. sdc_prod_9352_67  Digital Foto Club
14. sdc_prod_9391_43  Adorama
15. sdc_prod_9452  eTronics, Inc.
16. sdc_prod_90076  OnlineSports, Inc.

Have fun looking.

But be quick, because eBay or that nasty eBay Glitch will hide them again.

 

Copyright © 2008 Event Horizon, Established 1984

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The eBay Shopping.com Affair

The eBay Shopping.com Affair
aka "The eBay Leap Day Auction Count Affair"
aka "The eBay SDC_PROD Affair"

By Event Horizon
Ides of March Edition, 15 March 2008
Revision: 2 April 2008 00:01 HST

"It's always difficult to keep personal prejudice out of a thing like this. And wherever you run into it, prejudice always obscures the truth. I don't really know what the truth is. I don't suppose anybody will ever really know."
Juror #8, Twelve Angry Men (1957)  

The Leap Day weekend brought with it an extra day of buy and selling on eBay. It also ushered in an interesting event. A number of listings from Shopping.com, an eBay company, ended up on eBay.com. Counted in the hundreds of thousands these product listings were viewable on eBay.com, but not buyable.

In short an event that AuctionBytes would characterize as eBay Mystery Listings.

This was an event that had ample room for opinions. Aside from the fact that the average eBay buyer could not buy these products, there was the question of did these listings affect the auction counts? An important question as eBay provides those listing counts in their many reports to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Opinions ranged from an eBay Forum poster describing the event as "Ebay is padding their listings", to Randy Smythe of My Blog Utopia! stating "this padding of listings is a non-starter."

All this would definitely pique the curiosity of anyone interested in eBay. For about 5 seconds. Because all the relevant data is spread across Google, or deleted, archived, horded, and just plain not in one place for quick perusal. End 5 seconds.

We're going to attempt to put a smidgen of all that happened in this article. And over time expand the article slightly to accommodate new found pieces.

Before we begin, changing the subject slightly, you're wondering why the style of the title sounds oddly familiar? We were inspired by eBay, with their one mini-smidgen contribution.

• "Agent Sent Message", ebay Customer Service, 1 March 2008

Cue theme. Run introduction. Roll article.

 

Prologue. Internet transations are perishable and human memories short.

"people simply remember a version of events which makes as much sense as they require it to make"
Douglas Adams, Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (1987)

This article should not be considered a complete rendering of the Leap Day (2/29/2008) weekend events or a tome with all the available data. It is meant to give a relatively quick overview of the situation, and provide leads for those who wish to pursue more in depth study.

 

I. How many listings were involved?

"It was an accident" Captain James Kirk
"You seem to have a lot of them." Captain John Christopher
Star Trek, Tomorrow Is Yesterday (26 January 1967)

Do Listing Counts Matter?

Let's start with the simple matter of, does it matter at all? The answer is, Yes.

Listing counts are important to eBay, as the figures are reported to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Reference the "23-Jan-2008" "Form 8-K for EBAY INC" "Results of Operations and Financial Condition, Financial Statements and Exhibits" report.

• In the "Unaudited eBay Marketplaces Supplemental Operating Data" section is "Number of New Listings (2)" with the definition "(2) Listings on eBay Marketplaces trading platforms during the quarter, regardless of whether the listing subsequently closed successfully."

Listing counts are important to eBay, as they are mentioned in the report to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Reference the "29-Feb-2008" "Form 10-K for EBAY INC" "Annual Report".

• In the "Key Operating Metrics and Financial Information" section (emphasis ours) eBay states , "Members of our senior management team regularly review key operating metrics such as active users, listings".
• Further, "These financial measures allow us to monitor the profitability of our business and to evaluate the effectiveness of investments that we have made (and continue to make) in the areas of marketing, product development, international expansion, customer support and site operations. We believe that an understanding of these key operating and financial measures and how they change over time is important to investors, analysts and other parties analyzing our business results and future market opportunities."
• In the "Financial Summary" section (emphasis ours) eBay states, "we face challenges in the U.S., U.K. and Germany, which are our three largest markets, as growth of listings, active users and GMV on the eBay.com platform in those countries has slowed."
• In the "Results of Operations" section eBay has the metric "Number of listings (3)" with the definition of the metric being "(3) Listings on eBay Marketplaces trading platforms during the period, regardless of whether the listing subsequently closed successfully."

The fact that eBay has the subject of "listings" in their official reports, belies pundits claims that the listing counts are of no concern.

Those who proffer the specious argument that the amounts involved are small and therefore inconsequential, must not deal often in large real world real time computer systems. Let's propose the scenario that someone or some group accidentally dumps a quarter million to a half million database TEST records into a PRODUCTION system. This same person or group then tells people in authority nonsense such as 'it's 35 thousand Usher'.

This is what those people would hear in the real world:

• "You're Fired!", Donald Trump

 

eBay's official position on the number of listings.

• eBay - Listings erroneously placed on eBay.com: 35,000

"An eBay spokesman told PC Magazine at the time that 5,000 shopping.com listings were erroneously placed on ebay.com. After sellers expressed doubt about that number in the comments section, eBay was asked to again confirm that it was indeed 5,000. The same spokesman responded Friday that he had originally told PC Magazine that eBay pulled 35,000 listings, but a review of the interview confirmed that he said 5,000."
PC Magazine, 10 March 2008

• 4 March 2008 - "5,000 shopping.com listings were erroneously placed on ebay.com"
• 7 March 2008 - "eBay pulled 35,000 listings"
• 10 March 200 - "a review of the interview confirmed that he said 5,000"

{eBay, Usher} "Lieberman said fewer than 35,000 listings were affected by the glitch".
AuctionBytes, 5 March 2008

Usher Lieberman is eBay's Spokesman, and is not an integral part of eBay's programming departments. He reports to the press what he's told.  In the matter of contradictory statements or "false and misleading statements to the press" [SEC], the original source of the "5,000" and "35,000" counts should be investigated.

 

Our research regarding the listing counts during the February 29th Leap Day weekend. 

• Total Listings, Hard Count: 
  • 161,358 to 192,966 (161,358 + 31,608) to 241,368 (161,358  + 80,000)
• Total Listings, Soft Count:
  • 271,280 to 302,888 (271,280 + 31,608) to 351,280 (271,280 + 80,000) 
• Estimated Listings Count: 500,000 (rounded)

Total Listings Hard Count Methodology.

The "Hard Count" represents the total number of auction listings confirmed by screen shots, archives, and reported by AuctionBytes. In theory the Hard Count should equal or be close to the Soft Count. But in practice it is not an easy task to collect hard evidence, from multiple witnesses, after the fact.

The  31,608 figure derives from the AuctionBytes observation that "indicated the seller had over 80,000 listings on eBay.com."

AuctionBytes does not reveal the identity of that seller. Making it possible that the seller with "80,000" items is part of the list of observed sellers. The 31,608 figure is derived from taking "80,000" and subtracting the largest listing count reported, which is 48,392. In this way listing counts are not added in twice.

In other words, if the seller with item count of "48,392" (part of the observed list of sellers) actually has "80,000" items, the total should be 161,358 + 31,608. The  31,608 being the uncounted part of the "80,000" (80,000 - 48,392). The 31,608 can increase to a maximum of 80,000, depending on who the seller is or is not.

For instance in the case of this seller not being on the reported list of 14 sellers, the soft count would be 161,358 plus  80,000 or 241,368.

There is also the case of the count from AuctionBytes being completely wrong; 0 items.

The Hard Count ranges from a minimum of 161,358 items, to a maximum of 241,368 items.

Total Listings Soft Count Methodology.

The "Soft Count" represents the total number of auction listings reported, but not necessarily verified by screen captures, etc.. The figure of 271,280 is the lower limit of those reported observations. As in the Hard Count, the 31,608 figure derives from the AuctionBytes observation that "indicated the seller had over 80,000 listings on eBay.com."

The observed Soft Count ranges from a minimum of 271,280 items, to a maximum of 351,280 items.

Estimated Listing Count Methodology.

Using the Medved "EBay Auction Counts: February 24, 2008 to March 1, 2008" chart, an estimate can be made as to the number of listings removed.

eBay stipulated two things:

• That the problem started "Friday night".
• That by March 2nd the "system issue has been resolved", i.e. the "accidental" listings were completely removed.

Logically we're looking for an increase and subsequent rapid decrease of at least 161,358 (Hard Count) listings and up to 351,280 (Soft Count), during the weekend time frame.

As it turns out there is just such an occurrence. There is an auction count spike in the auction count beginning at about the "2/29" (09:00 PM PST, Midnight EST) line and ending at about the "3/2" (09:00 PM PST, Midnight EST) line. From a graphing standpoint this increase conveniently begins after a relatively flat period of auction listings.

That would be approximately 13,900,000 (peak) - 13,400,000 (base) = 500,000 listings

• 13,393,000 28-FEB-2008 04:30 AM PST, 07:30 AM EST. Initial low point;   base.
• 13,910,000 29-FEB-2008 10:00 AM PST, 01:00 PM EST. Peak
• 13,454,000 01-MAR-2008 07:00 PM PST, 10:00 PM EST. Lowest point of the   day.
• 13,410,000 02-MAR-2008 02:32 PM PST, 05:32 PM EST. eBay announces "system issue has been resolved".
• 13,333,000 02-MAR-2008 08:00 PM PST, 11:00 PM EST. Lowest point of the day and weekend.

http://www.medved.net/cgi-bin/cal.exe?EIND  Chart times are Eastern Standard Time (EST).

Using Randy Smythe's 13.5 million average daily auction listings as a measure, the half-a-million auction listings represents 3.7% of the daily total. A significant amount as far as the report by eBay's Accountants to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is concerned.

Is There More?

The question arises, were there more "test" listings. Our answer is, you are free to ponder this question.

But think about this. eBay held a listing special beginning on March 1st. Historically auction counts rise during a listing special. Typically a million or more. How many listings would have to be removed to not only negate the expected listing count increase, but cause the count to fall?

And ponder this too. As a matter of good business, eBay does put back listings removed in error. Such an increase due to putting back deleted listings would show up much later on Medved ("EBay Auction Counts: March 2, 2008 to March 8, 2008"). Abet buried in subsequent listing specials and promotions.

http://www.medved.net/cgi-bin/cal.exe?EIND  Chart times are Eastern Standard Time (EST).

eBay's 2008 Q1 (1st Quarter, January 01 to March 31) report to the U.S. Security and Exchange Commission should be interesting.

 

II. SDC_PROD Seller List and Counts

"The world isn't run by weapons anymore, or energy, or money. It's run by little ones and zeroes, little bits of data. It's all just electrons." Cosmo, Sneakers (1992)

We believe that none of the Shopping.com sellers were aware their items were being transferred to eBay.com. As stipulated by eBay,  "Shopping.com listings appeared accidentally on eBay.com". It would be an interesting exercise to find out if the involved Shopping.com sellers were billed eBay.com listing fees at the time, and then credited afterwards.

 

SDC_PROD Seller List

This is a list of the fourteen (14) "sdc_prod" (shopping dot com) seller accounts that were located and reported, 29 February to 1 March 2008. Plus additional sdc_prod sellers that were located post event.

This list contains:

• A brief description of the seller.
• A link to the seller's eBay.com Feedback page.
• A link to the current number of items by the sdc_prod seller.
• A link to search Google for the specific sellers.
  • That link can help you perform a search of the Google archives for sdc_prod related material. Use the "repeat the search with the omitted results included" option to maximize the available data.
  • On Google links to eBay.com or ebay.auction.co.kr use the "Cached" link to obtain the archived data.
  • Because this issue involves eBay.com, ignore eBay Express references.
  • And be quick because the Google archive cache data  is dynamic; changing from day to day. 
• The "reported listing count" of items by sdc_prod name seller on eBay.com. As reported 29 February to 1 March 2008. And where available.
• Links to screen captures of these auction counts. Where available.

The total count from the screen captures, 161,358, is evidence that eBay Spokesman Usher Lieberman  made a number of "false and misleading statements to the press" when he said on multiple occasions   that "5,000 listings" or "35,000 listings" were involved.

Time permitting, this section will be updated.

 

* sdc_prod_301013_74 
Shopping.com seller The Twister Group
Member since Oct-18-06 in Illinois, United States 

• Feedback sdc_prod_301013_74
• Products on eBay.com from sdc_prod_301013_74
• Search Google for sdc_prod_301013_74

  eBay.com reported listing count, 27,291

"27076 items found" ( LINK Google archive screen capture )
"27076 items found" ( LINK screen capture from www.suspendedfromebay.com )
"27076 items found" ( LINK screen capture from www.companyexposed.com )
"27076 items found" ( LINK screen capture from pages.suddenlink.net/docswife )

* sdc_prod_305839_99
Shopping.com seller BargainBasementBatteries
Member since Oct-30-07 in California, United States

• Feedback sdc_prod_305839_99
• Products on eBay.com from sdc_prod_305839_99
• Search Google for sdc_prod_305839_99

  eBay.com reported listing count, 56

"56 items found" ( LINK screen capture from www.giovanni666.info )

* sdc_prod_310426
Shopping.com seller ANTOnline
Member since Feb-15-08 in Georgia, United States

• Feedback sdc_prod_310426
• Products on eBay.com from sdc_prod_310426
• Search Google for sdc_prod_310426

  eBay.com reported listing count, 21,798

"21798 items found" ( LINK screen capture from www.youtube.com/watch?v=mePI-UWDGOE )
"21798 items found" ( LINK screen capture from forums.ebay.com, www.suspendedfromebay.com, Google archive )

* sdc_prod_409455_97
Shopping.com seller Sababa Shopping
Member since Jul-16-07 in New York, United States

• Feedback sdc_prod_409455_97
• Products on eBay.com from sdc_prod_409455_97
• Search Google for sdc_prod_409455_97 

  eBay.com listing reported count unavailable

* sdc_prod_434012
Shopping.com  seller SpectrumSuperStore
Member since Apr-11-07 in California, United States

• Feedback sdc_prod_434012
• Products on eBay.com from sdc_prod_434012 
• Search Google for sdc_prod_434012

  eBay.com reported listing count, 35,002

"35011 items found" ( LINK screen capture from www.giovanni666.info )
"34998 items found" ( LINK screen capture from thevirginmarypretzel )
"Up to 10,000 listings can be displayed in this view" ( LINK screen capture from www.companyexposed.com )

* sdc_prod_442675_57
Shopping.com seller Boyne & Kelly L.L.C.
Member since Oct-25-07 in New Jersey, United States

• Feedback sdc_prod_442675_57 
• Products on eBay.com from sdc_prod_442675_57 
• Search Google for sdc_prod_442675_57

  eBay.com reported listing count, 4,702

* sdc_prod_9021_2
Shopping.com seller Buy.com
Member since Feb-22-08 in California, United States

• Feedback sdc_prod_9021_2
• Products on eBay.com from sdc_prod_9021_2 
• Search Google for sdc_prod_9021_2

  eBay.com reported listing count, 12,233

"12233 items found" ( LINK screen capture from www.youtube.com/watch?v=mePI-UWDGOE )
"12233 items found" ( LINK screen capture from img255.imageshack.us )

* sdc_prod_9055
Shopping.com seller Focus Camera
Member since Oct-30-07 in New York, United States

• Feedback sdc_prod_9055 
• Products on eBay.com from sdc_prod_9055
• Search Google for sdc_prod_9055

  eBay.com reported listing count, 1,925

* sdc_prod_9074_35
Shopping.com seller pcRUSH.com
Member since Feb-28-08 in California, United States

• Feedback sdc_prod_9074_35 
• Products on eBay.com from sdc_prod_9074_35 
• Search Google for sdc_prod_9074_35

  eBay.com reported listing count, 21,401

"21481 items found" ( LINK Google archive screen capture )
860 pages, 25 items per page. 859 x 25 = 21,475 items ( LINK Google archive screen capture )
"Up to 10,000 listings can be displayed in this view" ( LINK screen capture from www.suspendedfromebay.com )

* sdc_prod_9090
Shopping.com seller CompSource Inc.
Member since Mar-26-07 in Ohio, United States

• Feedback sdc_prod_9090 
• Products on eBay.com from sdc_prod_9090 
• Search Google for sdc_prod_9090 

  eBay.com reported listing count, 32,601

"32601 items found" ( LINK Google archive screen capture )
1301 pages, 25 items per page. 1300 x 25 = 32,500 items ( LINK Google archive screen capture  )

* sdc_prod_9124_14
Shopping.com seller TheNerds, Inc.
Member since Dec-12-07 in Florida, United States

• Feedback sdc_prod_9124_14
• Products on eBay.com from sdc_prod_9124_14
• Search Google for sdc_prod_9124_14

  eBay.com reported listing count, 48,392

* sdc_prod_9352_67
Shopping.com seller Digital Foto Club
Member since May-28-07 in New York, United States

• Feedback sdc_prod_9352_67
• Products on eBay.com from sdc_prod_9352_67
• Search Google for sdc_prod_9352_67

  eBay.com reported listing count, 30,278

* sdc_prod_9391_43
Shopping.com seller Adorama
Member since Feb-22-08 in New York, United States

• Feedback sdc_prod_9391_43
• Products on eBay.com from sdc_prod_9391_43
• Search Google for sdc_prod_9391_43

  eBay.com reported listing count, 11,102

"11102 items found" ( LINK Google archive screen capture )

* sdc_prod_9452
Shopping.com seller eTronics, Inc.
Member since Jul-25-07 in New York, United States

• Feedback sdc_prod_9452 
• Products on eBay.com from sdc_prod_9452 
• Search Google for sdc_prod_9452 

  eBay.com reported listing count, 24,499

* sdc_prod_90076
Shopping.com seller OnlineSports, Inc.
Member since Nov-13-06 in California, United States

• Feedback sdc_prod_90076
• Products on eBay.com from sdc_prod_90076
• Search Google for sdc_prod_90076

  eBay.com reported listing count, UNKNOWN

III. What Happened?

"Never underestimate the power of human stupidity."
Robert Heinlein, Time Enough For Love (1973)

There are two basic explanations.

1. eBay deliberately elevated auction counts, in effect producing "materially false and misleading statements" to improve their stock price. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission violation. A simple plan based on the simple but stupid premise that 'no one will find this.' Orange jumpsuits all around.
2. Human (Computer) Error. A cadre of programmers are allowed to run large scale tests on a live system. And goofed.
 

We had planned to explore and write about each possibility, but we'll leave that for another time.

IV. "THIS IS NOT AN EBAY LISTING"

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."
George Santayana, The Life of Reason (1905)

Event Timeframe

Like many incidents, there are events that lead up to it, follow it, are associated with it, or simply happen in the same time frame.

Here is a short chronology of those occurrences.

 

== 2007 ==

.

February 2007

http://www.medved.net/cgi-bin/cal.exe?EIND  Chart times are Eastern Standard Time.

.

9 March 2007

Are Ebay's Listing Numbers Inflated by Fraud?
03/09/2007 08:31 PM                  ID: 60834

Ebay Inc's (NASDAQ:EBAY) listing numbers have demonstrated dramatic volatility during the 'Vladuz' security scare. Some Ebay users have suggested that the millions of fraudulent listings are significantly inflating Ebay's listing numbers.

In response, an Ebay spokesperson claims: "there just isn't enough information there to tie the swings in listings that they show to any one cause". They declined to comment as to the number of accounts that may have been compromised.

It is also suggested that Medved's calculations for Ebay's total of listing numbers are overestimated too. As the Ebay spokesperson confirms, the Medved statistics used to quantify Ebay's listing numbers "far exceed our real activity in this area".

Source: www.theregister.co.uk

http://www.medved.net/cgi-bin/cal.exe?EIND  Chart times are Eastern Standard Time.

 

== 2008 ==

.

13 February 2008

"February 13th, insertion fees for all auction-style and fixed price listings will be only 20 cents!"
Stephanie Tilenius, General Manager for eBay North America

"20¢ Auction-style and Fixed Price listing fees" (eBay)

http://www.medved.net/cgi-bin/cal.exe?EIND  Chart times are Eastern Standard Time.

.

20 February 2008

Start of eBay Policy changes and media fee cut.

*** A Message from Bill Cobb - New Pricing and Other News ***
General Announcements
January 29, 2008 | 05:59 AM PST/PT

***A Message from Lorrie Norrington – New Media Category Pricing Effective February 20***
"I am pleased to announce we are accelerating our plan to phase-in category-specific pricing for media. This fee cut will coincide with the site-wide pricing changes previously announced to take effect on February 20." 
Lorrie Norrington, President of eBay Global Marketplace Operations, February 11, 2008 | 10:01AM PST/PT

.

20 February 2008

Regarding the events of February 20th.

"The bug was related to the gallery feature that allows users to place a small photo of their item on the initial search returns page, a spokesman said. EBay traditionally charged 35 cents to include a gallery photo, but as part of the policy changes that went into effect February 20, they are now free of charge.
However, "the code actually rolled out three hours late, so there were a certain number of listings ... that didn't get gallery free"
Usher Lieberman eBay Spokesman to PC Magazine, 4 March 2008

• It is unclear from the PC Magazine article, if the "bug" was implemented on February 20th, the day of the "policy changes", or on February 29th.

 

.

20 February 2008

"the bug first emerged on Friday"
"But it wasn't a test. It ended up being a bug," Usher Lieberman 
Usher Lieberman eBay Spokesman to PC Magazine, 4 March 2008

Despite Usher Lieberman's assertion that the "bug" happened on February 29th, there is evidence showing sdc_prod products appearing before the 29th.

While there are reports of sdc_prod listings appearing as early as December 2007, the earliest evidence of a "bug" is 20 February 2008.

Samples of a Shopping.com listings inserted onto eBay.com.

"Items for sale by sdc_prod_310426"
"Time listed" "Feb-20 15:49"

.

22 February 2008

Samples of a Shopping.com listings inserted onto eBay.com.

"Items for sale by sdc_prod_409455_97"
"Time listed" "Feb-22 10:22"

Google archive - February 29, 2008 16:37:41 GMT
Seller sdc_prod_434012, item number 320199419130, 30 day auction listing. Seller has no 30 day store. Start date February 22nd
"eBay (item 320199419130 end time March-22-08 06:45:06 PDT)" screen shot.

.

23 February 2008

Sample of a Shopping.com listing inserted onto eBay.com.

Listings on eBay.com are accessible on eBay International sites, such as eBay South Korea (ebay.auction.co.kr).

Google archive - Feb 29, 2008 22:42:51 GMT
Seller sdc_prod_310426, item number 120225811907. Start date February 23rd.
Time remaining on 30 day listing, 23 days 3 hours 35 minutes 46 seconds, screen shot

.

23 February 2008
05:49 AM PST

redsbe  (Private ) Feb-23-08 05:49 PST 1 of 33

When I search ebay or via google for test listings I only find a few hundred yet total ebay listings are now running at or above Feb 12th numbers of 12.4 m (before 20 cent listings and boycott) so I fail to see the importance of test listings in inflating numbers.

.

27 February 2008
06:04:36 PM PST

PayPal and eBay Pay Shoppers to Shop 
AuctionBytes
By: Ina Steiner
Wed Feb 27 2008 18:04:36

.

28 February 2008
04:30 PM PST, 7:30 PM EST (Eastern Standard Time)

eBay Auction count at lowest point of the day; 13,393,000 items.

Coincidentally, or not, at about the time many of eBay's employees head for home, the auction count begins to rise. Did some programmer turn something on, and leave for the day, intending to check on the code's progress the following morning?

Auction count rises to 13,405,000 by 07:30 PST, 10:30 EST.

http://www.medved.net/cgi-bin/cal.exe?EIND  Chart times are Eastern Standard Time.

.

28 February 2008
09:00:01 PM PST, 12:00:01 AM 29 February EST (Eastern Standard Time).

Medved "EBay Auction Counts" approximately 13,425,000 items. First count on the February 29th chart.

http://www.medved.net/cgi-bin/cal.exe?EIND  Chart times are Eastern Standard Time (EST).

.

28 February 2008
11:59:59 PM PST

 "eBay is running a marketing campaign to encourage buyers to shop on its site by offering them coupons. One buyer sent AuctionBytes a coupon he had received (pictured) that offered $5 toward shipping on any one item. Part of the terms and conditions follows:

This Offer is valid only when you pay with, and seller accepts, PayPal. This Offer is intended for the recipient whose eBay User ID is printed on the Offer and purchase must be made on eBay.com with that eBay User ID. This Offer is not transferable.

This Offer is for one-time use. It may only be redeemed on the total shipping cost of an item or items on one purchase from a single seller, using a single method of shipping and single currency, in a single transaction. This Offer expires February 28, 2008 at 11:59:59 PM (PST)."
AuctionBytes, Wed Feb 27 2008 18:04:36

.
29 February 2008
04:23 AM PST

eBay Developer's Program
eBay Developer Forums > Technical Questions: eBay Shopping Web Services
Exclude Sellers Issue

Re: ExcludeSellers Issue
Posted: Feb 29, 2008 4:23 AM
"Because of the wide variety of searches that we do, we could easily use 200 to 400 ID's. 500 would be a good number for us."
stsi.com

The above statement is in response to the earlier part of the thread:

ExcludeSellers Issue
Posted: Jan 10, 2008 11:40 AM
Is there a limit on the number of Excluded Sellers that can be specified in a GetSearchResults call? I have several excluded sellers that keep returning search results. I have checked the XML for the call, and it looks correct.

Also, is it a problem if entries are duplicated? (I will be correcting this in any event.)

Thanks.
stsi.com

Re: ExcludeSellers Issue
Posted: Jan 10, 2008 12:12 PM
After further research, it looks like there is a limit of 100 excluded sellers. Can this limit be raised?
stsi.com

Re: ExcludeSellers Issue
Posted: Jan 14, 2008 3:42 PM
"Yes the limit is 100, which most users have found sufficient for their use case. How many IDs do you have?"
Rekha Patel, [email protected], eBay Developer Support, 11 January 2008

Re: ExcludeSellers Issue
Feb 29, 2008 4:27 AM
"Also, is it possible to use wildcards for excluded sellers? For example, I'd like to exclude the various iterations of sdc_prod_*, instead of having to type in all the numbers that this seller uses...."
stsi.com

.
29 February 2008
10:00 AM PST, 01:00 PM Eastern Standard Time

Medved "EBay Auction Counts" reaches maximum for the day of approximately 13,900,000 items. The
previous low count was 13,393,000 items on February 28th at 04:30 PM PST, 7:30 EST. An increase of about half-a-million listings in 16.5 hours.

Coincidentally, or not, during the time many of eBay's employees show up at work, the auction count abruptly stops rising.

One scenario:

• 07:00AM (10:00AM EST) - Programmers apply brakes to sdc_prod application.
• 08:30AM (11:30AM EST) - Or so they thought, sdc_prod application continues to add listings.
• 10:00AM (13:00AM EST) - Management puts  brakes to sdc_prod. Programmer grunts delete sdc_prod listings.

A case could be made that by 10AM eBay applied working corrective action on the sdc_prod listing problem. Because at this point the auction count drops.

http://www.medved.net/cgi-bin/cal.exe?EIND  Chart times are Eastern Standard Time (EST).

.
29 February 2008
01:00 PM PST, 04:00 PM Eastern Standard Time

Medved "EBay Auction Counts" drops slightly approximately 13,875,000 items, from 13,900,000 items. Last count of the February 29th chart.

.

29 February 2008

Regarding the events of "Friday night" 29 February 2008.

eBay's statements:

1) "a "bug" in its system had accidentally placed listings from eBay-owned shopping.com onto eBay.com late Friday night."
However, "the code actually rolled out three hours late, so there were a certain number of listings ... that didn't get gallery free, so we were going back and fixing that" on Friday, the spokesman said. "What happened was, when we wrote the code to implement that fix in the database table, there was a string that was left on there that populated and sent shopping.com listings onto ebay.com that it shouldn't have."
Approximately 5,000 listings were pulled from shopping.com, but they have since been removed, according to eBay."
PC Magazine, 4 March 2008

2) "eBay spokesperson Usher Lieberman initially told AuctionBytes they appeared due to a test, but on Monday, said he was incorrect and that the listings were the result of a glitch.
On Tuesday, Lieberman explained the nature of the glitch. Programmers rolled out code on Friday evening that was meant to credit certain listings that were eligible for free Gallery. The credit was due to them because eBay had promised sellers Gallery would be free for listings started at a certain time of day, and the code had been rolled out 3 hours past the deadline.
Lieberman said the programmers inadvertently caused the Shopping.com listings to appear on eBay.com when it created and launched the script to credit the sellers' accounts for Gallery fees.
Lieberman said fewer than 35,000 listings were affected by the glitch."
AuctionBytes, 5 March 2008

3) "An eBay spokesman told PC Magazine at the time that 5,000 shopping.com listings were erroneously placed on ebay.com. After sellers expressed doubt about that number in the comments section, eBay was asked to again confirm that it was indeed 5,000. The same spokesman responded Friday that he had originally told PC Magazine that eBay pulled 35,000 listings, but a review of the interview confirmed that he said 5,000."
PC Magazine, 10 March 2008

4) "Editor's Note: The eBay spokesman confirmed Monday that the number of postings pulled from shopping.com was indeed 35,000."
PC Magazine, 10 March 2008

.
29 February 2008
06:41 PM PST

First responders to Shopping.com listing anomaly.

By this time, the Medved "EBay Auction Counts" are somewhere between 13,875,000 listings (29 February 2008 01:00 PM PST) and 13,502,000 listings (1 March 2008 08:30 AM PST). "Between" as the Medved chart is blank between those times.

A possible scenario would be that eBay has been deleting listings since 10:00 AM; at least 8 hours. Or we should say an eBay application has been deleting sdc_prod listings.

eBay's March 1st Listing Special begins in 5 hours 19 minutes.

eBay user comments, edited.

mm*mc (154)  Feb-29-08 18:41 PST

Look at this 35000 listings never sold anything these look funny to me. Let me know what you think check this out. 320199384960

neverstopsworking (127) Feb-29-08 18:49 PST

WOW!!

Did you Notice You CAN'T Bid on Any Of Them, You can Only Watch Them and They're listed for at least 21 more days??

.

29 February 2008
07:25 PM PST

Referenced by PC Magazine article.

mydiscountstation  (921 )        Feb-29-08 19:25 PST

http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZsdc_prod_434012

is e-bay padding their "listings" numbers?

This guy has over 35000 items. And there is no button for a buy it now and no button for making a bid.

interesting

.

29 February 2008
08:56 PM PST

eBay user comments, edited.

cmiprch  (1732 )        Feb-29-08 20:56 PST       44 of 418

That sounds more like a hack, to me.

Sounds more like a conspiracy to me. 30 of these kinds of ID's with 35K listings is 1M items. Imagine the kind of volume drop you can hide with 30, 60 or 90 or whatever number of these IDs.

cmiprch  (1732 )       Feb-29-08 21:19 PST       48 of 418

So "sdc" = shopping dot com?

Nice listings boost if eBay injected everything on shopping.com

.

29 February 2008
09:29 PM PST

Referenced by PC Magazine article.

monkey_business304  (0 )  Feb-29-08 21:29 PST

I have been collecting all ebay's padded listings and forwarding them to the FTC so they will investigate them.
Everything you can do will help.They should not get away with the crap they are doing.Im going to do my best to make sure they dont.

windorphin  (31 )  Feb-29-08 21:40 PST  4 of 273

Don't waste your time. They aren't fake listings. They are your replacements. They're bringing in the big guns now. Huge retailers to compete with.

.

29 February 2008
10:25 PM PST

eBay user comments, edited.

moopy_inc  (5562 )  Feb-29-08 22:25 PST 240 of 516

you would think they would at least use different user names. SDC_prod....I guess that is easier to keep up with. SDC = shopping dot com.....brilliant. haaaaa

orange_cape_hides_me  (Private ) Feb-29-08 22:30 PST 25 of 51

I think the API developer angle is probably where the answer lies. Someone is clearly testing auction formats and listings, and these are not meant to be bid on.

.

29 February 2008
10:31:50 PM PST, 12:31:50 CST &1:31:50 AM 1 March EST

12:31:50 AM CST
"I see. Actually, this is not an eBay listing, the problem is it's a Shopping.com listing that is showing on our site by mistake."
Evan M. A., eBay Live Help Customer Service

12:32:25 AM CST
It is a current issue, yes, we have a bug on it. These are meant to be on shopping.com only but due to some reason are showing on eBay as well and can't be bought through the site."
Evan M. A., eBay Live Help Customer Service

.

29 February 2008
10:35 PM PST

eBay user comments, edited.

badmomster (Private) Feb-29-08 20:35 PST 68 of 521

It seems to me that if Ebay is boosting their numbers with bogus auctions, that's an issue for the SEC.

niruss (1979) Feb-29-08 20:36 PSST 70 of 521

Also for the stockholders and the FTC.

bosshossman1  (1 )  Feb-29-08 22:33 PST 255 of 516

We are now up to 7 Ids, Keep up the good work.
I will keep the totals coming.

sdc_prod_434012 # of listings 35002
sdc_prod_9124_14 # of listings 48395
sdc_prod_9074_35 # of listings 21401
sdc_prod_9452 # of listings 24501
sdc_prod_301013_74 # of listings 27291
sdc_prod_9352_67 # of listings 30278
sdc_ prod_ 9055 # of listings 1925

justinal  (391 )        Feb-29-08 22:45 PST       31 of 273

Just curious, exactly what FTC code violation are you reporting them for?

And the SEC? It's an auction listing, not stock manipulation.

Going crazy will not help your cause.

aenthal  (2243 )       Feb-29-08 23:04 PST       34 of 273

These bogus auctions are not a violation of anything.
EBay has a right to put anything they wish on their web servers, and they apparently wish to use space up with displays of auctions that don't exist.

krs6670  (107 )  Feb-29-08 23:12 PST 35 of 273

a trust and safety poster kind of figured it out...
sdc= shopping dot com   

Feb-29-08 23:36 PST 385 of 700

O.K. looks like ebay is pulling all the listings. All the Ids we posted have had all the auctions pulled.

vsbeauty53  (15 )  Feb-29-08 23:59 PST  17 of 421

if they had nothing to hide, they didn't need to remove those (fake) listings. they are all gone now!

.
1 March 2008

Regarding the events of Saturday 1 March 2008.

"This was a limited test that has run its course" Usher Lieberman, eBay Spokesperson
AuctionBytes, 1 March 2008 01:56:54 AM PST

"He said he had made a mistake when he called the Shopping.com listings a test on Saturday morning. He was trying to track it down and after talking to a few people, felt comfortable saying it was a test, and subsequently found out the listings had appeared accidentally. Usher said it was his fault for initially getting it wrong."
Ina Steiner, AuctionBytes, 4 March 2008 04:02:46 AM PST

"AuctionBytes looked at one Shopping.com selling account on Saturday morning, it indicated the seller had over 80,000 listings on eBay.com"
Ina Steiner, AuctionBytes, 5 March 2008

• AuctionBytes does not report this fact, "80,000 listings," for 4 days.

.

1 March 2008
12:00:01 AM PST, 3:00:01 AM Easter Standard Time

eBay listing upgrade special, "2 days only March 1-2", begins. eBay sellers can list products at reduced prices. Historically the auction counts rise significantly during these eBay specials.

***Get Gallery Plus, Value Pack, Featured Plus!, and Picture Pack at a Discount This Weekend*** 
"The promotion will start on Saturday, March 1, 2008 at 00:00:01 Pacific time (12:00 a.m. plus one second) and end on Sunday, March 2, 2008 at 23:59:59 Pacific time (11:59 p.m. plus 59 seconds)."

There is no 12:00:01 AM count per sec, as there is a gap in the record from 01:00 PM PST (04:00 PM EST) February 29th to 08:30 AM PST (11:30 AM EST) March 1st.

13,875,000 listings, 29 February 2008 01:00 PM PST (04:00 PM EST)

http://www.medved.net/cgi-bin/cal.exe?EIND  Chart times are Eastern Standard Time (EST).

.
1 March 2008
00:02 AM PST

eBay user comments, edited.

vsbeauty53  (15 ) Mar-01-08 00:02 PST 20 of 426

look, I found this:

Here is a copy of the list again for those that missed it.
sdc_prod_434012 # of listings 35002
sdc_prod_9124_14 # of listings 48395
sdc_prod_9074_35 # of listings 21401
sdc_prod_9452 # of listings 24501
sdc_prod_301013_74 # of listings 27291
sdc_prod_9352_67 # of listings 30278
sdc_ prod_ 9055 # of listings 1925
sdc_prod_9021_2 # of listings 12233
sdc_prod_9391_43 #oflistings 11100

moopy_inc  (5562 )  Mar-01-08 00:17 PST  459 of 786

well, we all saw it, others on powersellersunite.com has seen it. I just wish these were found during the day. So many more people could have seen them.

atticcleanin  (35 ) Mar-01-08 00:25 PST  477 of 786

well should anyone need pics of id, then fb page then lisitng i think i grabbed like 4 or 5 of the 9

I got screenshots of a dozen different feedback names associated with SDC.

sdc_prod_434012 = SpectrumSuperStore
sdc_prod_9021_2 = Buy.com (who is NARU!)
sdc_prod_9124_14 = TheNerds, Inc.
sdc_prod_9452 = eTronics, Inc.
sdc_prod_409455_97 = Sababa Shopping
sdc_prod_9090 = CompSource Inc.
sdc_prod_310426 = ANTOnline (who is NARU!)
sdc_prod_9074_35 = pcRUSH.com (who is NARU!)
sdc_prod_9352_67 = Digital Foto Club
sdc_prod_301013_74 = The Twister Group
sdc_prod_305839_99 = BargainBasementBatteries
sdc_prod_9391_43 = Adorama (who is NARU!)

Since those are all unique (HA!) user IDs, we have at least 12 bogus sellers running around.

buyingcarsforfun  (80 ) Mar-01-08 01:36 PST 574 of 669

O.K. they are right back at it. I was double checking the Ids and these 4 have auctions listed again. Take a look.
sdc_prod_301013_74
sdc_prod_310426
sdc_prod_9352_67
sdc_prod_9452

.
1 March 2008
01:56:54 AM PST

Mystery Shopping.com Listings on eBay? 
By: Ina Steiner, AuctionBytes
Sat Mar 1 2008 01:56:54

Excerpt:

 
• "Mystery listings are appearing on eBay that don't allow shoppers to bid or buy. The listings appear to be feeds from Shopping.com sellers. A look at the User ID sdc_prod_301013_74, for example, shows the seller has 27,076 listings - but the ones we clicked on did not have bid or buy buttons."

.
1 March 2008
05:20 AM PST

eBay user comment, edited.

molerfamily  (1 )        Mar-01-08 05:20 PST       69 of 273

Considering eBay does not report figures, it seems kinda like the conspiracies are rampant again. Because 3rd parties out there attempt to circumvent and create programs to provide folks this, it is just not logical for eBay to gain anything from this.

I agree with thizzwear completely on this. And Thizz, does not matter what date they were doing this testing, all the chicken littles will make that date fit into the agenda which they have. There is no winning for eBay for anything they do, the Chicken Littles of the world will use their twisted logic to make it appear they did this for some adverse reasoning.

The more these chicken littles talk, the less eductated they look. It has really become a joke to read all these things that are being said now.

.
1 March 2008
time unknown

eBay Numbers Inflated By Shopping.com Product Listings?
Pheebay.com
Date: 03/01/2008

Excerpts:

• "I'm betting Murphys Law is driving this event rather than any evil empire."
• "For me this isn't a significant issue in isolation but there is a potentially more worrying aspect to this story. Many readers will share the belief of many that eBay has never been good at introducing new or changed code leading many users to feel like Beta testers all too often. With the amount of changes planned for the coming months I have a hunch today is just one of a string of "cock ups" we will be reading and reporting in the near future."

.
1 March 2008
06:18 AM PST

eBay user comments, edited.

flaura22  (333 )        Mar-01-08 06:18 PST       79 of 418

I don't believe ebay has done anything with the intent to manipulate or deceive. The point is that IF whatever sort of glitch this is has mistakenly over inflated the numbers, then eBay is responsible for making the shareholders aware of the accounting errors IF the mistake has an impact on the stock values and/or IF the errors impact the financial reports to the shareholders.
I don't know about the whole casino scenario you've got going, I was thinking more along the lines of Enron and such.

eBay cannot be held accountable for any errors if they can say that they didn't know, which is why someone must have proof that an officer of eBay or PREFERABLY THE GENERAL COUNSEL FOR EBAY has been made aware of the possibility of a considerable accounting error in the financial reports to the shareholders.

shwp1  (1919 ) Mar-01-08 07:03 PST 681 of 878

I asked this earlier and it's still nagging at me.

Someone...[forgive me but I have forgotten who],
posted a link to another forum where one of the
sdc###### was inquiring how many id's they could have...
The were told 100....how many did they need?
sdc###### responded 400 or 500

soooooooooo

If sdc= shoppingdotcom
and shoppingdotcom is owned by Ebay

Isn't that like asking yourself a question...and doing it where everyone can hear [read] you ask?

the*katy*workshop  (1468 )  Mar-01-08 07:11 PST 683 of 878

27076 items found (Save this search)
Show only: Items from seller sdc_prod_301013_74

type2mtg  (51 )        Mar-01-08 07:10 PST       43 of 426

The absolute ONLY way for these items to show "by accident" is if the eBay techs included them in the database. If this was done "on accident" then those tech should absolutely be fired, because they are mixing two different databases and that is potentially a MAJOR screwup.

It seems that they probably have done this on purpose, because it's highly unlikely that the two different databases share the same table titles and attributes. Meaning that the SDC listings would have had to have been converted to fit the eBay database before they would show up, otherwise they would just error out and potentially bring down the whole eBay database.

Something is not right with this...you cannot just have stuff appear "on accident"...not when you're dealing with databases.

the*katy*workshop  (1468 )  Mar-01-08 07:13 PST 685 of 786

19808 items found (Save this search)
Show only: Items from seller sdc_prod_9452

.

1 March 2008
08:10 AM PST, 16:10 GMT

200k Shopping.com items appear on eBay 
TameBay
Author: Chris Dawson
Posted at: Saturday, March 1st, 2008 at 4:10 pm   
Tags for this post: eBay.com, shopping.com, Snafu

Excerpt:

• "User names such as sdc_prod_9124_14 with some 48,000 eBay listings appeared, although currently all the listings appear to have been removed. SDC is the acronym for shopping.com, the shopping comparison site owned by eBay.
   
  sdc_prod_9124_14 The listings had no bid/bin links, simply a link to add to watched items leading so speculation that eBay are using them to increase listing numbers. A more rational explanation is that some one made an error in launching Shopping.com listings onto eBay and the error was swiftly reversed."

.
1 March 2008
08:21 AM PST

eBay user comment, edited.

emovieposter.com  (20539 )        Mar-01-08 08:21 PST       84 of 418

Just like they were nailed cold with the "shipping stars" snafu, they are nailed cold with this one. Of course they will announce it was a simple mistake, and get rid of the fake listings.

.

1 March 2008
08:30 AM PST, 11:30 AM EST

Medved "EBay Auction Counts" approximately 13,502,000 items. The auction count was previously
13,875,000 listings (29 February 2008 01:00 PM PST)

Eight and a half hours into eBay's listing upgrade special, "2 days only March 1-2", and the auction count is falling.

http://www.medved.net/cgi-bin/cal.exe?EIND  Chart times are Eastern Standard Time (EST).

.
1 March 2008
09:27 AM PST

eBay user comment, edited.

sandrarn83  (2919 )       Mar-01-08 09:27 PST       52 of 426

I read an article recently that Ebay (who owns Shopping) was going to start having some of the Shopping feeds shown on Ebay. That was one of the reasons I signed up for Shopping but then found that all my Amazon listings were already on Shopping. So no point in competing with my self and using my own money to be seen on Shopping when Amazon pays and does it for me.

Comment, edited.

Randy Smythe Says:  
March 1st, 2008 at 5:30 pm (17:30 GMT), 09:30 AM PST

Chris, it’s likely that it was a slip-up. There have been discussions about integrating SDC listings into to eBay for awhile. These listings would not have shown up on eBay.com in the form that they did if eBay hadn’t set them up this way. So I would say it was a slip-up before a test. Eventually we will see SDC listing on the main platform.

I agee with you that it wasn’t eBay trying to inflate listing numbers.

eBay user comments, edited.

djcarlos1  (3838 )        Mar-01-08 09:46 PST       93 of 418

I don't know if it's a glitch, hack or purposeful deception. However, what makes it curious is all the auctions I looked at started last Thursday the day after the listing sale ended.

Say it isn't so, Joel?
Posted: Mar-01-08 11:23 PST
boycott*victoriously  (17 )  Posts: 2,108

I must have missed that one. These are the ones I found, with last night's and this morning's results shown. That list you have only shows 10,000 counts ... could have been much more than that:

ID found:...............first shot..... Now
sdc_prod_9452...........19808....still there
sdc_prod_30103_74....27076....still there
sdc_prod_9055............1925.....zero now
sdc_prod_442675_57...4702.....zero now
sdc_prod_9124_14.......42578...zero now
sdc_prod_9090............ 24501...zero now
sdc_prod_434012..........35000...zero now

.
1 March 2008
01:02 PM PST, 03:02 PM CST

eBay Customer Service Agent (Lanie R.) and an eBay customer:
15:02 Agent Sent Message: I'm sorry for the inconvenience.This is actually an issue on the site right now I'm afraid. This is actually a Shopping.com listing that's appearing incorrectly on eBay.
15:03 Agent Sent Message: Our Technical team is working on getting resolved though, and I had this reported for you so we can add your account to the list.
15:03 Customer: Do these incorrect listings show up in ebays total listings/ Wouldn't they scew the listings totals?
15:04 Agent Sent Message: Oh, no it shouldn't though.
15:05 Agent Sent Message: The team is checking on the accounts of the sellers you reported as well for further investigation.
15:05 Customer: Shoudn't or absolutely doesn't?
15:05 Agent Sent Message: Absolutely doesn't.This is only a glitch on the search pages.
15:06 Agent Sent Message: You can check it from time to time to see it not on the eBay pages, only on Shopping.com
15:06 Customer: can you explain that a little further?
15:08 Customer: I'm not familiar with shopping.com. Why would their listings show up on ebay. Anf the one I mentionaed has ebay seller feedback.
15:08 Agent Sent Message: Sure! In the eBay account of the seller for items sold at eBay, it shouldn't get reflected, but if you were referring to the "items from seller" link for all items he is selling, I'm afraid the Shopping.com items will also appear and is confirmed as a tec
15:08 Agent Sent Message: hnical glitch.
15:09 Customer: can you respond to my last question also?
15:09 Agent Sent Message: Sorry for the confusion, Shopping.com is a specialty site owned by eBay but we handle separate accounts. It's similar to Express or Half.com
3/1/2008 15:10 Agent Sent Message: Ah, okay, Here's what happens, this particular seller has an account with SHopping.com to sell items, which is a different one as an eBay seller.

.
1 March 2008
01:12 PM PST

eBay user comments, edited.

suzisstuff  (3233 )  Mar-01-08 13:12 PST 8 of 33

Cyoung 67-
Another poster and I caught that auction in the act last night. OP did a “snapshot” when it was at 35,000 listings and sent it to ABC NEWS. I was watching it around the same time and the listings went from 37,000 at the first point. I checked in on it 4 more times, 2nd time I think it was 17,000 auctions, then 7,000 and then 5,000 and finally in went to 536. Now it is at zero. OP and I both posted our findings but cannot find it this morning. Surprise, Surprise!

EBAY CAUGHT IN THE ACT!

molerfamily  (1 )       Mar-01-08 14:08 PST       195 of 273

Would it not stand to reason, that if some deal was worked out, with say Shopping.com and premier members that pay to Shopping.com get free exposure listings with eBay, that in fact it is not costing them anything to have these listed in an eBay store account? That would make sense.
.
I do not profess to know what arrangement that Shopping.com merchants have, but it seems I read something to that effect somewhere.

rjrkea  (3275 ) View Listings | Report       Mar-01-08 13:56 PST       112 of 418

Well on Monday the Expanded Seller Protection enrollment link showed up for a period of time before getting removed.

Maybe this was some sort of a test like that where it went "live" and then was taken down.

On one hand I would think if it were a test, they would have used a much smaller amount of listings so it wasn't so visible and on the other hand maybe they wanted to see how large a volume they could handle for sellers as a means of luring users back from amazon or not lose them to amazon.

And then also maybe they wanted to see what current, knowledgeable users would say about the listings to quickly find out what "goofs" there were.

.

1 March 2008
2:55 PM, time zone unknown

eBay padding listing numbers on Auction site?
www.companyexposed.com
March 1, 2008
Published by admin @ 2:55 pm

Excerpt:

• "Today the Blogs and eBay Finance forums and eBay Seller forums are buzzing with examples of mysterious listings of items on which you cannot bid or which you cannot buy. These number in tens of thousands on seller accounts that were located today."

.
1 March 2008
2:56 PM PST

eBay user comment, edited.

The Number of Auctions
Posted: Mar-01-08 14:56 PST
lacemaker3  (300 ) Posts: 3,874

sdc_prod_301013_74 has been a member since Oct-18-06.

If you view the Text-format only page for their listings, it's very interesting. I am viewing it with 200 items per page.
- there are 27076 items found (but only 10000 can be viewed in the Text-format list)
- The first page of listings were started Jun-04-07 and ended on Nov-01-07 (why are they still listed in Text-format only? The item #s are invalid.)
- On the 15th page of listings, approx. half were started Apr-19-07 and ended Nov-15-07 16:19:44 PST. That's approx. 2900 listings that ended before Nov-15-07, and should no longer be on the site.
- All the rest of the listings (approx 7100) were started on Feb-25-08 and will end Mar-26-08, between 14:22:26 PDT and 14:32:16 PDT. They are 30 day listings.

.

1 March 2008
time unknown

Ebay Padding Counts w Fake Listings in Wake of Strike?
From: cappnonymous
Added: March 01, 2008

.

1 March 2008
05:24 PM PST

eBay user comment, edited

cloudberry121  (18 ) Mar-01-08 17:24 PST 18 of 20

There's been a lot of this going on this past month. Thousands of listings within weeks or even days and about 20% FB, if any. Odd times.

username: sdc_prod_301013_74 has 27291 listings.
username: sdc_prod_9090 has 32601 listings.
username: sdc_prod_9352_67 has 30278 listings.
username: sdc_prod_9074_35 has 21481 listings

.

1 March 2008
time unknown

Bogus Listings!!!
By dhoosierswife

Is eBay POSSIBLY padding their listings numbers???
By dhoosierswife

.

1 March 2008
06:06 PM PST

eBay user comments, edited

just_not_thinking  (0 )        Mar-01-08 18:06 PST       68 of 426

Looks like the possee slept late today!

Sandra and possee why do you care about this?

How does it effect you in any way at all?

Why can't ebay run tests on their own site?!!

vsbeauty53  (15 )        Mar-01-08 18:14 PST       71 of 333

Gosh! ebay Number of Listings dropped! close to 500,000 items just gone!

eBay view charts 14,109,304 -472525 -3.35% March 1, 2008 9:06 pm

What an overnight change!

pepins4b8e  (21 )        Mar-01-08 18:16 PST       73 of 333

You want them to let you know every time they do tests?
You think other sites let you know when they do test? You're dreaming!

sojo2004  (2698 )      Mar-01-08 18:23 PST     78 of 333

OK, this is what ebay says about test auctions:

Guidelines for Test Listings

Listings in the Test Auction category must be clearly labeled as a ’test’, both in the listing title and description.
No more than 10 test listings should run at once by a single account.
Accounts that leave or receive feedback in the Test Auction category must be used for test purposes only. This means that members must use a different account to leave or receive feedback for test purposes than is used for buy or sell on the site. Accounts found to be in violation of this guideline will be subject to immediate suspension.

Any Feedback left on test listings should be clearly labeled ‘test’.

All ’test’ feedback is subject to removal at any time, at eBay's discretion.

Normal listing fees will be charged when listing in the test category.

But I guess that just applies to members, not the management.

But in answer to pepin -- yes, if we have to clearly state a test listing is a test listing, then I DO think ebay should have to do the same.

sojo

Things are going swimmingly, thank you for asking.

.
1 March 2008
07:00 PM PST, 10:00 PM EST (Eastern Standard Time)

Medved "EBay Auction Counts"  approximately 13,455,000 items. Auction count at the lowest point of the day.

.
1 March 2008

08:09 PM PST

eBay user comment, edited.

time2buy1949  (Private )  Feb-29-08 20:09 PST

Search 19140 THATCH RAKE 15" 19T EA 12912226

Comments please? Just saw this at the very tail end of a thread in the Feedback Forum. Thought it was appropriate to mention here. (They had a different item number from this seller posted, but I'm not sure I can do that.)

No price, no way to bid on it (I tried $30 just to see what would happen - it said transaction blocked, cannot bid on this kind of item) and if you click on see sellers other listings he has 35K+ others. And it's a zero account. Location - CA. Website in auction too.

How the heck would you even list something up with no way to bid on it? This is either just leading to their website and bigtime circumvention or it's eBay themselves inflating the numbers. Interesting either way.

What do the experts think?

.
1 March 2008
08:30 PM PST, 11:30 PM Eastern Standard Time

Medved "EBay Auction Counts"  approximately 13,460,000 items. Last count of the March 1st chart.

Note auction count  spike beginning at the "2/29" (09:00 PM PST, Midnight EST) line and ending at the "3/2" (09:00 PM PST, Midnight EST) line.

http://www.medved.net/cgi-bin/cal.exe?EIND  Chart times are Eastern Standard Time (EST).

.

1 March 2008
08:34 PM PST

eBay user comment, edited.

erimess  (10 )        Mar-01-08 20:34 PST       238 of 273

Wow. I came over here to try to catch up on the latest and I've found a conglomeration of paranoid, fact-creating, lynching mob!

.

1 March 2008
10:00 PM PST, 01:00 AM 2 March EST (Eastern Standard Time)

Medved "EBay Auction Counts" approximately 13,425,000 items. First count on the March 2nd chart.

.

2 March 2008
00:34 AM PST

eBay user comment, edited.

oldspartantrader  (3913 )          Mar-02-08 00:34 PST     100 of 425

This is much more disconcerting to me as a stockholder than as a seller --

I have asked by stock guy for input and he believes that if this is in fact listing count manipulation it is an SEC matter for investigation

.
2 March 2008
07:00 AM PST, 10:00 AM EST

Medved "EBay Auction Counts" approximately 13,470,000 items. Second listing count peak of the weekend.

Previous peak count was approximately 13,900,000 items, on February 29th at 10 AM PST

http://www.medved.net/cgi-bin/cal.exe?EIND  Chart times are Eastern Standard Time (EST).

.

2 March 2008
07:04 AM PST

eBay user comments, edited

Shopping.com, Half.com and Ebay Express
Posted: Mar-02-08 07:04 PST
dakota_exchange  (2844 )   Posts: 5,856

I wonder... but then why, after all of this became obvious to many, did many of these same listings get pulled?

Shopping.com, Half.com and Ebay Express
Posted: Mar-02-08 08:01 PST
pakardbelle  (272 )   Posts: 1,019

Yesterday, I tried to bid on one of the SDC listings. And, this was not an eBay Express listing. It was one of the active auction format listings. And, the page would not accept my bid.

I put the item in my watched items, and it's still there. But now, when I click the item, the auction has been pulled. And when I search those listings for that seller, they are showing no auctions- so all 27K of the auction format listings have been pulled.

.

2 March 2008
08:26:53 AM PST

Comment, edited.

Date: Sun, 2 Mar 2008 08:26:53 -0800 (PST)

The evidence is consistent with that conclusion, but is not yet proof of that. This could yet be hacking, or API/server malfunction. It could also be an unannounced "test" that accidentally had the "unintended" side effect of inflating traffic, right, sure.

In any event, there clearly are "fake Ebay listings", and in large numbers. Large enough to materially affect traffic count? I suspect we'll know in a few days.

The interesting thing to watch here is whether or not this phenomenon continues, and if it stops, what happens to the traffic reports.
--
Regards, Bob Niland

.

2 March 2008
11:13 AM PST

eBay user comments, edited

audlee-e-nuff-treasures  (860 )         Mar-02-08 11:13 PST       32 of 432

Let's revamp this weekends events.
1. at 18:41 pst Friday evening a thread was started about listings that could not be bid on or bought.
2. between 12 am pst and 3 am Saturday these listings were being pulled.
3. These so called TEST listings if they were only TEST listings would have no reason to be pulled and some of the sdc_prod_### id's narued.
4. Then the thread of these findings is removed along with any that mention it.
5. why please tell me why, if this was only a TEST has it become an issue to remove them and the threads discussing them.

markd13  (84 )        Mar-02-08 11:19 PST       38 of 432

I see the Conspiracy Nut Jobs are out in full force.

And then we have the Free Speech nut jobs who have never read the Constitution or Bill of Rights and yammer on about something they have no knowledge. They don't seem to understand it doesn't cover entities like eBay.

But then again when have facts every stopped a nut job from their ranting.

.

2 March 2008
02:31 PM PST, 05:31 PM Easter Standard Time

Is eBay Fluffing The Numbers With Test Auctions??
Doc's Suspended From eBay Blog
March 2, 2008
Published by admin at 5:31 pm

Excerpt:

• "if they were using these thousands of test listings to skewer 3rd party listing stats generators like, Medved Charts and PowerSellersUnite.com it is outright fraud!"

.

2 March 2008
02:32 PM PST

eBay System Status Announcement Board
***Resolved: Shopping.com listings on eBay*** 
"Some Shopping.com listings appeared accidentally on eBay.com over the past two days. This system issue has been resolved. We apologize for any confusion or inconvenience this may have caused."

.

2 March 2008
03:53 PM PST

eBay user comments, edited

thehairball  (973 )        Mar-02-08 15:53 PST       143 of 432

That was ebays pathetic excuse for 400,000 listings that all appeared out of nowhere and then disappeared almost as quick and looked nothing like any other ebay listings and if thats the case...then ebay is a very unsafe place to shop! How in the hell do 400,000 listings "accidentally" appear? That means that your private information on this site is no longer safe if stuff from any other site can just somehow magically appear on this one!

magisterrex  (6944 )         Mar-02-08 15:54 PST       170 of 418

I don't know why so many people are quick to ASSume that eBay is an evil corporate entity that wants to steal their souls and use them as currency whilst dealing with the Devil.

When I last checked, you were supposed to be INNOCENT until PROVEN guilty. From the bizarre, over-the-top posts on this thread, I have no idea why some of you even sell here.

I know that if I felt that strongly about eBay, I would do what Bruce is doing, and exit, stage left.

.

2 March 2008
04:01 PM PST, 00:01 GMT March 3

Comment, edited.

Chris Dawson Says:
March 3rd, 2008 at 12:01 am

Such a prosaic explanation! Why couldn’t I have been proven wrong and it be a conspiracy? 

.

2 March 2008
04:01 PM, time zone unknown

eBay censoring info about padded listings on it's forums
www.companyexposed.com
March 2, 2008
By admin @ 4:01 pm 

Excerpt:

• "If the hundreds of thousands listings you cannot Buy Now or Bid on on eBay site are just an innocent mistake / glitch or have a legitimate reason to be there, why would eBay moderators be so diligent in removing posts from their forums discussing these? Although the eBay forum thread has been removed by eBay Moderators, Google cache still has some of the posts"

.

2 March 2008
03:53 PM PST

eBay user comments, edited

aviation  (3802 )        Mar-02-08 16:29 PST       187 of 418

By the way, at the moment, I don't believe eBay did this on purpose to inflate listings. While it's a possibility, I would hope eBay's not that stupid. I really can't see it happening as there are just too many people who would have to have been involved to do that.

in-weave  (7349 )         Mar-02-08 16:56 PST       197 of 418

Some Shopping.com listings appeared accidentally on eBay.com over the past two days. This system issue has been resolved. We apologize for any confusion or inconvenience this may have caused.

I don't think we've seen the end of this....and, in some ways, I don't want to know what carp is coming. There's a reason they "accidentally" appeared. eBay may not have wanted anyone to notice them so that may be the accident but I'll be very surpised if we don't see something relating to shopping.com listings/eBay by the middle of the summer.

.
2 March 2008
8:30 PM PST, 11:30 PM Eastern Standard Time

Medved "EBay Auction Counts" approximately 13,330,000 items. Last count of the March 2nd chart.

.

2 March 2008
10:06 PM PST

eBay user comment, edited.

just_not_thinking  (0 )  Mar-02-08 22:06 PST    145 of 425

POSSEE!!!

Why don't you start your own auction site posseauctions.com and make it perfect ...

I.E. the first website ever that has no glitches, and we'll all use it! Be sure to make a possee discussion board too!!

Remember it has to be perfect just like you, and never have any issues/glitches at all, even if millions of people are all using it at once.

Especially be sure to make a perfect message board! So we won't run the risk of not getting your daily/hourly/minutely/secondly words of possee wisdom!

Let us know when its ready possee!

.

2 March 2008
11:59 PM PST, 2:59 AM 3 March Eastern Standard Time

eBay listing upgrade special, "2 days only March 1-2" ends.

According to the Medved "EBay Auction Counts", at the time the listing special ended the count was approximately 13,355,000 items. The count at the start of the listing special was about 13,502,000 listings. An overall decrease.

http://www.medved.net/cgi-bin/cal.exe?EIND  Chart shows auction counts by days of the month, Eastern Standard Time.

http://www.medved.net/cgi-bin/cal.exe?EIND  Chart times are Eastern Standard Time (EST).

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3 March 2008

Regarding the events and comments of Monday March 3rd.

"I spoke to eBay's Usher Lieberman during the IMA conference on Monday. He said he had made a mistake when he called the Shopping.com listings a test on Saturday morning. He was trying to track it down and after talking to a few people, felt comfortable saying it was a test, and subsequently found out the listings had appeared accidentally. Usher said it was his fault for initially getting it wrong."
Ina Steiner, AutionBytes, 4 March 2008 04:02:46

"but on Monday, said he was incorrect and that the listings were the result of a glitch."
Ina Steiner on Usher Lieberman, AuctionBytes, 5 March 2008

.

3 March 2008
06:21 AM PST

eBay Running A Test with Shopping.com Listings-Sorry It Was An Accident?
ebay & Beyond: Basics to Business
Posted by David White at 3/3/2008 6:21 AM

Excerpt:

• "they apparently choose to take this action in an effort to reduce the   visibiltiy of the test or accident, whichever it was.........eBay   needs to get their stories STRAIGHT!
   
  My Opinion
  If it really was a test, eBay should have announced it before they ran it, on the system announcement board. This was no accident. eBay rarely does anything by accident, but if they do, it is corrected very quickly, not 2 or more days later."

.

3 March 2008
06:53 AM PST

eBay user comment, edited.

dorothysew  (978 )  Mar-03-08 06:53 PST 157 of 425

lol we wanted ebay to acknowledge the glitches so we would know about them and wouldn't run around trying to find out if there was something we were doing wrong. Now people are using the notifications to complain that there are glitches?

Ebay really can't win with some of you.  

.

3 March 2008
07:34 AM PST

Sponsored Ads a Huge Win for eBay!  
My Blog Utopia!
Posted by Randy Smythe at 3/03/2008 07:34:00 AM

Excerpt: 

• "In fact we recently saw Shopping.com listings on the eBay.com site, which gives you an idea of their plans. eBay's response to the SDC listings was; "Some Shopping.com listings appeared accidentally on eBay.com over the past two days. This system issue has been resolved. We apologize for any confusion or inconvenience this may have caused." Notice it wasn't an error, it was accidental. Believe me, the accidental part was, that they showed up now, before they were supposed to. I have a hunch we will see SDC listings on the eBay platform sooner rather than later; first as a test and if that goes over well, they will roll them out site wide."

.

3 March 2008
10:21 AM PST

eBay user comment, edited.

oldspartantrader  (3884 )        Mar-03-08 10:21 PST       184 of 333

As I suspected -- These were not just run of the mill feeds I saw -- They were quite eBAY specific listings --

They were in fact eBAY listings like every other eBAY listing -- except they did not have any purpose in the normal realm of buying and selling

Comment, edited.

PAID BASHERS Definition of PADDING the Listing on eBay! 
(2008-03-03 14:38:00)  by elikeebayto...

It now has been about a week that the PAID BASHERS community has been busy polluting our beloved board with sorry comments about how eBay has floated or artifically increased its listing. Maybe one day these PAID BASHERS who are PAID money to spread lies and misinformation can discuss the matter with their boss and get an answer for us all. Question: How can you accuse eBay ...

.

4 March 2008
04:02:46 AM PST

Update to Shopping.com Mystery Listings on eBay
By: Ina Steiner, AuctionBytes
Tue Mar 4 2008 04:02:46

I spoke to eBay's Usher Lieberman during the IMA conference on Monday. He said he had made a mistake when he called the Shopping.com listings a test on Saturday morning. He was trying to track it down and after talking to a few people, felt comfortable saying it was a test, and subsequently found out the listings had appeared accidentally. Usher said it was his fault for initially getting it wrong.

I asked Usher if he could tell me more, and he could not. I asked him if we might expect to see Shopping.com listings on eBay in the future, or eBay.com listings on Shopping. He said eBay is looking at a lot of different things and can't speculate on anything.

"Lots of things are on the table," he said.

.
4 March 2008
04:02 AM PST

Regarding events and comments taking place on Tuesday March 4th.

"On Tuesday, Lieberman explained the nature of the glitch. Programmers rolled out code on Friday evening that was meant to credit certain listings that were eligible for free Gallery. The credit was due to them because eBay had promised sellers Gallery would be free for listings started at a certain time of day, and the code had been rolled out 3 hours past the deadline."
AuctionBytes, 5 March 2008

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4 March 2008
Late afternoon, early evening

Ebay Accused of Padding Listing Numbers
PC Magazine
03.04.08
by Brian Heater and Chloe Albanesius

Excerpts:

• "When the bug first emerged on Friday, the spokesman told a reporter that it was actually a planned test.   "But it wasn't a test. It ended up being a bug," he said. "So I ate a little bit of crow on that.""
• "EBay denied that any forum deletions were intentional. If any posts were taken down "it was accidental," the spokesman said. "We're not afraid of hearing from our community and allowing them to post and discuss things and be angry on our boards.""

.

4 March 2008
06:52 PM PST

ebay user comments, edited

oldspartantrader  (3884 )         Mar-04-08 18:52 PST       199 of 333

It is quite possible that the messy matter is approaching a large fan

Approximately 5,000 listings were pulled from shopping.com, but they have since been removed, according to eBay. (from the PCMAG article)

That is so far from reality that it is ludicrous -- Not only ludicrous but so easily shot through of holes that it borders on management malpractice -- and when it is shown to be GROSSLY understated will invite ever more scrutiny --

We may be seeing a company beginning to circle the wagons and the result will be downright ugly --

If only companies that make major goofs would read the Johnson and Johnson Tylenol Story -- It is a roadmap to not just successful damage control but also to public trust --

Although public trust is at risk -- eBAY is taking an even larger risk with shareholder trust -- A trust that if lost will lead to the dissolution of the company -- an extreme that is unlikely to be sure -- but a needless exposure non the less

Continued pressure here would be far more effective than any boycott in bending managements will -- This misstep is an opportunity that the dissenters will be foolish to waste

I would start by looking for deleted in threads on the net and follow with screen shots of them and the 5000 listings -- followed by 5000 more a day later -- and on and on --

There are now at least two main stream media giants with interest -- an opportunity that is priceless

bhearsch  (302 )        Mar-04-08 21:08 PST       207 of 333

The eBay owned Korean website often mirrors ebay.com auctions. Many of these sdc_prod_ listings are still live on their website. If you want to find them, go to Goog and enter the specific sdc_prod_ number, leave a space, and then enter site:ebay.auction.co.kr

When the results are shown, click on "repeat the search with the omitted results included."

You can find the sdc numbers on various websites/blogs. The eBay Korean website only shows the listings that are currently active and not the ones that have scrolled off but there are still quite a few.

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5 March 2008

Regarding the events and comments of Wednesday March 5th.

"Lieberman said fewer than 35,000 listings were affected by the glitch."
AuctionBytes, 5 March 2008

AuctionBytes releases the "80,000" figure to eBay and the public. They first observed this figure on March 1st. Four days earlier.

• "However, he had no explanation for the fact that when AuctionBytes looked at one Shopping.com selling account on Saturday morning, it indicated the seller had over 80,000 listings on eBay.com." AuctionBytes, 5 March 2008

AuctionBytes becomes the first large news organization to report a count from direct observation of the situation. However AuctionBytes has not substantiated their claim with screen shots.

"Of the accusations of listing count manipulation, Lieberman said, "To think that we'd do that now is outrageous.""
AuctionBytes, 5 March 2008

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5 March 2008

eBay Calls Claims of Manipulation 'Outrageous' 
By: Ina Steiner, AuctionBytes
March 05, 2008

Excerpts:

• "When Shopping.com listings appeared on eBay.com last week, sellers pointed to it as an example of eBay attempting to boost listing numbers."
• "AuctionBytes previously reported that several discussion threads had been removed, including one linked to in the original blog post published on Saturday.
• Most sellers are likely taking little notice of the dust-up. Those who are suspicious may be unlikely to be satisfied with eBay's response."

.

5 March 2008
06:44AM PST

eBay user comment, edited

oldspartantrader  (3884 )  Mar-05-08 06:44 PST       210 of 333

The worm may be beginning to turn --

From the PCMAG article

Approximately 5,000 listings were pulled from shopping.com, but they have since been removed, according to eBay.

From the AB article

Lieberman said the programmers inadvertently caused the Shopping.com listings to appear on eBay.com when it created and launched the script to credit the sellers' accounts for Gallery fees.

Lieberman said fewer than 35,000 listings were affected by the glitch.

I am going to start a lottery methinks --

Whoever gets closest to the next eBAY estimated number of misplaced SDC listings will receive --

An all expense day trip to Leavenworth with full visitors passes and change for the vending machines -- While there they can visit the eBAY Exec of their choice

.

5 March 2008

Ziff Davis Media Files for Bankruptcy 
By  VINNEE TONG

.

5 March 2008
08:04 AM PST

eBay user comments, edited

oldspartantrader  (3884 )  Mar-05-08 08:04 PST                 212 of 333

If both "buy" the explainations will likely go no where.

Should the SEC investigate there will be no buying of stories -- IMO

They are probably one of the scariest Regulatory bodies that Wall Street deals with -- They have teeth and are not at all shy about biting -- They are also pretty straight forward and fair without leaning in any particulat direction to meet an agenda

My attorney and accountant are also preparing letters to be sent to the State Attorney General requesting a watch on the situation with some of the "facts" that have surfaced attached as an addendum -- In that the Street is located here many a firm has been put in the hot seat through that AG Office even though technically domocilled elsewhere.

I am still jumping to no conclusions -- BUT -- The more the story changes the antsier I become --

jake-deals-4u  (700 )      Mar-05-08 08:16 PST     213 of 333

preparing letters to be sent to the State Attorney General requesting a watch on the situation with some of the "facts

Too bad im sure the facts are' Everybody uses eBay at their OWN RISK via a user agreemant that is NOT compulsory, its voluntary.

And im sure theres probably an 12th grade HS kid that could explain that its eBays business & they can do as they dang well please with their OWN SITE + if someone doesnt like it, they are FREE to leave!

OTOH i havent quite figured out why someone who is a stockholder ( at their own FREE WILL & PROFIT ) would bad-mouth & spread bad-will at a company that they have a personal financial stake in , far & above the average site user.

If i was so upset at a company that i held stock in, i would sell that stock ASAP reguardless of P/L

pepins4b8e  (21 )       Mar-05-08 08:41 PST       217 of 426

Carl, I own stock myself (although I'm sure not to your big wig level ). I fail to get a wedgie about this because while I see the listing numbers as an indicator, it is of small importance to me compared to the quarter-end results.

I guess we'll see if shareholders tend to think like me, or like you on this. I'm not criticizing your position. I just think that the press much prefers to follow Scarlett Johansson selling an evening with her on eBay versus some nebulous conspiracy about the number of listings on eBay.

.

5 March 2008
09:04 AM PST

Comment, edited

El Radical
Escrito el: 05-Marzo-2008 a las 17:04

La huelga de eBay ha sido más que un éxito. No fue sólo una caída del 13% de los artículos listados. Como sospechábamos eBay ha estado inflando artificialmente el número de artículos listados por 2 razones:

1) Para que los huelguistas nos desanimáramos haciéndonos creer que nuestra huelga era una huelga que llevábamos a cabo sólo unos cuantos vendedores.

2) PAra engañar a la bolsa.

La noticia acaba de salir en la propia CNN de EE.UU. Si se confirma la estafa en bolsa por parte de eBay estaría violando una Ley Federal muy seria y la multa que les caerá será de espanto, con el añadido de la mala reputación internacional que se producirá en el mercado financiero mundial de esta empresa y efectivo negativo en sus acciones.

Como véis, compañeros, cuando planatamos cojones y ovarios unidos, incluso podemos enfrentarnos contra las multinacionales y pisarles el cuello como ellos nos lo pisan a nosotros. Mis felicitaciones a todos los currantes vendedores de eBay y la solidaridad y apoyo de muchísimos compradores. Lo estamos consiguiendo. Van a venir más huelgas. Y vamos a seguir dándoles caña hasta que nos quiten el pie del cuello. Si tratan de hundirnos se hundirán ellos con nosotros.

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5 March 2008
03:18 PM PST

What's going on over at eBay? 
BloggingStocks
Posted Mar 5th 2008 3:18PM by Michael Fowlkes

Excerpt: 

• "But could there be something a little more sinister taking place on the site? Rumors are definitely swirling that the site has actually been padding its numbers with fake item listings. eBay wouldn't dare do such a thing, would it? It has already admitted that a "bug" in the system did in fact insert some fake listings into the site's database. The question is, was this really a bug, or did the site knowingly inflate its listings?"

.

5 March 2008
06:18 PM PST

eBay user comments, edited

jake-deals-4u  (701 )       Mar-05-08 18:18 PST       242 of 426

Im suprised that the listing #s were of a daily concern to you as an investor.

So a higher count would indicate what?

A lower count would indicate what?

I didnt know that short term listing count anomolies here would affect a long term investors strategy.

I cant find any angle to a blip in listing counts in an investment angle, unless it provides a draw-down for emotional expousements .

But then again if i was emotionally upset over a company i was financially Invested in, ide seek Divesting of that investment.

Do you check the day-day infrastructre of other investment vehicles?

badday911  (71 )        Mar-05-08 22:23 PST       46 of 70

Why don't they do it on there stupid playgroud thing they set up?

ALL companies I know of have a test bed server to try out new things. They don't want to risk problems on the servers that make them money or are mission critical.

I spent 23 1/2 years with HP working with high end servers before retiring so I'm absolutely certain that a company would not risk problems running tests on a live system.

In my opinion, eBay is padding their listings.

vik*nan  (33 )        Mar-05-08 23:25 PST       48 of 70

ALL companies I know of have a test bed server to try out new things.

a "sandbox" --- system or network to try out new software and equipment before deploying them to the production network.

Tests are never made on a production network even in smaller companies

aenthal  (2241 )        Mar-05-08 23:59 PST       54 of 70

I don't care if eBay pads their listings.
What will it get them? A larger count on their server?
And what will that get them?
More space used up on their server.
And what will that get them? Nothing. Fake auctions don't bring in money, even if you put up a million of them.

I tend to agree that this is technical phenomenon, not a Pinocchio problem.
But yes, they also have a Pinocchio problem, and an ostrich problem, and a robot problem (se habla Fortran because there are no humans behind that curtain, working the strings).

Let them tell all the Pinocchio versions of reality that they want.
You can't turn a delusion into reality, no matter how many times you repeat it, no matter how much fake evidence you create to support it.
Sometimes karma is sleeping.
But in eBay's case it is hungry, and it will bite them in the butt eventually.

But don't worry about how they expose that butt before karma gets them.
Just be glad that it eventually will.

windorphin  (31 )        Mar-06-08 06:15 PST       61 of 70

They use the numbers to show their stockholders that listings are not decreasing. Therefore they are lying and manipulating stock prices.

The analogy drawn about a restaurant filling their seats with mannequins with stockholders driving past is a good one. It is just as meaningless, and nobody will get in trouble for it.

It would only be a violation if they somehow cooked the books to show that those mannequins had eaten and paid.

.

6 March 2008

PC Magazine owner files Chapter 11
From the Associated Press

.

6 March 2008
05:22 PM PST

eBay user comments, edited

vik*nan  (33 ) Mar-06-08 17:22 PST 2 of 31

It would be like amazon listings accidentally showing up on yahoo. Just because ebay owns shopping.com does not mean they are magically connected.

ebay's backbone probvider is level3.net

SJC-DNS1.EBAYDNS.COM
SJC-DNS2.EBAYDNS.COM
SMF-DNS1.EBAYDNS.COM
SMF-DNS2.EBAYDNS.COM

Current Registrar: NETWORK SOLUTIONS, LLC.
IP Address: 66.135.194.100 (ARIN & RIPE IP search)

shopping.com's provider is pnap.net

NS2ANY.SHOPPING.COM
NS1ANY.SHOPPING.COM

Current Registrar: MARKMONITOR INC.
IP Address: 64.94.186.80 (ARIN & RIPE IP search)

uplatewhattodo  (18 ) Mar-06-08 21:18 PST 11 of 31

AS a techie myself, I do have to disagree with this analysis a bit. Everything about DNS and IP's etc has to do with how eBay and shopping.com provide the informaton out to the world. It says nothing as to how that information is stored in the database or databases. If they are sharing databases distributed across their internal networks, or even storage arrays are being shared by the two systems then it's possible.

They did say they were running a script that caused it which means they were running data directly into the database system(s) and bypassing all the interfaces.

A very bad idea to mess with a database that way if you don't know what you are doing, but it does make it possible. And it would violate Sarbanes Oxley if they didn't cross their t's and dot their i's, which they apparently did not do.

.

6 March 2008

Despite eBay's announcement of March 2nd, that "system issue has been resolved", 'accidental' auction listings can still be found.

Seller sdc_prod_305839_99
  "67 items found" ( LINK screen shot 3/6/2008 )

Seller sdc_prod_9352_67
  "417 items found" ( LINK screen shot 3/6/2008 )

.

6 March 2008
10:23 PM PST

eBay user comment, edited

postericon  (0 )   Mar-06-08 03:29 PST  263 of 426

think the whole thing was filed under rumors speculations

these links that ur bringin here they are written by a bunch of nobodies ur credibility is in the drink, u believe everything u read, u realy expect us to believe this junk
i think what's goin on here is worse than what is goin on at ebay. too bad too a shame this forum is wrecked

.

6 March 2008

eBay Listings on the Rise! Must be the Fee Changes
My Blog Utopia!
Posted by Randy Smythe
Thursday, March 06, 2008

Excerpt:

• "I complain about eBay as much as the next guy and they certainly need to revamp their whole PR department and communicate better with sellers but this padding of listings is a non-starter." 
 

.

7 March 2008

Regarding the events of Friday 7 March 2008.

PC Magazine, 10 March 2008:

1. "An eBay spokesman told PC Magazine at the time that 5,000 shopping.com listings were erroneously placed on ebay.com."
2. "eBay was asked to again confirm that it was indeed 5,000." "The same spokesman responded Friday that he had originally told PC Magazine that eBay pulled 35,000 listings"
3. "a review of the interview confirmed that he said 5,000."
4. "Editor's Note: The eBay spokesman confirmed Monday that the number of postings pulled from shopping.com was indeed 35,000."

.

7 March 2008
03:37 AM PST

eBay user comment, edited

schmoopie77  (109 )   Mar-07-08 03:37 PST  22 of 31

The eBay computer engineers do give us software which has glitches and bugs, so I can see someone making a colossal error. But technically, can this error even be caused?

"Lieberman said the programmers inadvertently caused the Shopping.com listings to appear on eBay.com when it created and launched the script to credit the sellers' accounts for Gallery fees."

It sounds as though they would be working with accounting software, not launching listings. Very bizarre.

.

7 March 2008

eBay Hires Blogger to Improve Communications
By Ina Steiner, AuctionBytes.com
March 07, 2008

.

7 March 2008

Klicken sie hier, um diesen Artikel nicht zu kaufen
Eingestellt am 07. März 2008 um 18:57 Uhr

Excerpt:

• "Die Stellungnahmen der amerikanischen eBay-Sprecher trugen auch nicht unbedingt zur Erhellung bei. In sich widersprechenden Statements war von Tests, Versehen oder Irrtümern die Rede. Ähnlich verwirrende Auskünfte gab es auch für Kunden, die sich bei „Live-Help“ direkt informieren wollten."

.

8 March 2008

FIASCO AFTER FIASCO DOGS EBAY 2008 POLICY CHANGES
By Editor, March 8th, 2008 at 7:00 PM

Excerpt:

• "Last weekend, first rumours, then facts, emerged regarding the mass insertion of listings with no bid or buy-now button, which many speculated were deliberately added to mask the effects of the seller boycott.  Throughout the bloggosphere, bloggers dependant on eBay for their content, and ad-click revenues, gave San Jose the benefit of the doubt.  Ina Steiner of AuctionBytes even interviewed a senior eBay bod, and both Randy Smythe and eBay UK’s tame bay gave reasons why it had to be a glitch or site test, rather than something from the dirty tricks department.  First eBay spokesman Usher Leiberman said it was a test, then said it wasn’t, and then declined to comment further.  Posts appeared on eBay announcement boards, and have been all over forums on both sides of the Atlantic."

.

10 March 2008

Despite eBay's announcement of March 2nd that "system issue has been resolved", 'accidental' auction listings can still be found.

Seller sdc_prod_310426
  70 items found ( screen shot 3/10/2008 )

Seller sdc_prod_434012
  51 items found ( screen shot 3/10/2008 )

.

10 March 2008

Honest Eddy’s Used Cars oder: eBay - das ehrliche, offene Umfeld
Auktionsblog
Posted in Allgemein on Mrz 10, 2008

Excerpt:

• Trotz der Ankündigungen seitens vieler US-Verkäufer, während des Streiks vom 18. bis 25. Februar keine Angebote zu listen sind die Angebotszahlen bei ebay.com im fraglichen Zeitraum fast nicht gesunken.

  Eine genauere Erklärung dafür findet sich natürlich nicht im ebay-Forum sondern extern.

.

10 March 2008

May Day Boycott Looming, EBay Revises Impact of 'Bug'
PC Magazine
03.10.08
by  Chloe Albanesius

Excerpt:

• "eBay admitted that shopping.com listings were accidentally placed on eBay"

.

10 March 2008

Later in the day PC Magazine changes the title of their article from "May Day Boycott Looming, EBay Revises Impact of 'Bug'" to, "Another eBay Boycott Planned for May Day", and disables the AppScout link containing the lower part of the article.

And later a new  AppScout  link is created with the article reverting to the original title, "May Day Boycott Looming, EBay Revises Impact of 'Bug'".

And the interesting times continues.

 

Epilogue

"INCONCEIVABLE." Vizzini
"You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."
Inigo Montoya, The Princess Bride (1987)

Two weeks after the events of Leap Day Friday, we can draw one conclusion.

• "eBay's 2008 Q1 (1st Quarter, January 01 to March 31) report to the U.S. Security and Exchange Commission should be interesting."
   

Thank you for reading.

...... returning to our March vacation ......
"Quashing and Creating Computer Bugs Since 1973"

//
//
//

Notes

Related article:

From eBay Seller Central - Ebay is padding their listings
http://eventhorizon1984.typepad.com/event_horizon_1984_blog/2008/02/from-ebay-sel-1.html

Article title:

Q: Why does the title of article keep changing?

A: We've altered the title to avoid being labeled as SPAM. Apparently Google considers variations of "sdc_prod" and "Shopping.com" to be SPAM, and removes direct links to such articles and items. Apparently late last year eBay began flooding Google with Shopping.com and sdc_prod* "advertising". Google's standard reaction to advertising SPAM is death by link removal.

//
//
//

The right to publish this news article - U.S. Supreme Court - 1988

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?navby=case&court=us&vol=485&page=47

1988, CHIEF JUSTICE REHNQUIST:

At the heart of the First Amendment is the recognition of the fundamental importance of the free flow of ideas and opinions on matters of public interest and concern. "[T]he [485 U.S. 46, 51] freedom to speak one's mind is not only an aspect of individual liberty - and thus a good unto itself - but also is essential to the common quest for truth and the vitality of society as a whole." Bose Corp. v. Consumers Union of United States, Inc., 466 U.S. 485, 503 -504 (1984). We have therefore been particularly vigilant to ensure that individual expressions of ideas remain free from governmentally imposed sanctions. The First Amendment recognizes no such thing as a "false" idea. Gertz v. Robert Welch, Inc., 418 U.S. 323, 339 (1974). As Justice Holmes wrote, "when men have realized that time has upset many fighting faiths, they may come to believe even more than they believe the very foundations of their own conduct that the ultimate good desired is better reached by free trade in ideas - that the best test of truth is the power of the thought to get itself accepted in the competition of the market . . . ." Abrams v. United States, 250 U.S. 616, 630 (1919) (dissenting opinion).

The sort of robust political debate encouraged by the First Amendment is bound to produce speech that is critical of those who hold public office or those public figures who are "intimately involved in the resolution of important public questions or, by reason of their fame, shape events in areas of concern to society at large." Associated Press v. Walker, decided with Curtis Publishing Co. v. Butts, 388 U.S. 130, 164 (1967) (Warren, C. J., concurring in result). Justice Frankfurter put it succinctly in Baumgartner v. United States, 322 U.S. 665, 673 -674 (1944), when he said that "[o]ne of the prerogatives of American citizenship is the right to criticize public men and measures." Such criticism, inevitably, will not always be reasoned or moderate; public figures as well as public officials will be subject to "vehement, caustic, and sometimes unpleasantly sharp attacks," New York Times, supra, at 270. "[T]he candidate who vaunts his spotless record and sterling integrity cannot convincingly cry `Foul!' when an opponent or an industrious reporter attempts [485 U.S. 46, 52] to demonstrate the contrary." Monitor Patriot Co. v. Roy, 401 U.S. 265, 274 (1971).

/*

Technorati Profile

EventHorizon1984 Log

//

From eBay Seller Central - Ebay is padding their listings

15 March 2008 -
Please read our followup article "The eBay Shopping.com Affair".  And do share it with others.
http://eventhorizon1984.typepad.com/event_horizon_1984_blog/2008/03/internet-transa.html

//

Updated 05 March 2008 19:10 HST

By the time you read this, eBay will have removed 100's of thousands of auction listings from eBay.com.  This took place between 29 February and 1 March 2008. Many of these listings eBay apparently inserted during the February 18-25 boycott.

Also by the time you read this, as 3 March 2008, eBay removed the larger eBay forum threads documenting these questionable activities. Use Google to obtained archived copies of the original threads.

http://forums.ebay.com/db2/thread.jspa?threadID=2000527568  [specified topic removed]
http://www.google.com/search?q=Is+Ebay+Creating+Listings+To+Boost+totals+Look

sdc_prod_301013_74  DBA  The Twister Group (27,291 eBay.com listings 2/29/2008) 
sdc_prod_305839_99  DBA  BargainBasementBatteries 
sdc_prod_310426  DBA  ANTOnline (21,798 eBay.com listings 2/29/2008) 
sdc_prod_409455_97  DBA  Sababa Shopping 
sdc_prod_434012  DBA  SpectrumSuperStore (35,002 eBay.com listings 2/29/2008) 
sdc_prod_442675_57  DBA  Boyne & Kelly L.L.C. (4,702 eBay.com listings 2/29/2008) 
sdc_prod_9021_2  DBA  Buy.com (12,233 eBay.com listings 2/29/2008) 
sdc_prod_9055  DBA  Focus Camera (1,925 eBay.com listings 2/29/2008) 
sdc_prod_9074_35  DBA  pcRUSH.com (21,401 eBay.com listings 2/29/2008) 
sdc_prod_9090  DBA  CompSource Inc. (32,601 eBay.com listings 2/29/2008) 
sdc_prod_9124_14  DBA  TheNerds, Inc. (48,392 eBay.com listings 2/29/2008) 
sdc_prod_9352_67  DBA  Digital Foto Club (30,278 eBay.com listings 2/29/2008) 
sdc_prod_9391_43  DBA  Adorama (11,102 eBay.com listings 2/29/2008) 
sdc_prod_9452  DBA  eTronics, Inc. (24,499 eBay.com listings 2/29/2008) 

More details regarding the above sellers are available farther down in this article.

Prior to Midnight 29 February 2008, the above list of "sellers" (the sdc_prod names) had over 200,000 lets say interesting (bogus) auction listings on eBay.com.

But don't fret. The above list may represent only "a small percentage" of the sdc (Shopping Dot Com) sellers who eBay posted auction listings on their behalf.

//
//  eBay Customer Service Transcript - 29 February 2008
//

As a matter of privacy, we've edited out the email address. Otherwise the transcript that follows, a conversation between eBay Customer Service and joelycra, is unedited.

And joelycra please forward your eBay Customer Service transcript to the news service(s) of your choice.

 

From eBay Seller Central Forum
Ebay is padding their listings
http://forums.ebay.com/db2/thread.jspa?threadID=2000527614&start=40
http://www.activeboard.com/forum.spark?forumID=78886&p=3&topicID=15720025

joelycra  (735 )     Feb-29-08 22:44 PST     69 of 94

OK... Just got out of live chat also. They told me these are Shopping - com listings that are somehow appearing on eaby by mistake... here's the transcript:




12:17:09 AM CST
System
Initial Question/Comment: Other
12:17:14 AM CST
System
Thank you for contacting eBay Live Help!
12:17:14 AM CST
System
You are successfully connected to eBay Live Help. Please hold for the next available Live Help Agent.
12:17:35 AM CST
System
Evan M. A. has joined this session!
12:17:35 AM CST
System
Connected with Evan M. A.
12:17:40 AM CST
Evan M. A.
Hello, thank you for waiting and welcome to eBay Live Help! My name is Evan. If you're a registered member, may I please start by having you confirm your User ID and first name?
12:17:41 AM CST
zz***@bellsouth.net
hello
12:17:57 AM CST

12:18:09 AM CST
Evan M. A.
Hi, Joe. Thanks! How may I help you?
12:18:32 AM CST
zz***@bellsouth.net
I have a question about an auction listing
12:18:58 AM CST
zz***@bellsouth.net
item 310025758222
12:19:10 AM CST
Evan M. A.
Thanks again. And I'm willing to help as much as I can.
12:19:19 AM CST
Evan M. A.
And may I have your concern about this listing?
12:19:51 AM CST
zz***@bellsouth.net
look at it.... it's not a real item, you can't bid on it
12:20:15 AM CST
zz***@bellsouth.net
these listings are in every category.... on the last page of listings
12:21:40 AM CST
Evan M. A.
Oh, okay. I understand what you mean. And let me try to look up on this listing.
12:24:19 AM CST
zz****@bellsouth.net
some of these SDC sellers have 30-40 thousand listings, and who knows how many SDC sellers there are
12:24:20 AM CST
Evan M. A.
Please give me another couple of minutes to look in to this for you.
12:26:10 AM CST
Evan M. A.
Oh, I see. I'm still looking this up for you, okay?
12:26:16 AM CST
zz****@bellsouth.net
ok
12:27:40 AM CST
Evan M. A.
Thank you.
12:30:15 AM CST
Evan M. A.
Thanks for patiently waiting. I see that the listing is listed under the eBay Express. What I can do is to redirect you now to our eBay Express chat, for more assistance about this listing.
12:30:29 AM CST
Evan M. A.
What IÈUlike to do is connect you with our eBay Express chat, for help with this. There may be a wait time to speak to someone after I? transferred you, but it shouldn?be too long. In case this chat disconnects please feel free to come back into eBay Live Help by clicking on our link on the eBay homepage. May I go ahead and do that now?
12:30:51 AM CST
zz****@bellsouth.net
these are not ebay express listings
12:31:03 AM CST
zz****@bellsouth.net
these are auctions
12:31:50 AM CST
Evan M. A.
I see. Actually, this is not an eBay listing, the problem is it's a Shopping.com listing that is showing on our site by mistake.
12:32:25 AM CST
Evan M. A.
It is a current issue, yes, we have a bug on it. These are meant to be on shopping.com only but due to some reason are showing on eBay as well and can't be bought through the site.
12:33:32 AM CST
zz****@bellsouth.net
ok... that's what I needed... Thanks
12:34:25 AM CST
Evan M. A.
You're most welcome. Do you have any other concerns, Joe?
12:35:29 AM CST
zz****@bellsouth.net
no, thanks
12:35:35 AM CST
Evan M. A.
Thanks for using eBay Live Help! Once youˆÂ ready to close this chat window, please feel free to click on the º–it?utton.
12:35:40 AM CST
Evan M. A.
It's a pleasure chatting with you. Have a good night!


There could be millions of these listings.... just go to the last page of items in any category sorted by "ending soonest" and you'll find them.

//
//  eBay Customer Service Transcript - 1 March 2008
//

From the eBay Feedback Forum
Is Ebay Creating Listings To Boost totals Look
http://forums.ebay.com/db2/thread.jspa?threadID=2000527568&start=1080
http://www.activeboard.com/forum.spark?forumID=78886&p=3&topicID=15720025
http://www.google.com/search?q=Is+Ebay+Creating+Listings+To+Boost+totals+Look 

idee99555  (0 ) View Listings | Report     Mar-01-08 19:03 PST     1082 of 1119

All right you guys. I went to live chat today to try and see what their story was on the inflated listings. I'm going to post the transcript. I don't see how it infracts the guidlines, but in case it gets pulled and anyone else wants it, email me. This is long and kind of disjointed, but this is the way it came to me. I had to request a transcript because the copy feature wouldn't work.

Dear eBay member,



Transcript of Session Number: 9852546
3/1/2008 14:35 Agent Sent Message: Hello, thank you for waiting and
welcome to eBay Live Help! My name is Lanie. If you're a registered
member, may I please start by having you confirm your User ID and first

name?
3/1/2008 14:35 Customer Sent Message: idee99555
3/1/2008 14:36 Agent Sent Message: Hi there!
3/1/2008 14:36 Agent Sent Message: Thanks! How can I help you?
3/1/2008 14:37 Customer Sent Message: there are some wierd listings
that have no opening bids and you can't bid on them. Thousands of
items.
What's going on?
3/1/2008 14:37 Customer Sent Message: for instance
3/1/2008 14:38 Customer Sent Message: Item number: 150217971814
3/1/2008 14:38 Agent Sent Message: I would gladly look into this for
you.
3/1/2008 14:38 Agent Sent Message: Kindly give me a moment to check .


3/1/2008 14:41 Agent Sent Message: Hi. Kindly check again the item
number. I can't seem to pull up a record on file. Thanks.
3/1/2008 14:41 Customer Sent Message: Item number: 150217971814 i'll
get you the name also
3/1/2008 14:42 Customer Sent Message: Meet the seller Seller:
sdc_prod_9452( 76)
3/1/2008 14:42 Customer Sent Message: eTronics, Inc( 76
3/1/2008 14:44 Customer Sent Message: 19808 items found
3/1/2008 14:45 Agent Sent Message: I appreciate your patience. Kindly
give me a moment more.
3/1/2008 14:48 Agent Sent Message: I saw the item and this is indeed
strange. I'm having this reported for you for investigation.Please stay

with me.
3/1/2008 14:51 Customer Sent Message: There are many others. does the
sdc_prod_#### seller designation have a particular meaning?
3/1/2008 14:54 Agent Sent Message: Hmm, for the seller's ID though, it

reads : sdc_prod_9452
3/1/2008 14:54 Agent Sent Message: I'm still coordinating with the
team
as we speak. Please give me a few minutes more.
3/1/2008 14:55 Customer Sent Message: I meant as an example. There are

others with thousands of similar listings and they have the same
sdc_prod_ and a number for seller name.
3/1/2008 14:58 Agent Sent Message: Ah okay. Thanks. The team would
reply momentarily, please continue to hold.
3/1/2008 14:58 Agent Sent Message: I appreciate your effort to let us
know about this problem.
3/1/2008 15:02 Agent Sent Message: Thanks for patiently waiting!
3/1/2008 15:02 Agent Sent Message: I'm sorry for the
inconvenience.This
is actually an issue on the site right now I'm afraid. This is actually

a Shopping.com listing that's appearing incorrectly on eBay.
3/1/2008 15:03 Agent Sent Message: Our Technical team is working on
getting resolved though, and I had this reported for you so we can add
your account to the list.
3/1/2008 15:03 Customer Sent Message: Do these incorrect listings show

up in ebays total listings/ Wouldn't they scew the listings totals?
3/1/2008 15:04 Agent Sent Message: Oh, no it shouldn't though.
3/1/2008 15:05 Agent Sent Message: The team is checking on the
accounts
of the sellers you reported as well for further investigation.
3/1/2008 15:05 Customer Sent Message: Shoudn't or absolutely doesn't?
3/1/2008 15:05 Agent Sent Message: Absolutely doesn't.This is only a
glitch on the search pages.
3/1/2008 15:06 Agent Sent Message: You can check it from time to time
to see it not on the eBay pages, only on Shopping.com
3/1/2008 15:06 Customer Sent Message: can you explain that a little
further?
3/1/2008 15:08 Customer Sent Message: I'm not familiar with
shopping.com. Why would their listings show up on ebay. Anf the one I
mentionaed has ebay seller feedback.
3/1/2008 15:08 Agent Sent Message: Sure! In the eBay account of the
seller for items sold at eBay, it shouldn't get reflected, but if you
were referring to the "items from seller" link for all items he is
selling, I'm afraid the Shopping.com items will also appear and is
confirmed as a tec
3/1/2008 15:08 Agent Sent Message: hnical glitch.
3/1/2008 15:09 Customer Sent Message: can you respond to my last
question also?
3/1/2008 15:09 Agent Sent Message: Sorry for the confusion,
Shopping.com is a specialty site owned by eBay but we handle separate
accounts. It's similar to Express or Half.com
3/1/2008 15:10 Agent Sent Message: Ah, okay, Here's what happens, this

particular seller has an account with SHopping.com to sell items, which

is a different one as an eBay seller.
3/1/2008 15:10 Customer Sent Message: Ok. Well there are numerous
"glitches" out there and they are causing major confusion and
conjecture. YOu guys need to clean 'em up.
3/1/2008 15:11 Agent Sent Message: The items listed under Shopping.com

site should only be seen in that site and not on eBay.
3/1/2008 15:12 Agent Sent Message: Yes, we truly appreciate your help
on this one and the team is on it as we speak . We do hope we can have
this resolved asap.
3/1/2008 15:12 Customer Sent Message: Should . . . there they are.
3/1/2008 15:12 Customer Sent Message: you've been a wealth of
information Lanie
3/1/2008 15:12 Customer Sent Message: Thanks
3/1/2008 15:13 Agent Sent Message: So nice to hear that from you.
Thanks for your cooperation and understanding as well.
3/1/2008 15:13 Agent Sent Message: Is there anything else I can help
you with?
3/1/2008 15:13 Customer Sent Message: bye
3/1/2008 15:13 Agent Sent Message: All right! Once you’re ready to
close this chat window, please click on the “Exit” button. Take
care! =)

3/1/2008 15:16 Customer Sent Message: I don't seem to be able to use
the copy function
3/1/2008 15:16 Agent Sent Message: You can copy or print this chat for

your reference or I would gladly send you a chat transcript,I'll just
need your email address.
3/1/2008 15:17 Customer Sent Message: I've tried copying and I get
nothing. [email protected]
3/1/2008 15:17 Agent Sent Message: No worries. Processing it
now,you'll
have it in a few minutes.
3/1/2008 15:18 Customer Sent Message: thanks again


Sincerely,
Lanie R.

eBay Customer Support

//
//  AuctionBytes - Response from Usher Lieberman, ebay - 1 March 2008
//

AuctionBytes
http://blog.auctionbytes.com/cgi-bin/blog/blog.pl?/comments/2008/3/1204379814.html

March 01, 2008

Mystery Shopping.com Listings on eBay?

By: Ina Steiner

Sat Mar 1 2008 01:56:54

Mystery listings are appearing on eBay that don't allow shoppers to bid or buy. The listings appear to be feeds from Shopping.com sellers. A look at the User ID sdc_prod_301013_74

 

A discussion about the listings began Friday night on eBay's Feedback board. Some posters believe it is a sign that eBay is trying to inflate its listing numbers to mask any effects of the seller boycott. Because of the dearth of data from eBay, Wall Street analysts put a lot of credence on listing numbers to gauge the company's marketplace performance. This month, everyone studied listing numbers to try and measure the impact of the seller boycott. And sellers have been prowling the site looking for any evidence of manipulation.

Others believe the "sdc" mystery is a test eBay is running or may be a glitch.

Update 3/1/08: eBay spokesperson Usher Lieberman responded by email on Saturday, "This was a limited test that has run its course." I appreciate the update on a weekend and, if I learn more next week, will update this post.

 

Update: 3/2/08: eBay posted on its Systems Announcement board around 5:30 pm Eastern, "Some Shopping.com listings appeared accidentally on eBay.com over the past two days. This system issue has been resolved. We apologize for any confusion or inconvenience this may have caused."

Update 3/4/08: On Monday, eBay spokesperson Usher Lieberman said he had made a mistake when he called the Shopping.com listings a test on Saturday morning.

 

 

//
//  Response from eBay Customer Service - 2 March 2008
//

This is an interesting announcement (below). Ignores the fact many of the "accidentally" appearing items were showing 25 days remaining out of 30 days.

http://209.85.173.104/search?q=cache:nGCP4ib50X4J:search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZsdc_prod_301013_74+sdc_prod_301013_74
"This page was last updated: Mar-01 19:00"

Let's see, 30 day listing - 25 days remaining = 5 days run, as of 3/1/2008
5 days before 3/1/2008 is 2/25/2008, give or take a day.

Guess 5 days in the real world is "two days" in eBay days.

From eBay System Status Announcement Board
http://www2.ebay.com/aw/core/200803021430071.html

***Resolved: Shopping.com listings on eBay***    
       
March 02, 2008 | 02:32PM PST/PT

Some Shopping.com listings appeared accidentally on eBay.com over the past two days. This system issue has been resolved. We apologize for any confusion or inconvenience this may have caused.

//
//  AuctionBytes - Response from Usher Lieberman, eBay - 4 March 2008
//

http://blog.auctionbytes.com/cgi-bin/blog/blog.pl?/pl/2008/3/1204635766.html

Update to Shopping.com Mystery Listings on eBay
By: Ina Steiner
Tue Mar 4 2008 04:02:46

I spoke to eBay's Usher Lieberman during the IMA conference on Monday. He said he had made a mistake when he called the Shopping.com listings a test on Saturday morning. He was trying to track it down and after talking to a few people, felt comfortable saying it was a test, and subsequently found out the listings had appeared accidentally. Usher said it was his fault for initially getting it wrong.

I asked Usher if he could tell me more, and he could not. I asked him if we might expect to see Shopping.com listings on eBay in the future, or eBay.com listings on Shopping. He said eBay is looking at a lot of different things and can't speculate on anything.

"Lots of things are on the table," he said.

//
//  AuctionBytes - Response from Usher Lieberman, eBay - 4 March 2008
//

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2273210,00.asp

Excerpt

EBay Accused of Padding Listing Numbers
03.04.08
by Brian Heater and Chloe Albanesius

However, "the code actually rolled out three hours late, so there were a certain number of listings ... that didn't get gallery free, so we were going back and fixing that" on Friday, the spokesman said. "What happened was, when we wrote the code to implement that fix in the database table, there was a string that was left on there that populated and sent shopping.com listings onto ebay.com that it shouldn't have."

Approximately 5,000 listings were pulled from shopping.com, but they have since been removed, according to eBay.

Sellers pointed to the listings snafu as evidence that eBay was inflating its numbers to make up for losses sustained during the boycott. When the bug first emerged on Friday, the spokesman told a reporter that it was actually a planned test.

"But it wasn't a test. It ended up being a bug," he said. "So I ate a little bit of crow on that."

//
//  AuctionBytes - Response from Usher Lieberman, eBay - 5 March 2008
//

http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/abn/y08/m03/i05/s03

Excerpt

eBay Calls Claims of Manipulation 'Outrageous'
By Ina Steiner
AuctionBytes.com
March 05, 2008

On Tuesday, Lieberman explained the nature of the glitch. Programmers rolled out code on Friday evening that was meant to credit certain listings that were eligible for free Gallery. The credit was due to them because eBay had promised sellers Gallery would be free for listings started at a certain time of day, and the code had been rolled out 3 hours past the deadline.

Lieberman said the programmers inadvertently caused the Shopping.com listings to appear on eBay.com when it created and launched the script to credit the sellers' accounts for Gallery fees.

Lieberman said fewer than 35,000 listings were affected by the glitch.

//
//  From the eBay Developer Forums regarding the "sdc_prod" name - 29 February 2008
//

eBay Developer Forums
Technical Questions: eBay Shopping Web Services
http://dev-forums.ebay.com/thread.jspa?q=sdc&forumID=1007&threadID=500004459&messageID=600012983#600012983

Replies: 4 - Pages: 1     Last Post: Feb 29, 2008 4:27 AM by: stsi.com »   

stsi.com
Member Since: 1/10/08
   
Read     ExcludeSellers Issue
Posted: Jan 10, 2008 11:40 AM    

Is there a limit on the number of Excluded Sellers that can be specified in a GetSearchResults call? I have several excluded sellers that keep returning search results. I have checked the XML for the call, and it looks correct.

Also, is it a problem if entries are duplicated? (I will be correcting this in any event.)

Thanks.

stsi.com
Member Since: 1/10/08
   
Read     Re: ExcludeSellers Issue
Posted: Jan 10, 2008 12:12 PM    

After further research, it looks like there is a limit of 100 excluded sellers. Can this limit be raised?

[email protected]
Posts: 2,035
Member Since: 6/30/05
   
Read     Re: ExcludeSellers Issue
Posted: Jan 14, 2008 3:42 PM    

Hello stsi.com,

Yes the limit is 100, which most users have found sufficient for their use case. How many IDs do you have?

Best Regards
Rekha Patel
eBay Developer Support

stsi.com
Member Since: 1/10/08

Read     Re: ExcludeSellers Issue
Posted: Feb 29, 2008 4:23 AM    

Because of the wide variety of searches that we do, we could easily use 200 to 400 ID's. 500 would be a good number for us.

stsi.com
Member Since: 1/10/08
   
Read     Re: ExcludeSellers Issue
Posted: Feb 29, 2008 4:27 AM    

Also, is it possible to use wildcards for excluded sellers? For example, I'd like to exclude the various iterations of sdc_prod_*, instead of having to type in all the numbers that this seller uses....

//
//  Reaction snapshot excerpts from eBay PowerSellers - 1 March 2008
//

Is Ebay Creating Listings To Boost totals?  Strange listings...
http://forums.ebay.com/db1/thread.jspa?threadID=2000527597&start=40&anticache=1204400261806

fla***  (327 )      Mar-01-08 04:46 PST     73 of 109
(sp)Sarbanes-Oxley Act.

also known as the Public Company Accounting Reform and Investor Protection Act of 2002 and commonly called SOx or Sarbox; is a United States federal law enacted on July 30, 2002 in response to a number of major corporate and accounting scandals including those affecting Enron, Tyco International, Adelphia, Peregrine Systems and WorldCom. These scandals, which cost investors billions of dollars when the share prices of the affected companies collapsed, shook public confidence in the nation's securities markets.
The legislation establishes new or enhanced standards for all U.S. public company boards, management, and public accounting firms. The Act contains 11 titles, or sections, ranging from additional Corporate Board responsibilities to criminal penalties, and requires the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to implement rulings on requirements to comply with the new law.
The Act establishes a new quasi-public agency, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, or PCAOB, which is charged with overseeing, regulating, inspecting, and disciplining accounting firms in their roles as auditors of public companies. The Act also covers issues such as auditor independence, corporate governance, internal control assessment, and enhanced financial disclosure.

djc***  (3827 )        Mar-01-08 09:04 PST       88 of 110
Doing a little cleaning up, maybe?

djc***  (3827 )      Mar-01-08 09:46 PST     93 of 110
I don't know if it's a glitch, hack or purposeful deception. However, what makes it curious is all the auctions I looked at started last Thursday the day after the listing sale ended.

cmi***  (1712 )        Mar-01-08 09:52 PST       94 of 110
I don't know if it's a glitch, hack or purposeful deception. However, what makes it curious is all the auctions I looked at started last Thursday the day after the listing sale ended.

I noticed that too, 9 days ago they started. Awfully peculiar timing considering the "boycott" and all.

nan***  (9616 )         Mar-02-08 07:38 PST       133 of 280
Also Most if not all keep you from purchasing the items.

From this post (many are developers)
http://forums.ebay.com/db2/thread.jspa?threadID=2000527568
there are several people who asked Live Help and sent emails and one got Oh there is an error and another got it is just a test.

They are c&P all the auctions they can before they disappear.

Many are notifying all the media sources they can.

vq5***  (1072 )       Mar-02-08 09:04 PST       138 of 280
Update 3/1/08: eBay spokesperson Usher Lieberman responded by email on Saturday, "This was a limited test that has run its course." I appreciate the update on a weekend and, if I learn more next week, will update this post.

dar***  (369 )      Mar-02-08 09:06 PST     139 of 280
Why did they have to "Test" THAT MANY AUCTIONS during a boycott week?

avi***  (3794 )         Mar-02-08 09:10 PST       140 of 280
Why did they have to "Test" THAT MANY AUCTIONS during a boycott week?

Exactly.

And if it were a legitimate test, there would be no reason to pull the listings.

vail***  (9944 )      Mar-02-08 09:22 PST     141 of 280
"This was a limited test that has run its course."

Such HOGWASH!!!!!!!!!!!!!

gui***  (2168 )         Mar-02-08 09:38 PST       143 of 280
"This was a limited test that has run its course."

Now that sounds like hogwash. There is a category just for test auctions, designed just for that purpose Everything Else> Test Auctions If eBay wanted to do test auctions they would have put them in there with a disclaimer not to bid. IMO that takes credibility away from this being a real test. I may buy a glitch, a hack, or a seller that has no idea what they are doing, but a test that is listed in the wrong category. And they yank it as soon as it is reported, come on, that one isn't believable.

avi***  (3794 )        Mar-02-08 10:47 PST       152 of 280
And eBay is sweeping the threads about this, the big one on the Feedie board is gone. SSDD.

Yep, the big one's gone and so is a much smaller one started after the first one disappeared. The big one at Seller Central is gone, but another with a vague title remains. A short thread at Trust and Safety is still there.

emo***  (20315 )        Mar-02-08 11:23 PST       156 of 280
"I think it might have been a test of dumping SDC items into Ebay."

Gee, what an AMAZING coincidence they picked the exact time the boycott was started, when the ENTIRE world was looking at the listing totals to see if the boycott was actually working!

Hmmmm.....

sno***  (12648 )        Mar-02-08 15:03 PST       166 of 285
Post #138 wrote that Ebay responded with: "This was a limited test that has run its course."

So, did Ebay actually ADMIT to involvement in those listings? They obviously are not test listings, we all know that.....But if they were performing some "other" form of test - perhaps - let's see...could it be inflating the number of listings test? What limited test are they talking about?

mag***  (6913 )         Mar-02-08 15:54 PST       170 of 285
I don't know why so many people are quick to ASSume that eBay is an evil corporate entity that wants to steal their souls and use them as currency whilst dealing with the Devil.

When I last checked, you were supposed to be INNOCENT until PROVEN guilty. From the bizarre, over-the-top posts on this thread, I have no idea why some of you even sell here.

I know that if I felt that strongly about eBay, I would do what Bruce is doing, and exit, stage left.

djc***  (3828 ) View Listings | Report     Mar-02-08 17:24 PST     205 of 286
It's inconsistent statements like these that leads to speculation.

 

Update 3/1/08: eBay spokesperson Usher Lieberman responded by email on Saturday, "This was a limited test that has run its course." I appreciate the update on a weekend and, if I learn more next week, will update this post.

Update: 3/2/08: eBay posted on its Systems Announcement board around 5:30 pm Eastern, "Some Shopping.com listings appeared accidentally on eBay.com over the past two days. This system issue has been resolved. We apologize for any confusion or inconvenience this may have caused."

http://blog.auctionbytes.com/cgi-bin/blog/blog.pl?/pl/2008/3/1204379814.html

gir***  (305 )        Mar-02-08 18:09 PST       217 of 286
ok the difference would be this if it was a test then ebay has comtrol over its website..the only question would be what type of test and why...this is feel ok with..............now if not a test but rather an accident then this is more of a problem...an accident is an event in which you have no control over..that would mean some one some where and some how was able to get control of the ebay computers and put all those listings on..using the same technology someone could put what ever they wanted on a millon pieces of porn or a millon pages of mad magazine etc....and also if they can control they ebay computers to do that copuld they also not use them to harvest your personal finnancial info?

oke**  (1560 )      Mar-02-08 18:11 PST     218 of 286
I don't think it was an accident, do you?

abr***  (5774 )         Mar-02-08 19:37 PST       272 of 287
If they choose to give 30 day auction style core listings numbering in the MILLIONS FOLKS, then that is perfectly legal for them to do. eBay has rules by which its members must operate, but these may be members of a DIFFERENT eBay club, and their rules may be much different than ours...

fre***  (6704 )         Mar-03-08 00:12 PST       323 of 367
I found something unusual. A new wrinkle. If you go to some of the big categories and show listings, select ending soonest and at the bottom you see, say, 7575 pages total for listings, if you type in assorted numbers HIGHER, say for example, 7578, 7586, etc you can find more of these 20-day listings which are still up but if you click them they say they are ended. However, they are still there! Also, the page numbers higher than the ones indicated are do not all appear. For example, say there is a 7592, 7593, but no 7594, no 7595, then there is a 7596, and so forth. It is very wierd. It looks like there are still thousands of such listings hidden or disguised. The "ended" listings still appear in search if you find them.

mis***  (1530 )        Mar-03-08 08:31 PST       341 of 367
You have to stop and think allot of people don't want to believe ebay is capable of wrong doing because they are afraid if they are that ebay will cease to exist soon.
I don't blame them, allot of them have there life dedicated to ebay and the sales.
I would be terrified as well if my bread and butter could soon evaporate and I really don't have a back up plan.

djc***  (3828 )        Mar-03-08 10:33 PST       363 of 368
Somebody made a comment on that auctionbyte blog about pages of no listings yesterday.

I didn't think much about it figuring it didn't mean anything. Today I started thinking about the actual item numbers and went to look around.

This is the sub categories in Clothing, Shoes & Accessories 2463944 items found in: Clothing, Shoes & Accessories

Costumes & Reenactment Attire (15661)
Cultural & Ethnic Clothing (1797)
Dancewear & Dance Shoes (7108)
Infants & Toddlers (230627)
Boys (58019)
Girls (143875)
Men's Accessories (110147)
Men's Clothing (362834)
Men's Shoes (97112)
Uniforms (13170)
Unisex Clothing, Shoes & Accs (15095)
Wedding Apparel (42330)
Women's Accessories, Handbags (241563)
Women's Clothing (812862)
Women's Shoes (242672)
Vintage (66834)
Wholesale, Large & Small Lots (6970)

If you add the numbers in each sub category, you get that 2.4 million total.

When you look inside Womens's Clothing (812862) you find 16,250 pages of items.
16,250 pages x 50 items per page is 812,500. So that sounds correct.

However, the pages above 14,446 are empty. So there are really only 722,300 items in that category.

That 16,250 pages is down from over 48,000 pages less than 24 hours ago.

Medved gets there numbers from the categories.

//
//  Video screen captures - 1 March 2008
//

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mePI-UWDGOE
Ebay Padding Counts w Fake Listings in Wake of Strike?

From:   cappnonymous

About This Video

This is a live screen recording of actual events on the ebay website, with altered vocals. The video portion is uncut with watermarks added, and otherwise unretouched. The vocal audio portion of this video is my opinion, based upon & validated by the facts. This curious situation has come about on ebay. here is some background and commentary. This is still very fresh. One thing clear, ebay seems to be acting to cover this up right now. This  description will be updated with more info soon. It appears as though ebay has been caught padding the listing counts with lots and lots of fake listings from questionable accounts. Many of the se accounts are showing as "Not a registered user" or NARU. Many of the listings show as not having any detals, and the format of the listings is different Some are showing as disney listings. All sorts of strange things are going on. And of course, the censorship. Captured live here on video. Related threads on ebay forums: from the Feedback board: "Is Ebay Creating Listings To Boost totals Look" from Seller Central: "Im reporting ebay's padded listings to FTC for investigation" From Seller Central: "Ebay is padding their listings" from the Auction Listings bd: "E-bay is padding their listings" From the so called "Trust & Safety" board: "Zero FB seller has 35000 Listings with no way to bid on them - VERY ODD" Here are a few of the alleged fake names as  reported and observed so far: sdc_prod_434012 = SpectrumSuperStore sdc_prod_9021_2 = Buy.com (who is NARU!) sdc_prod_9124_14 = TheNerds, Inc. sdc_prod_9452 = eTronics, Inc. sdc_prod_409455_97 = Sababa Shopping sdc_prod_9090 = CompSource Inc. sdc_prod_310426 = ANTOnline (who is NARU!) sdc_prod_9074_35 = pcRUSH.com (who is NARU!) sdc_prod_9352_67 = Digital Foto Club sdc_prod_301013_74 = The Twister Group sdc_prod_305839_99 = BargainBasementBatteries sdc_prod_9391_43 = Adorama (who is NARU!) Since I started it there, look for follow-up at the CAPP Forum: http://tinyurl.com/2wzjpc Please visit these sites before you consider using or continuing to use ebay: suspendedfromebay.com nekkidtruth.blogspot.com www.firemeg.com www.companyexposed.com www.theauctionguild.com www.pheebay.com www.ebaymotorssucks.com or you can follow the links from the cappnonymous channel page. --------------------- Note: This audio visual digital document was created using the new & improved ZDSoft Screen Recorder 2.6.2.0 and "SUPER © v2007 build .25" wmm2 & audacity on 02-29-2008 approximately 11:32:33 Pacific Time. I am using firefox 2.0012 browser with Adblock Plus NoScript Super DragandGo 0.2.6 Image Zoom 0.3 and SlimSearch 0.1.8 extensions and my "bumped" SpoofStick 1.06 among others. My skin is miniFox 0.8.2. The small magnified window is a function of microsoft wireless intellimouse explorer 2.0 model  (less) Added: March 01, 2008

 

// 
//  eBay filings to the United States Securities And Exchange Commission (SEC)
//

In regards to auction and store listing counts.

http://yahoo.brand.edgar-online.com/fetchFilingFrameset.aspx?dcn=0000950134-08-003741&Type=HTML
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/sec?s=ebay

Form 10-K for EBAY INC
29-Feb-2008
Annual Report

http://yahoo.brand.edgar-online.com/fetchFilingFrameset.aspx?dcn=0000891618-08-000046&Type=HTML
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/sec?s=ebay

Form 8-K for EBAY INC
23-Jan-2008
Results of Operations and Financial Condition, Financial Statements and Exhibits

// 
//  eBay stock price - 29 February 2008
//

http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=eBay

EBAY INC (NasdaqGS:EBAY)

After Hours: 26.18 0.18 (0.68%) on 02/29/08
Last Trade: 26.36 Trade Time: Feb 29 Change: 0.91 (3.34%) Prev Close: 27.27 Open: 27.01 Bid: N/A Ask: 27.27 x 3000 1y Target Est: 35.22		Day's Range: 26.17 - 27.08 52wk Range: 25.64 - 40.73 Volume: 17,475,127 Avg Vol (3m): 15,744,000 Market Cap: 35.66B P/E (ttm): 104.19 EPS (ttm): 0.25 Div & Yield: N/A (N/A)

// 
//  Detail data on "sdc" sellers.
//

This data is not meant to be all inclusive. It does provide a means to verify facts, and generate leads to more information.

• Listing counts are from the eBay.com site. I.E. these are not counts from eBayExpress.com nor Shopping.com nor Half.com nor any site but eBay.com.
• For some Google archive data, see the date the item was archived.
• Use the Google "cached" option.
• To see more Google archive use the "repeat the search with the omitted results included" option.

 

News publication AuctionBytes stipulating on the record verification of at least 80,000 listings for one eBay.com seller.

http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/abn/y08/m03/i05/s03
"the fact that when AuctionBytes looked at one Shopping.com selling account on Saturday morning, it indicated the seller had over 80,000 listings on eBay.com" Ina Steiner, 05 March 2008

sdc_prod_301013_74
aka The Twister Group  (27,291 listings 2/29/2008)
http://feedback.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewFeedback2&userid=sdc_prod_301013_74&ftab=AllFeedback
505 positive feedback,  0 listings 3/2/2008
Member since Oct-18-06 in Illinois, United States    
www.google.com/search?q=sdc_prod_301013_74  [Google archive, use cache link]
http://209.85.173.104/search?q=cache:nGCP4ib50X4J:search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZsdc_prod_301013_74+sdc_prod_301013_74
"27076 items found"
http://pages.suddenlink.net/docswife/Fake_eBay_Listings2.htm
http://www.companyexposed.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/ebay-seller-sdc-prod-301013-74-a-v-accessories-cables-desktop-laptop-accessories-items-on-ebaycom.png
http://www.companyexposed.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/olympus-260302-evolt-e-10-starter-kit-ebay-item-200203133477-end-time-mar-26-08-14-35-44-pdt.png
http://www.companyexposed.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/place-a-bid.png

sdc_prod_305839_99
aka BargainBasementBatteries 
http://feedback.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewFeedback2&userid=sdc_prod_305839_99&ftab=AllFeedback
7 positive feedback, 148 listings 3/2/2008
Member since Oct-30-07 in California, United States
www.google.com/search?q=sdc_prod_305839_99  [Google archive, use cache link]
http://209.85.173.104/search?q=cache:QpM59pR2JdMJ:cgi.ebay.com/RBC7-for-APC-Smart-UPS-1000XL_W0QQitemZ220205254001QQihZ012QQcategoryZ44963QQcmdZViewItem+sdc_prod_305839_99
http://209.85.173.104/search?q=cache:DS3GG6zXiPoJ:cgi.ebay.com/GP388-Two-Way-Radio-Battery-7-2-volts-Li-Ion-1400-mAh_W0QQitemZ220206831899QQihZ012QQcategoryZ35165QQcmdZViewItem+sdc_prod_305839_99
http://209.85.173.104/search?q=cache:noDieNpXPuoJ:cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll%3FViewItem%26item%3D220206820744%26ih%3D012%26category%3D46706%26ssPageName%3DWDVW%26rd%3D1+sdc_prod_305839_99
http://209.85.173.104/search?q=cache:13lDN7y4IHAJ:cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll%3FViewItem%26item%3D220206840342%26ih%3D012%26category%3D31513%26ssPageName%3DWDVW%26rd%3D1+sdc_prod_305839_99
http://209.85.173.104/search?q=cache:MVdOb-vVDPoJ:cgi.ebay.com/Aspire-1301XV-Laptop-Battery-9-6V-Ni-MH-4000mAh_W0QQitemZ220206826809QQihZ012QQcategoryZ50390QQcmdZViewItem+sdc_prod_305839_99
http://209.85.173.104/search?q=cache:9hMQHjW-HvgJ:cgi.ebay.com/Aspire-1307LC-Laptop-Battery-9-6V-Ni-MH-4000mAh_W0QQitemZ220206826435QQihZ012QQcategoryZ50390QQcmdZViewItem+sdc_prod_305839_99

sdc_prod_310426
aka ANTOnline  (21,798 listings 2/29/2008) 
http://feedback.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewFeedback2&userid=sdc_prod_310426&ftab=AllFeedback
0 positive feedback, 0 listings 3/2/2008, Not a registered user
Member since Feb-15-08 in Georgia, United States
www.google.com/search?q=sdc_prod_310426  [Google archive, use cache link]
395 pages, with 25 items per page. 394 x 25 = 9,850 items
http://209.85.173.104/search?q=cache:79FfxT1PdwsJ:ebay.auction.co.kr/List.html%3FUserId%3Dsdc_prod_310426+sdc_prod_310426&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=9&gl=us
http://209.85.173.104/search?q=cache:nPDK_hOHHnYJ:cgi.ebay.com/Revlon-MoistureStay-Fast-Heat-Paraffin-Bath-RSV1212_W0QQitemZ120227712889QQihZ002QQcategoryZ33163QQcmdZViewItem+sdc_prod_310426
http://209.85.173.104/search?q=cache:h1d5zecY9ugJ:ebay.auction.co.kr/detail.html%3FitemNo%3D120225811907%26FeedBackPercent%3D0+sdc_prod_310426
http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=ko&u=http://ebay.auction.co.kr/detail.html%3FitemNo%3D120225811907%26FeedBackPercent%3D0&sa=X&oi=translate&resnum=6&ct=result&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dsdc_prod_310426%26start%3D30%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Dactive%26sa%3DN
http://209.85.173.104/search?q=cache:VjhJfZtF7sAJ:ebay.auction.co.kr/detail.html%3FitemNo%3D120225360950%26FeedBackPercent%3D0+sdc_prod_310426
http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=ko&u=http://ebay.auction.co.kr/detail.html%3FitemNo%3D120224895939%26FeedBackPercent%3D0&sa=X&oi=translate&resnum=9&ct=result&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dsdc_prod_310426%26start%3D30%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Dactive%26sa%3DN
http://209.85.173.104/search?q=cache:-gm9kAaw7xoJ:ebay.auction.co.kr/detail.html%3FitemNo%3D120224930838%26FeedBackPercent%3D0+sdc_prod_310426
http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=ko&u=http://ebay.auction.co.kr/detail.html%3FitemNo%3D120224930838%26FeedBackPercent%3D0&sa=X&oi=translate&resnum=2&ct=result&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dsdc_prod_310426%26start%3D70%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Dactive%26sa%3DN

sdc_prod_409455_97
aka Sababa Shopping
http://feedback.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewFeedback2&userid=sdc_prod_409455_97&ftab=AllFeedback
104 positive feedback, 0 listings 3/2/2008
Member since Jul-16-07 in New York, United States
www.google.com/search?q=sdc_prod_409455_97  [Google archive, use cache link]
http://209.85.173.104/search?q=cache:wdbbmSkSv5YJ:cgi.ebay.com/Joe-Frazier-Signed-Everlast-Boxing-Shoe_W0QQitemZ310025760330QQihZ021QQcategoryZ27272QQcmdZViewItem+sdc_prod_409455_97
http://209.85.173.104/search?q=cache:RS6-QlnYA2sJ:cgi.ebay.com/Streamlight-Jr-Luxeon-LED-Light_W0QQitemZ310025774047QQihZ021QQcategoryZ106987QQcmdZViewItem+sdc_prod_409455_97
http://209.85.173.104/search?q=cache:oJ62cj__odoJ:cgi.ebay.com/Doh-Doh-Doh-Doh-Bushings-Red-95_W0QQitemZ310025775386QQihZ021QQcategoryZ11740QQcmdZViewItem+Sababa+Shopping

sdc_prod_434012
aka SpectrumSuperStore  (35,002 listings 2/29/2008)
http://feedback.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewFeedback2&userid=sdc_prod_434012&ftab=AllFeedback
0 positive feedback, 0 listings 3/2/2008
Member since Apr-11-07 in California, United States
www.google.com/search?q=sdc_prod_434012  [Google archive, use cache link]
http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj179/thevirginmarypretzel/paddedlistings.jpg
http://www.companyexposed.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/ebaycom-seller-list-sdc_prod_434012.png
http://209.85.173.104/search?q=cache:xMl5SZU-ESsJ:cgi.ebay.com/Hybrid-Series-76-Key-Keyboard-Case-EA-BGHB-76_W0QQitemZ320222873077QQihZ011QQcategoryZ85858QQcmdZViewItem+sdc_prod_434012
http://209.85.173.104/search?q=cache:XcX-QQRk69EJ:cgi.ebay.com/WB700-ALUMINUM-WORK-BENCH-1_W0QQitemZ320222203965QQihZ011QQcategoryZ67719QQcmdZViewItem+sdc_prod_434012
http://209.85.173.104/search?q=cache:ie1RFfPfftoJ:cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll%3FViewItem%26item%3D320199419130%26ih%3D011%26category%3D41424%26ssPageName%3DWDVW%26rd%3D1+sdc_prod_434012
http://209.85.173.104/search?q=cache:kFB33ls7-SwJ:ebay.auction.co.kr/detail.html%3FitemNo%3D320220845477%26FeedBackPercent%3D0+sdc_prod_434012
http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=ko&u=http://ebay.auction.co.kr/detail.html%3FitemNo%3D320220845477%26FeedBackPercent%3D0&sa=X&oi=translate&resnum=8&ct=result&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dsdc_prod_434012%26start%3D10%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26sa%3DN

sdc_prod_442675_57
aka Boyne & Kelly L.L.C.  (4,702 listings 2/29/2008)
http://feedback.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewFeedback2&userid=sdc_prod_442675_57&ftab=AllFeedback
0 positive feedback, 0 listings 3/2/2008
Member since Oct-25-07 in New Jersey, United States
www.google.com/search?q=sdc_prod_442675_57  [Google archive, use cache link]
http://209.85.173.104/search?q=cache:eJS01HGdc2MJ:cgi.ebay.com/7-Wonders-of-Ancient-World-PSP_W0QQitemZ120214123226QQihZ002QQcategoryZ378QQcmdZViewItem+sdc_prod_442675_57
http://209.85.173.104/search?q=cache:W2o81DDL3EEJ:cgi.ebay.com/Luxury-Paraffin-Bath_W0QQitemZ120227861327QQihZ002QQcategoryZ33163QQcmdZViewItem+sdc_prod_442675_57
http://ebay.auction.co.kr/detail.html?itemNo=120227877849&FeedBackPercent=0
http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=ko&u=http://ebay.auction.co.kr/detail.html%3FitemNo%3D120227877849%26FeedBackPercent%3D0&sa=X&oi=translate&resnum=2&ct=result&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dsdc_prod_442675_57%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Dactive
http://209.85.173.104/search?q=cache:RdTfjWou1rQJ:cgi.ebay.com/Widepath-Tempo-Upright_W0QQitemZ120213667347QQcmdZViewItem%3Fhash%3Ditem120213667347+sdc_prod_442675_57
Widepath Tempo Upright - eBay (item 120213667347 end time Mar-21 ...
http://209.85.173.104/search?q=cache:RdTfjWou1rQJ:cgi.ebay.com/Widepath-Tempo-Upright_W0QQitemZ120213667347QQcmdZViewItem%3Fhash%3Ditem120213667347+sdc_prod_442675_57
1GB 1066MHZ DIMM DDR3 - eBay (item 120224872850 end time Mar-21-08 ...
http://209.85.173.104/search?q=cache:3hWj_pz6kVQJ:cgi.ebay.com/1GB-1066MHZ-DIMM-DDR3_W0QQitemZ120224872850QQihZ002QQcategoryZ111425QQcmdZViewItem+sdc_prod_442675_57
2GB KIT 1333MHZ DDR3 - eBay (item 120226065068 end time Mar-24-08 ...
http://209.85.173.104/search?q=cache:k-5_eMw0X4kJ:cgi.ebay.com/2GB-KIT-1333MHZ-DDR3_W0QQitemZ120226065068QQihZ002QQcategoryZ111425QQcmdZViewItem+sdc_prod_442675_57

sdc_prod_9021_2
aka Buy.com  (12,233 listings 2/29/2008)
http://feedback.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewFeedback2&userid=sdc_prod_9021_2&ftab=AllFeedback
0 positive feedback, 0 listings 3/2/2008, Not a registered user
Member since Feb-22-08 in California, United States
www.google.com/search?q=sdc_prod_9021_2  [Google archive, use cache link]
http://209.85.173.104/search?q=cache:QAXuEnq4G4wJ:cgi.ebay.com/Spalding-79465-NBA-54-Inch-Basketball-Backboard-and-R_W0QQitemZ110228789630QQihZ001QQcategoryZ21196QQcmdZViewItem+sdc_prod_9021_2
http://209.85.173.104/search?q=cache:Yd2XfmHiLA8J:cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll%3FViewItem%26item%3D110228791004%26ih%3D001%26category%3D306%26ssPageName%3DWDVW%26rd%3D1+sdc_prod_9021_2
http://209.85.173.104/search?q=cache:5MkhNRgk0uYJ:ebay.auction.co.kr/detail.html%3FitemNo%3D110228785954%26FeedBackPercent%3D0+sdc_prod_9021_2
http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=ko&u=http://ebay.auction.co.kr/detail.html%3FitemNo%3D110228785954%26FeedBackPercent%3D0&sa=X&oi=translate&resnum=10&ct=result&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dsdc_prod_9021_2%26start%3D20%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Dactive%26sa%3DN
http://ebay.auction.co.kr/detail.html?itemNo=110228785954&FeedBackPercent=0
http://209.85.173.104/search?q=cache:8N4t76pH5uIJ:cgi.ebay.com/Fraudulent-and-Exaggerated-Claims-in-Pi_W0QQitemZ110228803086QQihZ001QQcategoryZ378QQcmdZViewItem+sdc_prod_9021_2

sdc_prod_9055
aka Focus Camera  (1,925 listings 2/29/2008)
http://feedback.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewFeedback2&userid=sdc_prod_9055&ftab=AllFeedback
235 positive feedback, 0 listings 3/2/2008
Member since Oct-30-07 in New York, United States
www.google.com/search?q=sdc_prod_9055  [Google archive, use cache link]
http://209.85.173.104/search?q=cache:vL_bdzKpE-wJ:cgi.ebay.com/Canon-Printer-Ink-Canon-PGI-9-Yellow-Ink-Tank_W0QQitemZ220206475064QQihZ012QQcategoryZ51292QQcmdZViewItem+sdc_prod_9055
http://209.85.173.104/search?q=cache:OK3sbJCL5p0J:cgi.ebay.com/Canon-Printer-Ink-Canon-PGI-9-10-Color-Pack_W0QQitemZ220206475061QQihZ012QQcategoryZ51292QQcmdZViewItem+sdc_prod_9055
http://209.85.173.104/search?q=cache:Xkp36kduKuAJ:cgi.ebay.com/Kenwood-Alpine-in-Dah-CD-MP3-WAV-CD-IPOD-USB_W0QQitemZ220206476932QQihZ012QQcategoryZ307QQcmdZViewItem+sdc_prod_9055
http://209.85.173.104/search?q=cache:IbN3pjB5bN0J:cgi.ebay.com/SDI-Ihome-IH9B6R-Alarm-Clock-Radio-for-Ipod-Black_W0QQitemZ220204798292QQihZ012QQcategoryZ84082QQcmdZViewItem+sdc_prod_9055

sdc_prod_9074_35
aka pcRUSH.com   (21,401 listings 2/29/2008) 
http://feedback.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewFeedback2&userid=sdc_prod_9074_35&ftab=AllFeedback
0 positive feedback, 0 listings 3/2/2008, Not a registered user
Member since Feb-28-08 in California, United States
www.google.com/search?q=sdc_prod_9074_35  [Google archive, use cache link]
"21481 items found"
http://209.85.173.104/search?q=cache:egtfB3spkuwJ:search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZsdc_prod_9074_35+sdc_prod_9074_35
860 pages, 25 items per page. 859 x 25 = 21,475 items
http://209.85.173.104/search?q=cache:8kcIgg6TBCwJ:ebay.auction.co.kr/List.html%3FUserId%3Dsdc_prod_9074_35+sdc_prod_9074_35
http://www.suspendedfromebay.com/postings-archive/sdc_prod_9074_35-1.jpg
http://www.suspendedfromebay.com/postings-archive/sdc_prod_9074_35-5.jpg
Canon 3708A005AA - eBay (item 120227783548 end time Mar-29-08 :39:34 PDT)
http://209.85.173.104/search?q=cache:t83ZZsaKUBoJ:cgi.ebay.com/Canon-3708A005AA_W0QQitemZ120227783548QQihZ002QQcategoryZ61673QQcmdZViewItem+sdc_prod_9074_35
http://209.85.173.104/search?q=cache:4VE7CCkI4fMJ:ebay.auction.co.kr/detail.html%3FitemNo%3D120227765257%26FeedBackPercent%3D0+sdc_prod_9074_35
http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=ko&u=http://ebay.auction.co.kr/detail.html%3FitemNo%3D120227765257%26FeedBackPercent%3D0&sa=X&oi=translate&resnum=10&ct=result&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dsdc_prod_9074_35%26start%3D10%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Dactive%26sa%3DN
http://ebay.auction.co.kr/detail.html?itemNo=120227765257&FeedBackPercent=0

sdc_prod_9090
aka CompSource Inc.  (32,601 listings 2/29/2008) 
http://feedback.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewFeedback2&userid=sdc_prod_9090&ftab=AllFeedback
206 positive feedback, 0 listings 3/2/2008
Member since Mar-26-07 in Ohio, United States
www.google.com/search?q=sdc_prod_9090  [Google archive, use cache link]
"32601 items found"
http://209.85.173.104/search?q=cache:fVmNW6F5irIJ:search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZsdc_prod_9090+sdc_prod_9090+-product.express.ebay.com+-ebay.auction.co.kr
1301 pages, 25 items per page. 1300 x 25 = 32,500 items
http://209.85.173.104/search?q=cache:FxeShIuGsq4J:ebay.auction.co.kr/List.html%3FUserId%3Dsdc_prod_9090+sdc_prod_9090
http://209.85.173.104/search?q=cache:p2cKr5hg4-cJ:cgi.ebay.com/Lenovo-3000-N200-Notebook-Intel-Core-2-Duo-T5250-1_W0QQitemZ370018138633QQihZ024QQcategoryZ140083QQcmdZViewItem+sdc_prod_9090+-product.express.ebay.com
http://209.85.173.104/search?q=cache:SLywt4rdRRYJ:cgi.ebay.com/Luxury-Paraffin-Bath-Revlon-MoistureStay-Fast-Heat-U_W0QQitemZ370027698377QQihZ024QQcategoryZ33163QQcmdZViewItem+sdc_prod_9090+-product.express.ebay.com
http://209.85.173.104/search?q=cache:6UblAGIUYPwJ:ebay.auction.co.kr/detail.html%3FitemNo%3D370027703589%26FeedBackPercent%3D93.2+sdc_prod_9090
http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=ko&u=http://ebay.auction.co.kr/detail.html%3FitemNo%3D370027703589%26FeedBackPercent%3D93.2&sa=X&oi=translate&resnum=9&ct=result&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dsdc_prod_9090%26start%3D10%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Dactive%26sa%3DN
HON Mentor Series Single Pedestal Desk - Rectangle - - eBay (item 370016020192
  end time Mar-21-08 23:28:22 PDT)
http://209.85.173.104/search?q=cache:eENzLiVfg80J:cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll%3FViewItem%26item%3D370016020192%26ih%3D024%26category%3D11832%26ssPageName%3DWDVW%26rd%3D1+sdc_prod_9090

sdc_prod_9124_14
akaTheNerds, Inc.  (48,392 listings 2/29/2008) 
http://feedback.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewFeedback2&userid=sdc_prod_9124_14&ftab=AllFeedback
259 positive feedback, 0 listings 3/2/2008
Member since Dec-12-07 in Florida, United States
www.google.com/search?q=sdc_prod_9124_14  [Google archive, use cache link]
INDEX,LTR,#376-400,25,WE - eBay (item 120213499957 end time Mar-21-08 09:18:05 PDT
http://209.85.173.104/search?q=cache:7uI-xsGbWrcJ:cgi.ebay.com/INDEX-LTR-376-400-25-WE_W0QQitemZ120213499957QQihZ002QQcategoryZ4203QQcmdZViewItem+sdc_prod_9124_14
NOTEBOOK,5SUBCLG,11X9,AST - eBay (item 120213501400 end time Mar-21-08 09:19:12 PDT)
http://209.85.173.104/search?q=cache:L-FmypDv-oAJ:cgi.ebay.com/NOTEBOOK-5SUBCLG-11X9-AST_W0QQitemZ120213501400QQihZ002QQcategoryZ60271QQcmdZViewItem+sdc_prod_9124_14
http://209.85.173.104/search?q=cache:ZzyC1hqSDe0J:ebay.auction.co.kr/detail.html%3FitemNo%3D120213540500%26FeedBackPercent%3D97.7+sdc_prod_9124_14
http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=ko&u=http://ebay.auction.co.kr/detail.html%3FitemNo%3D120213540500%26FeedBackPercent%3D97.7&sa=X&oi=translate&resnum=8&ct=result&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dsdc_prod_9124_14%26start%3D60%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Dactive%26sa%3DN
http://ebay.auction.co.kr/detail.html?itemNo=120213540500&FeedBackPercent=97.7

sdc_prod_9352_67
aka Digital Foto Club  (30,278 listings 2/29/2008) 
http://feedback.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewFeedback2&userid=sdc_prod_9352_67&ftab=AllFeedback
922 positive feedback, 0 listings 3/2/2008
Member since May-28-07 in New York, United States
www.google.com/search?q=sdc_prod_9352_67  [Google archive, use cache link]
http://209.85.173.104/search?q=cache:9TJtexR6ptsJ:ebay.auction.co.kr/detail.html%3FitemNo%3D270214141173%26FeedBackPercent%3D98.7+sdc_prod_9352_67
http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=ko&u=http://ebay.auction.co.kr/detail.html%3FitemNo%3D270214141173%26FeedBackPercent%3D98.7&sa=X&oi=translate&resnum=8&ct=result&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dsdc_prod_9352_67%2Bitems%2Bfor%26start%3D20%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Dactive%26sa%3DN
http://209.85.173.104/search?q=cache:xtXD8nksrckJ:cgi.ebay.com/Crosley-ST73-CH-Richmond-Entertainment-Center-Stereo_W0QQitemZ270214141288QQihZ017QQcategoryZ20488QQcmdZViewItem+sdc_prod_9352_67
http://209.85.173.104/search?q=cache:rs5hKtPhMu8J:cgi.ebay.com/Canon-Printer-Ink-Canon-PGI-9-Red-Ink-Tank_W0QQitemZ270214133563QQihZ017QQcategoryZ51292QQcmdZViewItem+sdc_prod_9352_67
http://209.85.173.104/search?q=cache:9x61N_X0Qf0J:ebay.auction.co.kr/detail.html%3FitemNo%3D270214140109%26FeedBackPercent%3D98.7+sdc_prod_9352_67
http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=ko&u=http://ebay.auction.co.kr/detail.html%3FitemNo%3D270214140109%26FeedBackPercent%3D98.7&sa=X&oi=translate&resnum=2&ct=result&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dsdc_prod_9352_67%2B%26start%3D490%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Dactive%26sa%3DN

sdc_prod_9391_43
aka Adorama  (11,102 listings 2/29/2008) 
http://feedback.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewFeedback2&userid=sdc_prod_9391_43&ftab=AllFeedback
0 positive feedback, 0 listings 3/2/2008, Not a registered user
Member since Feb-22-08 in New York, United States
www.google.com/search?q=sdc_prod_9391_43  [Google archive, use cache links]
http://209.85.173.104/search?q=cache:4OzbhDP_92QJ:search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZsdc_prod_9391_43+sdc_prod_9391_43+%22items+for+sale
http://209.85.173.104/search?q=cache:VU7vSCdRVFQJ:cgi.ebay.com/CTA-Digital-Grand-Scale-iPod-Home-Theater-Speaker-Sy_W0QQitemZ110227893470QQihZ001QQcategoryZ1499QQcmdZViewItem+sdc_prod_9391_43
http://209.85.173.104/search?q=cache:WghAkj7ZI3cJ:cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll%3FViewItem%26item%3D110227905896%26ih%3D001%26category%3D111650%26rd%3D1%26ssPageName%3Dmem_guide:5+sdc_prod_9391_43
http://209.85.173.104/search?q=cache:BgHMQo9x8vAJ:ebay.auction.co.kr/detail.html%3FitemNo%3D110227897474%26FeedBackPercent%3D0+sdc_prod_9391_43
http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=ko&u=http://ebay.auction.co.kr/detail.html%3FitemNo%3D110227897474%26FeedBackPercent%3D0&sa=X&oi=translate&resnum=8&ct=result&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dsdc_prod_9391_43%26start%3D20%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Dactive%26sa%3DN

sdc_prod_9452
aka eTronics, Inc.  (24,499 listings 2/29/2008)
http://feedback.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewFeedback2&userid=sdc_prod_9452&ftab=AllFeedback
78 positive feedback, 0 listings 3/2/2008
Member since Jul-25-07 in New York, United States
www.google.com/search?q=sdc_prod_9452  [Google archive, use cache links]
http://209.85.173.104/search?q=cache:PLDjjwBGjLoJ:cgi.ebay.com/Vicks-V965-Comfort-Flex-Digital-Thermometer_W0QQitemZ150220736330QQihZ005QQcategoryZ117026QQcmdZViewItem+sdc_prod_9452
http://209.85.173.104/search?q=cache:jOwntMKvykgJ:cgi.ebay.com/WaterPik-WP-65-Dental-System-Blue-Reservoir_W0QQitemZ150220273422QQihZ005QQcategoryZ108691QQcmdZViewItem+sdc_prod_9452
http://209.85.173.104/search?q=cache:pekb_zdKSwsJ:cgi.ebay.com/WaterPik-WP-65-Dental-System-Blue-Reservoir_W0QQitemZ150220447075QQihZ005QQcategoryZ108691QQcmdZViewItem+sdc_prod_9452
http://209.85.173.104/search?q=cache:RBjV6gcI01EJ:cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll%3FViewItem%26item%3D150220157214%26ih%3D005%26category%3D47092%26rd%3D1%26ssPageName%3DWD3+sdc_prod_9452
http://209.85.173.104/search?q=cache:HhCV1-Eh8yAJ:cgi.ebay.com/Bogen-3156-Folding-Autodolly_W0QQitemZ150219029808QQihZ005QQcategoryZ30080QQcmdZViewItem+sdc_prod_9452
http://209.85.173.104/search?q=cache:0ibMKyEJt9QJ:cgi.ebay.com/Kicker-06ZX7501-750-Watt-Mono-Amplifier_W0QQitemZ150220613724QQcmdZViewItem%3Fhash%3Ditem150220613724+sdc_prod_9452
http://209.85.173.104/search?q=cache:cuW0f2sePQAJ:cgi.ebay.com/Back-to-Basics-SE2000B-Smoothie-Elite-Smoothie-Maker_W0QQitemZ150219799501QQihZ005QQcategoryZ20668QQcmdZViewItem+sdc_prod_9452

// 
//  Complaint about the accuracy of the data in this article - 1 March 2008
//

http://forums.ebay.com/search.jspa?q=&objID=f21&dateRange=all&userID=sellitallonline

From eBay Seller Central Forum
SIGN THE PLEDGE _ NO SALES FEB 18-25!
http://forums.ebay.com/db2/thread.jspa?threadID=1000636290&start=10040

sellitallonline (2278) View Listings | Report  Mar-01-08 10:23 PST     23114 of 23164
I don't know what is going on....maybe eBay is innocent.

http://eventhorizon1984.typepad.com/event_horizon_1984_blog/2008/02/from-ebay-sel-1.html

 

sellitallonline (2278) View Listings | Report  Mar-01-08 11:53 PST     23126 of 23164
broadview1313

I don't need permission to print a link. In regard to the information on that link. Well, it is not me and if the information is correct or incorrect that would be up to eBay to decide and for them to take action against or toward the person posting on that website. If it is incorrect then I hope eBay does go after that person. I was giving a link hopefully shed some light on eBays innocents. Merry Christmas

//
//  The right to publish this type of report - U.S. Supreme Court - 1988
//

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?navby=case&court=us&vol=485&page=47

1988, CHIEF JUSTICE REHNQUIST:

At the heart of the First Amendment is the recognition of the fundamental importance of the free flow of ideas and opinions on matters of public interest and concern. "[T]he [485 U.S. 46, 51] freedom to speak one's mind is not only an aspect of individual liberty - and thus a good unto itself - but also is essential to the common quest for truth and the vitality of society as a whole." Bose Corp. v. Consumers Union of United States, Inc., 466 U.S. 485, 503 -504 (1984). We have therefore been particularly vigilant to ensure that individual expressions of ideas remain free from governmentally imposed sanctions. The First Amendment recognizes no such thing as a "false" idea. Gertz v. Robert Welch, Inc., 418 U.S. 323, 339 (1974). As Justice Holmes wrote, "when men have realized that time has upset many fighting faiths, they may come to believe even more than they believe the very foundations of their own conduct that the ultimate good desired is better reached by free trade in ideas - that the best test of truth is the power of the thought to get itself accepted in the competition of the market . . . ." Abrams v. United States, 250 U.S. 616, 630 (1919) (dissenting opinion).

The sort of robust political debate encouraged by the First Amendment is bound to produce speech that is critical of those who hold public office or those public figures who are "intimately involved in the resolution of important public questions or, by reason of their fame, shape events in areas of concern to society at large." Associated Press v. Walker, decided with Curtis Publishing Co. v. Butts, 388 U.S. 130, 164 (1967) (Warren, C. J., concurring in result). Justice Frankfurter put it succinctly in Baumgartner v. United States, 322 U.S. 665, 673 -674 (1944), when he said that "[o]ne of the prerogatives of American citizenship is the right to criticize public men and measures." Such criticism, inevitably, will not always be reasoned or moderate; public figures as well as public officials will be subject to "vehement, caustic, and sometimes unpleasantly sharp attacks," New York Times, supra, at 270. "[T]he candidate who vaunts his spotless record and sterling integrity cannot convincingly cry `Foul!' when an opponent or an industrious reporter attempts [485 U.S. 46, 52] to demonstrate the contrary." Monitor Patriot Co. v. Roy, 401 U.S. 265, 274 (1971).

/*

Technorati Profile

EventHorizon1984 Log

//

Heard This One Before?

Heard This One Before?
EventHorizon1984
28 September 2007

It is common to see recurring themes in science fiction and fiction.

Being a fan of some of the shows listed, this gets noticed every once in a while.

Especially that Earth Bajor 300 year judicial circuit. No wonder the Judge is techy.

//

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation

    Episode list

• Slaves of Las Vegas
• Lady Heather's Box
• Pirates of the Third Reich
• The Good, the Bad and the Dominatrix

Eureka

    Episode list

• Try, Try Again
• Games People Play

Firefly

    Episode list

• Heart of Gold

Forbidden Planet

Northern Exposure

    Episode list

• Crime and Punishment

Outer Limits

    Episode list

• Bellero Shield

Painkiller Jane

• The Beast of Bolnar

Riding Bean

Short Circuit, Short Circuit 2

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

    Episode list

• Dax

Star Trek: The Next Generation

    Episode list

• Remember Me

The Transporter

WALL-E

// 
//
//

http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1809902253/photo/970445428

WALL-E

Pixar Release 2008

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091949/

Short Circuit

9 May 1986

Synopsis

• Number 5, one of a group of experimental military robots, undergoes a sudden transformation after being struck by lightning. He develops self-awareness, consciousness, and a fear of the reprogramming that awaits him back at the factory. With the help of a young woman, Number 5 tries to evade capture and convince his creator that he has truly become alive.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096101/

Short Circuit 2

6 July 1988

Synopsis

• Robot Johnny Five comes to the city and gets manipulated by criminals who want him for their own purposes.

//

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forbidden_Planet
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forbidden_Planet

Painkiller Jane
The Beast of Bolnar

Airdate 7 September 2007

Synopsis

• A mysterious and invisible presence is attacking and killing the innocent people of a small village.
• The Painkiller Jane episode "The Beast of Bolnar" centers around a "creature of the id" created by a 10-year-old orphan.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forbidden_Planet
http://estraven.silverday.net/warren/films/forquotes.html

Forbidden Planet

15 March 1956

• "Morbius was too close to the problem. The Krell had completed their project. Big machine ...  no instrumentalities ... true creation." "But the Krell forgot one thing." "Monsters, John. Monsters from the Id." Doc Ostrow
• "But like you the Krell forgot one deadly danger. Their own subconscious hate and lust for destruction." "And so those mindless beasts of the subconscious had access to a machine that could never be shut down. The secret devil of every soul on the planet all set free at once to loot and maim and take revenge, Morbius! And kill!" Captain J. J. Adams

//

http://http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Try%2C_Try_Again

Eureka
Try, Try Again

Airdate 24 July 2007

Synopsis

• Allison is now the head of Global Dynamics. Just when the computers are shut down for an eight hour upgrade, trouble starts. Fargo discovers a mysterious device in his coat pocket and turns it on. It turns out to be a force field generator that is impervious to everything (including, water, food and friends). Not only is the force field generator a danger to Fargo, but as the force field expands, it threatens the entire town.

http://www.allmovie.com/cg/avg.dll?p=avg&sql=1:65330

Outer Limits
Bellero Shield

Airdate 10 February 1964

Synopsis

• By accident, however, Richard's laser device draws in an alien being (John Hoyt) who, among other attributes, possesses an invisible force-shield. Judith sees this shield as something that would earn her husband the respect of his father and the world, and the chairmanship of his father's corporation, if he could claim it as his discovery. With help from her servant Mrs. Dame (Chita Rivera), she shoots the alien and takes the control device, a button attached by a vein to the being's body, and activates the shield for her father-in-law; the shield is, indeed, impenetrable, but Judith finds she is unable to deactivate it. With her air running out, it becomes apparent that nothing, including her husband's laser, can get her free.

//

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Eureka_episodes

Eureka
Games People Play

Airdate 31 July 2007

Synopsis

• After suffering a blow to the head, Carter awakens in what appears to be a parallel universe, one in which the inhabitants of Eureka are disappearing one by one.

www.tv.com/star-trek-the-next-generation/remember-me/episode/19065/summary.html?tag=ep_list;title;4

Star Trek: The Next Generation
Remember Me

Airdate 22 October 1990

Synopsis

• Stardate: 44161.2
• Dr. Crusher begins to question her sanity when members of the crew start disappearing one by one, and all evidence of their existence is erased.

//

http://www.startrek.com/startrek/view/library/episodes/DS9/detail/68098.html

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Dax

Airdate 14 February 1993

Guest Star: Anne Haney as Judge Renora

Synopsis

• Dax is under arrest — charged with treason and the murder of Tandro's father, General Ardelon Tandro, 30 years ago. Sisko realizes that he is accusing Curzon Dax, not Jadzia, of committing the crimes on Klaestron IV. For some reason, however, Dax refuses to tell Sisko what happened back then.
• In Dax's defense, Sisko and Kira tell Tandro that, since the space station is technically Bajoran, an extradition hearing must be held before they can release Dax to him. Quark reluctantly agrees to allow the hearing to be held in his bar. At the hearing, Sisko tries to convince Judge Els Renora that Jadzia Dax is an entirely different entity than Curzon. Due to the unusual circumstances, Renora agrees to extend the proceedings.

http://www.tv.com/northern-exposure/crime-and-punishment/episode/28758/summary.html

Northern Exposure
Crime and Punishment

Airdate 14 December 1992

Guest Star: Anne Haney as Judge Elizabeth Percy

Synopsis

• Chris is taken into custody for an extradition trial to bring him back to West Virginia, where he currently has a parole violation. Chris knows he is guilty and really isn't interested in his defense. Mike comes up with an angle that he can prove to the judge that the Chris Stevens that skipped bail is different from the Chris Stevens standing before her.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0662333/

Very Interesting Coincidence, 12 December 2006

Author: GlorieuxJ

• I am not really rating this episode, but I simply want to point out the very interesting coincidence that the main underlying plot for it, i.e., an extradition hearing (here for "Chris in the morning"), is the same as that of Episode 7 of the first season of Star Trek Deep Space Nine (entitled "Dax") that aired exactly two months later (02/14/93) and centered around an extradition hearing for Lieutenant Dax. In both cases the somewhat improvised defense was successfully made on the grounds that the person being sought for extradition was no longer the same as the one who had committed the alleged crime (parole violation for Chris, murder for Lt. Dax) as a result of an extensive change of their personality (becoming a radio show host for Chris, changing host body for Lt. Dax). The "icing on the cake" is that for both episodes the hearing judge is played by the SAME actress, Anne Haney.

//

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riding_Bean

Riding Bean

• Bean Bandit
• Released 22 February 1989

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0293662/

The Transporter

• Frank Martin
• Released 11 October 2002

//

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battlestar_Galactica_(1978_TV_series)

Battlestar Galactica
Saga of a Star World

Airdate 17 September 1978

Lt Starbuck

• Watch the sequence where Starbuck returns to Galactica in his damaged fighter, and the yelling afterwards.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0293662/quotes

Gall Force: Eternal Story

Released 1986

Lufy

• Watch the sequence where Lufy force lands on the Starleaf in her damaged fighter, and the yelling afterwards.

//

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1001706/
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0534725/
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0534712/
http://www.tv.com/csi/slaves-of-las-vegas/episode/95249/summary.html

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation

Guest Star: Melinda Clarke as Lady Heather Kessler

The Good, the Bad and the Dominatrix
Airdate 10 May 2007
Synopsis

• After an unsuccessful attempt on Lady Heather's life, Sara discovers Gil's prior relationship with her.

Pirates of the Third Reich
Airdate 9 February 2006
Synopsis

• A half-naked woman is found half buried in the desert with a branding on her arm. She has no hair and is missing her right hand. The woman turns out to be Lady Heather's estranged daughter.

Lady Heather's Box
Airdate 13 February 2003
Synopsis

• Two male prostitutes are found dead, one in a night club and the other in his own home. They both worked for Lady Heather so Gil Grissom and Jim Brass pay another visit to her house.

Slaves of Las Vegas
Airdate 15 November 2001
Synopsis

• Grissom and Catherine investigate the apparent violent death of a woman found in a sandbox. Their investigation leads them to the underground world of s and m clubs.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0579529/
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0579529/plotsummary

Firefly
Heart of Gold

Airdate 4 August 2003

Guest Star: Melinda Clarke as Nandi

Synopsis

• The Serenity responds to a distress call from Nandi, an old friend of Inara's, who is running a brothel on the moon of Deadwood.

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Urban Myth or Fact? eBay Express Is Popular, Part 4 One Year Old

eBay Express was officially one year old on 14 June 2007.

• If you missed the Official Announcement from eBay regarding the anniversary, don't worry about it.  They never issued one.

eBay Corporate proclaims that eBay Express is a popular success.

    http://internet.seekingalpha.com/article/32757
    eBay Q1 2007 Earnings Call Transcript
    April 18, 2007 5:00 pm ET

• "Lastly, eBay Express continues to experience increased adoption and growing success. For those of you who remember our eBay velocity statistics from the old days, on eBay Express an article of clothing sold every 67 seconds during the quarter, while a piece of jewelry sold every 2.5 minutes." Meg Whitman

But despite the glowing praise, and after over a year of promotion to the world, is eBay Express really popular? Or is this a Corporate eBay Urban Myth?

To answer this, let's use the free Alexa (www.alexa.com). There are always questions of accuracy with any tool, and Alexa is no exception. While there exist several subjective reports regarding Alexa's measuring methodologies, there are NO objective reports or hard proofs showing Alexa's lack of accuracy. Each reader will have to judge whether findings from Alexa meet their own criteria for usefulness.

Keep in mind that if you want Professional numbers, you have to pay Professional prices. Alexa is FREE.

Sites will be pulled from the often referred to Auction Site list from Power Sellers Unite. And we'll throw in some extras and ringers. The ringers provide a means to compare like sites, and to show the accuracy limitations of Alexa.

For the number of items on eBay Express, let's use eBay Corporates' assumption that everything on eBay.com is on eBay Express. We'll leave out the ongoing contribution from Half.com, given eBay does not provide those numbers.  eBay Store counts are left out because eBay provides no day-to-day counts, and as of the end of April 2007 eBay began pursuing an aggressive policy of reducing the visibility of eBay Stores products.

Ultimately, as can be seen from the charts below, the number of items available is not necessarily proportional to the number of potential buyers. Or as put by the old saw, 'size doesn't matter.'

Here are the terms and the raw data chart.

Reach:
Reach is typically expressed as the percentage of all Internet users who visit a given site. For example, this means if you took random samples of one million Internet users, on average 19,400 of them visit eBay.com

Page Views per user:
The page views per user numbers are the average numbers of unique pages viewed per user per day by the users visiting the site.

 

Statistics quoted as of 16 June 2007

............................................... Page Views ...... Reach per
.............. Number of ... Traffic Rank ..... per user ........ million users
............... Listings .... Now . 3 mos AVG .. Now . 3 mos AVG . Now . 3 mos AVG
eBay ......... 11,486,992 ..... 20 ....... 19 . 14.3 .. 14.9 ... 19,400 .. 20,240
eBay Express . 11,486,992 .... n/a ... 49,658 .. n/a ... 1.7 ...... n/a ...... 35
Bidville ...... 1,049,214 .... n/a ... 83,845 .. n/a .. 10.7 ...... n/a ..... 8.6
eCRATER ......... 572,505 . 12,004 ... 13,003 .. 6.3 ... 5.3 ....... 80 ...... 81
uk.ebid.net ..... 532,266 . 15,494 ... 20,655 . 29.3 .. 14.7 ....... 30 .... 30.5
Blujay .......... 174,511 .... n/a .. 117,485 .. n/a ... 2.7 ........ 9 ...... 11
Tazbar .......... 151,023 . 73,229 ... 50,160 . 11.2 .. 16.2 ....... 10 .... 11.5
ePier ........... 127,203 . 86,224 .. 129,260 .. 5.5 ... 2.1 ....... 10 .... 10.5
Wagglepop ........ 94,198 .... n/a .. 131,138 .. n/a ... 7.5 ...... n/a ..... 6.5
Yahoo! ........... 66,426 ...... 1 ........ 1 . 13.7 .. 14.5 .. 250,500 . 253,500
AuctionQuests .... 54,502 .... n/a .. 112,093 .. n/a .. 11.3 ........ 7 ..... 5.9
HiBidder ......... 37,599 . 77,150 ... 55,659 . 27.7 .. 34.9 ........ 6 ..... 8.2
PlunderHere ...... 30,827 .... n/a ... 69,762 .. n/a .. 47.1 ........ 7 ..... 5.4
Bid-Alot ......... 28,014 .... n/a .. 221,684 .. n/a ... 2.4 ...... n/a ..... 5.6
Overstock ........ 21,344 .. 1,162 .... 1,187 .. 7.0 ... 6.3 ...... 630 ..... 630
StuffPals ........ 18,397 .... n/a .1,183,176 .. n/a ... 4.0 ...... n/a ..... 0.4
WeBidz ........... 17,621 .... n/a ... 66,734 .. n/a .. 19.5 ...... 7.5 ..... 8.5
Lowbid ........... 11,344 .... n/a .. 451,411 .. n/a ... 6.6 ...... n/a ..... 1.3
Ewaey ............... n/a .... n/a .. 609,259 .. n/a ... 5.9 ...... n/a ....... 1

Amazon .............. n/a ..... 32 ....... 31 .. 5.5 ... 5.8 ... 17,050 .. 16,995
BestBuy ............. n/a .... 531 ...... 527 .. 6.3 ... 5.8 .... 1,350 ... 1,345
Buy.com ............. n/a .. 1,409 .... 1,402 .. 3.7 ... 3.8 ...... 730 ..... 697
CompUSA ............. n/a .. 3,157 .... 2,209 .. 4.9 ... 4.8 ...... 305 ..... 398
eBay ProStores ...... n/a .. 9,275 ... 11,288 .. 6.8 ... 5.2 ...... 100 ...... 90
WalMart ............. n/a .... 509 ...... 431 .. 6.2 ... 6.1 .... 1,400 ... 1,565

** Per conflict of interest notice, we have in the past or currently have items on or have bought from eBay, eBay Express, Yahoo!, Bidville, eCRATER, Blujay, Wagglepop, Overstock, Ewaey, Amazon, BestBuy, Buy.com, CompUSA, WalMart, Google. All shares of eBay stock were sold in the summer 2004.

Let's move measures of popularity, Page Views and Reach, leftward.

Remove Yahoo! as they have closed shop on auctions. They're still Number 1 anyway.

Organizations have good and bad days. Let's use 3 months data to average this out. Round up everything. Order lists according to Page View and Reach.

3 Month Average
............. Page Views .. Reach per .. Number of
.............. per user . million users . Listings
PlunderHere .... 48 ............. 6 ....... 30,827
HiBidder ....... 35 ............. 9 ....... 37,599
WeBidz ......... 20 ............. 9 ....... 17,621
Tazbar ......... 17 ............ 12 ...... 151,023
eBay ........... 19 ........ 20,240 ... 11,486,992 <=
ebid ........... 15 ............ 31 ...... 532,266
AuctionQuests .. 12 ............. 6 ....... 54,502
Bidville ....... 11  ............ 9 .... 1,049,214
Wagglepop ....... 8 ............. 7 ....... 94,198
WalMart ......... 7 ......... 1,565 .......... N/A
Overstock ....... 7 ........... 630 ....... 21,344
Lowbid .......... 7 ............. 2 ....... 11,344
Amazon .......... 6 ........ 16,995 .......... N/A
BestBuy ......... 6 ......... 1,345 .......... N/A
ProStores ....... 6 ............ 90 .......... N/A <==
eCRATER ......... 6 ............ 81 ...... 572,505
Ewaey ........... 6 ............. 1 .......... N/A
CompUSA ......... 5  .......... 398 .......... N/A
Buy.com ......... 4 ........... 697 .......... N/A
StuffPals ....... 4 ............. 1 ....... 18,397
Blujay .......... 3 ............ 11 ...... 174,511
ePier ........... 3 ............ 11 ...... 127,203
Bid-Alot ........ 3 ............. 6 ....... 28,014
eBay Express .... 2 ............ 35 ... 11,486,992 <===

eBay Express is dead last in Page Views per user.  eBay should reconsider touting to the Press that Page Views is an all important statistic of site performance.

3 Month Average
.......... Reach per .... Page Views . Number of
......... million users ... per user .. Listings
eBay ......... 20,240 ....... 15 .... 11,486,992 <=
Amazon ....... 16,995 ........ 6 ........... N/A
WalMart ....... 1,565 ........ 7 ........... N/A
BestBuy ....... 1,345 ........ 6 ........... N/A
Buy.com ......... 697 .........4 ........... N/A
Overstock ....... 630 ........ 7 ........ 21,344
CompUSA ......... 398 ........ 5 ........... N/A
ProStores ........ 90 ........ 6 ........... N/A <==
eCRATER .......... 81 ........ 6 ....... 572,505
eBay Express ..... 35 ........ 2 .... 11,486,992 <===
ebid ............. 31 ....... 15 ....... 532,266
Tazbar ........... 12 ....... 17 ....... 151,023
Blujay ........... 11 ........ 3 ....... 174,511
ePier ............ 11 ........ 3 ....... 127,203
HiBidder .......... 9 ....... 35 ........ 37,599
WeBidz ............ 9 ....... 20 ........ 17,621
Bidville .......... 9 ....... 11 ..... 1,049,214
Wagglepop ......... 7 ........ 8 ........ 94,198
PlunderHere ....... 6 ....... 48 ........ 30,827
AuctionQuests ..... 6 ....... 12 ........ 54,502
Bid-Alot .......... 6 ........ 3 ........ 28,014
Lowbid ............ 2 ........ 7 ........ 11,344
Ewaey ............. 1 ........ 6 ........... N/A
StuffPals ......... 1 ........ 4 ........ 18,397
 
In Reach per million users, eBay Express is less popular than Overstock, eCRATER, and it's sibling ProStores, and barely more popular than the much smaller sites.

3 Month Average
............... Traffic .. Number of
................ Rank ..... Listings
eBay ............... 19 . 11,486,992 <=
Amazon ............. 31 ........ N/A
WalMart ........... 431 ........ N/A
BestBuy ........... 527 ........ N/A
Overstock ....... 1,187 ..... 21,344
Buy.com ......... 1,402 ........ N/A
CompUSA ......... 2,209 ........ N/A
ProStores ...... 11,288 ........ N/A <==
eCRATER ........ 13,003 .... 572,505
ebid ........... 20,655 .... 532,266
eBay Express ... 49,658 . 11,486,992 <===
Tazbar ......... 50,160 .... 151,023
HiBidder ....... 55,659 ..... 37,599
WeBidz ......... 66,734 ..... 17,621
PlunderHere .... 69,762 ..... 30,827
Bidville ....... 83,845 .. 1,049,214
AuctionQuests . 112,093 ..... 54,502
Blujay ........ 117,485 .... 174,511
ePier ......... 129,260 .... 127,203
Wagglepop ..... 131,138 ..... 94,198
Bid-Alot ...... 221,684 ..... 28,014
Lowbid ........ 451,411 ..... 11,344
Ewaey ......... 609,259 ........ N/A
StuffPals ... 1,183,176 ..... 18,397
 
Compared to the previous reports (see bottom), eBay Express has been slowly sinking in this ranking. But by Traffic Rank eBay Express remains fair compared to other substantially smaller competing sites.

To comprehend the magnitude of these numbers, let's use Yahoo! and Google in this last list.

3 Month Average
............ Reach per .. Page Views . Number of . Traffic
.......... million users . per user .. Listings ... Rank
Yahoo! ....... 250,500 ...... 15 ........ 66,426 ...... 1
Google ....... 238,850 ....... 7 .... EVERYTHING ...... 3
eBay .......... 20,240 ...... 15 .... 11,486,992 ..... 19
ProStores ......... 90 ....... 6 ........... N/A . 11,288
eBay Express ...... 35 ....... 2 .... 11,486,992 . 49,658

Is eBay Express leading the competition? According to the metrics, mixed results.

Is eBay Express popular?

What do you think?

 

This article is a followup to:

• Urban Myth or Fact? eBay Express Is Popular, Part 3
• Urban Myth or Fact? eBay Express Is Popular, Part 2
• Urban Myth or Fact? eBay Express Is Popular
• The Online Competition To eBay And Industry (Loss) Leader eBay Express

See also addendum:

• Urban Myth or Fact? eBay Express Is Popular, Part 2 Compete   

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Google v eBay, It's not over til we get it right

Google v eBay, It's not over til we get it right
14 June 2007
by Robert Walsh

 

 

The Google's 'Let Freedom Ring' skirmish at eBay Live! Boston 2007 ended quickly. But "It ain't over till it's over." [1]

Not a great fan of sport allegories. But does this other one sound familiar?

"Leading up to the fight he had declared he was going to 'dance' and use his speed to keep away from Foreman and out box him. However in the first round Ali headed straight for the champion ... Ali caught Foreman nine times in the first round with this technique but failed to knock him out." [3]

Leading up to the June 14th opening of eBay Live! 2007, Google had this to say:

"Join us for a celebration of freedom and your right to use Google Checkout. Hop on a classic Beantown trolley outside eBay Live! and follow the freedom trail to the Old South Meeting House, where revolutionaries launched the Boston Tea Party and where eBay sellers will have a party of their own."

eBay reacted, and action from eBay was predictable to anyone.

The Hare

Shift mindset to long country drive for a moment and think about this.

eBay reacts quickly to stimuli, and prioritizes short term over long term. The latter leading to ignoring problems that have no immediate consequence.

"The notion that managers must above all appease investors drives behavior that focuses exclusively on quarterly results." Clayton M. Christensen and Scott D. Anthony [4]

To get an earful of how eBay reacts, read through eBay's Discussion Boards at http://pages.ebay.com/community/boards/

When you pick out that scintilla of how eBay runs it's day to day operations, you'll see it matches Corporate policy.

"The key thing is, if you make a mistake, have the courage to fix it quickly. I do think the price of inaction is far higher than the cost of making a mistake."  Meg Whitman, eBay, 2002

The thing about this philosophy is it only looks good on paper. Or as might be found in some forgotten pseudo-hypothetical eBay Training Manual. "You don't want to make the problem worse by solving symptoms of the problem only to have the problem get worse or manifest itself in another way."

Or put another way:

• "Never chase a man over a cliff." Constable Benton Fraser, Due South

The Tortoise

Google reacts slowly, thinks long term and is methodical about what it does. The weakness here is over thinking a situation to death and going nowhere.

"If opportunities arise that might cause us to sacrifice short-term results but are in the best long-term interest of our shareholders, we will take those opportunities," the letter read. "We will have the fortitude to do this." Larry Page, Google, 2004 [5]

• "Let's solve the problem but let's not make it any worst by guessing." Gene Krantz, Apollo 13
• "When you get in situations where you cannot afford to make a mistake, it's very hard to do the right thing. So if you're trying to do the right thing, the right thing might be to eliminate the cost of making a mistake rather than try to guess what's right." Ward Cunningham, Inventor of the Wiki

A measure of this patience is seen in Google's Google Operating System project. [6] This has been ongoing for years with a projected 2010 release.

Neither method is perfect, but they do work. Billions in revenue is fair proof of that.

You can observe a lot just by watching. [7]

The distinction between eBay and Google planning philosophies is striking.

It also makes for easy predictability of how one will react.

Google, and anyone capable of thinking past 90 days, would have anticipated eBay's eventual removal of ads from Google. eBay had already established an exclusive ad relationship with a Google competitor, Yahoo! in May 2006. With more ads to come.

• "The Yahoo ads now appearing on eBay is a sore topic among eBay sellers. AuctionBytes has speculated that eBay may make an announcement this week about eBay Express ads possibly appearing on Yahoo's ad network." AuctionBytes, 2007 [8]

And there have been sufficient hints and facts dropped to anticipate what eBay would eventually do.

• "What's most important to eBay, analysts say, is that it turn more profit from advertising as its auction business matures." August 2006 [9]

Not much forethought is required to see these probabilities. When you have a customer that appears to have bought more of your product, but not directly from your business, you know they're looking elsewhere.

The questions become:

1. Will they remain a customer?
2. Will they buy less from you? How much less? Over how long a period?
3. Will they stop buying from you? When?

The smart seller asks a customer, 'how can I make this better for you?'

Not being privy to Google and eBay talks, I'll take the leap that Google did ask eBay the same question. And got essentially got a nothing useful answer.

Depending on the source, Google receives $25 to $100 million a year in ad revenue from eBay.

Google Ad Revenues [10]

• 2006 $10,604,917,000
• 2007 Q1 $3,663,971,000

This represents less than 1% of Google's yearly ad revenues.

Any business intending to exist for the long term would be loathe to lose even this amount of revenue. But what if you could project down the road that purely based on the mercurial whim of the customer, the 1% would eventually become zero?

And what if the customer is aggressively moving into areas you sell in, reducing your own revenue stream?

Feint [11]

• A feint attack is designed to draw defensive action towards the point under assault. It is usually used as a diversion to force the enemy to concentrate more manpower in a given area so that the opposing force in another area is weaker. Unlike a related diversionary maneuver, the demonstration, a feint involves actual contact with the enemy.
• A feint retreat is performed by briefly engaging the enemy, then retreating. It is intended to draw the enemy pursuit into a prepared ambush, or to cause disarray.

Any reasonable person would expect eBay to react to Google's Boston party.  Predictable behavior; prod eBay and eBay jumps.

The actual response is not 100% predictable.

Okay, you're Google. You need to know what eBay will do that will impact your business. eBay won't tell you. Your job then is to see how eBay responds in kind.

Possibilities.

1. eBay takes the high road and does nothing. Free speech, right to assemble.
2. eBay gives the appearance of strength, and does nothing except to say,"We keep an eye on their efforts." Hani Durzy, April 2007
3. eBay goes society tsk tsk and does nothing except say, "When we heard of their plans to have their party and the way they were marketing it, we were disappointed." Hani Durzy, eBay Live! 2007
4. eBay goes defensive and pushes the benefits of PayPal, and takes no other action.
5. eBay goes defensive, pushing the benefits of PayPal, and warning sellers about Google, "In our estimation, it fails in at least one requirement of the Accepted Payments Policy." Hani Durzy, 2006
6. etc.

And the very last possibility that an adult might expect from another adult:

1. eBay throws a tantrum.

Now you know eBay's response. Now you know what eBay can and will do.

Now everyone knows.

And everyone has seen your response. A Gentleman's response to doing something that bordered on questionable, but within your rights as a business.

And again if you're Google, you already had planned responses to eBay's responses.

And you absolutely know you're playing chess against an opponent used to Nintendo.

"This company truly is built by the community of users." Meg Whitman [12]

• "It's a little like Frank Perdue crediting his chickens." Adam Lashinsky [12]

At this time, the message eBay sent to Google, also filtering to eBay sellers: ads can disappear at any time and sales decreased as a result. This is called collateral damage.

TSK, TSK.

You'll need a lot of patience following Google v eBay, as this tableau between Google and eBay may run several months.

I am betting though that Google is up to something, and this is only a peek.

What is the moral? Must be a moral. [13]

Remember the fight mentioned at the beginning? Fights last more than one round, and it's a lesson in patience.

"We will have the fortitude to do this." Larry Page, Google [5]

Ali vs Foreman, 30 October 1974:

"He then decided to take advantage of the young champion's one weakness: staying power.

In the second round, the challenger retreated to the ropes inviting Foreman to hit him, whilst counterpunching and verbally taunting the younger man. Ali's plan was to enrage Foreman and absorb his best blows in order to exhaust him mentally and physically.

The champion threw hundreds of punches in seven rounds but with decreasing technique and effect.

This was later termed "The Rope-A-Dope". [3]

Only time will tell who's the "Dope."

//

Footnotes

1. "It ain't over till it's over.", Yogi Berra
2. Starship, It's Not Over ('Till It's Over)
3. Muhammad Ali, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad_Ali
4. Put Investors In Their Place, Clayton M. Christensen and Scott D. Anthony,  http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/07_22/b4036100.htm
5. Co-founders release Google 'owner's manual, http://news.com.com/Co-founders+release+Google+owners+manual/2100-1038_3-5202090.html
6. GooOS, the Google Operating System http://www.kottke.org/04/04/google-operating-system
7. "You can observe a lot just by watching.", Yogi Berra
8. Google Cancels eBay Live Party, Yahoo in the Mix? http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/abn/y07/m06/i14/s01
9. Google, eBay: Strategic bedfellows http://news.com.com/Google,+eBay+Strategic+bedfellows/2100-1024_3-6110304.html
10. Google Investor Relations, http://investor.google.com/fin_data.html
11. Feint, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feint
12. Meg and the Machine http://www.mutualofamerica.com/articles/Fortune/August03/fortune.asp
13. A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum
14. Official Google Checkout Blog: Update to our event on 6/14

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eBay Match Ups

 

                                                                                                                                 

vs   Ori Warship [Stargate SG-1] vs. Samus Aran {Metroid} World Horror Federation (WHF) Special Guest Match! An Ori Warship is 700 meter by 400 meters of unstoppable power in the Stargate reality. In the Stargate universe there are alternate realities. One Ori Warship, without Orici, accidentally jumps to an alternate reality and faces: [Metroid *] Galactic Federation Samus Aran hunter of alien space pirates Samus didn't fall for the 'hot coffee in the center of the massive starship' ruse. But we made the mistake of mentioning Master Chief. Ori Warship (Stargate SG-1) vs. Master Chief SPARTAN-117 [Halo] http://*/matchup/view/ori-warship-stargate-sg-1-vs-master-chief-spartan-117-halo-_198288 Whoa!!! MELEE! Submitted by world_securities | 20 days ago | 0 comments Ori Warship [Stargate SG-1] 9 votes   Samus Aran {Metroid} 10 votes

vs   Ori Fleet, Adria Command [Stargate SG-1] vs. Necromonger Fleet [Chronicles of Riddick] World Horror Federation (WHF) Cover Your Eyes Time Match! An Ori Warship is 700 meter by 400 meters of unstoppable power in the Stargate reality. This time Adria commands the Ori Milky Way invasion fleet. In the Stargate universe there are alternate realities. Frenzy and frolic, Strictly symbolic, Something for everyone: A comedy tonight! Bypassing the Super Gate, Adria has found a shortcut that will lead the massive battle fleet toward Earth. The Ori jump into an alternate reality and face: [The Chronicles of Riddick] Necromonger Fleet "In normal times, evil would be fought by good. But in times like these, well, it should be fought by another kind of evil." Aereon Something was playing havoc with the Fleet sensors. No matter, one odd shapped ship faced Adria's command ship. "Submit to the will of the Ori." Ori Prior The main view screen showed someone seated. A dark brooding humanoid. And then the sensors cleared. Suddenly the view shifted outside to the two warships. Then continued to pull back to show the Ori Fleet. And pulled back to show Necromonger warships in the background. And continued to pull back to show the Ori Fleet afloat in a sea of black warships. 'You. And what army?" Necromonger Riddick Submitted by world_securities | 20 days ago | 0 comments Ori Fleet, Adria Command [Stargate SG-1] 9 votes   Necromonger Fleet [Chronicles of Riddick] 9 votes

vs   Ori Fleet, Adria Command [Stargate SG-1] vs. Oni Invasion Fleet {Urusei Yatsura} World Horror Federation (WHF) Cover Your Eyes Time Match! An Ori Warship is 700 meter by 400 meters of unstoppable power in the Stargate reality. This time Adria commands the Ori Milky Way invasion fleet. In the Stargate universe there are alternate realities. Something erratic, Something dramatic, Something for everyone: A comedy tonight! Bypassing the Super Gate, Adria has found a shortcut that will lead the massive battle fleet toward Earth. The Ori jump into an alternate reality and face: [Urusei Yatsura] Oni Earth Invasion Force MISTER Invader commanding Some Dads will do anything for their daughter. And if Lum loves this miserable dirt ball and the weird population on it, Daddy will keep it safe. Daddy and the Oni Fleet that is. BATTLE! Submitted by world_securities | 20 days ago | 0 comments Ori Fleet, Adria Command [Stargate SG-1] 11 votes   Oni Invasion Fleet {Urusei Yatsura} 5 votes

vs   Ori Warship [Stargate SG-1] vs. Alien World Horror Federation (WHF) Cover Your Eyes Time Match! The Ori Warship. 700 meter by 400 meters of total destruction. One-on-one unstoppable in the Stargate universe. But in the Stargate universe there are alternate realities. Something convulsive, Something repulsive, Something for everyone: A comedy tonight! One Ori Warship, without Orici, accidentally jumps to an alternate reality and faces: [Alien, Alien 2, Alien 3, Alien 4, Alien vs Predator] Alien lifeform The Ori troopers marched prisoners from the desolate research facility. The prisoners were thirsty and hungry, and had a haunted look to them. This did not last very long ... hsssss Submitted by world_securities | 20 days ago | 0 comments Ori Warship [Stargate SG-1] 5 votes   Alien 9 votes

vs   Ori Warship [Stargate SG-1] vs. Psi Corp Command Ship {Babylon 5} World Horror Federation (WHF) Cover Your Eyes Time Match! The Ori Warship. 700 meter by 400 meters of total destruction. One-on-one unstoppable in the Stargate universe. But in the Stargate universe there are alternate realities. Something appealing, something appalling Something for everyone: a comedy tonight One Ori Warship, without Orici, accidentally jumps to an alternate reality and faces: [Babylon 5] Psi Corp Command Ship 600 meters Alfred Bester onboard 'I know what you're thinking' Bester "Submit to the will of the Ori." Ori Prior 'I know that you know that I know what you're thinking.' "Just how stupid do you think I am?" Bester Brain Freeze. FIGHT! Submitted by world_securities | 20 days ago | 0 comments Ori Warship [Stargate SG-1] 4 votes   Psi Corp Command Ship {Babylon 5} 10 votes

vs   Ori Warship [Stargate SG-1] vs. Stitch {Lilo & Stitch} World Horror Federation (WHF) Cover Your Eyes Time Match! The Ori Warship. 700 meter by 400 meters of total destruction. One-on-one unstoppable in the Stargate universe. But in the Stargate universe there are alternate realities. Something familiar, something peculiar Something for everyone: a comedy tonight One Ori Warship, without Orici, accidentally jumps to an alternate reality and faces: [Lilo & Stitch] Stitch "Monstrosity? What you see before you is the first of a new species. I call it Experiment 626. He is fire-proof, bullet-proof, and can think faster than super computer. He can see in the dark, and lift objects three thousand times his size. His only instinct... to destroy everything he touches!" Jumba Oh the horror.......... Submitted by world_securities | 20 days ago | 0 comments Ori Warship [Stargate SG-1] 4 votes   Stitch {Lilo & Stitch} 10 votes

vs   Ori Fleet, Adria Command [Stargate SG-1] vs. Kratos {God of War II} World Horror Federation (WHF) Special Guest Match! An Ori Warship is 700 meter by 400 meters of unstoppable power in the Stargate reality. This time Adria commands the Ori Milky Way invasion fleet. In the Stargate universe there are alternate realities. Bypassing the Super Gate, Adria has found a shortcut that will lead the massive battle fleet toward Earth. The Ori jump into an alternate reality and face: [God of War, God of War II] Kratos, God of War "Mangy beasts! I shall send you BACK to the depths of Hades! " BATTLE! Submitted by world_securities | 21 days ago | 0 comments Ori Fleet, Adria Command [Stargate SG-1] 6 votes   Kratos {God of War II} 10 votes

vs   Ori Fleet, Adria Command [Stargate SG-1] vs. Kanamits {Damon Knight} World Horror Federation (WHF) Horror Match! An Ori Warship is 700 meter by 400 meters of unstoppable power in the Stargate reality. This time Adria commands the Ori Milky Way invasion fleet. In the Stargate universe there are alternate realities. But there are places you should never go ... Bypassing the Super Gate, Adria has found a shortcut that will lead the massive battle fleet toward Earth. The Ori jump into an alternate reality and face: "You're traveling through another dimension, a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind. A journey into a wondrous land whose boundaries are that of imagination. That's the signpost up ahead - your next stop, the Twilight Zone!" "Respectfully submitted for your perusal --- a Kanamit. Height: a little over nine feet. Weight: in the neighborhood of three hundred and fifty pounds. Origin: unknown. Motives? Therein hangs the tale, for in just a moment we're going to ask you to shake hands, figuratively, with a Christopher Columbus from another galaxy and another time. This is the Twilight Zone." The Ori Fleet bombarded Earth.  Actually bombarded the planetary shield, to no effect. Adria considered her options when she heard a gentle voice in her mind. 'Welcome.' [To Serve Man, Damon Knight] [To Serve Man, Twilight Zone, Rod Serling] Kanamits "The evolution of man, the cycle of going from dust to dessert, the metamorphosis from being the ruler of a planet to an ingredient in someone's soup. It's tonight's bill of fare on The Twilight Zone." Rod Serling Submitted by world_securities | 21 days ago | 0 comments Ori Fleet, Adria Command [Stargate SG-1] 11 votes   Kanamits {Damon Knight} 8 votes

vs   Ori Warship with Adria [Stargate SG-1] vs. Cthulhu {H.P. Lovecraft} World Horror Federation (WHF) Horror Match! The Ori Warship. 700 meter by 400 meters of total destruction. One-on-one unstoppable in the Stargate universe. In the Stargate universe there exist alternate realities. But there are places you should never go ... One Ori Warship, with Orici Adria, accidentally jumps to an alternate reality and faces: "That's a signpost up ahead. Your next stop, The Twilight Zone." [The Call of Cthulhu, H.P. Lovecraft] Cthulhu There was something wrong with this Earth. No satellites in orbit, no EM output, no brightly lit cities. Save one undefined power source. On closer inspection this appeared to be a civilization a century younger. Curiosity sparked in Adria, as she ordered a landing. Streams of people greeted the Ori. 'Save us!' 'Help us!' Then the ground shook. A mountain walked or stumbled toward the starship. The sight of It drove some humans and Ori troops mad. The Great Old One had arrived to claim it's followers. And new followers. ...... who you gonna call? ...... Submitted by world_securities | 21 days ago | 0 comments Ori Warship with Adria [Stargate SG-1] 15 votes   Cthulhu {H.P. Lovecraft} 5 votes

vs   Ori Warship [Stargate SG-1] vs. Dawn of the Dead {2004, George Romero} World Horror Federation (WHF) Horror Match! The Ori Warship. 700 meter by 400 meters of total destruction. One-on-one unstoppable in the Stargate universe. In the Stargate universe there exist alternate realities. But there are places you should never go ... One Ori Warship, without Orici, accidentally jumps to an alternate reality and faces: "That's a signpost up ahead. Your next stop, The Twilight Zone." Earth appeared devastated. Ground forces quickly removed pockets of resistance, suffering only minor injuries. Bites mostly. The 'why a deserted Earth' concerned the Prior. 'We will search this system, rock by rock, until we find these Terrans.' "Brains!" Submitted by world_securities | 21 days ago | 0 comments Ori Warship [Stargate SG-1] 7 votes   Dawn of the Dead {2004, George Romero} 14 votes

 

                                                                                                                       

vs   Ori Warship [Stargate SG-1] vs. The Thing {John Campbell} World Horror Federation (WHF) Horror Match! The Ori Warship. 700 meter by 400 meters of total destruction. One-on-one unstoppable in the Stargate universe. In the Stargate universe there exist alternate realities. But there are places you should never go ... One Ori Warship, without Orici, accidentally jumps to an alternate reality and faces: "That's a signpost up ahead. Your next stop The Twilight Zone." The Ori Warship reduced the surface of the defenseless Earth to ash. The Prior ordered a landing in the area where the Ancient weapon was supposed to be. Nothing was found. Only the charred remains of a human research station. Perhaps the secrets of the Ancients remained locked in the frozen corpses. Bodies were ordered dug out of the ice, and stored for future study. NoThing at all. Submitted by world_securities | 21 days ago | 0 comments Ori Warship [Stargate SG-1] 6 votes   The Thing {John Campbell} 10 votes

vs   Ori Warship [Stargate SG-1] vs. Freddy Krueger {Nightmare On Elm Street} World Horror Federation (WHF) Horror Match! The Ori Warship. 700 meter by 400 meters of total destruction. One-on-one unstoppable in the Stargate universe. In the Stargate universe there exist alternate realities. But there are places you should never go ... One Ori Warship, without Orici, accidentally jumps to an alternate reality and faces: "That's a signpost up ahead. Your next stop The Twilight Zone." [A Nightmare on Elm Street] [Freddy vs Jason] Freddy Krueger The Ori Warship reduced the surface of the defenseless Earth to ash. But despite the total victory, the crew was restless. And having sleeping problems. "I'm Back." Freddy Krueger Sleep well Ori. Submitted by world_securities | 21 days ago | 0 comments Ori Warship [Stargate SG-1] 6 votes   Freddy Krueger {Nightmare On Elm Street} 10 votes

vs   Ori Warship [Stargate SG-1] vs. Hammer's Slammers {David Drake} World Horror Federation (WHF) Special Guest Match! The Ori Warship. 700 meter by 400 meters of total destruction. One-on-one unstoppable in the Stargate universe. But in the Stargate universe there are alternate realities. One Ori Warship, without Orici, accidentally jumps to an alternate reality and faces: [David Drake] Hammer's Slammers Regimental HQ Planet The jump had gone badly, and it took all the skill of the crew to barely land the Ori Warship. The Ori Prior had shown little concern; the world was inhabitable and inhabited. 'This planet will submit to the will of the Ori.' Ori Prior. 'Convert the natives Commander Platt.' 'It's covered from orbit.' Major Joachim Steuben 'They cannot leave.' Colonel Alois Hammer read the reports, 'Teeps' 'Our assets will cover.' 'Piss in My backyard.' BATTLE! Submitted by world_securities | 22 days ago | 0 comments Ori Warship [Stargate SG-1] 13 votes   Hammer's Slammers {David Drake} 19 votes

vs   Ori Warship [Stargate SG-1] vs. Draconia {Buck Rogers} World Horror Federation (WHF) One-On-One Match! One Ori Warship, 700 meter by 400 meters of war machine. One-on-one unstoppable in the Stargate universe. But in the Stargate universe there are alternate realities. One Ori Warship, without Orici, accidentally jumps to an alternate reality and faces: [Buck Rogers in the 25th Century] Draconia Onboard, Princess Ardala and Kane The new Draconia is once again headed toward Earth, when a ship appears on it's stern. "Submit to the will of the Ori" Ori Prior. 'He is cute. In an undead way.' Princess Ardala 'As you say Princess.' says Kane, followed by silence. 'You're waiting for orders. Oh very well. Launch the fighters. Fire the cannons. We have an important appointment with Earth. Don't take too long.' Princess Ardala BATTLE! Submitted by world_securities | 22 days ago | 0 comments Ori Warship [Stargate SG-1] 17 votes   Draconia {Buck Rogers} 39 votes

vs   Ori Warship [Stargate SG-1] vs. NSEA Protector {Galaxy Quest} World Horror Federation (WHF) One-On-One Match! One Ori Warship, 700 meter by 400 meters of war machine. One-on-one unstoppable in the Stargate universe. But in the Stargate universe there are alternate realities. One Ori Warship, without Orici, accidentally jumps to an alternate reality and faces: [The New Adventures of Galaxy Quest] NSEA Protector 488 meters long Original Cast "Submit to the will of the Ori" Ori Prior. 'Submit?' Commander Peter Quincy Taggart, "Never give up. Never surrender." BATTLE! Submitted by world_securities | 22 days ago | 1 comment Ori Warship [Stargate SG-1] 20 votes   NSEA Protector {Galaxy Quest} 65 votes

vs   Ori Warship [Stargate SG-1] vs. Galaxy Police Patrol Ship [Tenchi Muyo!] World Horror Federation (WHF) One-On-One Match! One Ori Warship, 700 meter by 400 meters of war machine. One-on-one unstoppable in the Stargate universe. But in the Stargate universe there are alternate realities. One Ori Warship, without Orici, accidentally jumps to an alternate reality and faces: [Tenchi Muyo!] Galaxy Police Patrol Ship Pilot: Mihoshi Another routine patrol of Earth sector for Detective Mihoshi. zzzzz zzzzz zzzzz An alarm sounds. 'huh? what?' 'Unknown warship to port.' Yukinojo 'Oh. Unknown ship you are trespassing in restricted space. ah please identify. please.' "Submit to the will of the Ori" Ori Prior. Mihoshi rapidly looking through manual. 'You're Under Arrest. Pull over to the nearest planetoid and have your papers ready.' Mihoshi dum da dum dum dum da dum dum dummmm .... Submitted by world_securities | 22 days ago | 0 comments Ori Warship [Stargate SG-1] 5 votes   Galaxy Police Patrol Ship [Tenchi Muyo!] 9 votes

vs   Ori Fleet, Adria Command [Stargate SG-1] vs. Super Star Destroyer Executor, Darth Vader World Horror Federation (WHF) Invasion DeathMatch! An Ori Warship is 700 meter by 400 meters of unstoppable power in the Stargate reality. This time Adria commands the Ori Milky Way invasion fleet. In the Stargate universe there are alternate realities. Bypassing the Super Gate, Adria has found a shortcut that will lead the massive battle fleet of thousands toward Earth. The Ori jump into an alternate reality and face: the Deathmatch sequel: The Empire Strikes Back A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away ... [Star Wars] Super Star Destroyer Executor 17,484 meters long Darth Vader onboard "I have been expecting you." Darth Vader BATTLE! Submitted by world_securities | 23 days ago | 0 comments Ori Fleet, Adria Command [Stargate SG-1] 7 votes   Super Star Destroyer Executor, Darth Vader 12 votes

vs   Ori Fleet, Adria Command [Stargate SG-1] vs. SDF-1 {Macross} World Horror Federation (WHF) Invasion DeathMatch! An Ori Warship is 700 meter by 400 meters of unstoppable power in the Stargate reality. This time Adria commands the Ori Milky Way invasion fleet. In the Stargate universe there are alternate realities. Bypassing the Super Gate, Adria has found a shortcut that will lead the massive battle fleet toward Earth. The Ori jump into an alternate reality and face: [The Super Dimension Fortress Macross] SDF-1 Described as "city-sized" Do we really need to spell out the welcome an alien invasion fleet headed to Earth would expect? BATTLE! Submitted by world_securities | 23 days ago | 0 comments Ori Fleet, Adria Command [Stargate SG-1] 9 votes   SDF-1 {Macross} 6 votes

vs   Ori Fleet, Adria Command [Stargate SG-1] vs. Solonoid 38th Space Fleet {Gallforce} World Horror Federation (WHF) Invasion DeathMatch! An Ori Warship is 700 meter by 400 meters of unstoppable power in the Stargate reality. This time Adria commands the Ori Milky Way invasion fleet. In the Stargate universe there are alternate realities. Bypassing the Super Gate, Adria has found a shortcut that will lead the massive battle fleet toward Earth. The Ori jump into an alternate reality and face: [Gallforce] Solonoid 38th Space Fleet Guest Star: Lufy (1st female to play Starbuck) The mission of the Solonoid 38th Space Fleet is the defense of Chaos. At all cost. The fleet is armed with planet busters. Their mission is not diplomacy, and keeping Terra intact is a bonus. BATTLE! Submitted by world_securities | 23 days ago | 0 comments Ori Fleet, Adria Command [Stargate SG-1] 10 votes   Solonoid 38th Space Fleet {Gallforce} 10 votes

vs   Ori Fleet, Adria Command [Stargate SG-1] vs. Deep Space Nine, Kira Nerys Command World Horror Federation (WHF) Invasion DeathMatch! An Ori Warship is 700 meter by 400 meters of unstoppable power in the Stargate reality. This time Adria commands the Ori Milky Way invasion fleet. In the Stargate universe there are alternate realities. Bypassing the Super Gate, Adria has found a shortcut that will lead the massive battle fleet toward Earth. The Ori jump into an alternate reality and face: [Star Trek: Deep Space Nine] Deep Space Nine 1,452 meters in diameter Colonel Kira Nerys in command "Diplomats! The best diplomat I know is a fully activated phaser bank." 'You tell them Commander.' Kira Uncomfortable in full dress uniform, Kira was reviewing Federation diplomacy records and found the buried quote. 'Would solve many problems Nerys.' Odo 'Followed by the lengthy talking phase and fake smiles. Can't win.' Kira's quarters comm whistled. 'Colonel, Chancellor Martok is waiting in your office.' While Kira rushed into the meeting, Odo appeared calm and seemed to glide into the room. Sela, Special Envoy to the Praetor, deftly glowered in. 'Prophets help me.' thought Kira The Star Fleet Diplomatic Section arranged for a commemoration of the end to hostilities, formally known as the Dominion War. All sides were to be represented. Then as a matter of Honor, the Klingons insisted that the fleet responsible for the final invasion be at the ceremony. Ever the tense ally, the Praetor insisted that His invasion fleet also be represented. With much humor Odo lead the Dominion, with Jem'Hadar and Cardassia well represented. Seeing the possibilities in the assembled powder keg, Star Fleet opted to hold the ceremony at Deep Space Nine. As far as possible from everyone. And send one starship; Souvereign class Bozeman-C, under command of Captain Morgan Bateson. Dropping out of warp, and late again, Captain Bateson viewed the lights of the starships surrounding DS9. 'About time Morgan' Kira Before he could respond, the Ori fleet appears before him. And all around him. Blotting out whole sections of background stars. Soon knowing about this, the assembled in the meeting room stood. Save one. Before they could speak, the sound of Odo clearing his throat could be heard. 'I know what you're thinking. But we're all intelligent people with excellent Intelligence services.' sardonically, 'Know Anyone with this many ships?' As though reading a script, 'First Contact' Kira. Over the Comm, 'This is Kira Nerys of Deep Space Nine. Welcome.' "Submit to the will of the Ori" Ori Prior. 'Pardon me?' Kira 'Opposition to the Ori is hopeless. Do not struggle against the inevitable.' Adria 'What does the book say now Colonel?' Odo. 'We have weapons fire.' Captain Bateson 'And it's not us.' BATTLE! Submitted by world_securities | 23 days ago | 0 comments Ori Fleet, Adria Command [Stargate SG-1] 8 votes   Deep Space Nine, Kira Nerys Command 6 votes

 

                                                                                                                         

vs   Ori Fleet, Adria Command [Stargate SG-1] vs. Babylon 5, Commander Susan Ivanova World Horror Federation (WHF) Invasion DeathMatch! An Ori Warship is 700 meter by 400 meters of unstoppable power in the Stargate reality. This time Adria commands the Ori Milky Way invasion fleet. In the Stargate universe there are alternate realities. Bypassing the Super Gate, Adria has found a shortcut that will lead the massive battle fleet toward Earth. The Ori jump into an alternate reality and face: [Babylon 5] Babylon 5 8,454 meters long Mobilized Combined Shadow War Fleet CMDR Susan Ivanova in charge Even given the Shadow War situation, Commander Ivanova is having a typical bad day. "You are sitting at *my* station using *my* equipment. Is there a reason for this, or, to save time, should I just snap your hands off at the wrists??" Susan Various hairs stand at full attention on Ivanova. "Do you hear that? It knows our names." Susan "Commander we have company." The Ori fleet appears in the view from the command deck. Blotting out whole sections of background stars. Seeing and feeling the Ori presence, “I can only conclude that I'm paying off karma at a vastly accelerated rate.” Susan "Submit to the will of the Ori" Ori Prior. "I appreciate your response. . . and I fully understand." Susan with sarcasm, "if you go into this, you'd only get hurt." "We thwarted all efforts against us. Crippled your fleet. Met with little if any resistance on the worlds that we redeemed. Opposition to the Ori is clearly hopeless, but you continue to struggle against the inevitable." Adria "Crippled?? Excuse me?" Ivanova looks literally behind her. "Our gun arrays are now fixed on your ships and will fire the instant you come into range. You will find their power quite impressive... for a few seconds." 'And Who are you that dares interrupt our Orici?' Ori Prior. Ivanova's inner voice tells her something. Or perhaps it's the Vorlons. Doesn't matter, there are no choices here. "Who am I?! I am Susan Ivanova. Commander. Daughter of Andrei and Sophie Ivanov. I am right hand of vengeance and the boot that is going to kick your sorry ass all the way back to " 'whatever hell you spawned from.' "I am death incarnate and the last living thing that you are every going to see. God sent me." {end transmission} 'You should have had your morning coffee first, Commander.' "Well, who wants to live forever..." Commander Ivanova BATTLE! .......... and did we mention the dead world in the distance is not completely dead .......... Submitted by world_securities | 23 days ago | 1 comment Ori Fleet, Adria Command [Stargate SG-1] 3 votes   Babylon 5, Commander Susan Ivanova 12 votes

vs   Ori Warship [Stargate SG-1] vs. Predator Huntship {Dark Horse Comics} World Horror Federation (WHF) Special Guest Match! The Ori Warship. 700 meter by 400 meters of total destruction. One-on-one unstoppable in the Stargate universe. But in the Stargate universe there are alternate realities. One Ori Warship, without Orici, accidentally jumps to an alternate reality and faces: [Predator, Dark Horse Comics] Predator Huntship Crew: Seasoned Hunters The Ori Prior felt joy in finding Earth free of Ancient weapons. He did not notice the cloaked ship lampreyed to the Ori Warship. Did we tell you that Predators hate poachers? MELEE! Submitted by world_securities | 24 days ago | 0 comments Ori Warship [Stargate SG-1] 3 votes   Predator Huntship {Dark Horse Comics} 16 votes

vs   Ori Warship x5 with Adria [Stargate SG-1] vs. Samurai 7 {story by Akira Kurosawa} World Horror Federation (WHF) Celebrity DeathMatch! A fleet of five Ori Warships. 700 meter by 400 meters of power. Adria commands this battle fleet, and is unstoppable In the Stargate universe there are alternate realities. The Orici heads toward Earth, and accidentally jumps to an alternate reality, facing: [Samurai 7] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samurai_7 {postulating they survived the battle, but not The Battle} Kambei, Katsushiro, Kikuchiyo, Gorobei, Kyuzo, Shichiroji, Heihachi Planetary bombardment was a failure. 'Orici. We do not know why all weapons fire glances off the surface and returns to the firing warship." Ori Prior 'Yes we do know. Land the fleet. This will be a ground action.' Adria. Looking skyward, "You're overestimating me. I'm not a man with any special skill, but I've had plenty of experience in battles; losing battles, all of them." Kambei Shimada BATTLE! Submitted by world_securities | 24 days ago | 0 comments Ori Warship x5 with Adria [Stargate SG-1] 10 votes   Samurai 7 {story by Akira Kurosawa} 11 votes

vs   Ori Warship x5 with Adria [Stargate SG-1] vs. TARDIS with The Master {Doctor Who} World Horror Federation (WHF) Celebrity DeathMatch! A fleet of five Ori Warships. 700 meter by 400 meters of power. Adria commands this battle fleet, and is unstoppable In the Stargate universe there are alternate realities. The Orici heads toward Earth, and accidentally jumps to an alternate reality, facing: [Doctor Who] TARDIS, functioning The Master onboard Adria peered intently at the tiny lifepod sitting in the hangar bay. Almost blurred, and yet ... It opened and a humanoid strode out. "Thank you for the timely rescue. I am The Master. How may I serve you?" ?? Submitted by world_securities | 24 days ago | 2 comments Ori Warship x5 with Adria [Stargate SG-1] 7 votes   TARDIS with The Master {Doctor Who} 13 votes

vs   Ori Warship x5 with Adria [Stargate SG-1] vs. Andromeda Ascendant with Dylan Hunt World Horror Federation (WHF) Celebrity DeathMatch! A fleet of five Ori Warships. 700 meter by 400 meters of power. Adria commands this battle fleet, and is unstoppable In the Stargate universe there are alternate realities. The Orici heads toward Earth, and accidentally jumps to an alternate reality, facing: [Andromeda] Andromeda Ascendant 1,301 meters long Crew: New Systems Commonwealth Command Crew: Beka Valentine, Tyr Anasazi, Telemachus Rhade, Seamus Harper, Trance Gemini, Andromeda/Rommie Commanded by Captain Dylan Hunt Listening intently through an earpiece. "... are you here to join the Systems Commonwealth ..." Captain Hunt Ori fleet fires on Andromeda. "Definitely not the joining type. Beka." Captain Hunt "Wiggling Dylan." Beka Valentine BATTLE! Submitted by world_securities | 24 days ago | 0 comments Ori Warship x5 with Adria [Stargate SG-1] 6 votes   Andromeda Ascendant with Dylan Hunt 9 votes

vs   Ori Warship x5 with Adria [Stargate SG-1] vs. Borg Cube with Queen {Star Trek} World Horror Federation (WHF) Celebrity DeathMatch! A fleet of five Ori Warships. 700 meter by 400 meters of power. Adria commands this battle fleet, and is unstoppable In the Stargate universe there are alternate realities. The Orici heads toward Earth, and accidentally jumps to an alternate reality, facing: [Star Trek] Borg Cube 3,040 meters Borg Queen in command "We thwarted all efforts against us. Met with little if any resistance on the worlds that we redeemed. Opposition to the Ori is clearly hopeless." Adria "Brave words. I've heard them before, from thousands of species across thousands of worlds, since long before you were created. But, now they are all Borg." Borg Queen "We are the Borg. Lower your shields and surrender your ships. We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own. Your culture will adapt to service us. Resistance is futile." Borg drone BATTLE!? Submitted by world_securities | 24 days ago | 0 comments Ori Warship x5 with Adria [Stargate SG-1] 5 votes   Borg Cube with Queen {Star Trek} 11 votes

vs   Ori Warship x5 with Adria [Stargate SG-1] vs. Peacekeeper Command Carrier with Scorpius World Horror Federation (WHF) Celebrity DeathMatch! A fleet of five Ori Warships. 700 meter by 400 meters of power. Adria commands this battle fleet, and is unstoppable In the Stargate universe there are alternate realities. The Orici heads toward Earth, and accidentally jumps to an alternate reality, facing: [Farscape] Peacekeeper Command Carrier 5,300 meters Commanded by Scorpius "Earth?? Why would you want that piece of dirt?" Scorpius "Now your wormhold technology, that would have some small value." Scorpius smiles. BATTLE! Submitted by world_securities | 24 days ago | 0 comments Ori Warship x5 with Adria [Stargate SG-1] 6 votes   Peacekeeper Command Carrier with Scorpius 9 votes

vs   Ori Warship x5 with Adria [Stargate SG-1] vs. Imperial Star Destroyer with Darth Vader World Horror Federation (WHF) Celebrity DeathMatch! A fleet of five Ori Warships. 700 meter by 400 meters of power. Adria commands this battle fleet, and is unstoppable In the Stargate universe there are alternate realities. The Orici heads toward Earth, and accidentally jumps to an alternate reality, facing: [Star Wars] Imperial Star Destroyer 1,600 meters long Darth Vader onboard "Join us." Darth Vader "We thwarted all efforts against us. Met with little if any resistance on the worlds that we redeemed. Opposition to the Ori is clearly hopeless." Adria Diplomacy is one of the Sith Lord's strong points. Not! BATTLE! Submitted by world_securities | 24 days ago | 0 comments Ori Warship x5 with Adria [Stargate SG-1] 6 votes   Imperial Star Destroyer with Darth Vader 14 votes

vs   Ori Warship x5 with Adria [Stargate SG-1] vs. Vorlon Heavy Cruiser [Babylon 5] World Horror Federation (WHF) Celebrity DeathMatch! A fleet of five Ori Warships. 700 meter by 400 meters of power. Adria commands this battle fleet, and is unstoppable In the Stargate universe there are alternate realities. The Orici heads toward Earth, and accidentally jumps to an alternate reality, facing: [Babylon 5] Vorlon Heavy Cruiser 1,330 meters long Ambassador Kosh onboard We are told there is conversation between the two major participants; requiring a telepath to overhear. The talk is at an end. BATTLE! Submitted by world_securities | 24 days ago | 0 comments Ori Warship x5 with Adria [Stargate SG-1] 10 votes   Vorlon Heavy Cruiser [Babylon 5] 7 votes

vs   Ori Warship x5 [Stargate SG-1] vs. Tsunami {Tenchi Muyo!} World Horror Federation (WHF) Five-on-One DeathMatch! The Ori battled Earth, and demanded the new standard of five Ori Warship, each 700 meter by 400 meters of powered assault. One-on-one unstoppable in the Stargate universe. And now 5-to-1 odds. But as LTCOL Carter reaffirmed, in the Stargate universe there are alternate realities. The five Ori Warship battle fleet headed toward Earth, without Orici, accidentally jumps to an alternate reality and faces: [Tenchi Muyo!] Tsunami The Ori fleet finds a delicate flower looking Tsunami floating in Earth orbit. 'Sub ...' Lead Ori Prior 'LEAVE.' Tsunami BATTLE! Submitted by world_securities | 25 days ago | 1 comment Ori Warship x5 [Stargate SG-1] 5 votes   Tsunami {Tenchi Muyo!} 13 votes

                                                                                 

                                                   

vs   Ori Warship x5 [Stargate SG-1] vs. Dalek Ship {Doctor Who} World Horror Federation (WHF) Five-on-One DeathMatch! The Ori battled Earth, and demanded the new standard of five Ori Warship, each 700 meter by 400 meters of powered assault. One-on-one unstoppable in the Stargate universe. And now 5-to-1 odds. But as LTCOL Carter reaffirmed, in the Stargate universe there are alternate realities. The five Ori Warship battle fleet headed toward Earth, without Orici, accidentally jumps to an alternate reality and faces someone more annoying: [Doctor Who] Dalek Ship "Submit to the Will of the Ori' Lead Ori Prior "We obey no-one. We are the superior beings!" Dalek Leader FIGHT! Submitted by world_securities | 25 days ago | 0 comments Ori Warship x5 [Stargate SG-1] 9 votes   Dalek Ship {Doctor Who} 8 votes

vs   Ori Warship x5 [Stargate SG-1] vs. UPSF Soyokaze {Captain Tylor} World Horror Federation (WHF) Five-on-One DeathMatch! The Ori battled Earth, and demanded the new standard of five Ori Warship, each 700 meter by 400 meters of powered assault. One-on-one unstoppable in the Stargate universe. And now 5-to-1 odds. But as LTCOL Carter reaffirmed, in the Stargate universe there are alternate realities. The five Ori Warship battle fleet headed toward Earth, without Orici, accidentally jumps to an alternate reality and faces: [Irresponsible Captain Tylor] UPSF Soyokaze Commanded by Lt. Commander Justy Tylor ... this is as unfair as it can get ... BATTLE! Submitted by world_securities | 25 days ago | 1 comment Ori Warship x5 [Stargate SG-1] 4 votes   UPSF Soyokaze {Captain Tylor} 14 votes

vs   Ori Warship x5 [Stargate SG-1] vs. Lexx World Horror Federation (WHF) Five-on-One DeathMatch! The Ori battled Earth, and demanded the new standard of five Ori Warship, each 700 meter by 400 meters of powered assault. One-on-one unstoppable in the Stargate universe. And now 5-to-1 odds. But as LTCOL Carter reaffirmed, in the Stargate universe there are alternate realities. The five Ori Warship battle fleet headed toward Earth, without Orici, accidentally jumps to an alternate reality and faces: The Ori demanded we cut them a 'break'. This will be a defensive battle. Lexx 10,000 meters long Crew assets: Lexx, Kai, Lyekka, Zev Crew liabilities: Stanley Tweedle, 790 "??" Lead Ori Prior "I am the Lexx. I am the most powerful weapon of destruction in the two unverses." "Submit to the will of the Ori or Die" Lead Ori Prior "I killed mothers and their babies. I've killed great philosophers, proud young warriors, and revolutionaries. I've killed the evil, the good, the intelligent, the weak, and the beautiful. I have done this in the service of His Divine Shadow and his predecessora, and I have never once shown any mercy." Kai RUN! Submitted by world_securities | 25 days ago | 0 comments Ori Warship x5 [Stargate SG-1] 6 votes   Lexx 10 votes

vs   Ori Warship x5 [Stargate SG-1] vs. Doomsday Machine {Star Trek} World Horror Federation (WHF) Five-on-One DeathMatch! The Ori battled Earth, and demanded the new standard of five Ori Warship, each 700 meter by 400 meters of powered assault. One-on-one unstoppable in the Stargate universe. And now 5-to-1 odds. But as LTCOL Carter reaffirmed, in the Stargate universe there are alternate realities. The five Ori Warship battle fleet headed toward Earth, without Orici, accidentally jumps to an alternate reality and faces: [Star Trek] The Doomsday Machine 2,700 meters long The Lead Ori Prior is not amused when the fleet drops into a planetary system that is not Earth. Ah, but there is a navigation beacon transmitting in Terran. =L374= 'Stupid humans leaving their droppings in our universe.' Lead Prior Then something appears on their scanners. Headed into the system. Something very large that is changing course toward the Ori fleet. RUN! Submitted by world_securities | 25 days ago | 0 comments Ori Warship x5 [Stargate SG-1] 5 votes   Doomsday Machine {Star Trek} 10 votes

vs   Ori Warship x5 [Stargate SG-1] vs. Space Battleship Yamato World Horror Federation (WHF) Five-on-One DeathMatch! The Ori battled Earth, and demanded the new standard of five Ori Warship, each 700 meter by 400 meters of powered assault. One-on-one unstoppable in the Stargate universe. And now 5-to-1 odds. But as LTCOL Carter reaffirmed, in the Stargate universe there are alternate realities. The five Ori Warship battle fleet headed toward Earth, without Orici, accidentally jumps to an alternate reality and faces: [Space Battleship Yamato] Argo aka Yamato 263 meters long Fresh out of mothballs and in Earth orbit.. And may we add, trigger happy. 'Submit to the will of the Ori' /in the background the sound of something VERY LARGE swiveling/ FIGHT! Submitted by world_securities | 25 days ago | 2 comments Ori Warship x5 [Stargate SG-1] 3 votes   Space Battleship Yamato 14 votes

vs   Ori Warship x5 [Stargate SG-1] vs. The Shadows {Babylon 5} World Horror Federation (WHF) Five-on-One DeathMatch! The Ori battled Earth, and demanded the new standard of five Ori Warship, each 700 meter by 400 meters of powered assault. One-on-one unstoppable in the Stargate universe. And now 5-to-1 odds. But as LTCOL Carter reaffirmed, in the Stargate universe there are alternate realities. The five Ori Warship battle fleet headed toward Earth, without Orici, accidentally jumps to an alternate reality and faces: [Babylon 5] 'The Shadows' 1,500 meters Out in the middle of nowhere, one Shadow attack vessel is found lurking near a dead world. Think fast Priors. Given enough time Shadows swarm. FIGHT! Submitted by world_securities | 25 days ago | 0 comments Ori Warship x5 [Stargate SG-1] 4 votes   The Shadows {Babylon 5} 11 votes

vs   Ori Warship (Stargate SG-1) vs. Master Chief SPARTAN-117 [Halo] World Horror Federation (WHF) Special Guest Match! The Ori Warship. 700 meter by 400 meters of total destruction. One-on-one unstoppable in the Stargate universe. But in the Stargate universe there are alternate realities. One Ori Warship, without Orici, accidentally jumps to an alternate reality and faces: [Halo *] 1 Drop Capsule Contents: Master Chief Petty Officer SPARTAN-117 Master Chief finds himself freshly awakened from cold sleep, and stuffed into a drop capsule.  We've told him his coffee is in the heart of the Ori Warship. He is grouchy, FULLY ARMED, and needs his coffee. MELEE! Submitted by world_securities | 26 days ago | 0 comments Ori Warship (Stargate SG-1) 10 votes   Master Chief SPARTAN-117 [Halo] 10 votes

vs   Ori Warship x2 (Stargate SG-1) vs. Ryo-Ohki [Tenchi Muyo] World Horror Federation (WHF) Duo Match! The Ori Warship is 700 meter by 400 meters of massive destruction. One-on-one unstoppable in the Stargate universe. At the end of Stargate SG-1 season nine there were 3 of them. Orici in command of one, Ori Priors in command of the remaining two. There are alternate realities in the Stargate universe. Two Ori Warship, without Orici, on a routine meeting accidentally jump to an alternate reality and face: [Tenchi Muyo!] Ryo-Ohki Piloted by Space Pirate Ryoko "A Pirate's Life For Me." When does a Space Pirate need an excuse to raid? PILAGE! Submitted by world_securities | 26 days ago | 1 comment Ori Warship x2 (Stargate SG-1) 4 votes   Ryo-Ohki [Tenchi Muyo] 15 votes

vs   Ori Warship x2 (Stargate SG-1) vs. Battleship Arcadia [Captain Harlock] World Horror Federation (WHF) Duo Match! The Ori Warship is 700 meter by 400 meters of massive destruction. One-on-one unstoppable in the Stargate universe. At the end of Stargate SG-1 season nine there were 3 of them. Orici in command of one, Ori Priors in command of the remaining two. There are alternate realities in the Stargate universe. Two Ori Warship, without Orici, on a routine meeting accidentally jump to an alternate reality and face: [Captain Harlock] Battleship Arcadia 400 meters long Commanded by Captain Harlock We'd think up a nice scenario here, but when does a Space Pirate need an excuse to raid? FIGHT! Submitted by world_securities | 26 days ago | 1 comment Ori Warship x2 (Stargate SG-1) 4 votes   Battleship Arcadia [Captain Harlock] 17 votes

vs   Ori Warship x2 (Stargate SG-1) vs. Excalibur [Crusade] World Horror Federation (WHF) Duo Match! The Ori Warship is 700 meter by 400 meters of massive destruction. One-on-one unstoppable in the Stargate universe. At the end of Stargate SG-1 season nine there were 3 of them. Orici in command of one, Ori Priors in command of the remaining two. There are alternate realities in the Stargate universe. Two Ori Warship, without Orici, on a routine meeting accidentally jump to an alternate reality and face: [Crusade] Excalibur 2,990 meters long Commanded by Captain Matthew Gideon 'Doctor Chambers. You are absolutely sure?' Captain Gideon over comm, on bridge. 'Are you an idiot? Captain. We have the cure.' Max Eilerson 'The device is rapidly manufacturing the 'vaccine'.' Dr. Chambers 'I know. We can't replicate the device. Lieutenant, max speed to the jump point' Captain Gideon. 'Captain, incoming ships. Definitely not friendly.' Lt. Matheson 'TP??' Gideon 'Sir, I', before Matheson can finish the remark, 2 Ori Warships drop into normal space, and Captain Gideon momentarily  winces. The Ori sit between Excalibur and the jump point. 'Submit to the will of the Ori or Die' Lead Ori Proctor 'They are flooding the comm channels and overlaying telepathic messages.' Galen. "What kind of pain is John going through" thought Gideon. 'Never mind Lieutenant.  I don't have time for this. Take us on an evasive course to the jump point.' 'They won't let you.' Dureena Nafeel. Gideon silently agrees. 'They want to destroy Earth.' Nafeel 'They can take a number. Lieutenant. Clear My Sky.' Gideon 'Battlestations' Submitted by world_securities | 26 days ago | 0 comments Ori Warship x2 (Stargate SG-1) 3 votes   Excalibur [Crusade] 20 votes

 

                                                                                                                 

vs   Ori Warship x2 (Stargate SG-1) vs. Battlestar Pegasus [Battlestar Galactica] World Horror Federation (WHF) Duo  Match! The Ori Warship is 700 meter by 400 meters of massive destruction. One-on-one unstoppable in the Stargate universe. At the end of Stargate SG-1 season nine there were 3 of them. Orici in command of one, Ori Priors in command of the remaining two. There are alternate realities in the Stargate universe. Two Ori Warship, without Orici, on a routine meeting accidentally jump to an alternate reality and face: [Battlestar Galactica, original series] Battlestar Pegasus 1,265 meters long Commanded by Commander Cain There's a fine line between genius and insanity, but the only line Cain recognizes is the one in the sand. "Submit to the will of the Ori or Die." Lead Ori Proctor 'The path to Earth is through Me.' {end transmission} "Bring electronic defense shields to maximum power." 'Stand by for point blank attack.' "Even their shields won't be able to help them." Commander Cain Let the wrestling match begin! Submitted by world_securities | 26 days ago | 0 comments Ori Warship x2 (Stargate SG-1) 8 votes   Battlestar Pegasus [Battlestar Galactica] 14 votes

vs   Ori Warship (Stargate SG-1) vs. GA-001 Lucky Star [Galaxy Angel] World Horror Federation (WHF) Pick On Someone Your Own Size Match! The new big bristling bully starship, the Ori Warship. 700 meter by 400 meters of destruction. One-on-one unstoppable in the Stargate universe. They relish the defeat of smaller foes. But in the Stargate universe there are alternate realities. One Ori Warship, without Orici, accidentally jumps to an alternate reality and faces: [Galaxy Angel] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angel_Frames#GA-001_Lucky_Star GA-001 Lucky Star Length 50 meters Pilot: Milfeulle Sakruraba Fair fight, to the Ori, right? This Angel Frame class starship is even smaller than the Earth built starships, right? And best of all the Ori Prior senses the vulnerable child Milfeulle is very unhappy.  And alone. Milfeulle is unhappy and very alone today.  She is alone because the other members of the Angel Brigade know Milfeulle is unhappy and are keeping their distance.  They enjoy living. Or as Milfeulle's unofficial dosier states: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milfeulle_Sakuraba "She has an incredible amount of good luck with extremely bad luck periodically to counter it. The bad luck can cause disastrous outcomes like destroying a whole planet or even an entire galaxy." FIGHT! sobbing, "no!" Milfeulle. Submitted by world_securities | 26 days ago | 1 comment Ori Warship (Stargate SG-1) 7 votes   GA-001 Lucky Star [Galaxy Angel] 9 votes

vs   Ori Warship (Stargate SG-1) vs. Imperial Star Destroyer [Star Wars] World Horror Federation (WHF) Pick On Someone Your Own Size Match! The new big bristling bully starship, the Ori Warship. 700 meter by 400 meters of destruction. One-on-one unstoppable in the Stargate universe. They relish the defeat of smaller foes. But in the Stargate universe there are alternate realities. One Ori Warship, without Orici, accidentally jumps to an alternate reality and faces: [Star Wars] Imperial Star Destroyer 1,600 meters long Crew Complement: Standard There are multiple scenarios that could occur with these ships. But let's face facts, the Empire is not subtle. 'Destroy that Rebel ship!' Submitted by world_securities | 26 days ago | 0 comments Ori Warship (Stargate SG-1) 10 votes   Imperial Star Destroyer [Star Wars] 8 votes

vs   Ori Warship (Stargate SG-1) vs. The Lovely Angel [Dirty Pair] World Horror Federation (WHF) Pick On Someone Your Own Size Match! The new big bristling bully starship, the Ori Warship. 700 meter by 400 meters of destruction. One-on-one unstoppable in the Stargate universe. They relish the defeat of smaller foes. But in the Stargate universe there are alternate realities. One Ori Warship, without Orici, accidentally jumps to an alternate reality and faces: [Dirty Pair, Classic] 2141 AD The Lovely Angel 80 meters long Crew: Kei, Yuri, Mughi Fair fight, to the Ori, right? The Lovely Angel is a similar size class to the Earth built starships, right? Kei and Yuri have been looking forward to their well earned vacation, when the Ori Warship drops out of hyperspace into WWWA territory. 'This is The Lovely Angel of the 3WA to unknown starship. State your intentions.' Kei Stargate technology provides automatic language translation.  It's not perfect.  In the language of the Ori, "Lovely Angel" translates to ...... "Submit to the will of the Ori or die Dirty Pair." Ori Prior "LOVELY ANGELS!!!!" Submitted by world_securities | 26 days ago | 2 comments Ori Warship (Stargate SG-1) 8 votes   The Lovely Angel [Dirty Pair] 6 votes

vs   Ori Warship (Stargate SG-1) vs. Minbari Cruiser [Babylon 5] World Horror Federation (WHF) Pick On Someone Your Own Size Match! The new big bristling bully starship, the Ori Warship. 700 meter by 400 meters of destruction. One-on-one unstoppable in the Stargate universe. They relish the defeat of smaller foes. But in the Stargate universe there are alternate realities. One Ori Warship, without Orici, accidentally jumps to an alternate reality and faces: [Babylon 5] 2261 AD Minbari Sharlin Class Cruiser 1,660 meters long Crew complement: Warrior Caste It's the height of the Shadow War, and the Minbari Cruiser is guarding one of the boring unused routes to Earth. Typically one of the junior officers asks 'We should be on the front lines fighting. Why are we here?' Ori Warship drops out of hyperspace. Ori Prior senses Minbari telepaths. Minbari telepaths sense ... OPEN FIRE! Submitted by world_securities | 26 days ago | 0 comments Ori Warship (Stargate SG-1) 4 votes   Minbari Cruiser [Babylon 5] 10 votes

vs   Ori Warship (Stargate SG-1) vs. UES Nadesico ND-001 World Horror Federation (WHF) Pick On Someone Your Own Size Match! The new big bristling bully starship, the Ori Warship. 700 meter by 400 meters of destruction. One-on-one unstoppable in the Stargate universe. They relish the defeat of smaller foes. But in the Stargate universe there are alternate realities. One Ori Warship, without Orici, accidentally jumps to an alternate reality and faces: [Martian Successor Nadesico] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCrs7PUDMpM UES Nadesico ND-001 298 meters long Commanded by Captain Yurika Misumaru Typically Yurika is a happy camper. But this is the Episode 6 "Sort of Like a Fateful Decision" captain. She just made the choice between saving the Martian survivors or the crew of the Nadesico. Ori Warship enters Martian space, and Ori Prior 'sees' a defenseless Earth. He demands the surrender of Earth or it's destruction. Today Captain Misumaru is not happy.  Neither is the crew. Fight! Submitted by world_securities | 26 days ago | 1 comment Ori Warship (Stargate SG-1) 6 votes   UES Nadesico ND-001 10 votes

vs   Ori Warship (Stargate SG-1) vs. USS Defiant NX-74205 (Star Trek) World Horror Federation (WHF) Pick On Someone Your Own Size Match! The new big bristling bully starship, the Ori Warship. 700 meter by 400 meters of destruction. One-on-one unstoppable in the Stargate universe. They relish the defeat of smaller foes. But in the Stargate universe there are alternate realities. One Ori Warship, without Orici, accidentally jumps to an alternate reality and faces: NX-74205 USS Defiant aka "Borg Killer" 122 meters long Commanded by Lt. Commander Worf. Crew: Klingons with Romulan science complement. "Submit to the Ori or Die, little one." Ori Prior "Little??" Lt. Commander Worf Fight! Submitted by world_securities | 26 days ago | 0 comments Ori Warship (Stargate SG-1) 3 votes   USS Defiant NX-74205 (Star Trek) 12 votes

vs   Wonder Woman vs. Hercules World Horror Federation (WHF) Gotcha Match! We've switched realities with Heroes of two Earths. Wonder Woman has been told about a villian's plan to kill Hera. Hercules has been told about Hera's henchwoman plan to kill his friends. Let's see if they notice. Wandering in from dimension alpha, Wonder Woman. "I am Diana – Princess of the Amazons. I won’t be denied!" Wandering in from dimension gamma, Hercules. "All right you goddess of grump, give me your best shot." "Hera, give me strength!" "Hera; she's the perfect example of what happens when a woman gets too much power." Who will win the battle of the gods? Submitted by world_securities | 139 days ago | 1 comment Wonder Woman 9 votes   Hercules 11 votes

vs   The Terminator, Skynet vs. The Mummy World Horror Federation (WHF) Non-Stop Match! In this UNliving corner, Skynet's representative The Terminator. "It can't be bargained with. It can't be reasoned with. It doesn't feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And it absolutely will not stop, ever, until you are dead." In this UNdead corner, The Mummy: "this creature is bringer of death. He will never eat, he will never sleep, and he will never stop" Superscience VS Supernatural! Who will win the battle of the UNstoppables? Submitted by world_securities | 166 days ago | 0 comments The Terminator, Skynet 21 votes   The Mummy 16 votes

vs   Ash, Evil Dead vs. Jason Voorhees, Friday the 13th The World Horror Federation Halloween main card event. The match you've all been waiting for. The Ultimate Evil Dead Bout! A master of the darkness, fresh from Hell after his WHF heady win against Freddy Krueger,  in aisle 12, Jason Voorhees. And standing in the light of the S-Mart banner, Michigan resident and one man Army of Darkness, Ash. "I'm gonna have to ask you to leave the store." "Buckle up Bonehead. 'Cause you're goin' for a ride! " Match sponsored by Old Spice, "Do You Have IT? Prove IT." http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/other/business/20070108adco2.mov "Learn IT, Live IT, Measure IT" http://www.experienceoldspice.com/ And S-Mart, "Shop smart. Shop S-Mart." http://www.bloody-disgusting.com/news/3502 http://www.bloody-disgusting.com/news/7285 Submitted by world_securities | 204 days ago | 0 comments Ash, Evil Dead 25 votes   Jason Voorhees, Friday the 13th 29 votes

 

              

vs   The Terminator, Skynet vs. Cyborg, Teen Titans The World Horror Federation Halloween grudge match: (Machine) Man versus (Teen) Machine. In this corner, Skynet's representative The Terminator. "It can't be bargained with. It can't be reasoned with. It doesn't feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And it absolutely will not stop, ever, until you are dead." And in this corner, The Teen Titan's representative, Cyborg. 'Hey! What's he doing h... Submitted by world_securities | 205 days ago | 0 comments The Terminator, Skynet 37 votes   Cyborg, Teen Titans 13 votes

vs   Hellboy vs. The Mummy The World Horror Federation presents the Superfight Halloween matchup. Paranormal bout of the Hellspawns, The Mummy (1999, 2001) versus Hellboy (2004, 2005, 2008). Meet The Mummy: "this creature is bringer of death. He will never eat, he will never sleep, and he will never stop" Hates cats. Meet the "World's Greatest Paranormal Investigator", Hellboy: "brought to Earth as an infant ... Submitted by world_securities | 206 days ago | 2 comments Hellboy 20 votes   The Mummy 28 votes

vs   Pinhead vs. Freddy The World Horror Federation presents the ultimate Halloween matchup. Brought back from Hell after his close WHF match loss by a head to Jason Voorhees, Freddy Krueger. And in this other pocket dimension, Pinhead of Hellraiser fame. Who will win this matchup of blades and witty banter. Submitted by world_securities | 208 days ago | 2 comments Pinhead 19 votes   Freddy 40 votes

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The Online Competition To eBay And Industry (Loss) Leader eBay Express

Originally Posted Apr-15-07 12:07:37 PDT

Commentary

Want an interesting trend? Watch this Auction Site count.

http://www.powersellersunite.com/auctionsitewatch.php

eBay 12,616,066   April 13, 2007 5:16 pm

Yahoo 1,103,617   April 13, 2007 5:04 pm

Bidville 1,052,130   April 13, 2007 5:12 pm

eCrater 458,536   April 13, 2007 5:06 pm

uk.ebid.net 426,021   April 13, 2007 5:03 pm

MightyBids 272,905     April 13, 2007 5:17 pm

The above list consists of places having more than an arbitrary quater-million listings.

Interestingly the total number of listings from these non-eBay sites is about a quarter (26%) of the eBay total. Interesting because two years ago, a summation of these places plus others, would have barely reached 10%.

"There are some upon this earth of yours," returned the Spirit, "who lay claim to know us, and who do their deeds of passion, pride, ill-will, hatred, envy, bigotry, and selfishness in our name, who are as strange to us and all out kith and kin, as if they had never lived. Remember that, and charge their doings on themselves, not us." Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol

The question that eBay would pose is, 'will these sites match OUR size', followed by eBay's answer 'No.'

The non-fantasy question for a business is 'what must we do when the competition reaches a measurable percentage of our size?'  eBay's non-changing response is to increase profitability; increase fees. The competitions response is to increase it's seller base, which in the long term would generate increased revenue*.

* eCRATER is free, but with increased size this will change.

What eBay and it's cheerleaders refuse to realize is the competion need not match eBay's size one-on-one to be a viable opponent.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lanchester%27s_law
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuzzy_Wuzzy

The Fuzzy Wuzzy Fallacy is a name for a wargaming theory coined by Richard Hamblen in the September 1976 of the Avalon Hill General wargaming magazine, loosely based on historical records of battles between the British and the Sudanese Mahdi. The Fuzzy Wuzzy Fallacy states that a single soldier with 2× firepower or attack strength does not equal to two soldiers with 1× firepower or attack strength. Instead, the soldier with 2× firepower is actually worth of the 1× soldier, if either soldier can be killed in a single hit. In fact this is little more than a rehash of Lanchester's law.

As a result, tactics and strategy designed around this theory emphasize greater numbers and time, which the speed and mobility of the units in action can effect.

Basically you can beat a foe being just as large or larger, OR having greater numbers attaching over time. Like the grizzly bear versus the wolf pack.

This being business and not armed combat, eBay is not (currently) literally destroying the competition.  And smaller opponents need not inflict a lethal blow to the larger opponent to make progress.

"Men's courses will foreshadow certain ends, to which, if persevered in, they must lead," said Scrooge. "But if the courses be departed from, the ends will change. Say it is thus with what you show me!" Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol

Should eBay continue it's self destructive policies*, it will continue to shrink and the competion will continue growing. Excluding Google, in two years the size ratio of the competition to eBay will reach or exceed 50%.

Fuzzy Wuzzy Principle anyone?

* For example killing Stores by pushing the unpopular eBay Express.

Similar articles:

• Urban Myth or Fact? eBay Express Is Popular, Part 2
• Urban Myth or Fact? eBay Express Is Popular

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Urban Myth or Fact? eBay Express Is Popular, Part 2

Urban Myth or Fact? eBay Express Is Popular, Part 2
Originally Posted Apr-01-07 11:59:16 PDT

eBay Express will be one year old this month. After a year of promotion to the world, is eBay Express popular?

To answer this, let's use the free Alexa (www.alexa.com), and an Auction Site list from Power Sellers Unite (www.powersellersunite.com). And throw in some ringers.

For the number of items on eBay Express, let's use eBay's assumption that everything on eBay.com is on eBay Express. We'll leave out the ongoing contribution from Half.com.

Here are the terms and the raw data chart.

Reach:
Reach is typically expressed as the percentage of all Internet users who visit a given site. For example, this means if you took random samples of one million Internet users, on average 280,000 of them visit yahoo.com.

Page Views per user:
The page views per user numbers are the average numbers of unique pages viewed per user per day by the users visiting the site.

............................................... Page Views ...... Reach per
.............. Number of ... Traffic Rank ..... per user ........ million users
............... Listings .... Now . 3 mos AVG .. Now . 3 mos AVG . Now . 3 mos AVG
eBay ......... 12,366,494 ..... 16 ....... 16 . 14.8 .. 15.3 ... 19,900 .. 23,765
eBay Express . 12,366,494 . 73,341 ... 23,794 .. 1.9 ... 1.7 ....... 25 ...... 77
Yahoo ......... 1,053,923 ...... 1 ........ 1 . 14.7 .. 15.3 .. 251,500 . 268,750
Bidville ...... 1,053,332 . 51,990 ... 87,695 . 10.8 ... 8.3 ....... 15 ..... 9.8
eCrater ......... 439,821 . 10,171 ... 17,892 .. 8.0 ... 5.7 ....... 80 .... 61.5
uk.ebid.net ..... 433,724 . 29,515 ... 12,988 . 21.6 .. 16.9 ....... 20 ...... 49
MightyBids ...... 273,710 .... n/a ... 70,427 .. n/a .. 10.7 ...... n/a ..... 9.9
Tazbar .......... 139,789 . 31,804 ... 34,355 . 21.9 .. 18.6 ....... 15 .... 16.5
Blujay .......... 134,206 .... n/a ... 95,174 .. n/a ... 3.9 ......10.5 .... 12.5
ePier ........... 128,551 . 67,963 .. 109,711 .. 6.2 ... 2.2 ....... 15 .... 13.5
Wagglepop ........ 97,894 .... n/a ... 73,537 .. n/a .. 15.7 ...... n/a ..... 9.7
AuctionQuests .... 46,855 .... n/a .. 106,312 .. n/a .. 21.5 ...... n/a ..... 5.4
Bid-Alot ......... 43,658 .... n/a .. 183,398 .. n/a ... 3.2 ...... n/a ..... 6.4
HiBidder ......... 24.979 . 46,034 ... 63,954 . 31.5 .. 32.5 ........ 9 ..... 7.6
TheAuctionMan .... 23,389 .... n/a ...... n/a .. n/a ... n/a ...... n/a ..... n/a
Overstock ........ 21,877 ...1,207 ...... 761 .. 5.7 ... 6.5 ...... 650 ..... 897
WeBidz ........... 21,065 . 97,546 ... 61,318 .. 6.5 .. 14.0 ........ 9 ...... 12
Lowbid ........... 20,690 .... n/a .. 318,140 .. n/a ... 6.6 ...... n/a ..... 2.3
whaBAM ........... 20,347 .... n/a ...... n/a .. n/a ... n/a ...... n/a ..... n/a
PlunderHere ...... 17,481 . 94,519 ... 92,601 .. 111 .. 38.4 ...... 2.5 ..... 4.4
Amazon .............. N/A ..... 31 ....... 26 .. 5.6 ... 6.0 ... 17,000 .. 19,865
BestBuy ............. N/A .... 540 ...... 378 .. 5.3 ... 5.9 .... 1,350 ... 1,745
CompUSA ............. N/A .. 2,465 .... 1,381 .. 4.4 ... 4.9 ...... 385 ... 613.5
ProStores.com ....... N/A . 10,794 .... 9,114 .. 4.3 ... 6.2 ...... 105 ..... 104

Let's move measures of popularity, Page Views and Reach, leftward.

Remove Yahoo! The site measures for Yahoo! include listings and everything Yahoo! They are Number One, so let's move on.

Organizations have good and bad days. Let's use 3 months data to average this out. Round up everything. Order lists according to Page View and Reach.

3 Month Average
............. Page Views .. Reach per .. Number of
.............. per user . million users . Listings
PlunderHere .... 39 ............. 5 ....... 17,481
HiBidder ....... 33 ............. 8 ....... 24,979
AuctionQuests .. 22 ............. 6 ....... 46,855
Tazbar ......... 19 ............ 17 ...... 139,789
uk.ebid.net .... 17 ............ 49 ...... 433,724
eBay ........... 16 ........ 23,765 ... 12,366,494 <=
Wagglepop ...... 16 ............ 10 ....... 97,894
WeBidz ......... 14 ............ 12 ....... 21,065
MightyBids ..... 11 ............ 10 ...... 273,710
Bidville ........ 8  ............ 10 .... 1,053,332
Overstock ....... 7 ........... 897 ....... 21,877
ProStores.com ... 7 ........... 104 .......... N/A <==
Lowbid .......... 7 ............. 3 ....... 20,690
Amazon .......... 6 ........ 19,865 .......... N/A
BestBuy ......... 6 ......... 1,745 .......... N/A
eCrater ......... 6 ............ 62 ...... 439,821
CompUSA ......... 5  .......... 614 .......... N/A
Blujay .......... 4 ............ 13 ...... 134,206
Bid-Alot ........ 4 ............. 7 ....... 43,658
ePier ........... 3 ............ 15 ...... 128,551
eBay Express .... 2 ............ 77 ... 12,366,494 <===
whaBAM ........ n/a ........... n/a ....... 20,347
TheAuctionMan . n/a ........... n/a ....... 23,389

eBay Express is virtually dead last in Page Views per user.  eBay should reconsider touting to the Press that Page Views is an all important statistic of site performance.

3 Month Average
.......... Reach per .... Page Views . Number of
......... million users ... per user .. Listings
eBay ......... 23,765 ....... 16 .... 12,366,494 <=
Amazon ....... 19,865 ........ 6 ........... N/A
BestBuy ....... 1,745 ........ 6 ........... N/A
Overstock ....... 897 ........ 7 ........ 21,877
CompUSA ......... 614 ........ 5 ........... N/A
ProStores.com ... 104 ........ 7 ........... N/A <==
eBay Express ..... 77 ........ 2 .... 12,366,494 <===
eCrater .......... 62 ........ 6 ....... 439,821
uk.ebid.net ...... 49 ....... 17 ....... 433,724
Tazbar ........... 17 ....... 19 ....... 139,789
ePier ............ 15 ........ 3 ....... 128,551
Blujay ........... 13 ........ 4 ....... 134,206
WeBidz ........... 12 ....... 14 ........ 21,065
Wagglepop ........ 10 ....... 16 ........ 97,894
MightyBids ....... 10 ....... 11 ....... 273,710
Bidville ......... 10 ........ 8 ....... 992,936
HiBidder .......... 8 ....... 33 ........ 24,979
Bid-Alot .......... 7 ........ 4 ........ 43,658
AuctionQuests ..... 6  ....... 22 ........ 46,855
PlunderHere ....... 5 ....... 39 ........ 17,481
Lowbid ............ 3 ........ 7 ........ 20,690

In Reach per million users, eBay Express is less popular than Overstock.com and it's sibling ProStores, and not much more popular than the smaller sites.

3 Month Average
............... Traffic .. Number of
................ Rank ..... Listings
eBay ............... 16 . 12,366,494 <=
Amazon ............. 26 ........ N/A
BestBuy ........... 378 ........ N/A
Overstock ......... 761 ..... 21,877
CompUSA ......... 1,381 ........ N/A
ProStores.com ... 9,114 ........ N/A <==
uk.ebid.net .... 12,988 .... 433,724
eCrater ........ 17,892 .... 439,821
eBay Express ... 23,794 . 12,366,494 <===
Tazbar ......... 34,355 .... 139,789
WeBidz ......... 61,318 ..... 21,065
HiBidder ....... 63,954 ..... 24,979
MightyBids ..... 70,427 .... 273,710
Wagglepop ...... 73,537 ..... 97,894
Bidville ....... 87,695 .. 1,053,332
PlunderHere .... 92,601 ..... 17,481
Blujay ......... 95,174 .... 134,206
AuctionQuests . 106,312 ..... 46,855
ePier ......... 109,711 .... 128,551
Bid-Alot ...... 183,398 ..... 43,658
Lowbid ........ 318,140 ..... 20,690

By Traffic Rank eBay Express is number 4 compared to other (substantially smaller) competing sites.

To comprehend the magnitude of these numbers, let's use Yahoo! and Google, in this last list.

3 Month Average
............ Reach per .. Page Views . Number of . Traffic
.......... million users . per user .. Listings ... Rank
Yahoo! ....... 268,750 ...... 16 ..... 1,053,923 ...... 1
Google ....... 252,000 ....... 7 .... EVERYTHING ...... 3
eBay .......... 23,765 ...... 16 .... 12,366,494 ..... 16
ProStores.com .... 104 ....... 7 ........... N/A .. 9,114
eBay Express ...... 77 ....... 2 .... 12,366,494 . 23,794

Is eBay Express leading the competition? According to the metrics, no.

Is eBay Express popular?

What do you think?

 

This article is a followup to:

• Urban Myth or Fact? eBay Express Is Popular

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Urban Myth or Fact? eBay Express Is Popular

Urban Myth or Fact? eBay Express Is Popular
Originally Posted Feb-10-07 16:18:43 PST

While reading the thread WOW!  Opting out of ebay express really boosted our biz I was reminded that eBay has taken the stance that topics negatively impacting the public relations image of eBay Express are "Urban Myths."

Those topics are well documented, with evidence presented by reputable Sellers. In reality the "Urban Myth" is eBay has provided facts to support their suppositions; none have been presented.  But it is eBay's playground, and they are entitled to pout in public about the bad press directed toward eBay Express.

Today let us reverse the table, and look into eBay's contention that eBay Express is a popular buying site. Is this fact or "Urban Myth"?

eBay Express launched in April 2006. Eight months later eBay's official comment was:

"I can't comment on individual seller experiences but I'd say we're certainly in the early days of the site. It's a new channel and we're seeing traffic grow organically"
Lara Housser, Director of eBay Express, U.S.
December 2006

Less enthusiastic comments:

"We've certainly not seen the results we and other sellers anticipated, with sales and traffic generation under 1% of overall eBay activity."
David Yaskulka, marketing chair The Professional eBay Sellers Alliance (PeSA)
November 2006

http://www.baltimoresun.com/business/bal-ebay1225,0,2193425.story?coll=bal-business-indepth
"And while eBay's main auction site attracted more visits than any other online retailer in November, eBay Express was at No. 87 on the list of top shopping and classified sites, according to research firm Hitwise Pty. Ltd."

eBay presents this convoluted definition of popular, "historical buyer behavior on the site for similar searches." In normal speaking terms, popular = lots of hits.

For today's demonstration we'll use the free tool Alexa (www.alexa.com), and the Auction Site list from Power Sellers Unite (www.powersellersunite.com).

We have no financial stake or affiliation with either organization. The Power Sellers Unite list is commonly used. Alexa is being used because it is free.

We will use eBay's assumption that everything on eBay.com is available on eBay Express. The separate ebid.net sites are considered one collective. No Google, as Google includes everything. And throw in some ringers.

Here are the terms and the raw data chart.

Reach:
Reach is typically expressed as the percentage of all Internet users who visit a given site. So, for example, if a site like yahoo.com has a reach of 28%, this means that if you took random samples of one million Internet users, you would on average find that 280,000 of them visit yahoo.com.

Page Views per user:
The page views per user numbers are the average numbers of unique pages viewed per user per day by the users visiting the site.




................................................. Page Views ........ Reach per
............... Number of ... Traffic Rank ...... per user .......... million users
................ Listings .. Today . 3 mos AVG . Today . 3 mos AVG . Today . 3 mos AVG
eBay .......... 14,497,600 ..... 16 ...... 13 ..  15.5 .. 15.7 ..... 23,650 .. 27,560
eBay Express .. 14,497,600 . 18,626 .. 24,005 .... 2.4 ... 1.7 ......... 90 .... 81.5
**.ebid.net .... 1,138,347 . 29,515 .. 12,988 ... 21.6 .. 16.9 ......... 20 ...... 49
uk.ebid.net ...... 363,355
us.ebid.net ...... 270,653
ca.ebid.net ...... 253,164
au.ebid.net ...... 251,175
Yahoo .......... 1,095,626 ...... 1 ....... 1 ... 15.7 .. 15.9 .... 273,000 . 271,900
Bidville ......... 992,936 . N/A ..... 60,082 .... 7.0 ... 6.2 ........ 5.5 .... 16.5
MightyBids ....... 388,472 . N/A ..... 30,944 .... 1.8 .. 15.4 ......... 11 ...... 22
eCrater .......... 383,571 . 25,057 .. 17,240 .... 5.1 ... 6.0 ......... 45 .... 61.5
Tazbar ........... 132,712 . 54,683 .. 34,055 ... 18.8 .. 14.9 ......... 11 .... 20.5
ePier ............ 128,551 . N/A ..... 96,716 .. . 1.0 ... 3.3 ........ 5.5 ...... 15
Blujay ........... 122,781 . N/A ..... 74,682 .. . 4.8 ... 4.7 ......... 11 .... 15.5
Wagglepop ........ 100,696 . N/A ..... 53,683 ... N/A ... 18.8 ..... N/A ......... 13
TheAuctionMan ..... 24,394 . N/A ..... N/A ...... N/A ..... N/A .... N/A ...... N/A
Overstock ......... 23,769 .... 802 ..... 404 .... 7.3 ... 7.0 ........ 865 ... 1,590
Bid-Alot .......... 22,304 . N/A ..... 71,955 ... N/A .... 8.7 ..... N/A ....... 11.5
HiBidder .......... 21,821 . N/A ..... 88,965 ... 71.0 .. 27.6 ........ 2.5 .... 6.25
whaBAM ............ 20,566 . N/A .. 1,440,270 ... N/A .... 2.3 ..... N/A ........ 0.2
WeBidz ............ 20,161 . N/A ..... 45,798 .... 2.2 .. 19.4 ......... 15 .... 13.5
Lowbid ............ 15,667 . N/A .... 313,279 ... N/A .... 6.2 ..... N/A ........ 2.8
Amazon ............... N/A .... 26 ....... 21 .... 6.2 ... 6.8 ..... 19,600 .. 24,840
BestBuy .............. N/A ... 433 ...... 241 .... 6.1 ... 6.3 ...... 1,650 ... 2,650
CompUSA .............. N/A . 1,889 .... 1,066 .... 5.1 ... 5.0 ........ 480 ... 816.5
ProStores.com ........ N/A . 8,018 .... 8,150 .... 6.9 ... 5.7 ........ 115 ..... 125

Let's clean and reduce this pile of numbers.

This article is about popular, and we'll move measures of popularity, Page Views and Reach, leftward. Also eBay considers these measure of utmost importance. Page Views because the more pages viewed, the more advertising viewed. And Reach because you want a large audience products and spam.

Yahoo! will be removed. The site measures for Yahoo! include listings and everything Yahoo! They are Number One, so let's move on.

Overstock will be removed. Believe the statistics are skewed as they may reflect the viewing a automobile pileup psychology.

Organizations have good and bad days. As a running average is a good measure of performance, we'll remove the Today columns. Let's get rid of decimals and round up everything. Order lists according to Page View and Reach. And let's add statistic change or growth as a percentage.


3 Month Average
............. Page Views ... Reach per .... Number of .... Traffic
.............. per user .. million users ... Listings ..... Rank
HiBidder ....... 28 (+222%) ...... 7 ......... 21,821 .... 88,965
WeBidz ......... 20 (-21%) ...... 14 ......... 20,161 .... 45,798
Wagglepop ...... 20 (+26%) ...... 13 ........ 100,696 .... 53,683
ebid.net ....... 17 (-4%) ....... 49 ...... 1,138,347 .... 12,988
eBay ........... 16 (+1%) ... 27,560 ..... 14,497,600 ........ 13 <===
MightyBids ..... 16 (+107%) ..... 22 ........ 388,472 .... 30,944
Tazbar ......... 16 (-28%) ...... 21 ........ 132,712 .... 34,055
Bid-Alot ........ 9 (-29%) ...... 12 ......... 22,304 .... 71,955
Amazon .......... 7 (-3%) ... 24,840 ............ N/A ........ 21
BestBuy ......... 7 (+5%) .... 2,650 ............ N/A ....... 241
Bidville ........ 7 (-42%) ...... 17 ........ 992,936 .... 60,082
ProStores.com ... 6 (+16%) ..... 125 ............ N/A ..... 8,150
eCrater ......... 6 (-15%) ...... 62 ........ 383,571 .... 17,240
CompUSA ......... 5 (+4%) ...... 817 ............ N/A ..... 1,066
Blujay .......... 5 (+10%) ...... 16 ........ 122,781 .... 74,682
ePier ........... 4 (-11%) ...... 15 ........ 128,551 .... 96,716
whaBAM .......... 3 (-39%) ....... 1 ......... 20,566 . 1,440,270
Lowbid .......... 3 (+44%) ....... 7 ......... 15,667 ... 313,279
eBay Express .... 2 (-19%) ...... 82 ..... 14,497,600 .... 24,005 <===
TheAuctionMan . N/A ............ N/A ......... 24,394 ....... N/A

In Page Views per user eBay Express is virtually dead last.  eBay may wish to reconsider it's touting to the press that Page Views is an all important statistic of site performance.

3 Month Average
.............. Reach per .... Page Views .. Number of .... Traffic
............. million users ... per user ... Listings ..... Rank
eBay .......... 27,560 (-11%) ... 16 ..... 14,497,600 ........ 13 <===
Amazon ........ 24,840 (-13%) .... 7 ............ N/A ........ 21
BestBuy ........ 2,650 (+36%) .... 7 ............ N/A ....... 241
CompUSA .......... 817 (-1%) ..... 5 ............ N/A ..... 1,066
ProStores.com .... 125 (0%) ...... 6 ............ N/A ..... 8,150
eBay Express ...... 82 (+8%) ..... 2 ..... 14,497,600 .... 24,005 <===
eCrater ........... 62 (+51%) .... 6 ........ 383,571 .... 17,240
ebid.net .......... 49 (-10%) ... 17 ...... 1,138,347 .... 12,988
MightyBids ........ 22 (-22%) ... 16 ........ 388,472 .... 30,944
Tazbar ............ 21 (+173%) .. 15 ........ 132,712 .... 34,055
Bidville .......... 17 (-38%) .... 7 ........ 992,936 .... 60,082
Blujay ............ 16 (-3%) ..... 5 ........ 122,781 .... 74,682
ePier ............. 15 (-12%) .... 4 ........ 128,551 .... 96,716
WeBidz ............ 14 (-33%) ... 20 ......... 20,161 .... 45,798
Wagglepop ......... 13 (-32%) ... 20 ........ 100,696 .... 53,683
Bid-Alot .......... 12 (-12%) .... 9 ......... 22,304 .... 71,955
HiBidder ........... 7 (0%) ..... 28 ......... 21,821 .... 88,965
Lowbid ............. 7 (-47%) .... 3 ......... 15,667 ... 313,279
whaBAM ............. 1 (-91%) .... 3 ......... 20,566 . 1,440,270
TheAuctionMan .... N/A ......... N/A ......... 24,394 ....... N/A

In Reach per million users, eBay Express is more "popular" than the other smaller auction sites.

By Traffic Rank eBay Express is number 3 when included with the smaller auction sites.

eBay .......... 27,560 (-11%) ... 16 (+1%) ..... 14,497,600 ........ 13
eBay Express ...... 82 (+8%) ..... 2 (-19%) .... 14,497,600 .... 24,005

Compared to the eBay.com Mothership, eBay Express performance is abysmal.


When compared to the other auction web sites, is "eBay Express popular" a myth?

Leading in the Reach per million does mean popular.  But fact is these are small numbers when compared to eBay.com. Out of 1 million (1,000,000) users, 82 will view eBay Express, followed by 62, 49, etc. views for the competition. If eBay considers an 82 a brilliant success, a 62 share is not that bad of an audience.

Were the statistics for Overstock.com valid, throw them back in and eBay Express loses. On all fronts.

So ... yes and no.

eBay Express will be 1 year old in April 2007. Let's revisit the Myth question then.

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