EventHorizon1984 Log

eBay Seller -$19,250 - eBay Buyer -$1.44 - eBay 0

eBay Seller -$19,250 - eBay Buyer -$1.44 - eBay 0
EventHorizon1984
8 September 2015

MED EXPRESS, INC. vs. AMY NICHOLS, et al.
Case No.: 13CIV0351 13CIV0352
Court of Common Pleas, Medina County, Ohio

“The Plaintiff's conduct consisted of allegations or other factual contentions that had no evidentiary support or, if specifically so identified, were not likely to have evidentiary support after a reasonable opportunity for further investigation or discovery. Again, Mr. Rudy had no objective evidence suggesting the statements of fact made by the Defendants were not true. Furthermore, the Plaintiff misrepresented the matter in the pleadings and to the court."
Magistrate James R. Leaver, August 31 2015, Court of Common Pleas, Ohio

Ars Technica posted the article "eBay seller who sued over negative feedback dinged $19K in legal fees" "Judge didn't find Med Express founder's testimony credible" on September 3 2015.  The article began with:

"When Med Express sued Amy Nicholls for giving negative feedback on eBay, she didn't back down and remove the feedback. Instead, she lawyered up"

As can be seen in the Court document, and the Ars Technica article, things did not go well with "Med Express founder Richard Radey" and his attorney.

Beginning with this statement in the first paragraph of the "Magistrate's Decision":

"On July 6, 2015, counsel for the Plaintiff filed a motion to withdraw from the representation of the Plaintiff citing irreconcilable differences with the client."

The action that started the legal snowball moving?

• Plaintiff: "Med Express pain the full amount of the shipping cost, but for some reason unknown to Med Express, the equipment was received by Nicolls with $1.44 postage due."
• Plaintiff: "Nicholls on February 26, 2013, apparently as a result of the $1.44 postage due, posted negative feedback and comments for the transaction on Ebay's website"

 

“Okay kids. This is where it gets complicated.”
Amy Pond, Doctor Who, Time (2011)

Indeed.  The Court record, as signed by Magistrate James R. Leaver, states:

• "Med Express initiated a second lawsuit against Defendants Dennis Rogan and Ebay, INC."
• "WHEREFORE, Plaintiff Med Express Inc. demands judgement against Defendants Dennis Rogan and Ebay, Inc."

Leading to, as signed by Magistrate James R. Leaver:

• "On March 28, 2013, the Court denied the motions for a temporary restraining order in both cases."
• "On April 18, 2013, the complaints in both cases were voluntarily dismissed."
• "Ebay never filed an answer in either case."

Which lead to more Court action, as signed by Magistrate James R. Leaver:

• "Counsel further prompted Mr. Rady by asking, "So as you sit here today, you remember those ratings were from Ms. Nicholls--is that right?" "Mr. Rady testified "Yes", and again stated all categories were rated 1's."
• "On November 7, 2014, Counsel for the Defendants took the deposition of Rebakah Long, an Ebay representative, in Draper, Utah.  Ms. Long's testimony revealed that Mr. Rady's prior testimony regarding seeing the Defendants rate him with all 1's on Ebay's detailed seller ratings page was false.  She testified detailed seller ratings are anonymous and the seller cannot view the ratings.  Furthermore, the ratings left by Defendants Rogan and Nicholls were not all 1's."
• "The deposition of Ms. Long shows that Mr. Rady's testimony was false."

Ars Technica noted:

• "Following the second trial, Radey's original lawyer James Amodio agreed to pay part of the attorney's fees, and Public Citizen dropped him from their motion for sanctions."
• "Radey had two different lawyers during the sanctions proceedings, and the second lawyer stopped representing him in July 2015."

Moving along to the sanctions portion, "The matter proceeded to oral evidentiary hearing before the undersigned Magistrate on April 2, 2015":

• "Mr. Radey also testified again.  His testimony varied from the first hearing in that he attempted to clarify his prior trial testimony" ... "This time he testified he must jumped to the conclusion Nicholls and Rogan rated him with all 1's (as opposed to his prior testimony that he basically watched it happen almost live).  Mr. Rady also testified he called Ebay years ago and Ebay gave him the idea to file suit against Ebay and buyers leaving negative feedback.  The negative feedback could be removed by court order.  The testimony wasn't credible."  Magistrate James R. Leaver

A few tidbits from Magistrate James R. Leaver's Conclusion of Law:

• "4.  Opinion speech is protected speech that is never actionable as defamation.  When determining whether a statement is fact or opinion, a court is to consider the specific language used, whether the statement is verifiable, the general context of the statement, and context in which the statement appeared.  An objective "ordinary reader" test is to be applied to determine whether a statement is a false statement of fact.  The court must determine whether a reasonable reader would view the words to be language that normally conveys information of a factual nature or opinion.  If the language is factual in nature, a truthful statement cannot be defamation because an element of defamation is a false defamatory statement."
• "5.  The feedback generated by Nicholls and Rogan is part opinion and part statement of fact."
• "6.  An argument could be made the narrative statements left by Defendants Nicholls and Rogan were intended to be statement of facts even though they appear in a forum designed to elicit opinions.  Nevertheless, these statement could not have been the basis of a defamation action because the statements are undeniable true and Mr. Rady had no objective reason whatsoever to question their veracity when he caused the complaints to be filed."
• "7.  The Plaintiff's complaints had no merit, legally or factually, when they were filed."
• "8.  R.C 2323.51(A)(2) defines frivolous conduct ..."
• "9.  A violation of any one of the above sections is frivolous conduct.  The Plaintiff has violated all four sections."
• "13.  The Magistrate finds the Plaintiff's complaint and motions set forth factual contentions that the Plaintiff knew or should have known were not warranted by the evidence."
• "14.  R.C. 2323.51 allows a party adversely affected by frivolous conduct to recover an award of court costs, reasonable attorney fees, and other reasonable expenses incurred in connection with the civil action."
• "22.  The Magistrate finds the Defendants are entitled to an award of attorney fees in the amount of $16,446.00 (total hours of 164.46 x 1/2 x $200.00) plus expenses of $2,804.00,, for a total award of $19,250.00 against Med Express, Inc."

There was one bright spot, for the Plaintiff's lawyers James Amodio and Richard Cardenas:

• "Defendants withdrew their motion for sanctions as to Attorney James Amodio only."
• "The Defendants' motion for a default award of sanctions is denied."

 

“What is the moral?
Must be a moral.
Here is the moral, wrong or right: Morals tomorrow!
Comedy, comedy, comedy, comedy,
Comedy, comedy, comedy, comedy tonight!”
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1966) 

The moral?  Well, don't sue eBay INC.

According to the court document, Amy Nichols never did get the $1.44 refund.

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“Section 11, Article I of the Ohio Constitution provides in relevant part: Every citizen may freely speak, write, and publish his sentiments on all subjects, being responsible for the abuse of the right; and no law shall be passed to restrain or abridge the liberty of speech, or of the press."
Magistrate James R. Leaver, 2015

“Take it easy, lad. Everybody's entitled to an opinion.”
Montgomery Scott, The Trouble With Tribbles, 1967

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eBay Hacked - Would you believe John Donahoe offered credit protection?

eBay Hacked - Would you believe John Donahoe offered credit protection?
EventHorizon1984
22 May 2014


“You eat danger for breakfast” 
“Would you believe lunch?”  Zach Smart
“Don't do that.”  Chief Maxwell Smart
Get Smart (1995)


eBay INC made an interesting press release on 21 May 2014.  eBay INC stated:

"SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- eBay Inc. (Nasdaq: EBAY) said beginning later today it will be asking eBay users to change their passwords because of a cyberattack that compromised a database containing encrypted passwords and other non-financial data. After conducting extensive tests on its networks, the company said it has no evidence of the compromise resulting in unauthorized activity for eBay users, and no evidence of any unauthorized access to financial or credit card information, which is stored separately in encrypted formats. However, changing passwords is a best practice and will help enhance security for eBay users.

Information security and customer data protection are of paramount importance to eBay Inc., and eBay regrets any inconvenience or concern that this password reset may cause our customers. We know our customers trust us with their information, and we take seriously our commitment to maintaining a safe, secure and trusted global marketplace.

Cyberattackers compromised a small number of employee log-in credentials, allowing unauthorized access to eBay's corporate network, the company said. Working with law enforcement and leading security experts, the company is aggressively investigating the matter and applying the best forensics tools and practices to protect customers.

The database, which was compromised between late February and early March, included eBay customers' name, encrypted password, email address, physical address, phone number and date of birth. However, the database did not contain financial information or other confidential personal information. The company said that the compromised employee log-in credentials were first detected about two weeks ago. Extensive forensics subsequently identified the compromised eBay database, resulting in the company's announcement today.

The company said it has seen no indication of increased fraudulent account activity on eBay. The company also said it has no evidence of unauthorized access or compromises to personal or financial information for PayPal users. PayPal data is stored separately on a secure network, and all PayPal financial information is encrypted.

Beginning later today, eBay users will be notified via email, site communications and other marketing channels to change their password. In addition to asking users to change their eBaypassword, the company said it also is encouraging any eBay user who utilized the same password on other sites to change those passwords, too. The same password should never be used across multiple sites or accounts."

A matter of fact, 'don't panic', 'nothing to see here' statement.  Then came the scrutiny.

 

“No more secrets, Marty.”
Cosmo, Sneakers (1992)

The press release did not mention the extent of the "compromised" database.  Although on 21 May 2014 eBay INC clarified:

""For the time being, we cannot comment on the specific number of accounts impacted. However, we believe there may be a large number of accounts involved and we are asking all eBay users to change their passwords," eBay spokeswoman Kari Ramirez said."

And on 22 May 2014 eBay INC provided more clarification:

EBay hack, 2nd largest in U.S. history, leaves questions unanswered
Chicago Tribune, Reuters, 22 May 2014

“EBay Inc's description of how hackers got access to its entire database of 145 million user records leaves many questions unanswered as to how cyber criminals orchestrated what appears to be the second-biggest data breach in U.S. history.”

"“They've been pretty tightlipped. They've barely provided any information. They should be more forthcoming about what happened,” said David Kennedy, chief executive of TrustedSEC LLC, an expert in investigating data breaches.

In particular, Kennedy wants to know why it took eBay three months to detect the intrusion."

 

"Missed it by that much"
Maxwell Smart (Don Adams), Get Smart

"Computer security experts say the biggest breach was uncovered at software maker Adobe Systems Inc in October 2013, when hackers accessed about 152 million user accounts."

 

“The day ain’t over yet…”
Curly, City Slickers (1991)

In eBay INC's press release they promised, "Beginning later today, eBay users will be notified via email."  Has any reader received any email warning of the database breach? Apparently that email has yet to be sent.

"Some customers complained on eBay Community forums that they had not received much information about the breach from eBay and have yet to get notifications by email, which the company has promised to do."

And what did the "145 million user"s affected by the database incursion immediately see?

U.S. states probe eBay cyber attack as customers complain
Reuters, 22 May 2014

"As of Thursday afternoon, eBay did not have information on the attack visible on its market home page, www.ebay.com.

"That's really poor incident response," said David Kennedy, a cyber forensics expert who is CEO of TrustedSEC LLC. "EBay should be held to a higher standard.""

 

The eBay Hack: They Haven't Only Hacked Your Security, They've Hacked Your Brand
Patrick Hanion, Forbes, 22 May 2014

"The eBay Hack" brings to mind the recent Target INC hack.

Missed Alarms and 40 Million Stolen Credit Card Numbers: How Target Blew It
Michael Riley, Ben Elgin, Dune Lawrence, Carol Matlack, Businessweek, 13 March 2014

"The biggest retail hack in U.S. history wasn’t particularly inventive, nor did it appear destined for success. In the days prior to Thanksgiving 2013, someone installed malware in Target’s (TGT) security and payments system designed to steal every credit card used at the company’s 1,797 U.S. stores."

"On Saturday, Nov. 30, the hackers had set their traps"

"Target stood by as 40 million credit card numbers—and 70 million addresses, phone numbers, and other pieces of personal information—gushed out of its mainframes."

"More than 90 lawsuits have been filed against Target by customers and banks for negligence and compensatory damages. That's on top of other costs, which analysts estimate could run into the billions."

The time between hack and notification?

"Federal investigators warned Target of a massive data breach on Dec. 12."

Note this is not Target INC notifying it's customers. It's the U.S. Government notifying Target INC.

Notification to consumers was much much later.

14 January 2014

Dear Target Guest, As you may have heard or read, Target learned in mid-December that criminals forced their way into our systems and took guest information, including debit and credit card data. Late last week, as part of our ongoing investigation, we learned that additional information, including name, mailing address, phone number or email address, was also taken. I am writing to make you aware that your name, mailing address, phone number or email address may have been taken during the intrusion.

I am truly sorry this incident occurred and sincerely regret any inconvenience it may cause you. Because we value you as a guest and your trust is important to us, Target is offering one year of free credit monitoring to all Target guests who shopped in U.S. stores, through Experian’s® ProtectMyID® product which includes identity theft insurance where available. To receive your unique activation code for this service, please go to creditmonitoring.target.com and register before April 23, 2014. Activation codes must be redeemed by April 30, 2014.

In addition, to guard against possible scams, always be cautious about sharing personal information, such as Social Security numbers, passwords, user IDs and financial account information. Here are some tips that will help protect you: Never share information with anyone over the phone, email or text, even if they claim to be someone you know or do business with. Instead, ask for a call-back number. Delete texts immediately from numbers or names you don’t recognize. Be wary of emails that ask for money or send you to suspicious websites. Don’t click links within emails you don’t recognize.

Target’s email communication regarding this incident will never ask you to provide personal or sensitive information.

Thank you for your patience and loyalty to Target. You can find additional information and FAQs about this incident at our Target.com/databreach website. If you have further questions, you may call us at 866-852-8680.

Gregg Steinhafel

Chairman, President and CEO

Compare and contrast the actions and timeline of Target INC and CEO Gregg Steinhafel to eBay INC and CEO John Donahoe.

Time from breach to customer notification.

• Target Inc, customer emails, 1 month +
• eBay Inc, Press Release, 2-3 months

Message from CEO to customers.

• Target Inc, 1 month +
• eBay Inc, none

Credit protection.

• Target Inc, "Target is offering one year of free credit monitoring"
• eBay Inc, none

While eBay INC has stated,"no evidence of unauthorized access or compromises to personal or financial information", one may or may not want to take that with a grain of salt.

"Someone posted a batch of emails, scrambled passwords, phone numbers and addresses of more than 12,000 people on the Internet, saying it was a sample of data stolen from eBay and offering to sell the full batch for 1.453 bitcoin, or a little more than $750.

EBay's Miller said the information was not authentic.

Reuters spoke to six people whose phone numbers were included in that batch. While only four said they had eBay accounts, all of them said the data was correct"

If eBay INC can't identify it's own users, what assurance is there that eBay INC can identify the condition of it's own data.

The fate of Target INC CEO Gregg Steinhafe?

Target's CEO Steps Down Following The Massive Data Breach And Canadian Debacle
Forbes, 8 May 2014

“Target CEO, President and Chairman Gregg Steinhafel resigned from all his positions after extensive discussions with the board.”

 

“I’ve never seen worse corporate governance than eBay”
Carl Icahn, 5 March 2014

The fate of eBay INC CEO John Donahoe remains to be seen.

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“And because of current synergies, a lot of data is traded between eBay and PayPal.” JP Mangalindan, Fortune

“Why would you divide up the data?! Everyone is paying millions to get to the data. Why would you divide up the data?”
John Donahoe, 10 March 2014

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The Checks Were In The Mail - CLRB Hanson LLC et al. v. Google

The Checks Were In The Mail - CLRB Hanson LLC et al. v. Google
01 August 2012
EventHorizon1984

Were you one of those affected by the CLRB Hanson Industries, LLC et al v. Google Inc. class action lawsuit?  A case that had been winding it's way through the Court system since 2005?

Well, wait no more.  Were you marginally affected by this class action, and filed out the online paperwork, you and your company should have received the settlement checks.

Like these (redacted images:

I'm (Ed.) framing these.

However this copious bounty pales in comparison to the multiple settlements eBay/PayPal due (us).  Like this action (redacted) from 2004:

To date, the total of all eBay/PayPal settlements paid is $0.00.

Perhaps not coincidentally, the settlement checks from a HP class action suit are "pending".  After all the new HP CEO, Meg Whitman, was the eBay CEO during the PayPal class action lawsuit.

We expect nothing less from the same manager.

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"All this happens Real Soon Now."
Jerry Pournelle

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A Tale of Four eBay Sellers

A Tale of Four eBay Sellers
14 February 2011 
Valentine's Day Edition
EventHorizon1984

While scanning the various blog sites, one of us came across this interesting note.

Where CohibaStore.com, a PowerSellersUnite regular member, states:

• "Due to some moron at PayPal, or better, the morons at PayPal, I am unable to withdraw funds or use the PP debit card for a few weeks."
• "I hung up the phone and promptly shut down my ebay stores, closed all the listings and took the rest of the day off."

A week later one of his eBay Stores remains empty.

You might be asking, "why the interest in this seller?".  He happens to be one of the sellers in our eNA (eBay Noise Aggregate) study.  Where we quantified the eBay 'store to core' impact on sellers.

Since we mentioned "Four eBay Sellers", "submitted for your approval" are four sellers of the hundred and nineteen sellers studied.

1. clact (5209), member since Feb-25-02
2. cleggandco (24352), member since Aug-20-02
3. oldspartantrader (7696), member since Feb-28-05
4. z50com (10482), member since Jun-25-00

These sellers are well known successful eBay PowerSellers with hundreds of listings.  And with hundreds/thousands of posts on various venues. 

Or at least that's the way it was in 2008/2009.

1.  "Are you trying to cheer me up?" 
Captain John Sheridan, Babylon 5

Clact, better known as Marty on the eBay Stores Discussion Board, and eBay Voices participant, currently has these two listings on eBay.

A set of two listings that has been essentially unchanged since 2010.  Although it's been presumed that he is off doing other eBay related things.

2.  "I'll be back." 
Terminator, The Terminator (1968)

Cleggandco, also known at CohibaStore on the PowerSellersUnite forums, had this to say in 2007.

• "My sales are currently 90% ebay, 5% my web store and 5% blujay."
• "Most importantly you need to build a reputation. You cannot do this overnight. You need that reputation to help spread your reputation via word of mouth. It's still the best form of advertising."

Today he has an Amazon outlet, higher total sales compared to 2010, and for the moment no products on eBay.  BUT that's temporary.  

• "Of the 300+ ebay listings we used to run, we have perhaps 50 that will get re-listed when they fix it. I will continue to suck money out of their system and ride out the decline until it's completely unproductive - as everyone should be doing."
• "Customer service continues to be dreadful. Even as Gold Top Rated Power seller, getting an answer, or even making contact requires herculean effort. I'll bet cash money it will be this continued failing that finally drives me off from selling on ebay, rather than fees, idiot buyers or moronic rules."

Will this $10K a month (on eBay) seller remain on eBay?  Shrug.

3. "That wizard is just a crazy old man." 
Uncle Owen, Star Wars (1977)

Oldspartantrader or Carl, has been a fixture on the eBay Stores Discussion Board for years.  

Currently he is NARU, having left eBay on his terms in 2010, opting for retirement.

4.  "You can count on my steel." 
Unknown warrior, Army of Darkness (1992).

z50com also known as John, is a noted aerospace tool seller.  He's a regular poster on the Yahoo! EBAY Message Board and AuctionBytes.  In 2007 he had this to say:

• "Ebay works great for me. Most weeks I sell 90-100% of my listings. Prices for my products have never been higher."
• "I hate hearing all the whining from unsuccessful sellers, adapt or go out of business. The strongest will survive, I have."

Depending on the source, his "90-100%" sell through was coupled with anywhere from $2K to $10K a week in gross sales.  Making him at the time the largest, or one of the largest, in this small group of four sellers.

His current selling status has changed dramatically from those prior years.

z50com still sells on eBay in a smaller capacity, but appears to supplement his income through a part or full time job.

"What is the moral?  Must be a moral." 
Comedy Tonight, A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum (1966)

If there is any moral to this "Tale of Four eBay Sellers," it might be the comment about eBay's treatment of Calvin Klein, where we rhetorically asked:

• "if eBay is willing to show such tepid support for a $6 billion dollars in sales a year corporation, how do you think eBay treats the much smaller sellers?"

Now we know.

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"He's dead. I'm crippled. You're lost."
Flight Officer David Campbell, The Longest Day (1962)

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eBay Noise Aggregate (eNA)

• The eBay Noise Aggregate (eNA) - Measuring The Impact Of Store To Core
• The eBay Noise Aggregate (eNA) Redux

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eBay Communications Nicole Birdsall Comments on Anonymous eMail Addresses

eBay Communications Nicole Birdsall Comments on Anonymous eMail Addresses
28 April 2010
EventHorizon1984

 With another upcoming change to eBay's email system, we thought it would be prudent to post the official public writings of eBay Principle Product Manager Communications, Nicole Birdsall ( [email protected] ), regarding this matter.  As well as her past official public posts.

A short Nicole Birdsall biography follows these posts.

One might wonder how important is email to ebay?  How about important enough to "generate $250 million of direct revenue"?

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http://forums.ebay.com/db1/topic/41409-Announcements-Discussion/Faqs-Item-Specifics/510089633&#msg522319068

[email protected]

Posts: 26

(2 of 13) Re: FAQs, Item Specifics and tracking information Apr 14, 2009 10:27 AM

Hello Powerwheelchris, I can assist with your Smart FAQ questions. Smart FAQ is the next generation of the existing eBay FAQ. We have identified the top 20 questions that buyers ask sellers and with the information already available in sellers’ listings eBay is able to pull that "live" information to answer those frequently asked questions. A seller only has to opt-in to the Smart FAQ feature while eBay will handle the rest. Of course if a seller would like to add additional questions and answers to their FAQ page, they can do this as well. Should a seller already have questions and answers posted to the existing FAQ…not to worry we will be merging those over to the new Smart FAQ page, so a seller will not lose any current information. As per the announcement, the new Smart FAQs will be available as part of the June 15th Seller Release. -Nbirdsall

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[email protected]

Posts: 26

(10 of 13) Re: FAQs, Item Specifics and tracking information Apr 15, 2009 9:37 AM

Larry, Just wanted to clarify, eBay has identified the 15 top buyer questions (payment method is one of those questions) and built an FAQ page that will populate the answers for these questions by pulling information from your listings in order to answer the buyer's question. So all you have to do is opted in to the Smart FAQ feature. -Nbirdsall

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Posts: 26

(12 of 13) Re: FAQs, Item Specifics and tracking information Apr 15, 2009 10:20 AM

Buriedbybooks, The Smart FAQ is a feature to help sellers manage their high volume of questions from buyers and is completely optional to sellers. As a seller you will have 3 options: Option 1) Ask Seller A Question Email Only This is how the "ask seller a question" link works today. From the View Item Page, the buyer will be taken straight to the Ask Seller A Question form in order to communicate with the seller directly. Option 2) FAQ and Ask Seller A Question From the View Item Page, the buyer will be taken to an FAQ page in order to get their answers to their questions immediately. Should they not find an answer to their question, they can click "email the seller" from the FAQ page and go to the Ask Seller A Question form. Option 3) FAQ Only for Users Before They Buy Users browsing your item pages who have not purchased from you yet will be taken to the FAQ page without the option to email the seller directly. If the user browsing is a customer, they will have the ability to email the seller from the FAQ page. Should you opt-in to either Option #2 or Option #3, you will also have the ability to add your own FAQ questions and answers, so if you have additional information that may not be available in the listing you can add that additional information. -Nbirdsall

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Posts: 26

(13 of 13) Re: FAQs, Item Specifics and tracking information Apr 15, 2009 10:54 AM

Powerwheelerchris, Regarding your Smart FAQ question, this feature will be available in the June Seller Release. Should you already have questions and answers in the existing FAQ feature, those questions and answers will be available in the new Smart FAQ feature. -Nbirdsall

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Posts: 26

(2 of 2) Re: Several Questions for Titanium Power Seller - brace yourself, it's lenghty Apr 15, 2009 1:01 PM

Monstercellular, Regarding your point #5, we understand that high volume of ask seller a question emails is a significant issue for sellers and will be addressing this issue with a few features this year designed to help sellers manage these emails. The first feature is the Smart FAQ which will be launched in the June Seller Release. This is a seller optional feature that is designed to automatically answer buyers' questions without sending an email to the seller or requiring a response from the seller. Here's how it works: We have identified the top 20 questions that buyers ask sellers (which under many circumstances accounts for a significant volume of questions) and with the information already available in sellers’ listings eBay is able to pull that "live" information to answer those frequently asked questions. A seller only has to opt-in to the Smart FAQ feature while eBay will handle the rest. Of course if a seller would like to add additional questions and answers to their FAQ page, they can do this as well. Should a seller already have questions and answers posted to the existing FAQ…not to worry we will be merging those over to the new Smart FAQ page, so a seller will not lose any current information. For more details about this feature, please review the information about the Smart FAQ on the 4/14/09 Announcement pages. Also, please stay tuned for additional features to assist sellers with these buyer questions in the near future. -Nbirdsall

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Posts: 26

(6 of 36) Re: Clarification Needed regarding anonymous buyer identify Jul 27, 2009 10:14 AM

Reliques, Good morning! Actually, email addresses will be kept anonymous until a transaction takes place. However, the buyer id will be present in the Ask Seller a Question (ASQ) and Reply To a Question (RTQ) emails, so you know who you are communicating with. This provides two benefits for users: 1) Safely respond to ASQs by clicking the "reply" button in your email client: By using an anonymous email address, users can communicate back and forth through their regular email clients instead of clicking on the yellow button to log back into eBay while still posting their emails to their My Messages account. 2) Keep your personal email address safe: In order to protect user email addresses from being harvested for unsecure commerce off the eBay platform, personal email addresses will be kept private until you transact with another user.

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Posts: 26

(17 of 36) Re: Clarification Needed regarding anonymous buyer identify Jul 27, 2009 11:32 AM

Kingst, Hello and good morning! Yes, you will be able to send attachments (.gif, .jpeg, .tif, and .bmp formats are all accepted). Regarding the ability to send more than one response...just as if you were to click on the yellow button, you can respond to an ASQ more than once. Thanks for your post. -Nicole

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Posts: 26

(18 of 36) Re: Clarification Needed regarding anonymous buyer identify Jul 27, 2009 11:34 AM

Bidventure, Hello. Yes, you will be able to send attachments (.gif, .jpeg, .tif, and .bmp formats are all accepted). Thanks for your posting. -Nicole

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Posts: 26

(27 of 36) Re: Clarification Needed regarding anonymous buyer identify Jul 27, 2009 11:53 AM

Aviation, Hello. We understand that some users (like yourself) prefer to response to ASQs through eBay by clicking the yellow button while others prefer to manage their emails in their personal Inboxes. Therefore, users will be able to respond to member to member emails by either: • Clicking “reply” directly from their personal Inbox • Clicking the “respond” yellow button in the email from their personal Inbox • Clicking the “reply” button in their eBay My Messages Inbox Regarding the My Messages system, we understand that the My Messages system has been slow in the past and we have just recently launched performance enhancements to increase the speed of the feature. In addition, we are looking into other enhancements to assist sellers with response speed for the near future. And last but not least, photos. This is definitely a question that buyers could ask and this release will provide a couple of options to help you respond: 1) If the item is fixed price, you will be able to edit your live listing with additional photos. 2) If you respond to the ASQ by clicking the "reply" button in your personal inbox, you will be able to include an attachment (.gif, .jpeg, .tif, and .bmp formats are all accepted) We are also looking into other features to assist with this question in the future. Thanks for your feedback and posting. We greatly appreciate it!

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[email protected]

Posts: 26

(29 of 36) Re: Clarification Needed regarding anonymous buyer identify Jul 27, 2009 12:13 PM

cchakurda, Countries are already included in the ASQ from buyers. However, zip codes are not currently in the email...this is a great suggestion and we will look into adding this in the future. Thank you so very much. -nbirdsall

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[email protected]

Posts: 26

(31 of 36) Re: Clarification Needed regarding anonymous buyer identify Jul 27, 2009 1:24 PM

Regarding only being able to respond once to a buyer's questions...yes, you are correct the current limit is 1 response per ASQ. However, you will not be restricted by this limit of 1 in the next seller release.

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Posts: 26

(9 of 9) Re: Bidders on auctions post September Jul 27, 2009 3:20 PM

Just to clarify, from the thread of postings, I believe you are asking if Buyer Ids will be removed from Ask Seller a Question emails. If so, the answer is no. The buyer id will be present in the Ask Seller a Question (ASQ) and Reply To a Question (RTQ) emails, so you know who you are communicating with. However, the email addresses will be kept anonymous until a transaction takes place. This provides two benefits for users: 1) Safely respond to ASQs by clicking the "reply" button in your email client: By using an anonymous email address, users can communicate back and forth through their regular email clients instead of clicking on the yellow button to log back into eBay while still posting their emails to their My Messages account. 2) Keep your personal email address safe: In order to protect user email addresses from being harvested for unsecure commerce off the eBay platform, personal email addresses will be kept private until you transact with another user.

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Posts: 26

(36 of 36) Re: Clarification Needed regarding anonymous buyer identify Jul 27, 2009 3:59 PM

SanDiegoJoe, Good afternoon! As you most likely know, all member to member emails are posted in My Messages today. In order to provide this functionality, messages are stored in My Messages so they can be displayed. The new functionality does not change this behavior, but does provide the added benefit to allow users to quickly and easily respond to a question without logging back in to eBay through the ‘reply’ button in their personal email inbox. Regarding the usage of this information, we do and will continue to adhere to the eBay privacy policy rules. Regarding your question on if we violate FCC rules, the answer is no, FCC rules do not extend to email. Thanks for your posting.

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Posts: 26

(4 of 6) Re: Unclear on the new: Ask Seller Question messaging system Jul 28, 2009 2:40 PM

indiebiz, Thank you so much for your post. Hopefully I can clarify your questions: 1) Yes, your email will be routed through eBay to be posted to recipient's My Messages and then sent on to the recipient's personal inbox. 2) Yes, the email you sent will anonymize your email address and therefore be hidden from the recipient. 3) Email body content will not be stripped out and will be sent as you typed it. Please note though that you will not be allowed to send any javascript or code that may contain a virus. 4) Just like any other email in your personal inbox, you will simply click "reply" in your inbox, type in your response, and click "send". You do not go back to eBay and therefore no login is required. Hope this clears things up. [email protected]

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Posts: 26

(1 of 2) Re: Limit on number of responses to emails? Apr 27, 2010 9:39 AM

lindaspostcardsandmore, Thank you for your post! We made this modification a while ago and you should be able to respond a maximum of 5 times to the same email. I have forwarded the details of your situation to our product team just to verify that there is not an issue.

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Posts: 26

(1 of 2) Re: Will eBay be policing anonymous email for off eBay offers? Apr 27, 2010 10:24 AM

Off-eBay communications is a violation of eBay policy as stated in the Member to Member Contact Policy (Link). The Anonymous Email Alias feature was built to ease the ability of responding to messages from other users by providing the ability to leverage the "reply" button in your own personal email client. This eliminates the need to click on the yellow button, login to eBay, and then fill out a response. All of these messages will be sent to the recipient's real email address and to their My Messages Inbox to avoid potential spoof concerns. In addition, sellers who have difficulties with getting emails into various email client inboxes due to ISP filters, whitelists, or blacklists can benefit from eBay's high inbox delivery rate. This feature does not "anonymize" the buyer from the seller...sellers can still get buyer contact information (including email address) post transaction in the body of the email, through various locations on the eBay site and PayPal, and through several post-transaction APIs.

xx

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[email protected]

Posts: 26

(1 of 3) Re: Anonymous buyer email Apr 27, 2010 10:46 AM

dtmedin, Thank you for your post! The Anonymous Email Alias feature is not eliminating the ability for sellers to retrieve buyer contact information post transaction...sellers can still get buyer contact information (including email address) post transaction in the body of the email, through various locations on the eBay site and PayPal, and through several post-transaction APIs. This feature is providing the benefit to all users to respond to messages from other users through their own personal email clients without being required to click on the yellow button, login to eBay, and then fill out a response. All of these messages will be sent to the recipient's real email address and to their My Messages Inbox to avoid potential spoof concerns. In addition, sellers who have difficulties with getting emails into various email client inboxes due to ISP filters, whitelists, or blacklists can benefit from eBay's high inbox delivery rate.

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(2 of 2) Re: Anonymous Email Address Is Wrong Headed Apr 27, 2010 11:37 AM

ricnok, Thank you for your post! The Email Intermediation feature is not removing the buyer's email address from the site and you will still be able to retrieve the buyer email address should you need it post transaction. This feature is only modifying the "reply to" field in member to member emails. The "reply to" field will be populated with an alias email address in order to provide the ability for users to easily respond to member to member emails by clicking "reply" in their email client. By replying through this new feature, your email responses will not only go to the recipient's real email address, but will also be posted to their My Messages Inbox. This eliminates the need to click on the yellow button to respond while maintaining compliance with the eBay Member to Member Contact Policy.

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Posts: 26

(1 of 1) Re: eBay messaging - attachments Apr 27, 2010 12:29 PM

jimstrns, Thank you for your posting! The feature allows image attachments such as .gif, .jpeg, or .bmp, but due to the significant virus risk and popularity of using .pdf files as a means to spread viruses a .pdf file attachment is not currently allowed.

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Posts: 26

(1 of 1) Re: WHAT FORM of Buyer Contact WILL BE accepted? Apr 27, 2010 12:50 PM

dorymoments4me, I'm not entirely sure what you mean in your first sentence. My understanding is that you would like clarity around how you can contact another eBay member, how you can respond to another eBay member, where will that response go, and will this help when issues arise between buyers and sellers. Starting with how you can contact another eBay member...nothing is changing from the way you initiate conversations with other eBay members. Today, you have the ability to go to a listing, My eBay, My World, or other areas of the site to click on the "contact seller" or "contact buyer" link to send the user a message. Once the message is sent, how can you respond to another eBay member? You have a couple of ways to respond. The first, which is available today, is through the yellow button in the email. You can click on the yellow button, login to eBay, write your response and reply. With Email Intermediation, you will have the second option to click "reply" in your email client, write your response (just as you would when responding to any other email), and click send in your email client. So, where will that response go? Regardless of if you choose to respond through your email client or the yellow button, your response will go to the recipient's email address and their My Messages Inbox. And will this help when issues arise between buyers and sellers? Absolutely. Even though it is against eBay Member to Member Contact Policy (Link), some users take their email conversations off eBay and when there is an issue (such as inappropriate content) the complaining user has to provide proof of this behavior. With email communications in My Messages, eBay will be able to assist without the need for the complaining user to provide proof.

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(3 of 5) Re: email addresses surveillance federal wire tap laws Apr 27, 2010 10:11 AM

Thank you for your post! The Anonymous Email Alias feature provides the benefit to all users to respond to messages from other users through their own personal email clients without being required to click on the yellow button, login to eBay, and then fill out a response. All of these messages will be sent to the recipient's real email address and to their My Messages Inbox to avoid potential spoof concerns. In addition, sellers who have difficulties with getting emails into various email client inboxes due to ISP filters, whitelists, or blacklists can benefit from eBay's high inbox delivery rate. This feature does not "anonymize" the buyer from the seller...sellers can still get buyer contact information (including email address) post transaction in the body of the email, through various locations on the eBay site and PayPal, and through several post-transaction APIs.

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(1 of 2) Re: Can members still UNCHECK "Hide my email address" when sending a msg? Apr 27, 2010 1:46 PM

buyalot!, There is no need to have this feature after Email Intermediation is wired-on. The Hide Your Email Address feature replaced your real email address in the "reply to" field of the email to the seller with "[email protected]". When Email Intermediation is turned on the "reply to" field will always have your alias email address and will never have your real email address.

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(1 of 1) Re: Is the Messaging system going to be revised? Apr 27, 2010 2:31 PM

kingst, The Email Intermediation System will allow for image attachments. When this feature is available, you will be able to click "reply" from your email client, attach an image file (.jpeg, .gif, etc.), and click send.

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Nicole Bartholomew Birdsall

http://feedback.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewFeedback2&[email protected]

Member since: Mar-31-09 in United States

http://www2.ebay.com/aw/core/200904141007452.html

Nicole Birdsall, Group Product Manager of Communications with End to End Experience

http://forums.ebay.com/db2/topic/Ebay-Radio/Ebay-Radio-384/520198969

Nicole Birdsall, Principal Product Manager, Communications at eBay discusses anonymous email.

http://www.spoke.com/info/pYGC4LN/NicoleBirdsall

Nicole Birdsall

Principle Product Manager, Communications at eBay Inc

http://www.linkedin.com/pub/nicole-birdsall/1/863/537

 

http://alumni.ggu.edu/Document.Doc?id=23

"MBA 03"

"She started with eBay in San Jose in 2006, where she now has the massive undertaking of managing the 18 billion e-mails sent to consumers every year, which generate $250 million of direct revenue. This is all no small feat, considering eBay is the world's largest e-mail sender."

http://www.dmnews.com/ebay-wins-e-mail-bid/article/156273/

eBay wins e-mail bid
by Dianna Dilworth
October 27, 2009

"“We're very focused on e-mail deliverability primarily because, why send a message if it doesn't get into the inbox,” says Nicole Birdsall, group product manager, communications at eBay. “We want to make sure that we are a good citizen and sending relevant e-mails and getting important messages through to our customers who are expecting them.”"

"eBay sends about 25 billion e-mails per year and has a 98 to 99% deliverability rate. “We make sure that all of the expected information is put into the header and our SPF records are good,” says Birdsall. “We also make sure that our IP addresses are certified with white lists.”"

" Today, eBay works directly with the ISPs, as well as with e-mail deliverability firm Return Path, to monitor its sending. One of eBay's approaches is to separate transactional e-mails and marketing e-mails and then send them from different IP pools. “ISPs hold marketing e-mails under different rules and regulations than transactional e-mails, so we separate them,” says Birdsall."

"“Part of our strategy is to look at it before we actually put it into a production mode, by sending it to several different inboxes before sending it to the user,” says Birdsall. “We look at making sure that it got into the inbox versus the spam folder, how it renders and what it looks like to the user.”"

“We realize that users might not know how to unsubscribe because maybe they are not opening the e-mails. And we'd like to make it easier for them,” says Birdsall. Since the program launched Birdsall says complaint rates have dropped."

"“We realize that users might not know how to unsubscribe because maybe they are not opening the e-mails. And we'd like to make it easier for them,” says Birdsall. Since the program launched Birdsall says complaint rates have dropped."

//*

"Another way to make things here less human. I will give my email address to my customers as soon as they win.

Why would you remove the address but still give the access to their phone number? I see a big increase in contact info requests in the future."
oldklutz, Apr 27, 2010 3:22 PM

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Silencing the Lambs - eBay Cuts Voices Roster

Silencing the Lambs - eBay Cuts Voices Roster
26 August 2009
EventHorizon1984

It's that time of year when rosters get cut in professional Football. In that same vein eBay has taken to slashing it's eBay Voices lineup from 130 to 100.

According to an AuctionBytes article "Is eBay Phasing out 'Voices' Focus-Group Program?", the person "responsible for Voices, eBay Senior Manager of Seller Development "responsible for Voices" Garnor Morantes said:

• "This change is something we've been thinking about for a while and is meant to give others the chance to participate in the program. We're looking to bring in some new perspectives, some new buyers and sellers - all levels of selling."

Incidentally, detouring a bit.  If you're thinking "focus group??", here's something we pulled (sort of) at random:

Using Focus Groups For Evaluation
Mary Marczak & Meg Sewell

• "The technique was developed after World War II"
• "A focus group could be defined as a group of interacting individuals having some common interest or characteristics, brought together by a moderator, who uses the group and its interaction as a way to gain information about a specific or focused issue."
• "A focus group is typically 7-10 people who are unfamiliar with each other. These participants are selected because they have certain characteristics in common that relate to the topic of the focus group. The moderator or interviewer creates a permissive and nurturing environment that encourages different perceptions and points of view, without pressuring participants to vote, plan or reach consensus"

Unfortunately eBay doesn't quite get how not to use focus groups:

• "because focus groups are usually made up of a very small number of people who voluntarily participate, you cannot assume that their views and perceptions represent those of other groups that might have slightly different characteristics. They are not "random samples".

And someone is ignoring the disadvantages:

• "Small numbers and convenience sampling severely limit ability to generalize to larger populations"
• "Moderator may knowingly or unknowingly bias results by providing cues about what types of responses are desirable"
• "Results may be biased by presence of a very dominant or opinionated member"

 

"I do not think it means what you think it means."
Indigo Montoya, The Princess Bride (1987)

.

This roster cut has produced some consternation from eBay Voices members.

For example eBay perennial favorite PowerSeller Marty (clact (5147)) made his usual flurry of correct and incorrect statements. Or as he described other people doing the same thing, "all the BULL$&*@ in these comments".  Such as:

• "No other major company has a program like Voices in place to keep them on track and there is no doubt in my mind that at some point this company will be moving in the right direction."

This individual should consider that they're wrong on two counts.  According to eBay CEO John Donahoe eBay is moving in the right direction.  And about that focus groups myth?  Check out this old interesting article.

Business Week
Shoot The Focus Group
14 November 2005

• "Exasperation with focus groups, while not universal, is growing as companies look for better ways to get inside consumers' heads"
• "Perhaps the most common complaint about focus groups is that consumers are not honest in front of other people."
• ""Consumers aren't dishonest, it's that most people don't listen the right way." On the other hand, maybe consumers can be heard more clearly when nobody is watching."

As you might expect, the reaction of eBay Voices members posting comments to the AuctionBytes article "eBay Silences Founding 'Voices' Members" varied. Some of the posts read:

• by: Randy
• Thu Aug 20 02:29:54 2009

Looks I was smart to leave when I did last year ....  Randy (Former) Voices 3 Member.

• by: What Me Worry
• Thu Aug 20 13:44:57 2009

Heck this was coming...I saw it when I was in the program.
When Voices was founded, it's members were actually helpful to the employees in forming programs.

The past several years, many members felt that they were nothing more than "lab rats" as ebay measured reactions to already made decisions.

When the administrator of the program, Garnor Morantes, has to remind members to be positive about their comments and admit that he's hesitant about opening up the comments for all employees to view...they do not want to hear what they need to know...they want to hear what they want to hear...

Signed...former Voices member

• by: Nancy Leckron
• Thu Aug 20 14:30:18 2009

I am one of the effected Voices member's that was retired.  I value the time I spent giving my opinion on a varity of topics.  Remember people, we are real live human beings.  I gave my time for the greater good of the entire eBay Community.  Yes, I am a Proud Former Voices Member!

• by: Still a Voice
• Thu Aug 20 15:38:06 2009

I am saddened by this decision, but feel the need to reply to a couple comments made here.  I remain in the program, but have always been a small buyer/seller, and in fact, am currently at my lowest level ever, having only listed less than 10 items in the last six months.  Also, I am definitely not an eBay cheerleader.  I am disappointed in the direction eBay seems to be going.  As long as I am Still a Voice, I will remain an advocate for the small seller!  I don't think the program has the influence it once did, but I DO think it continues to have merit.

Those who are being removed this week will be sorely missed.  Those who were involuntarily removed in the past (or resigned under obvious pressure to do so), not so much.

• by: former_Voice
• Thu Aug 20 15:45:59 2009

I enjoyed my time in Voices.  There was true give-and-take, and eBay really was interested in what we had to say. That doesn't mean that everyone got what they wanted, and any Voices member who thought the group had any real power is just kidding themselves.  However, I can say that there were several instances of ''done deals'' not happening or being altered, due, in part, to the responses of Voices members.

eBay is a business.  It is not evil. I don't believe that JD is evil. Somehow someone got the idea that eBay would care more about the community than its own financial health.  That will never happen.

Grow up.  If it works for you, fine; if not, then shut up and move on.  Be responsible for your own situation and stop blaming someone else.  

• by: brecklundin
• Fri Aug 21 03:18:41 2009

For those who feel voices members were sycophants and yes men sorts you are the exact reason some of us left eBay.  I was an active member of the user boards helping 1000s of members at the drop of a hat in order to make smaller sellers find their way through eBay.  I was a member of what might have been the most influential and effective Voices group.  I know that is saying a lot but we were note even close to "yes men/women" and at that time eBay truly listened to us.  

We each gave up years of our time and advice I personally would have charged clients tens of thousands of dollars for...all to HELP my fellow sellers.  But we were met with petty jealously from the more unbalanced eBay'ers who always knew better yet accomplished nothing.  

I finally left when there was too much of a difference of opinion between myself and one individual who was running the program.  

I will tell you I gave them the Health Insurance thing for Power Sellers and argued that they were asking sellers to commit themselves full time to selling and eBay had the resources to help organize a group insurance program.  eBay LOVED the idea...unfortunately the INSURANCE INDUSTRY refused to come up with a real health insurance program.  Still the options which came the ashes of a well intentioned program, which eBay genuinely put a LOT of man hours into trying to develop, but what rose was at least a very decent Rx discount program that saves me over $400/mo on medications and even more if I was willing to take some of the more dangerous meds to help slow down the progression of my primary health issue...Meg overstated the scope of the program at eBay Live 1 but at the time she was unaware of the final denial from the insurance carriers...still there is value in the program.  I take pride in knowing I was a motivating voice behind something to potentially help millions of people save even more millions on many aspects of their health care needs.

Another personal feature of the site that was exclusively mine and I gave it to the lead programmer free because I was never going to be able to develop feature on a site as my serious programming days were behind me and I had a parent who needed me as her caregiver.  And that feature is the Best Offer, I designed it, talked to Mark about it and eBay made a few changes but developed one of the most used features on the site...and no I never was paid or asked for compensation.  But eBay added it after my disagreement with the then coordinator of Voices...and it was over something very stupid on my part but I am a stubborn bastard when I am in the mood...and boy was I in the mood...hehehe...

We came up with the idea of annual convention type events moved around the country...this because eBay Live.  It would have worked had eBay held the community together with real mods rather than farming it all out...big error on their part...

You also have no idea who many ideas we stopped cold in their tracks during conference calls.  You should have been a fly one the wall when we gave a top to bottom dressing-down to UPS VP's when they were trying to gain exclusive access to eBay sellers of all other carriers.  Sellers in antiques and collectibles can tell you that UPS might be the single worst carrier in terms of delivery, obtaining signatures as paid for (drives can just drop boxes even if a sig is required when the area is designated as a drop and go area...this would destroy the needed signature for PP Seller Protection.)  We pointed out that there was no such thing as a one size fits all.

We were strongly influential in getting sellers to be required in revealing all fees in their listings.  Shipping, handling and insurance.  Our compromise was in lieu of limits which are impractical because a seller in NY has higher staff overhead than one on small town USA.  So, our suggestion was a compromise (eBay was against revealing or limiting...) but we pushed and argued very cogently for simple declaration of any fees.  before us there was no rule and sellers often raised fees if items sold under value.

We fought with PayPal when they tried to take away the 1.5% cash back for using the PP Debit card...they wanted to eliminate ALL cashback programs...I for one told PayPal directly that should they remove that program I would not use their service...I am no large seller, but I had an ace in the hole as did every member of our group, we had the ear of the community on the eBay Boards, each of us in a different board.  While we alone might not have saved the program, we planted the seed of doubt that cutting the program would potentially wreck eBay's recently acquired PayPal.  Again earning millions of funds for millions of sellers...but we were "yes men/women".

I am sure there will be those who know exactly who I am from my comments...and those people will also know I honest to a fault...and I take crap from nobody, and every member of our group was the same way, each in their own way.  Two of us were more vocal but the others were just as resolute unwilling to compromise beyond a certain point where sellers and/or buyers would be harmed.

I have the utmost respect for my fellow members in our Voices group...we worked hard for everyone of us, we did nothing in a self serving fashion...but there were those out there who felt because we were legally bound to not disclose these things we were 'assimilated'.  I personally put my eBay account at risk in standing up for what I though was right...yet I say cowards with posting ID's bitching like 8yr old school girls about us, eBay and the lack of decent tinfoil for their hats.

I guess you can say I stopped caring.  I stopped caring about eBay as a company as well as my fellow eBay'ers...now a decade later, I care only for my buyers and give them the best of the best in service and respect.  Something the whiners have not clue about...

I have a personal list of eBay execs who I have the utmost respect for...the believed in the small community the level playing field and all the things which eBay was...but unfortunately, they lost the battle.  

I will point out two....Maynard Webb and Bill Cobb.  Yeah, many of the whiners thing those two were just horrible people...having actually looked them in the eye, spent hours in person with them and one the phones, they are honest and decent people.  There are easily 50-100 people at eBay I still remember that had the best intentions.  Sadly, the decisions from the very top, did some serious damage.  I also know the people who believed in the community, they either gave up hope to feed their families or left eBay.

After our eBay group basically the program was changed and significantly watered down.  Still that does not mean the members were in it just for themselves and to say they were part of eBay...those sorts were actually weeded out pretty early.

No matter what the antagonists say, I know what I did personally and what my group did as a whole...and we did GOOD.

The single regret I had was we were unable to convince eBay to move eBay Live Listings out of the core or at least into their own sub area in each category.  but eventually we were proven right because many remained vocal and kept pointing out the ethically questionable aspects of Live Auction format and their mixing in with regular listings.

I know this was not well written but I needed to express that in our early groups there were a couple special teams (we really became a team and ours was as cohesive a team as I have ever worked with, and we never knew each other before Voices, well I knew one member of my group and she was one of the stellar members who was in it for us ALL not herself...

I also have bent, but likely not broken my NDA but after a decade since I signed it, I feel things have changed enough to live with someone "peeing in the cheerios" a bit in order to set a few things straight.

I know the anger will come back..it always does, but if you examine the eBay ID's of those people you will find proof of their lack of stability revealed in how they deal with customers.

Ina knows me and knows who I am...and I know w/o her watching eBay for us, we would be caught even more off guard...

Mostly anonymous posts are not truly satisfying, and at this juncture all three of you* may be wondering who are these eBay Voices.  While it's possible to piece together a list (as we choose to understand it), that's never happening here. Other than the basic privacy issues involved, that would be just plain rude.

* We jest. It's really four.

For brevity we will stick to speaking of a few members made openly public by eBay.  In April 2003.

eBay's "Voices" program...
by Daphne, eBay Staff Member
April 2003

According to The Chatter article since 1999, "Several times a year, eight to ten members are flown to eBay's corporate office in San Jose, California. They are chosen from all levels of eBay's buying and selling community -- from Shooting Stars and PowerSellers, to mom-and-pop sellers, and all levels of buyers."  Followed by, " regular conference calls and email discussions".

The writer goes on to say, "Participants sign non-disclosure agreements" and "This confidentiality makes Voices groups a powerful tool".  Then Daphne discloses three names.

It's definitely interesting about what became of these three eBay Voices members.

• eBay's "Voices" program...
• "drexelantiques, who attended Voices said this about his experience: "eBay had set up a wonderful program. Very informative. I hadn't expected eBay to really listen to the Voices participants, but they did. eBay staff was very concerned with users' opinions. Participants' questions were answered fully. The eBay staff were very frank in discussing issues. The staff at eBay that we had a chance to talk to were among the nicest group of folks I have met in a long time. We were treated very well. ….eBay staff also alleviated some of my concerns over the direction eBay was taking.""

Today seller DrexelAntiques (2175) (member since Nov-12-98) remains an active buyer on eBay, but their last eBay sale feedback was August 29 2003. They have a brick and mortar store.

• eBay's "Voices" program...
• "gatorpack wrote: "The most important thing I took away from the experience was the realization that everyone I met at eBay was genuinely sincere in their efforts to carry on as much of Pierre's founding philosophies as possible, yet pragmatically deal with all the twists, turns and complexities the beast was spinning off. In 1995, '96, '97 or '98, who could have possibly imagined what was to come. If anything, it reinforced, rather than changed, our perceptions and opinions of eBay. I know exactly what it's like to work in an environment where you are constantly making up things as you go along.""

Today seller Gatorpack (32761) (member since Jan-22-99) neither buys nor sells on this account. The account remains active with an impressive positive feedback of 32,761. Their last eBay sale feedback is dated October 12 2007.  They're currently selling online at Gatorpack.com.

• eBay's "Voices" program...
• "giraffer had this to say: "Really I expected to hear a sales pitch, or as we often give our customers where I work...the mission statement pitch. And never expected anyone would listen to us and really show that they cared about the community and our problems. I was impressed to have vice presidents sitting down and talking with us in such an informal manner. I was impressed with how friendly everyone was and how they made me feel important and glad to have me there. What did I take away? That everyone at eBay cares and will continue to do their best to make the site work for the community. That they are real people, not just this unknown entity. I'm so proud of this program and eBay for having it that I proudly display the Voices logo on my ME page and my business card.""

Today Giraffer (3020) (member since Jan-19-99) is a "Retired Member eBay's Voice of the Community 10".  By eBay Corporate standards they are a small seller. The account remains active in sales and purchases.  Giraffer is an active poster on the eBay Discussion Boards.  Giraffer is as exuberant about eBay now as she was in 2003.

 

"any Voices member who thought the group had any real power is just kidding themselves"
former_voice

.

With this small sample showing two out of three eBay Voices sellers gone from eBay, we have to wonder how relevant is eBay Voices to the participants?  And do 100 eBay Voices have any relevance to the millions of eBay buyers and the 50+ million active sellers on eBay?

Or is eBay Voices all 'baaaaa' humbug.

.

"You will let me know when those lambs stop screaming, won't you?"
Hannibal Lecter MD, Silence of the Lambs (1991)

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eBay Developer Important Security Update - Oh Please!

eBay Developer Important Security Update - Oh Please!
10 August 2009
EventHorizon1984

 

In the article "Passwords compromised for eBay developers," Chris Dawson of TameBay wrote:

• "eBay have identified a possible security flaw and are requiring all developers update their passwords."
• "The developer blog reports that eBay have recently identified a means by which someone could have" "gained access to eBay Developers Program account information."

We're not surprised this happened.  The surprise is eBay in public admitting a "security flaw".

The equivalent of code monkey felgercarb can be found in this security announcement from the eBay Developers Program blog, regarding the "possible security flaw":

Important Security Update: developer.ebay.com
Posted by Laurel Kline in Critical Notes from Tech Support, Business News & Developer Website
Monday, Aug.10.2009, 3:06 PM PT

This is Kumar Kandaswamy, and I manage the eBay Developers Program. I'd like you to read this important message about account safety.

The safety and security of the eBay Developers Program is a top priority. While we believe that people are basically good, we also must live with the reality that there are fraudsters out there who have made it their illicit "profession" to find ways to exploit others on the Internet.

Occasionally, fraudsters attempt to gain unauthorized access to the eBay Developers Program. eBay has recently identified a means by which someone could gain access to eBay Developers Program account information. This type of access DOES NOT allow the capture of financial or other sensitive information, such as credit card or bank account information or Social Security numbers.  Fortunately, we have not detected any unusual activity with any Developer account.

Out of an abundance of caution and to help ensure the security of the eBay Developers Program, we are requiring that all developers take the following steps:

• Take advantage of our new, stricter password standards and change your eBay Developers Program (developer.ebay.com) passwords. It is not necessary to change eBay (www.ebay.com) passwords.

If you believe you or your customers have been the victim of fraudulent activity, contact us immediately at [email protected].

Sincerely,
Kumar Kandaswamy

There's much unintentional eBay humor with the statement from Kumar Kandaswamy that "safety and security of the eBay Developers Program is a top priority."  Because historically that has not been the case.

Follow us.

Once upon a time Sergiu Daniel Popa was brought to the attention of the public by Dan Browning of the Star Tribune.  As reported in his article "Suspect in 'phishing' scheme indicted":

• "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"
• "Sergiu Daniel Popa, 20, of Shelby Township, Mich., was indicted on three counts"

Days later there would be a post about the article on the eBay Stores Forum. This was followed quickly by eBay user ID spopa2006 stating, "Listen guys. I am Sergiu D. Popa. I am that horrible guy!" and "I will make your life a hell."  And much much more.

When this activity and background was reported to eBay, their reponse was to delete the spopa2006 posts.  He was able to keep his eBay account active.  If you look quickly, you can view his Feedback Profile as of 11 August 2009 01:07 GMT.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This all would be rather uninteresting save for the fact that spopa2006 was a poster on the eBay Developer forums:

• "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]"

The activities of a registered eBay Developer.  You know the ones who work on the software that eBay buyers and sellers use.

Feeling that "safety and security" yet?

Oh, and did we forget to mention that this took place in 2007?  For those interested we kept the details in a June 2007 article, Sergiu D. Popa Response To Dan Browning Star Tribune Article.

Well there is innocent unless proven guilty.

BAMM!!  But wait, there's more.

In October 2008 Dan Goodin followed up with "Romanian national cops to $700,000 phishing trip":

• "Who's your underworld Popa?"
• "22-year-old Romanian national has admitted he participated in a US-based phishing operation that raked in some $700,000 over a three-year period."
• "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."
• "FBI agents began their investigation of Popa in early 2005."

Kumar Kandaswamy is crowing about protection from "fraudsters attempt to gain unauthorized access to the eBay Developers Program", but described here is a convicted hacker who eBay gave Developer Program access?

With spopa2006's regular eBay account active, you have to wonder if his Developer Program access remains active.  And if he gave others access to his account, during his extended absence.

Kumar Kandaswamy said, "we have not detected any unusual activity with any Developer account".

Oh, Please!

How many times does a warning have to be given to eBay before someone listens?

And given the lax vetting process, one really has to wonder if there are other "Popa's" signed up to the Developer Program?

.

"So, people hire you to break into their places... to make sure no one can break into their places?"
"It's a living."  Martin Bishop, Sneakers (1992)

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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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The eBay PayPal 10% Hold Solution

The eBay PayPal 10% Hold Solution
25 June 2009
EventHorizon1984

See also

• The eBay PayPal 5% Hold Solution
• The eBay PayPal 20% Hold Solution
• eBay Seller Forum: New PayPal 60-Day Payment Holding
• TameBay: PayPal reserves: here's what's really happening
• Red Ink Diary: PayPal Rolling Reserves - Straight Talk

The eBay/PayPal legal/financial team was busy at work implementing the new and improved 10% hold policy.  Where PayPal holds 10% of PayPal payments made to sellers.

The dunning template (we edited in the Fill In The Category) letter sent out on June 23rd reads:

Your business is important to us, and we are working hard to provide an easy, fast and secure payment service to you and your customers while keeping our prices competitive. We're also committed to clearly communicating changes to our policies and procedures. To that end, we are writing to inform you of a change to your PayPal account, which will take effect 30 days from the date of this email.

Beginning 07/23/2009, a small percentage of the total payments you receive will be held temporarily as a reserve in your account. This small reserve amount helps to ensure that funds are available to cover payment reversals or buyer chargebacks, if you do not have a sufficient PayPal account balance and do not provide the funds to do so.

A reserve is like a security deposit for your PayPal account and is standard practice in the payments industry, especially for retail segments like Fill In The Category where there is a higher-than-average risk of reversals or chargebacks. This does not mean that you have done anything wrong. We are requiring a small reserve in your account because you sell in a category that has a higher risk of reversals and chargebacks and because you are relatively new to PayPal as a seller.

Your reserve amount will be 10% of the total payments you receive, which will be held on a rolling 60-day schedule. That means 10% of the money you take in each day will be held in your account, and then made available for withdrawal 60 days later.

For example, if you receive $2,000 every 60 days into your PayPal account, then a reserve amount of about $400 would be required on a rolling 60-day period. In other words, about $6.67 would be held in reserve each day, then released 60 days later.

If you are a PayPal Money Market Fund customer, you will still earn interest on your total balance while your money is in reserve. Click here for more information or to enroll in the PayPal Money Market Fund.

We recognize this is a change in the way we do business with you. By requiring some merchants to reserve money in their accounts, we're able to lower our own costs. Keeping our costs low helps us to continue providing competitive pricing for all sellers who use PayPal.

If you have any questions about this change, please call us at 1-877-729-7252. We appreciate your business and look forward to a continued partnership.

Sincerely,

PayPal

According to orange_cape_hides_me the Fill In The Category covers:

• "purses, clothing & fashion accessories
• books
• industrial
• motor parts
• games, toys (aver. price $25.00 or less)
• stamps
• fabric
• pool supplies
• and pet supplies"

According to PayPal:

• "We're requiring reserves for a very small percentage of our sellers - currently less than 1%"
• Bill Clark, PayPal Risk Team Analyst

The end of second quarter (June 30) looming for eBay and PayPal, explains the timing of the 10% hold policy.  Essentially new financial quarter, new revenue.  The why hold at all can be found in knowing what the "1%" represents.

Using numbers from eBay's SEC (U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission) filing, 23 October 2008 10-Q Quarterly Report  Form 10-Q, the following is the worse case (for sellers or best case for eBay/PayPay) calculation of "1%" per quarter.

• Active eBay users affected:  830,000
• Active registered PayPal accounts affected:  548,000
• Net total payment volume, HELD:  $115,690,000

PayPal's revenue in this case would be the interest on the $115 million per quarter, or $450 million per year.  Plus incidental fees.

As we've noted on previous occasions, this is what eBay/PayPal considers to be "small."

"Keep On With The Force Don't Stop
Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough"
Released 1979, Michael Jackson (1958-2009)

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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.

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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.

 

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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

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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.

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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!

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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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From eBay - Update your checkout service by June 15

From eBay - Update your checkout service by June 15
14 April 2009
EventHorizon1984

Probably unnoticed by most was the stealth checkout announcement made by eBay on April 13th.  See copy of announcement emailed to us.  eBay's punctuation and typos not corrected.

If you checkout eBay's Checkout Discussion Board, you'll note that eBay's vaunted PayFlow checkout remains not ready for prime time.

We're already expressed our reservations about the security of the new checkout.

What we're found interesting is maybe Google (and some Google sponsers) thinks the same. Perform a Google search using "eBay PayFlow" and watch what pops up.

"Oh boy."
Samuel Beckett, Quantum Leap

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Dear *:

Our records indicate that you?ve recently completed selling transactions through . We?re writing to let you know that as of June 15, will no longer be providing third party checkout service on eBay.

A big step toward reducing unpaid items for sellers is ensuring a secure and consistent checkout experience for buyers. That?s why, in the months ahead, we?ll be working to integrate key functions offered by current third party providers into eBay checkout.

The ultimate goal is to have all checkout and payments take place right on eBay--and to help you make a seamless transition to on-eBay checkout that fully supports your business as usual.

In the interim, as of June 15, sellers will only be allowed to use eBay checkout or third party checkout services offered by one of a select group of approved Certified Providers.

This would be a great time to take a close look at your business needs, and if you haven?t already done so, switch to eBay checkout before June 15.

If you need specific functionality that is not yet integrated into eBay checkout, you can choose a solution offered by a Certified Provider approved for off-eBay checkout.

We?ll keep you updated as new functionality becomes available in eBay checkout. We?ll also make sure you have the time and support you need to make a smooth transition down the road.

Thanks for helping us keep eBay a great place to buy and sell.

Sincerely,



Dinesh Lathi
Vice President, Seller Experience

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eBay Certified Provider Program
http://certifiedprovider.ebay.com/ns/checkout.html

If you need additional checkout features not available through eBay, some of our listing solution Certified Providers can help:

Benefits:

• Offer payment by credit card
• Perform tax calculation
• Offer additional shipping carrier options
• Show only the specific countries you want to ship to
• Support redemption of your own coupon codes
• Offer insurance
• Collect important information like color selection, customization requests
• Up-sell your other eBay items with a customizable merchandising module
• Custom seller branding on purchase summary

Certified Providers:
Auctiva
ChannelAdvisor
Kyozou
Vendio

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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

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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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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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From eBay Stores Forum - What Business Week thinks of eBay's future

eBay censored the thread below.  We present page one in its entirety.

And we would appreciate a full copy of page two.

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http://forums.ebay.com/db2/thread.jspa?threadID=520080464&tstart=0&mod=1232966787980

What Business Week thinks of eBay's future
moondancefarm  (7666 ) View Listings | Report		Jan-24-09 14:08 PST
http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/jan2009/tc20090121_143541.htm

Previous   1 | 2   Next See last post

45 replies		Date posted	Reply #
rockinghorsegirl4now  (2764 ) View Listings | Report		Jan-24-09 14:25 PST	1 of 45
Ebay just doesn't get it. Ebay wants to copy Amazon but the world already has an Amazon. Why Ebay wants to be a second Amazon is beyond me. Ebay needs to get back to being Ebay---the best site of its kind instead of being a second-rate Amazon wannabe.
designforyou  (1682 ) View Listings | Report		Jan-24-09 14:27 PST	2 of 45
Interesting article. Exec's did not take seller need's into consideration when making all the changes with feedback, DSR's, and higher fees. It would seem sellers have spoken by taking their merchandise elsewhere. E-Bay simply did not want to recognize sellers needs in order to sell here. A failure to understand their customer/seller market, higher fees and poor customer service all contributed to the downfall. Focusing exclusively on buyer's wants at the expense of sellers was and is one of the biggest mistakes e-Bay made in 2008, along with making paypal mandatory with no other payment options to be listed. Why Donahoe would not understand the downfall in profits says quite a bit about where his head is at. If Amazon showed a profit in a poor economy, there is absolutely no reason for E-Bay to blame the economy. E-bay pushed sellers out, some bad deserved to go but many good decent sellers left along with them.
too_toot  (1450 ) View Listings | Report		Jan-24-09 14:28 PST	3 of 45
Interesting article - especially the stats, but it doesn't shed any new light on what us long time sellers and buyers didn't know already about eBay's demise. I think eBay has to reverse the changes of the last 2 to 3 years by going back to the basics. Essentially what made it special when Pierre Omidyar invented it. It needs to court sellers of one-off, unique, collectible, crafters, antiques, etc. It will never be successful as a large box fixed price venue as the current retail market has moved on. The current economic climate only reinforces this. For me at least, eBay's fate is sealed with the current business model in place.
slackergirl23  (0 ) View Listings | Report		Jan-24-09 14:37 PST	4 of 45
It needs to court sellers of one-off, unique, collectible, crafters, antiques, etc. Why? those people have etsy. The internet is not what it was 10 years ago, ebay can never be ebay 1999 again. there are billions of websites now & many that are better than ebay. No one can undo the internet & how people shop to fix ebay. It just cannot happen. Just use what you can of ebay until it ceases to work as a tool for your business.
jake-deals-4u  (968 ) View Listings | Report		Jan-24-09 14:40 PST	5 of 45
It needs to court sellers of one-off, unique, collectible, crafters, antiques, etc Interesting, as i sell mostly in 3 of the 4 cats you mentioned & have a lifetime STR of 95%+ on the 1st listing on eBay. Doesnt eBay repeatedly tell sellers to list hard to finds & DEALS here for their best chance for sucess? Fascinating that those articles never ever mention what it takes to Suceed, or even mention what eBay repeatedly tells sellers what to do for best results. Why is that?
maxequations  (3914 ) View Listings | Report		Jan-24-09 15:05 PST	6 of 45
I agree that the internet has changed and there are many more venues to sell versus Ebay's hay day. But you also have to admit that in the past decade ebay has done nothing but change in ways that hastened what seems to be their own self destruction. Since the introduction of Buy It Now until today Ebay has been running in circles trying to figure out what it wants to be when it grows up. In the meantime many sellers who years ago only sold here started selling in multiple locations and then went into their own web sites. And with them went THEIR customers. What will happen going foward? I really dont know. We have the lowest amount of listings here is the 8 plus years we have been selling online. We have new Spring foward listings in all locations except here. We are in a wait and see mode and when ebay gets around to saying what changes are in store for 2009 we shall stop and see what they mean to our plans and decide how we wish to proceed. Gary
that..one  (Private ) View Listings | Report		Jan-24-09 15:13 PST	7 of 45
Doesn't everyone think its neat how day after day after day, a group of for the most part totally unsuccessful sellers, rehash all the things ebay is doing wrong and what they should do to make everything work great ??? That is when they can't even make a decent living off trying to sell a few hundred or less items themselves? I know I do.
maxequations  (3914 ) View Listings | Report		Jan-24-09 15:16 PST	8 of 45
No but I do find in interesting how the "bravest" succesful sellers hide behing posting ID's so nobody can challenge their "success" here Gary
too_toot  (1450 ) View Listings | Report		Jan-24-09 15:19 PST	9 of 45
Bargainhunting never goes out of style. In fact, today it may be the only style. I'm a manufacturer, b&m retailer and have several business websites for selling and sell with many different sites (etsy, too by the way). My business that comes from eBay has declined steadily while other sites have picked up the slack. EBay sadly has made it too expensive to sell here and I won't use eBay as a loss leader (occasionally I do if I can drive them elsewhere). The truth is, eBay has the volume in users and listing numbers. It is and still is the tops for the areas I mentioned in my previous post that big box sites just can't do.
rockinghorsegirl4now  (2764 ) View Listings | Report		Jan-24-09 15:24 PST	10 of 45
I'm mainly a buyer now so I can have my say. Maybe buyers are just fed up with the glut of products from China and millions of listings by Diamond sellers. It's hard to cut through all that to find what you really want. I also think when the sellers leave, they take their buying someplace else, plus we lose those buyers who bought from those sellers.
turtlegaby  (8889 ) View Listings | Report		Jan-24-09 15:26 PST	11 of 45
Max you might find this interesting. http://forums.ebay.com/db2/thread.jspa?messageID=521686382&forumID=21&x#521686382 Look for post #19 >>Visit my Tortie blog<< Happiness is a butterfly, which when pursued, is always just beyond your grasp, but which, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you.
turtlegaby  (8889 ) View Listings | Report		Jan-24-09 15:29 PST	12 of 45
It's our lovely tanjastore, the one that joggles between NARU'd and private ID's. I'm very impressed that..one >>Visit my Tortie blog<< Happiness is a butterfly, which when pursued, is always just beyond your grasp, but which, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you.
maxequations  (3914 ) View Listings | Report		Jan-24-09 15:44 PST	13 of 45
Thanks Turtle, it happens all the time. It is like the Secret Society of Successful Sellers. Too-Toot, we produce all we sell and the only difference is we have no B/M Store. In 2008 we had double didgit increase in total sales and ebay dropped 2 times that in the falling over 30%. I also think when the sellers leave, they take their buying someplace else, plus we lose those buyers who bought from those sellers. Rockinghorsegirl- there is the big issue and ebay will never understand. My wifes hairdresser left to go to another shop. My wife followed. So did her $$ for nails, products and some clothes and accessories as she just does not go to shop A anymore, she goes to shop B. During our 2 years on the Moon we have had more then a few customers email and tell us they found this and they found that there and before we told them we were moving they had no idea the moon existed Gary
mygift2u  (9489 ) View Listings | Report		Jan-24-09 15:57 PST	14 of 45
There was and still is a simple solution to Donohue's woes. ... he just needs to listen to the customer. He will figure out what to do once he figures out who the true customer is!!!!!!!!!! It seems all Sellers are aware of who the customer is. I pay ebay much more per month than they get from any one of MY customers.
dazzlecity  (7924 ) View Listings | Report		Jan-24-09 16:13 PST	15 of 45
There are several issues with that thread Donahoe has redoubled efforts to cut eBay's dependence on auctions I find that one hard to swallow - if "redoubling" means raising fees from 3 cents to 35 cents In short, management has tried to make eBay more like online retailing stalwart Amazon.com If this was true - ebay would not be hiding millions of fixed price listings in stores At eBay, the core online shopping business suffered a double-digit drop in revenue, down 16%, So you want to be like Amazon? Bring stores out of the closet - give the buyers an opportunity to find the product. He has addressed making the site easier to navigate and making transactions more secure. Don't even know what to say here - making the site easier to navigate - not sure too many would say that was true Those people who are "cleaning out their closet and selling what they find online" are migrating to Craigslist, he says, because "you don't have to deal with the complexity of fees." not sure how much ebay is actually effected by this - I think somewhat but not overall - I think more of the problem is as many have stated - ebay under-estimated just exactly how much buying power "Seller's" really had here - while they were so busy alienating a large majority of sellers with their silly game playing they were also killing of much of the Golden Goose.
rickskatie  (2793 ) View Listings | Report		Jan-24-09 17:08 PST	16 of 45
Great read. Thanks for posting.
appliancecoverqueen  (221 ) View Listings | Report		Jan-24-09 17:31 PST	17 of 45
If eBay insists on becoming eBamazon then perhaps they can start a sideline site called "eBay Classic" and go back to the old eBay back when it was fun and profitable. . Judy@ApplianceCoverQueen
rickskatie  (2793 ) View Listings | Report		Jan-24-09 17:46 PST	18 of 45
I'm afraid they are looking to make eBay into a tax write-off for the rest of their investments such as Pay Pal...whch means they will continue to implement changes that are assured of losing money. Kind of like the oil companies that were allegedly caught in the early 80s purposefully drilling "off strike," meaning they were apparently drilling for oil but purposefully missing the deposits to drive prices up. I think eBay is playng the same game.
tokyodays  (5877 ) View Listings | Report		Jan-24-09 19:30 PST	19 of 45
Ah, ebay...I hardly knew ya... Well, despite it all, my own eBay biz is still doing quite adequately for my needs...though it doesn't in any way allow me to continue to trust that I'll be able to rely on eBay in the months to come. Sales for me are good--primarily because (I think) of my pricing and my diversity of items...all comics-related collectibles. I wouldn't hitch my future to selling in one single category of comics (say...only silver age vintage comics) than I would rely just on eBay to be a solitary income source. People buy comics from me that date from the 40s through to just last week. Having a variety of items is extremely important--there are dealers who are strict superhero fans who would never buy a Little Lulu or a western comic, whereas I've come to (duh) realize that while I may not like certain kids comics or western comics, it doesn't really matter what I like--it's what the customer wants. So...if I cater to customer needs and give good customer service, I'll continue to do OK here on eBay despite their insidious idiocy and pulmonary-inducing policies. It may not last forever here, but while folks bail from eBay, it only leaves me a stronger seller here on eBay in my category...unless of course, fewer and fewer people come to ebay. But that's why I have begun diversifying to other selling venues. http://www.chrisjuricich.com/eBay_pics/apic.JPG
dazzlecity  (7924 ) View Listings | Report		Jan-24-09 23:50 PST	20 of 45
Tokyo - great point - even in my catagory - when searching before listing now I'm constantly amazed at the lack of inventory in specific themes - as the gene pool decreases the size of the pie increases
chopsueysisters  (2865 ) View Listings | Report		Jan-25-09 03:14 PST	21 of 45
well if there was ever a time to riot and start bringing up areas that they failed which could of added revenue, now's the time to start blogging and calling! The one time they ever show a decline where you might get the ears of people. it's the only chance you'll get, so if you plan to go for the jugular, now's the time to finish him. but it has to be out there, not here under the anticache clouds lol Ain't no mountain high enough Ain't no valley low enough Ain't no river wide enough
mygift2u  (9489 ) View Listings | Report		Jan-25-09 04:13 PST	22 of 45
Totally agree with Chop, Dazzle, ApplianceQueen, and others. Chop has a great point. The Board may force him to listen to us where he wants to or not. p.s. The feedback/DSR system has not helped with this either. Bring back Seller's ability to leave APPROPRIATE feedback to Buyers. That would include giving them a negative when warranted. I also think eBay is toying with our DSR scores again. For the past week (and I check my Dashboard several times a day, my 30/30 day and my 30day/12mo scores have been EXACTLY the same. There is no way this would be correct.
cjbeez  (9773 ) View Listings | Report		Jan-25-09 04:31 PST	23 of 45
Those people who are "cleaning out their closet and selling what they find online" are migrating to Craigslist, he says, because "you don't have to deal with the complexity of fees." Sure would be nice if ebay lowered fees for a change in 2009.
honeville1  (4130 ) View Listings | Report		Jan-25-09 04:32 PST	24 of 45
Chop... The only chance we'll get??? Naw.. unfortunately I think we'll have at least 4 chances this year alone! 1st qrtr results, 2nd qrtr results, 3rd qrtr results AND 4th Qrtr results. I'd be happy to be proved wrong on this one though!
cjbeez  (9773 ) View Listings | Report		Jan-25-09 05:17 PST	25 of 45
just keep watching ebay stock... Current Price: $12.00 Last Trade Time: 1/23/2009 4:00 PM Open: $11.43 Previous Close: $11.67 Daily Range: $11.33 - $12.15 52-Week Range: $10.91 - $33.47 Volume: 19,910,763 Market Cap: $16.96B P/E Ratio: 9.69
chopsueysisters  (2865 ) View Listings | Report		Jan-25-09 11:42 PST	26 of 45
yes Honie, its the only chance we get because not just ebays results but meg wants to be governor, she wont want us bringback up what she put in place before she bailed the economy is melting, everyone is talking about small businesses, the workin class etc. there are grass roots efforts all over the place getting press and we also have this, the numbers of sellers "supposedly" is most of 1.3 million sellers and supposedly "most of those" are AMERICANS making all or most of the income on ebay. Now I dont necessarily believe those numbers, but if politicians, presidential candidates and Meg Whitman want to use it, then lets use their own words against them. Half of that number is 650,000 US sellers all you really need to start it is to tie it into an economic issue and a political one. For some reason Republicans and Democrats are basically fighting right now on the working class and the working poor. Congressmen are actually calling people back. So what I'm getting at Honie, is that right now it's a perfect storm, that won't have the same amount of bite if you wait a quarter. Besides the scrutiny of JDs performance, 52% of small biz are home based businesses. Ebay sellers make up all minorities and all ages. You have women, seniors supplementing their incomes, veterans, disbled, parents who can't afford day care, caregivers who are taking care of parents. THe makeup of ebay sellers represents everything that right now all those politicians are afraid to shut out. No one wants to hear from corporations, no one wants to hear from those corporations pushing for more H-1B visas and in regards to paypl, no one wants to hear about an unregulated financial service or bank that could tie up over half a million small businesses money! Even a slice of 650,000 people represent votes that Republicans need to get back their position. Just about every single republican right now has updated their websites and started being web 2.0! they're looking for a in, with the working class, because they know they've disconnected w/people and are going to have a miserable 4 years Ain't no mountain high enough Ain't no valley low enough Ain't no river wide enough
the-woodland-girl  (Private ) View Listings | Report		Jan-25-09 15:43 PST	27 of 45
I dont think fees have anything to do with it. Amazon is more expensive than ebay and you dont even get paid weekly. They dont pay you but 2 times a month, that isnt that great. The reason ebay is failing is because it gave its sellers a slap in the face with horrid match and get yourself blasted DSR's. The sellers in return slapped back and left. That is the whole problem right there. Those sellers flocked to Amazon and helped build up Amazons empire. Sellers are the number one most important thing, not the buyer. With out sellers, unless ebay is going to start stocking its own merch, it will fall out of favor.
dr_hair_products  (1707 ) View Listings | Report		Jan-25-09 16:36 PST	28 of 45
The reason ebay is failing is because it gave its sellers a slap in the face with horrid match and get yourself blasted DSR's. The sellers in return slapped back and left. There you go... Corporate executives don't know squat. The Woodland Girl sums it up in 1 paragraph and 1 sentance.
slackergirl23  (0 ) View Listings | Report		Jan-25-09 16:46 PST	29 of 45
I dont think fees have anything to do with it. Amazon is more expensive than ebay and you dont even get paid weekly. They dont pay you but 2 times a month, that isnt that great. From a buyers point of view is much faster to shop there too. You can see all the sellers on one page & it's a 2 click order process. I'm just not going to spend 10 minutes picking out the seller/product for a $15 book. I can go there & do the same thing in 30 seconds. Ebay is the most cumbersome shopping site on the net.
oregon-grown  (538 ) View Listings | Report		Jan-25-09 16:50 PST	30 of 45
E-bay can go back to what it was in 97 if they will go back. It has to many big wigs grabbing the million dollar fringes. Like the banks etc that stole the first 350 million no one really knows how that was spent. Just look at all the big wigs walking off with the millions up there ya think donahue diserves a bonus he gets a big fat one. Guess if the stock holders care less then nothing will ever be done. Always thought a bonus was supose to be deterened by how you did his he should be fired.
moondancefarm  (7666 ) View Listings | Report		Jan-25-09 16:57 PST	31 of 45
To me the dumbest thing eBay management has ever done (and they have done some real doozies) is hiding store listings. Can you see Walmart keeping product in the back of the store that you can only have access to if you know the secret handshake?
oregon-grown  (538 ) View Listings | Report		Jan-25-09 16:57 PST	32 of 45
You know rocking horse I collect stamps I was buying around $500.00 amonth here. All my great sellers are gone so I folled them no money here on stamps. All on their web sites I sell under 4 names here well 1 now. I spend very little here now.
slackergirl23  (0 ) View Listings | Report		Jan-25-09 18:18 PST	33 of 45
E-bay can go back to what it was in 97 if they will go back. In 1997 there were not that many sites to find odd items, websites were expensive & complicated to start & the web was newer. Even if ebay went back to "ebay 1997" the customers, sellers & internet would Not. I don't have hours to spend cruising ebay like I did then, nor do I want to. I don't even search ebay, I use google to find everything now.
dazzlecity  (7924 ) View Listings | Report		Jan-25-09 18:43 PST	34 of 45
To me the dumbest thing eBay management has ever done (and they have done some real doozies) is hiding store listings. Can you see Walmart keeping product in the back of the store that you can only have access to if you know the secret handshake? Badabing! absolutely correct Even if ebay went back to "ebay 1997" the customers, sellers & internet would Not. I don't have hours to spend cruising ebay like I did then, nor do I want to. I don't even search ebay, I use google to find everything now. Absolutely correct as well and ebay just can't figure out how to get it together now
diesel_parts  (1818 ) View Listings | Report		Jan-25-09 18:57 PST	35 of 45
I have reestablished myself on my websites and plan to stay there. No reason to return to ebay and endure the abuse from management. The turning point for me was when they made us take cash out of out listngs. I took all of mine out then some turned up again with cash in the description. Guy from ebay phoned me and told me if they found another cash reference in one of my listings they would wipe out my store and bar me from ebay. I immediately set up an oscommerece website and started my move. My move is now complete. I have 2 oscommerce sites and don't have plans for anything else as they are doing fine and I have control of them. I have never in my life witnessed so many bone head business decisions as ebay has made. I don't think they have a clue as to how to fix all the mess that they have caused. billphil.
itspostingtime  (2 ) View Listings | Report		Jan-25-09 19:08 PST	36 of 45
ebay's future? Well, there's no way to predict it, of course. Just this past year we watched once invulnerable companies collapse, so guessing the future is just that...a guess. Here's my guess: This guess assumes---just for the sake of argument--- that ebay makes it through the transition and the recession and remains a major ecommerce site (as opposed to becoming , say, a niche auction site of some sort) I think ebay's business model will resemble the original core/ebay store model. As I've explained many times before, ebay stores were designed as upselling vehicles. Sellers were expected to put fast moving merchandise in core, which would drive buyers to the slower moving merchandise in the store. That merchandise was not supposed to show up in core...core was reserved for faster moving merchandise. What I see is a variation of that, except that sellers will be encouraged to list fast moving merchandise on ebay and upsell to their own sites. This, of course, is what some sellers are already doing. This would utilize what has always been eBay's greatest benefit for most businesses: quick turnover and cash flow generation. Turnover on ebay has been mostly a function of the auction format, but now, with Best Match and 30FPs, it is also being applied to more and more fixed price merchandise as well. As hone has shown with his very smart ad/Best Match strategy, gaining---and keeping--- a top spot in search (impossible back when default search was ending soonest) can drive sales in much the same way the Buy Box drives them on Amazon. Some things wouldn't change very much. I think ebay would probably continue to enter into contracts with certain sellers , primarily to ensure a steady supply of certain types of merchandise. In fact, I could see these contractual arrangements being expanded to include smaller specialty sellers as well...an antiques dealer with a strong niche---say, sterling silver---might enter into a contract which would obligate him to maintain a certain level of inventory on ebay (and a certain level of quality etc). ebay would still generate revenue from sponsored ads, but there wouldn't be objections as there are today, because most sellers using ebay would not see themselves as "ebay sellers"....they'd see themselves as ecommerce sellers whose primary location is off-ebay, and who use ebay to gain customers (ads) and upsell (using listings). Of course, there would still be feedback, at least for sellers, and there would still be rules. But there would be fewer objections.....since most sellers would be set up off ebay, let's face it, they'd already have return policies, they'd already have stated shipping and so forth. (Only on eBay as it exists today are you going to find sellers objecting to the very things that almost every off-ebay seller considers a basic part of their business , such as a clearly stated return policy) This would also reduce a major objection of some PESA type sellers (and former sellers): that selling on ebay generates cash flow, but not enough actual profit. The new business model assumes the seller's primary location if off ebay. ebay as a COMPONENT of a business, one designed primarily to generate cash flow, is very different from ebay as a the sole element of the business. Just as many retailers use certain merchandise primarily as cash flow generators and other merchandise to increase margins, sellers would be able to use ebay to generate cash flow as part of an overall business strategy. Ad revenue would grow as a proportion of ebay's site revenue, thus reducing reliance on listing fees, which could be reduced. At the same time, both the structure of the model and Best Match would ultimately reduce the likelihood of sellers listing items with little chance of selling....as more sellers understand the site dynamics, they would begin listing faster moving merchandise , increasing successful turnover, and ebay would then be positioned to reduce FVFs. What about the small antiques and collectibles seller in all this? Well, instead of complaining that their slow moving merchandise isn't selling because it is hidden, they would understand that their slow moving merchandise isn't hidden, it's on their own site off-ebay (perhaps ebay would also make a hybrid of ebay store/ProStores available for sellers who don't want to set up their own site....but it would be understood that the merchandise is not searchable on eBay) Once sellers understand that ebay is not hiding their merchandise, they can select the stuff to list here to generate cash flow and to upsell to their off-ebay store. Since auctions are basically ending soonest, they'd get good exposure, and---this would be a big advantage---with antique sellers being more selective about what they list, supply will no longer exceed demand as often as it does now....thus generating better sell-through and higher prices. By actively encouraging sellers to upsell to their own sites, ebay would also be encouraging sellers to link to, say, their off-ebay blogs as well....so buyers would not only find neat stuff here, but they would find links to informative sites as well. At the same time, ebay would continue to manage the site and add new tools....finally actually pushing great buyer tools such as ebay Desktop, for example, to generate more sales. And of course, sellers would have more access to third party tools to help them more easily manage the ebay component of their businesses. ebay was a pioneer in really opening its business to third party developers, and I think ebay has seen the benefit of that. In a sense, what I'm suggesting is just an extension of that philosophy.... Of course, in order to make this happen, ebay has to make changes to the site, some of which are apparently scheduled for 2009 (at long last, a shopping cart, an immediate payment system to do away with NPB claims, and so forth.) The site has to function---from a buyer perspective---like the large majority of online shopping sites....easy checkout for multiple purchases, no hidden fees, plainly stated return policies, etc. It also has to be easier for sellers to manage as a part of an overall business (thus the modularity of My ebay, which is designed for customization by third party developers) How would this help ebay compete with other sites? Well, first, let's be clear....in one sense, ebay competes with, say, Wal-Mart, but in another sense, ebay doesn't compete with Wal-Mart....some ebay sellers do, but ebay doesn't. If those ebay sellers can compete more effectively by using ebay to generate cash flow, then both ebay and the seller win. Amazon is usually described by the media as eBay's chief competitor, perhaps because Amazon, unlike Wal-Mart, also competes for sellers. This strategy would dramatically alter the dynamic. Currently, Amazon does offer sellers the opportunity to generate cash flow and profit from the site. But Amazon keeps very tight rein on the seller's ability to market his business to Amazon buyers...as a number of commentators have stated, Amazon owns the buyer, the seller merely supplies the merchandise. eBay shares the buyer with ebay sellers, and, if my suggestion is followed, this would increase the seller's ability to use ebay to build his own business, as opposed to on Amazon, where he may make money but he primarily is building Amazon's business. In short, sellers would have a huge new incentive to sell here. How would this effect the so-called alternative sites, sites like ecrater? Those sites would have to improve as they work to provide homebases for sellers. As it is, many , maybe most, of the sellers on those sites already depend heavily on some combination of Google and ebay to drive traffic to their shop....if ebay actually makes it easier to use ebay to upsell, many sellers are going to ask themselves: Yes, the site is free and it sands my stuff to GoogleBase, but is it really a full fledged ecommerce solution? Wouldn't I be better off with a store that can be fully customized, has automated newsletters, etc. Of course, some smaller sellers will be perfectly happy with sites like ecrater.....but others will look to sites that better integrate with ebay and that provide more functionality. There would probably be some winners and losers as among the alternative sites , but the real winner would be sellers, because the sites would really have to start playing their A game as they become much more competitive with each other. What about the casual seller? Scott Wingo suggests that ebay is losing casual sellers to sites like Craigslist. Probably true. I think Wingo says this is (in part) because ebay is too complex. But the simple listing form isn't complex at all. And look where ebay is headed: easier checkout, immediate payment, so no NPBs for a casual seller to deal with, buyers MyeBay will automatically notify them when an item is sent, one less step for the casual seller....in short, right now ebay seems complex because we are in a period of change. But once all the changes are in place, ebay will actually be easier for buyers and sellers.
itspostingtime  (2 ) View Listings | Report		Jan-25-09 19:21 PST	37 of 45
moondance, Can you see Walmart keeping product in the back of the store that you can only have access to if you know the secret handshake? Your comparison misses the point. Wal-Mart is a retailer. As such, Wal-Mart ONLY puts stuff on display that Wal-Mart CHOOSES to buy from the wholesaler in the first place. Plenty of stuff is NEVER shown on Wal-Mart's shelves because Wal-Mart turns it down BEFORE it can get near the shelves. And every big retailer will pull stuff from the shelves if it isn't meeting earn/turn standards. That stuff gets put on sale or gets dumped onto Overstock or somewhere like that. Retailers are ruthless about that sort of thing. There's even a shelf heirarchy. At places like Wal-Mart, choosing which item is put on the eye-level shelf and which is put on the bottom shelf, or which item is put up front by the register....it's a science, and it's based on sales and profitability, not on some notion that every item should be given equal visibility.
itspostingtime  (2 ) View Listings | Report		Jan-25-09 20:18 PST	38 of 45
I also want to say that I think there is a big misconception about "ending soonest" as the original default on eBay. Some sellers think it was to ensure a "level playing field"....ie, every item had a chance to get to the top of the list. Sorry, but that's pure hokum. "ending soonest" was the default for one reason: because ebay was originally an all auction site, and "ending soonest" was designed to DRIVE SALES VELOCITY. The assumption being that a buyer who is searching for an item sees that an auction is ending within minutes and the buyer feels pressure to bid right now or lose his chance at the item. As a Sales velocity driver for auctions, it worked very well indeed. But it had nothing to do with providing "equal exposure" It's purpose on an all-auction site was the same as the purpose of Best Match on a site with fixed price merchandise: to increase sales velocity. Neither default is about "equal exposure" they are BOTH about sales velocity. What we have now is a search that is designed to increase fixed price sales velocity through Best Match, and within Best Match, ending soonest is given greatest weight for auction listings, with sales velocity again the goal.
dazzlecity  (7924 ) View Listings | Report		Jan-25-09 20:28 PST	39 of 45
Wal-Mart is a retailer. As such, Wal-Mart ONLY puts stuff on display that Wal-Mart CHOOSES to buy from the wholesaler in the first place. And what exactly do you feel most of us are trying to do anyway? And I've been in retail for 32 years - I know my craft - I know my customer - just make my product available for viewing at least and let me take my chances ok?

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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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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.

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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

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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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//

From eBay Stores Forum - Has anyone went through this Credit Card Processing Verification?

Sellers with merchant accounts may want to keep this fax number for future reference:

To list items on eBay using merchant credit card, please provide the
following:
- a valid copy of your most recent merchant processing statement from a
bank/financial institution or is from an ISO/MSP.

Fax this information to (408) 904-7387.

Wally
eBay Fraud Prevention

//

From eBay Stores Forum
http://forums.ebay.com/db2/thread.jspa?threadID=520008242&tstart=0&mod=1220451520715

Has anyone went through this Credit Card Processing Verification?
ddh_****  (1307 )     Sep-01-08 20:49 PDT
Please forgive me if this has been discussed, but I couldn't locate a thread anywhere. I was in the process of updating all of my listings through TL, to remove money orders and checks, and add credit cards as an option, and when I went to upload them, I received this error message:

Attention!
We noticed that you chose to offer credit card as a payment option. To confirm that you can support this process, please fax a copy of your most recent merchant processing statement to (408) 904-7387. Please ensure the statement is complete and includes all pages.

Please include your eBay user ID, phone number and email address in the fax so that we can contact you.

While we confirm your merchant credit card account, you can continue listing items on eBay with PayPal as the payment method. PayPal is convenient to use and offers buyers and sellers protection against fraud, chargebacks, and theft of financial data.

While we confirm your merchant credit card account, you can continue listing items on eBay with PayPal as the payment method. PayPal is convenient to use and offers buyers and sellers protection against fraud, chargebacks, and theft of financial data.

Has anyone been through this process? I'm just wondering how long it will take, and if it's even worth it. It's really starting to look like they're trying to do everything they can to force us all to accept Paypal only, without coming right out and saying it.

mrbu****  (1101 )     Sep-02-08 06:36 PDT     1
It seems by your ebay listing choices you have indicated to them that you have your own merchant account outside of the paypal and ebay stream.

If this is fact I would go through with the ebay verification. I am not experienced with it but I would think it should not be a big deal. But as is with anything and ebay they could turn it into procedure.

Joe
Heres my sign

mini****  (994 )     Sep-02-08 06:48 PDT     2
I'm not sure I'd trust ebay or their representative who may be on the other end of that fax who may not even be in this country or speak english. I'm not sure I'm willing to fax info that would be so easily abused when I don't know where or to whom it is going.

sand****  (3441 )     Sep-02-08 07:20 PDT     3
I am with you on this one mini. No way would I provide Ebay with my AuthorizeNet account information. That includes my account and merchant numbers. If Ebay wants to establish a working relationship with the merchant account providers to verify it that's one thing. Faxing them MY transactions I don't think so! Not with their software security being like Swiss cheese. How would Ebay guarantee that information would not be hacked and jeopardize my own business off Ebay? I vividly recall that my business information walked out the door in a briefcase with a Paypal employee. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice shame on me.

ddh_****  (1307 )     Sep-02-08 09:03 PDT     4
That was my reaction too mini. I do have an Authorize.net merchant account, and I did indicate that I can accept credit cards, because I can. I do not, however, feel safe faxing them this financial information. They are "just a venue" after all, so why is it any of their business?
I guess I could send it to them, and black out all of the account numbers and important financial information. After all, Authorize.net tells us to keep our account information safe. I wonder what they would think about Ebay asking us to send it to them?
Let's see, we can't accept cash, checks, or money orders, and now we can't accept credit card payments, unless we reveal our financial information to Ebay, where it may or may not be handled privately. I guess that leaves... Paypal. There's a shock.

mdov****  (8319 )     Sep-02-08 09:11 PDT     5
Won't you have to provide your merchant account information to eBay next year when all payments must be electronic through Payflow? How else will you be able to attach your merchant account/authorize information to Payflow?

ddh_****  (1307 )     Sep-02-08 09:26 PDT     6
If I have to enter the information myself, on a secure site, that is one thing. But sending my financial information via fax to just anyone who might be walking by at the time it comes in, is another.
There was not a department mentioned, a person's name to fax to, etc. Just a fax number.
At this point, they have not completed the secure checkout, which will link to our merchant account. Right now, customers will have to call me to pay over the phone, so there is no need for them to have my merchant account number.

sand****  (3441 )     Sep-02-08 09:39 PDT     7
mdove9 at the point that Ebay becomes a portal for those payments the process would be set up thru Authorizenet, Payflow, and Ebay at the developer level. Most likely would a software program where the information would be input by the seller and verified thru the merchant account processors. Not by some entry level or midlevel Ebay employee who has a desk piled high with unsecured faxes. Nope, that simply is not an option IMO. By having the merchant number and account number Ebay could seriously jeopardize all your transactions. If Ebay forces the issue I would heavily censor what information Ebay was able to view on those pages. They would not get clean copies of my monthly statments.

ddh_****  (1307 )     Sep-02-08 09:52 PDT     8
Each credit card now sends a separate statement out every month, and there is no way I'm sending them a copy of those. I just faxed them a copy of my auth.net gateway statement, and a copy of my auth.net merchant profile page, with the merchant ID blacked out. I told them that if they needed this number, they could feel free to call me, and explain why they needed it, and after I verified who they were, I would think about giving it to them.
The information I faxed them shows them what types of credit cards I accept, how long I've had the account, and has my business name, address, and telephone number on it. This should be all the information they need to verify that I do have an account, and I am able to accept credit card payments. My merchant ID is not necessary.

ddh_****  (1307 )     Sep-02-08 09:54 PDT     9
And Sandra, you should be right about the software program. When I integrated auth.net with my main website, I input my gateway id and password into a secure site, and set it up that way. I didn't have to fax any information to any unknown fax number, and my hosting service never asked me for it.

sand****  (3441 )     Sep-02-08 11:25 PDT     10
ddh favors when you finish the process please post your results. I will be interested in hearing what Ebay agrees to accept in this process.

ddh_****  (1307 )     Sep-02-08 15:16 PDT     11
Response from Ebay:

Thank you for submitting your merchant processing statement to eBay.

I have completed our review, but was unable to confirm the statement provided because Authorize.net is a payment gateway service and not a direct processor.

In order to list on eBay using the merchant credit card payment option, you will need to provide proof of a merchant credit card account with a
processor that is a recognized ISO or MSP associated with a bank or financial institution.

- What is an ISO/MSP (Independent Sales Organization / Member Service
Provider)?

An ISO/MSP Is a company that works on behalf of a bank to set up and
manage merchant accounts.

To list items on eBay using merchant credit card, please provide the
following:

- a valid copy of your most recent merchant processing statement from a
bank/financial institution or is from an ISO/MSP.

Fax this information to (408) 904-7387.

- If you are unable to obtain a statement in a timely manner, you can
also provide the contact details for the agent that is responsible for
your merchant credit card account through that processor. Please include
their phone number AND extension so that we may verify directly. You can
provide this information in an email instead of a fax if you like.

While we confirm your merchant credit card statement, you can continue
listing items on eBay with PayPal as the payment method. More
information about Selecting Payment Methods You'll Accept can be found
at the following link:

http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/payment-method-accepted.html

Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,
Wally

eBay Fraud Prevention

It is my Wells Fargo bank information they are wanting, as Wells Fargo is the bank that funds my transactions through Auth.net. This is completely insane!!

sand****  (3441 )     Sep-02-08 15:20 PDT     12
ddh do you think they want eonlinedata's contact information?

ddh_****  (1307 )     Sep-02-08 15:27 PDT     13
To be honest, I don't think they know what they want. I don't get any kind of monthly statement from Wells Fargo because I use their online reporting. So, I generated a monthly transaction summary for the last month, and e-mailed that to them, along with my Internet Merchant Account Number, and the contact information for Wells Fargo.
I honestly don't think this will be enough. I think they will continue requesting more information so I give up and just offer Paypal as a payment method. This is their way of ensuring that happens.

sand****  (3441 )     Sep-02-08 16:04 PDT     14
ddh favors I contacted Authorizenet's Live Help and you are correct. Use the statements that AuthorizeNet sends to determine which bank. (I am off to go look at my statements. I don't even know which bank I am affiliated with. That's sad too.)

ddh_****  (1307 )     Sep-02-08 16:12 PDT     15
When I first applied for an account with auth.net, I was contacted by a Wells Fargo rep, and it was Wells Fargo who checked my credit. Back in March, they split all of the services, and I received a welcome e-mail from Wells Fargo, that contained a Wells Fargo merchant ID. I am assuming this is the information they want.
This is all so silly at this point. If they had the integration complete, it would be one thing. But they don't need the information right now.

chop****  (2780 )     Sep-02-08 16:17 PDT     16
ebay accepts faxes?
hmmmm

Woot!

.

.

micro_merchant  (0 )     Sep-02-08 19:34 PDT     17
eBay is demanding more information than is required to accomplish eBay's stated goal. eBay only wants verification that the seller indeed has a merchant account.

So eBay can buy an item from this seller and pay by credit card. The charge will bear a transaction ID won't it? If not, then ebay can specify a secret shipping address (12345 Road to Hail, Box 1899546374456338). The seller reads bac the secret code and confirmation done.

But this isn't what eBay wants, is it.

micromerchant
"A Name Is a Link"SM

ddh_****  (1307 )     Sep-02-08 21:15 PDT     18
eBay is demanding more information than is required to accomplish eBay's stated goal.
You can say that again. I'm waiting for their request that I surrender my first born in order to sell here. She's a pre-teen, and full of attitude, so I'm not sure they will like what they get.
I am still waiting on a response to the latest information I faxed to them, so we'll see what happens.

micro_merchant  (0 )     Sep-02-08 22:26 PDT     19
At some point the demands become coercive. Coersion to use PayPal at the exclusion of others. And it becomes unlawful.

Are we there yet?

micromerchant
"A Name Is a Link"SM

mini****  (994 )     Sep-03-08 07:18 PDT     20
Chop sees the possibilities...good call chop.

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From eBay Welcome to the 8/20 Announcements Discussion Forum - Hey *PINKS*!!! What about small volume sellers???

http://workshops.ebay.com/thread.jspa?threadID=13000000289&tstart=0&mod=1219360825664
Hey *PINKS*!!! What about small volume sellers???

gras***  (355 )     Aug-21-08 09:06 PDT
This 4.3 DSR business can wipe out a small volume seller from being able to sell VERY EASILY. Small volume sellers are extremely vulnerable under this policy.

12 replies     Date posted     Reply #

[email protected]     Aug-21-08 09:11 PDT     1 of 12
Hi grasshopper,

Can you please provide a scenario that would lead you to be concerned about this?

Thanks much,
Lynda Talgo
eBay Trust and Safety

gras***  (355 )     Aug-21-08 09:12 PDT     2 of 12
I sell on Half.Com occassionally and rather small volume relatively speaking. How will the 4.3 DSR limit across all 4 categories affect Half.Com sellers (who are graded on 3 of the DSRs)? I also sell on eBay extremely rarely - last sold on eBay back in December 2007.

It seems that someone like me could get tossed out of selling very easily. Just one or two '4' star in the shipping charges(the one category that doesn't apply to Half.Com) could get me tossed out of selling due to rather low volume of eBay sales.

This really bites! Just look at my feedback - I'd say it's as highly exemplary as it gets. 100% positive going back 9 1/2 years, and I communicate effectively, and ship out items if not the same day I receive payment then very next day. What more could I do?

eBay policies look to me like they are designed to rid eBay of small time sellers. Also, don't forget that eBay sellers ALSO tend to be eBay buyers(as I am, for example).

gras***  (355 )     Aug-21-08 09:17 PDT     3 of 12
For example...

I can check my DSRs via m.ebay.com.

Detailed Seller Ratings:
Item as described:
(6) 5-stars
Communication:
(6) 5-stars
Shipping Time:
(6) 5-stars
Shipping Charges:
(1) 4-stars

Let's say I sell nothing on eBay for a while, only on Half.Com. My shipping charges dsr will remain '4 star'. That'll get me tossed out of selling.

dree***  (410 )     Aug-21-08 09:17 PDT     4 of 12
This 4.3 DSR business can wipe out a small volume seller from being able to sell VERY EASILY

Exactly:
All it will take is 1 or 2 buyers that don't like the transaction so a small seller that has less FB would drop very quickly.

[email protected]     Aug-21-08 09:22 PDT     5 of 12
Hi grasshopper,

Thanks for the additional information. Here's how the 4.3 limit will work for Half.com sellers: We will compare the DSRs the seller receives on any DSRs against the 4.3 requirement. If the seller does not receive a rating for a DSR (either because they are selling on Half, or on Motors, or because a buyer simply didn't rate all of the DSRs), then there is nothing for us to evaluate -- and the seller would continue to sell.

To be specific, if you have DSRs of 4.5, 4.4, 4.4, nothing; then you would continue selling. If you have DSRs of 4.5, 4.2, 4.2, nothing; then you would not be allowed to sell.

To address you specific scenario - if you have 2 transactions in the last 30 days and the scores are all 4, you would be able to continue selling.

I agree your feedback is exemplary, and we definitely want you to keep selling on eBay!

Best regards,
Lynda Talgo
eBay Trust and Safety

elec***  (608 )     Aug-21-08 09:26 PDT     6 of 12
We will compare the DSRs the seller receives on any DSRs against the 4.3 requirement.

Lynda, is this "We" you speak of an actual person or is this software making these decisions?

 

gras***  (355 )     Aug-21-08 09:34 PDT     7 of 12
Lynda - you're still not getting my point. I'll try again...

I have one DSR rating in the 'shipping charges' category, presumably from the last eBay sale I made. This rating is a '4'. Having that one DSR rating of 4 will knock me out of being able to sell on eBay.

stev***  (160 )     Aug-21-08 10:11 PDT     8 of 12
You are exactly right. I saw an interview with the new head of ebay a couple of weeks ago. Said he didn't want ebay to be a flea market anymore.

gott***  (206 )     Aug-21-08 10:41 PDT     9 of 12
I'd like a straight answer as to why eBay tells buyers a 4 is a good rating but then penalizes the seller, and now threatens to kick them out.

Highly Unethical.

See if you can spin That one to everyone's satisfaction.

A Straight Answer as to Why, please!!!

[email protected]     Aug-21-08 11:59 PDT     10 of 12
Hi grasshopper,

One DSR rating of 4 will not place you under the 4.3 DSR requirement. You would need 10 DSR ratings before we will evaluate your DSRs. So, if you have 10 scores for Item as Described, Communication, and Shipping time, and they are all at least 4.3, and 1 score for Shipping cost (or even 9 scores for Shipping cost...), we would not evaluate that one score for Shipping cost. We would ignore it.

Hope this helps,
Lynda
eBay Trust and Safety

clem***  (1876 )     Aug-21-08 12:02 PDT     11 of 12
Lynda, please don't avoid or ignore important questions like this one...

I'd like a straight answer as to why eBay tells buyers a 4 is a good rating but then penalizes the seller, and now threatens to kick them out.

Or, have you not figured out a good way to spin it?

rr21***  (36 )     Aug-21-08 16:20 PDT     12 of 12
I posted some real numbers on my thread where it comes out to 4.0 with 10 feedback for a powerseller that took a month off .. 4-5's 4-4's 1-3 & 1-1 for a lost package to italy comes out 4.0 even though the seller (me) has a 10 run of great history & no dissasified customers ????

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From eBay Stores Forums - eBay Employee Posts 12-13 August 2008

A list of posts made by eBay employees, who rarely appear. And a response by an eBay user.

//

The eBay Pink (employee) is doing what previous eBay employees have done in the past.  Solicit email responses and do absolutely nothing.

http://forums.ebay.com/db2/thread.jspa?threadID=2000617621&tstart=0&mod=1218648803533
Ebay Glitch Watch , Find all the glitches

[email protected]  View Listings | Report		Aug-12-08 17:15 PDT	14 of 33
Hello everyone, Believe it or not I'm glad this thread was started. Feel free to gather any and all 'glitches' you'd like for the brown bag. One thing you will need to add when you do report them, though, is examples. I need to be able to recreate these problems on my own account, or at the very least find them easily on your accounts. Also, you don't have to wait for a brown bag to send these to me. I'm glad to help 'diagnose' anytime. Thanks again! Terry

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[email protected] View Listings | Report		Aug-13-08 10:06 PDT	31 of 33
Good Morning! I say we start with the first post in this thread that actually talks about a glitch. That was from caroline*k and the issue was Item Specifics being added, then removed. I believe I saw a few posts about it. Can those of you who are experiencing this issue please email me some item numbers that are currently being affected (again if I can't see it I can't really get it fixed). I will likely need to update those items myself in order to see them disappear again so please include the information you are changing just in case. Thanks again! Terry

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clact  )		Aug-13-08 10:25 PDT	32 of 33
- Items not able to be sent from Store to fixed price or auction due to ...(choose one or all) A- item specifics changed, even if you just listed this 7 year old audiobook a month ago somehow some specific has changed that is worth noting apparently. B-In some cases the items specifics were changed to random ones Ebay generated. The error was corrected but couldnt be reversed in the store items affected, so you might be sending to core with Sterling Silver listing as an item specific for a kids goofy necklace. C- Due to the recent category update , many items were affected and will not send to core. During the last few sales these listing errors prevented me from sending approx 50% or more of the listings I wanted to list to CORE and took way too much time for the ones I did manage to get through. 2- Related to #1 above, sellers have no idea which listing are in need of "item specific updating" or have other problems. These listings should be notated with a red asterisk and we should be able to checkbox them all and send to an editor. This would cover lots of generic problems that also surface like when shipping changes come or policy changes come etc. 3- SM PRO view periodically defaults to Myebay view all on its own. 4- Search - You can change to add "more buying options" choose "store inventory" time after time and it never sticks as a preference. 5- Ebay's search "expansions" evaporate into thin air when a customer, excited about seeing a lot of results tries to weed them out... I reported an example of a search of playing card decks the return has 1700 plus matches . Wanting to exclude NEW decks I search for playing card decks -new Unfortunately it turns off search expansion and drops my search down to 60 items when only 339 of the 1700 have new in the title. The search thus has vaporized matches. If the buy did not see the expansion they might have tried to expand the search using less words but now thinks this is all that is left. This problem occurs with ALL exclusion words in a search epansion in every category on eBay. HUGE PROBLEM. 6- Searching by radius/zip code the old "MAPIT" has a fatal flaw in that it just tosses around listings by zip code without regard to whether or not those people might be interested in a local pickup. I saw a test screen for advanced search where that option to check x for local pickup might show up and it cant come soon enough. 7-Ebay Local - Announced at Ebay Live Boston in 2007, then in the announcements section in Oct/Nov of 2007 was just buried with no update. 8- Paypal sign in page has been hanging for weeks now requiring you to click on the "click here" button. 9- General Flaws with Best Match "thinking" a- Old system presented buyer with a bunch of items to bid or buy on that were ending soon. New system scatters ending time making psychological factor of needing to make a quick decision less powerful. b- Best Match algorithm as described in the patent application seeks to look at supply /demand , popularity of keywords etc. While this works great for some items, it has the latent affect of making more popular items sell more and the long tail wide selection of Ebay (what its known for) gradually sink to the bottom. It stops the serendipity of search results matching the buyer with a general interest. Example - While 95% of the people putting Harry Potter in search might want to buy a book, people , presented with Harry Potter Valentines or Harry Potter Coffee Mugs while less popular would have seen them more often in the past than with a system that assumes it knows what people want. What about when they dont know what they want but just see something? 10- Level/Fair Playing Field Needs a Bulldozer! Recently I had a book pulled for being against Ebay's violence policy. Its done by a detective and recommended reading in criminology classes. It has an ISBN number and was done in the last 7-8 years. That same book is listed in quantity by the sites largest bookseller and others and I think the unfair application of rules is something that really hurts the site. You can report such items forever and they never get taken down. I dont care so much about my book. I do feel if the policy is to NOT have such materials on the site then it shouldnt be sold by others in quantity. This is easily done by setting up listing blocks by ISBN numbers. 11- The "Seven Up of Unglitches" . Basically while it doesnt qualify as a glitch its something that we endure which we shouldnt. Whenever the site has a listing sale various means of listing items generate incorrect fee results but then people have to "check their invoices" for the correct fees. This includes.. a- sending items from your store to core. This prevents many new sellers from doing more of this as they are unsure. Heck people still come here and ask. b- It allows for mistakes when sales are in fact over. There is another way these incorrect fees show up as well , just cannot recall it right now. 12 - "Markdown Manager Taffy" - This feature gets stuck quite often, its like melted candy. I use the store vacation mode to unstick it but it really has been a pain to work with at times. I do like the feature and think if it didnt stick as much there would be more utilization , lower prices and more selling. 13- "Ill take your nickle but give up $1.00" -Bad Fee change... I think one of the fee changes that seemed small but was problematic for a few reasons is the inability to reduce the price of an item and get a fee credit for doing so to encourage sales. Looking back on our selling we did this quite a bit over the years with some success as sometimes people bought at higher prices than expected but we can then reduce the price to get attention if needed. I truly believe that less sellers lowering prices to grab the nickles and quarters is costing Ebay FVFs. On average since supposedly 40% of items sell on Ebay core this has to be costing more in final value fees than it is saving in nickles. More soon, its nice out and its time to get some sun for a bit, I actually have a rare part day off LOL Marty

 

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The eBay Pink (employee) is advertising an eBay service.

http://forums.ebay.com/db2/thread.jspa?threadID=2000614837&tstart=0&mod=1218649288297
Had a Webstore customer CALL ME..... and it was FINE! (good actually)

[email protected] View Listings | Report		Aug-13-08 10:30 PDT	34 of 35
Hi all - Here's an article http://ecommerce.prostores.com/e_article001125420.cfm?x=b11,0,w that may be of interest to you. RingCentral is another option to research for those looking into providers of this kind of service. Hope this is helpful. Regards, Lourdes

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sandrarn83  (3441 )		Aug-13-08 10:41 PDT	35 of 35
Lourdes is RingCentral an approved third party provider for Ebay?

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The eBay Pink (employee) is wrong.

http://forums.ebay.com/db2/thread.jspa?threadID=2000618213&tstart=0&mod=1218646442719
Can a store item be in two ebay categories?

christianscouture )		Aug-13-08 09:39 PDT	1 of 4
Hello, Yes, you can list in two EBay categories. It is considered a listing upgrade and is an additional fee. See the link: http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/l2c.html

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[email protected]  View Listings | Report		Aug-13-08 09:54 PDT	3 of 4
Hello trinketsandtreasures, It is actually not possible to put a store inventory item in two eBay categories. You can however, put it in two of your custom store categories as was suggested. Thanks for your post. Terry

 

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From eBay Seller Central Forum - From aka Avery, Hello Community, You are Missed

http://forums.ebay.com/db2/thread.jspa?threadID=1000721107&tstart=0&mod=1213944467557

From aka Avery, Hello Community, You are Missed
such_a_very_new_castle  (0 )		Jun-18-08 23:12 PDT
Disclaimer: I am posting on this board because the topic is very much related to selling on eBay. Hello, Until the end of 2007, I worked for eBay. Many people knew me as [email protected]. It is with considerable sadness that what prompts me to post and say hello is primarily a deep sense of concern. I've watched the changes that have been made during the first half of 2008; I've watched the decline of eBay.com; and I've watched the erosion of respect by eBay for its Community. In 2008, it would be inaccurate to say that eBay cherishes its Community. Actions always speak louder than words. On the eve of eBay Live! 2008, I feel compelled to offer a few words to this Community that I served for 5 years with passion. I stayed for 5 years because I loved the eBay Community. I left for many reasons, but I still love this site and Community. And while I debated about saying "hello" to many of you that I miss and to many that I don't know personally, it is my love of the eBay Community that compels me to offer a few words. There are many labels flying around about people being negative, or being "anti-eBay", or being an "eBay cheerleader". Some wish to draw lines between buyers and sellers. Please don't. eBay Inc. is the one who has unwisely drawn a heavily line between buyers and sellers. This is not productive. The eBay Community needs to rise above this and make itself known again. eBay is now a very large company. And as is the case with many companies that grow into a large corporate structure, it is dangerously easy to forget the basic foundation that put a company "on the map" in the first place. I deeply lament what eBay has chosen to do in 2008, but this isn't the time or place for me to dwell on this. At the heart of my concern is the conclusion that the Community that made eBay great is not respected in the way that it once was. For many sellers, this has been a year of hard decisions. For those who are not happy with the changes made by eBay; who see it as far more than an issue of change itself; who recognize that some very destructive things are taking place, there are a number of possible directions. Some choose to boycott. Some choose to post on discussion boards. Some have stopped selling. Some have moved on to other sites. For those who feel torn between their love of eBay and disgust with the changes, many thoughts and emotions might be involved. In conclusion, the thought that I want to offer is this: when you are driven by passion, integrity, and conviction, it is your right to dissent, to push for change, to hope for a better place. One should never have to feel that "speaking out" in and of itself is a negative characteristic. My hope is that those who truly care about the future of this site will find ways to collectively organize, strategize, and work on a plan to help eBay realize that it is and never can be anything of significance without its Community. It's not too late for this Community to become truly relevant again. Sincerely, aka Avery This is just a one-time post on this thread.

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softersilk  (4207 ) View Listings | Report		Jun-19-08 06:20 PDT	32 of 130
Hello! The poster is SAYING that he is Avery. However, it can be anybody. I'm sure that when "Pinks" leave, they sign some sort of contract agreeing not to come back to boards like this.

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such_a_very_new_castle (0 )		Jun-19-08 10:25 PDT	67 of 130
Hi Everyone, It is nice to see so many of you. I'm not here to cause a stir, so I don't plan to post much. I can't respond to anything sent to [email protected] because I don't work for eBay. Posting to the boards after employment does not violate any contract. I worked in policy - I read agreements I do miss it here, but I am also not trying to focus on "being Avery" again. I've struggled with my own attitude, so my post was as much a reminder to myself of what is important. Finally, as a general principle I think it is good to "give changes a chance". However, change that is based on a foundation of disrespect doesn't merit tolerance. Such is not a question of flexibility and ability to adapt - it is an issue of cherished Community Values.

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windorphin  (40 ) View Listings | Report		Jun-19-08 11:16 PDT	75 of 130
Heh, found this from a while back... such_a_very_new_castle (0 ) View Listings | Report May-24-08 16:58 PDT 99 of 106 I'm sure he does miss being here. in response to... I miss Avery He was nice. I bet Avery misses the nice people here too. The crappy job; not so much. Point Dog!

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shabbychicandpink  (Private ) View Listings | Report		Jun-19-08 11:37 PDT	78 of 130
I doubted the authenticity of the OP when I first read the post. I'm not sure now. Regardless, his post is poignant and the sadness contained therein is a strong commentary. Even more so given that Avery has always been, well - Avery. I've never felt that the respect for the community that he speaks of, but maybe it was palpable before I got here about 8 years ago.

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such_a_very_new_castle  (0 )		Jun-19-08 12:20 PDT	84 of 130
I added a ME page with a link and will try to answer some questions. I don't know if it will be feasible here. A few people mentioned that it doesn't matter if this is Avery or not. I think you're right on target. This isn't about me - it's about the future of something that was once great - and that I think can be great again with some collective effort. Thanks again for the thoughts. I do miss this.

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windorphin  (40 )		Jun-19-08 12:47 PDT	87 of 130
No Tides, I don't think it means anything like that. Just that he has previously read about himself, and let us know without knowing who he was, that he missed this place. I wasn't trying to imply that this isn't Avery. Point Dog!

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jaysales  (2918 )		Jun-19-08 13:30 PDT	90 of 130
Avery and I have corresponded on our private email addresses. It IS him. I wish he'd come back to ebay, though. He's needed. The preceding post was approved by Mr. Winky.

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poison-2.0  (Private ) View Listings | Report		Jun-19-08 15:16 PDT	102 of 130
I wish he'd come back to ebay, though. He's needed. Jay,you're entitled to your opinion but Avery was as a part of what was wrong with eBay. What's needed are unbiased, equally accessible individuals at eBay interested in fostering an environment of cooperation and understanding between eBay and eBay's customers that respects individuals equally while balancing the needs and purpose of a business. In his OP, Avery comes off as being more of a disgruntled employee interested in the popular vote than an individual concerned with any real issue facing eBay. His myopic OP is pedestrian at best and offers little more value than suggesting eBay users should "endeavor to persevere"....somewhere if not on eBay.

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About Me: such_a_very_new_castle( 0 )

 

As of about 5 minutes ago, I decided to set up a website for "aka Avery".

So Averybay.com - coming soon.

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http://forums.ebay.com/db2/thread.jspa?threadID=1000721107&start=120

rendezveous  (61 )		Jun-20-08 15:42 PDT	150 of 321
How can this be Avery if he said something in a different tense about himself here?: http://forums.ebay.com/db2/thread.jspa?messageID=1013172319&forumID=107&x#1013172319

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kelley*green  (18 ) View Listings | Report		Jun-19-08 23:25 PDT	130 of 321
ke6hts, all I'm saying is that the warm-and-fuzzy eBay never existed! We, and I include myself in this, created it. We were warm-and-fuzzy about eBay, we loved it, we believed in it. But it was always a business, it was the users who created the Community and all the feelings that came with it. There's no doubt that upper management don't get this at all. They weren't around then, they have no history, no experience with eBay. They are looking at this as a commercial site, which is accurate. I am not apologizing for them, there are a number of things they could have done better. But I think it may help to understand what is happening. Truthfully, I think we users need to do what we've always done: figure out how to use eBay to our own advantage. If that isn't possible, then we need to move on, perhaps look elsewhere. But historically, it has been possible and perhaps is now. Additionally, we may remember that change is constant - because the system works this way today is no indication that it's going to be the same in three, six, nine or twelve months from today.

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kelley*green  (18 ) View Listings | Report		Jun-21-08 00:11 PDT	167 of 321
kittytiamaria, I do not work for eBay now, as you can see by the lack of a pink stripe on my post. However, I did work for eBay for over nine years before I retired a year ago April. I was at eBay as a member in 1996, then as an employee and member in 1998, and now just a member since 2007. I am sorry that you think I was condescending. I certainly didn't intend to be. But I do have opinions and they aren't exactly the same as Avery's -- who really is Avery, BTW. I guess what bothers me a bit is the outrage at eBay for behaving like a business. I don't know about you, but I came to eBay originally to sell things and make money! I found a community of other members here for the same purpose and I have really enjoyed and benefited tremendously from this community. But I don't think it was ever eBay's intention to start or maintain a Community -- it's something that just happened. For the record, I don't agree with all the recent changes. I think they have some really serious problems. But after all these years, with all the changes that have taken place, I still have faith that members will continue to make eBay work for us - as sellers and as buyers -- and that nothing done by management is carved in stone. It's rare, true, but they have backed off on some things in the past -- though usually by introducing a "new" program, feature, or other bit that just leaves the mistake behind.

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kelley*green  (18 ) View Listings | Report		Jun-21-08 01:38 PDT	175 of 321
Several of you have been around since 1999, at least, or your current User ID has been. You remember when they started with User IDs, then blocked email addresses as IDs. Then they set up email through eBay. They made all feedback transaction related, unlike the way it was before when you could give someone feedback for just being helpful on boards. They stopped people from registering a web address as a User ID -- but grandfathered a few of those in. When the fee for Reserve prices was instituted, people were up in arms. How about Checkout? There have been other changes as well. With each of these, it was the end of eBay. There were boycotts, there were complaints, there were predictions of doom. But we've survived. We've even survived the constant tinkering with the SYI page, expanded from one page to .. how many now? We loved MisterLister - it's gone. We loved the Live Support Boards - they imploded. We loved having Pinks on the boards - there were fewer Pinks all the time, as there were more boards, so that now a Pink sighting is a phenomenon. I am more concerned about the end of the level playing field. I think feedback should be two ways, and I don't agree that volume sellers should get a discount. If anything, it's the small seller who needs one. But buyers are ecstatic about the feedback change. Buyers who don't sell, that is.

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From eBay Stores Forum - Ebay punished me because my buyer didn't read the description.

For our new readers, these are not our forum posts. This thread comes from one of eBay's many PUBLIC forums. eBay as a matter of policy, makes these posts public by feeding them to Google. Google in turn creates permanent archives of these posts.

Any comments to the posters below should be made on the applicable thread, marked in bold below.

FYI apologist itspostingtime posts spin and damage control for eBay ...

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From eBay Stores Forum
Ebay punished me because my buyer didn't read the description.
http://forums.ebay.com/db2/thread.jspa?threadID=1000682027&tstart=0&mod=1208123708286

millcovetreasures  (193 )        Apr-12-08 18:43 PDT
I have 100% positive feedback. DSR's are 4.9, 4.9, 4.9 and 4.7. A buyer left me a neutral because "item was smaller than expected". My description said "Mini Perfume Bottle" and in the body it said "This tiny bottle measures 1 inch by 1 1/2 by 1/2"". If the buyer had bothered to READ the description, she would have known it was small! How is it my fault that the buyer chose not to read the description and was disappointed. To top it off, she received a note inside her purchase that stated if there were any problems contact me. She never contacted me and never gave me the opportunity to offer a full refund.

Now ebay has sent me 2 emails and called by phone to tell me that my customer satisfaction rating is below standards and my listings have been dropped in Best Match Search. I received an alert that my power seller status is jeopardy because of the sub standard rating.

They did lower my listings. I'm listing several items in a board TAGSALE. If you search TAGSALE and stay in the default Best Match, all of my items are on the last page.

Of course I can't get anyone at ebay to talk to me. So I contacted live help. They gave me a page telling me how to be a good seller and improve my DSR's. I kept asking "How am I responsible for the buyer not reading the description"? How is this my fault? How do I jam a buyers head into the monitor and say READ? How is it my responsibility for her failure to read? I am a good seller, READ my feedback. It seems ebay has the same problem as my buyer, they won't read. I ship fast, I describe my items well, I take a lot of photos, I communicate, I pack great, I'm honest, I'm patient. These are all the things my buyers have said in my feedback.

I'm sorry, a policy that is this black and white over the color of a dot with no room for exceptions is insane. How on earth do I deserve to be punished and be listed in the bottom pages because the buyer CHOSE not to read the description? I'm being lumped with all the bad sellers on ebay for the actions of my buyer which are totally out of my control.

I've already canceled about 10 listings and I've opened a shop on Ruby Lane. I hope to have under 100 listings by the middle of next week and less than 30 within two. I am not going to pay listing fees and store fees to be at the bottom of the pile because I had the rotten luck of getting a dim wit for a buyer who chose not to read a description.

j...t  (Private )      Apr-12-08 19:05 PDT     1
How on earth do I deserve to be punished and be listed in the bottom pages because the buyer CHOSE not to read the description?

You do not deserve that at all. This company has not yet gotten it that the sellers are their customers and the buyers are the seller's customers. Yet they insist on allowing the ability for bad buyers or bad competitors etc. to do bad things to good sellers.
- JT

656georgep  (1276 )         Apr-12-08 19:13 PDT     2
Ebay just showing they can push the sellers around. One of these days they will push just too much and they will not have any sellers.

alt5603  (282 )         Apr-12-08 20:42 PDT     3
Your best bet right now is to leave the buyer a neg and then suggest a mutual feedback removal. Do this while you still can.
http://stores.ebay.com/Extreme-Sports-Collectibles

http://www.squidoo.com/extremesportscollectibles

designforyou  (998 )       Apr-12-08 21:17 PDT     4
Are you sure someone wasn't spamming you. Your overall ratings do not warrant an email or a call. This sounds just way too suspicious to me to be from E-Bay. Unless of course your 30 day DSRSs are saying something way different, then the 12 month rolling DSR's.

If ebay is doing this, well what can I say? Sellers gotta do what a sellers gotta do.

Good Luck to you!

thewoodlandgirl  (Private )      Apr-12-08 21:18 PDT     5
What? There must be a mistake you only have one neutral. That cant possibly put you below standard?

Makes no sense at all.

Well I agree, leave a neg. Wait about 3 days and then do a mutual withdrawl.

This is the new ebay. Best get used to it. I have had more bad feedack this year than all my 8 years total.

I believe its cuz ebay pushes the concept of disputes and paypal claims to its buyers now. Makes them more pissy.

I never got an eamil from ebay or a call, however I have fallen off the face of the earth in sales this past couple weeks anyway.

So you know, with BM you just cant win.

haldagobay  (188 )         Apr-12-08 21:18 PDT     6
So sorry you had that experience. I am working on my st elsewhere as we speak.

Cathie



millcovetreasures  (193 )       Apr-12-08 21:41 PDT     7
I have already given her a negative and when I emailed her she told me never to contact her again.

The ebay emails are in my ebay email box and yes, it was ebay that called. It is crazy that this happened. But the search results prove it. Ebay has put me in the same position as all the lousy sellers and I did absolutely nothing to deserve it.

Designforyou, my 20 day DSR's are still the same. It's insane.


Cathie, I'm working on my new Ruby Lane Shop right now. I just took a break. I'm using the same name as here.

thewoodlandgirl  (Private )      Apr-12-08 21:58 PDT     8
Typically you should not contact them. You just wait a few days after they are sick of looking at their neg and then try to get them to remove it.

Another tactic is dont contact them at , then send a mutual withdrawl and offer to refund half their money, that usually works too.

I am really sorry this happend to you.

It has happend to me as well, I am not doing well in best match at all. Mainly Im sure to the cost of my items and my ship star. I live way out in the country and cant improve my shipping times much cuz mail her is pitiful slow.

designforyou  (998 )       Apr-12-08 22:00 PDT     9
Wow, ebay doing this to you is just plain wrong. So sorry that happened.

Be careful about mentioning competitors. Your post may get pulled!

thewoodlandgirl  (Private )      Apr-12-08 22:00 PDT     10
I was just looking at your feedback, that is baffling you have 100%, Im sorry ebay must be insane.

sweetsweetsadie  (359 )       Apr-12-08 22:28 PDT     11
This is not your fault-- there is nothing fair or logical about it. ebay is killing people's dreams-- it's sadistic.

In my last batch of FB one buyer left me FOUR neutrals! Four items, four neutrals. I also offered full refunds for any reason-- never heard a word from her. She was either not happy or just didn't want to play the FB game so left neutrals-- some buyers think that a neutral doesn't count one way or the other.

Well, I tried to leave a neg and couldn't. Than tried to leave a neutral and couldn't-- no way to do a mutual (I don't know if it were a glitch or not-- I tried several times to leave FB just to see!)

Tonight I'm working on my new x-cart site-- hard work for me! But, I will get it done!

Sorry that you were injured by this new reality-- it's beyond your control and is like walking through an endless minefield.

bonniesplants  (5564 )         Apr-12-08 22:37 PDT     12
Don't bother emailing Trust and Safety. See my thread. I got a canned response back and when I replied to it, I got a 2nd canned response back

I seriously think they do not even read the emails or they would have seen where the buyer scammed 2 other sellers in my first email. All the details, listing numbers, seller's ID and their negative feedback message.

The buyer learned from the experience that you can scam sellers and get away with it

And even if the DSR's are put removed power seller support told me the DSR's stay

Power seller support is the one who told me to plead my case with Trust and Safety.

Can anyone say "Pass the buck"

What is cool, I emailed Pay Pal's competitor and I received a personalized, friendly email back. Nice friendly email stating my problem as they interrupted in MY email to them.

And an offer of a couple of solutions.

I suspected the buyer to be a fraud using a stolen credit card.

Bonnie



eclectic_salvage  (3729 )         Apr-13-08 06:27 PDT     13
From Ebay's pages:

What factors will be used to determine a seller's percentage of dissatisfied buyers?
When stricter enforcement of Seller Non-Performance (SNP) rolled out in 2007, seller performance was determined by using negative and neutral Feedback, overall Feedback and Item Not Received (INR) complaints over a 90-day period. Sellers with greater than 5% of transactions resulting in negatives, neutrals, or INR complaints were restricted according to that SNP Policy.

Beginning in March 2008, performance evaluation will be based on a 30-day period. It will also include Item Significantly Not As Described (SNAD), and Detailed Seller Ratings (DSRs) of 1 or 2. eBay added these factors because buyers leave 1 or 2 DSR ratings nine times more often than negative Feedback, which suggests Feedback and INRs alone did not reflect customer dissatisfaction.

So your buyer left a 1 or a 2 rating and that set off the calls etc even though total score is not bad?  Pretty nutso!

 

good is better than evil because it's nicer - Mammy Yokum

itspostingtime  (2) View Listings | Report                           Apr-13-08 06:40 PDT     14
At what point did eBay advise you of this? Before you left the buyer a retaliatory neg, or after?

Your feedback number was not harmed by the neutral, and it appears your DSRs remain fine.

So I wonder if the buyer complained to eBay after receiving the retaliatory neg (which, of course, is in itself a rule violation).

So perhaps your lowered search results rank is not a result of the buyer giving you a neutral, but a result of you retaliating with a neg?

I'm really not sure why else eBay would lower your search position, since your DSRs and regular feedback remain good.

designforyou  (998 )       Apr-13-08 06:51 PDT     15
Sellers can still leave feedback. In May is when sellers will no longer be able to leave neg feedback for buyers.

I doubt if EBAY would repond to a complaint from a buyer in this fashion. But then again who knows? Ebay can be so clandestine lately about sharing any information with sellers!

Ebay is being ridiculous in the OP's case.

itspostingtime  (2) View Listings | Report                           Apr-13-08 07:05 PDT     16
design,

eBay is taking away the ability to leave ANY negative feedback for buyers in May.

Until then. Sellers can still leave negative feedback, but it is a VIOLATION to leave RETALIATORY feedback. Has been for a long time. Not all negative feedback is retaliatory feedback.

It appears the seller gave the buyer a neg in retaliation for the neutral.

If the seller had simply posted a response to the neutral the buyer gave her (which, of course, is permitted by the rules, and which the seller did), maybe the seller would not be in this position now?

I don't know, nor does anyone but eBay. But it wouldn't surprise me too much to find that eBay is penalizing sellers for leaving retaliatory feedback.

In other words, if the seller had just left the response...the neutral really didn't harm her rating...., and then , say, left no feedback for the buyer....maybe this situation would have been avoided?

mrcrabz  (44 )      Apr-13-08 07:49 PDT     17
For those who don't understand why this seller was flagged...

That neutral put this low volume seller into the 5% dissatisfaction rating. Neutrals carry negative weight now.

If you're getting 20 or so feedback per month, one bad transaction can affect your status. It doesn't have to be negative feedback either, low dsrs, neutral, reports, or a combination of these things.

Clearly, a seller doesn't have to actually do anything wrong to be negatively impacted by these new policies.

Before a seller could just rub some dirt in it, let it roll off the first page and move on. Now there are real negative consequences for running into a numpty, or even well intentioned ignorant customer, let alone a malicious one.

itspostingtime  (2) View Listings | Report                           Apr-13-08 07:55 PDT     18
mrcrabz,

Neutrals are NOT treated the same as negatives. eBay has stated that seller non-performance is NOT triggered by neutrals alone....there would have to be at least one or two negs as well....I forget the details, but eBay looks at the neutrals only if there are negs, too.

One neutral should NOT trigger seller-non-performance.

That is why I suspect either something is simply in error here, or this might be tied to a complaint from the buyer about the retaliatory neg.

sandrarn83  (2921 )       Apr-13-08 08:15 PDT     19
IPT if you go back and reread that post by Ebay it says that DSRS of 1 and 2 will also trigger the same thing. So a buyer who leaves a neg and also leaves 1's for DSR can trigger the same thing as the OP is reporting.


sandrarn83  (2921 )       Apr-13-08 08:16 PDT     20
Sorry a buyer who leaves a neutral and also leaves 1's for DSRs can trigger the same thing.


spotted-lab  (29 )      Apr-13-08 08:17 PDT     21
so essentially after May 1st buyers are no longer required to read anything.

itspostingtime  (2) View Listings | Report                           Apr-13-08 08:25 PDT     22
OK, I stand corrected. Here's some info from the FAQ:

19.  How are dissatisfied buyers measured?
At eBay we consider a buyer dissatisfied if any of these occurs:

    * The buyer leaves a seller a Detailed Seller Rating (DSR) of 1 or 2 on any of the attributes
* The buyer files a dispute, claim, or chargeback related to "Item Not Received" (INR) or "Significantly Not as Described" (SNAD)
    * Buyer leaves negative or neutral feedback

20. How will I know if my percentage of dissatisfied buyers is greater than 5%?
Sellers restricted based on their percentage of dissatisfied buyers will be notified. Also, a Seller Dashboard will be launched in May to provide all sellers with detailed information about their performance.

It would seem that the seller could maybe resolve her standing by increasing her total sales, so that one buyer in a one month period would no longer constitute more than five per cent of her buyers?

millcovetreasures  (193 )       Apr-13-08 08:38 PDT     23
DSR's are counted as 2/3 of a negative according to the new rules.

I don't consider my feedback retaliation. This buyer had two opportunities to not be "disappointed". First, she could have read my well written and, researched description. Second, she ignored the note that I include with all of my items that clearly asks them to "contact me if they are unhappy for any reason. If we communicate, we can solve anything." Even ebay states in it's policies that buyers should contact sellers to see if any problems could be resolved before leaving feedback. This woman never gave me the opportunity. So she failed in her responsibilities in this process, not once, but twice and then turned around and punished me for her own failures. Somewhere along the line, a buyer has to accept a certain amount of responsibility in the process. She was totally unfair to me and, in my opinion, other sellers needed to know that she could be unfair. I have positive feedback from three buyers who never even completed the transaction. I'm not quick to leave a negative for anyone, especially those that take the time to communicate and explain.

itspostingtime  (2) View Listings | Report                           Apr-13-08 08:42 PDT     24
I think the source of my confusion is this article in the chatter Blog, which explains how Seller Non-Performance was being determined in 2007:

http://www.ebaychatter.com/the_chatter/2007/08/lynda-talgo-of-.html#more

Note that before SNP is triggered, there have to be some negs, not just neutrals.

So, either that has changed, or we aren't actually talking a SNP warning here, but rather a warning that the seller's search placement will drop, based on criteria used in the Best Match algorithm.....criteria which do not seem to be the same as SNP criteria.

So, presumably one neutral , standing alone, could effect search placement if it represents more than five percent of buyers within the time period.

But this could be rectified by an increase in sales and positive feedback.

So, mrcrabz, I apologize. I think I was confusing SNP with Best Match criteria.

And I'll just add that, since it is a common complaint on this Board that "buyers don't read", it might be a good practice for sellers to use rulers, or a dime or something, in at least one photo to SHOW size for items such as the one the seller sold here.

itspostingtime  (2) View Listings | Report                           Apr-13-08 08:55 PDT     25
millcove,

I think this is one reason ebay has decided to eliminate neg feedback completely...because too many sellers don't understand the definition of retaliatory feedback.

What you left was retaliatory feedback.

Should the buyer have read the size information you provided? Sure. And you pointed that out in your response to the buyer's feedback. So that issue was taken care of with the response.

That's why ebay provides the ability to respond. The "response" is how one responds to feedback. But you didn't stop there. You ALSO responded by leaving a neg. Feedback is NOT supposed to be used as a response to feedback, but that's exactly what you used it for.

The buyer is not under any obligation to contact you before leaving feedback, even if you do invite such communication.

So that failure to contact you first is NOT a valid reason to leave a neg.

The bottom line is , you left the neg because the buyer left you what you consider an unfair neutral , and did so without contacting you first, and you punished her for it.

If a seller leaves a buyer a neutral, let's say, because the buyer was slow in paying, and the buyer...although perfectly happy with the item and the transaction, left the seller a neg in response, I'll bet you'd have no trouble seeing that for what it is: retaliatory feedback.

Well, that's what you did here.

classy_crafter  (395 )       Apr-13-08 09:56 PDT     26
I received an alert that my power seller status is jeopardy because of the sub standard rating.


Its funny you should be in any kind of jeopardy of losing your PS status considering some of the PSers I see with HORRIBLE feedback and DSRs. One particular PS that sells organza "favor" bags has such horrible feedback and DSRs, its a wonder they havent lost their PS status with eBays new rules.

eBay to their customers: "let them eat cake!"

classy_crafter  (395 )       Apr-13-08 10:05 PDT     27
What you left was retaliatory feedback.

I disagree.

Did the OP have a positive transaction with this customer? No.

Did OP do what she could to satisfy this customer? Yes

Did this customer communicate any problems to the seller? No

Did customer actually read the description? No

Does customer know how to use a ruler? Obviously not.


So, why should the OP be punished for the customers numptiness and why should the seller leave anything but neg feedback since the transaction as a whole was negative?

 

eBay to their customers: "let them eat cake!"

millcovetreasures  (193 )       Apr-13-08 13:42 PDT     28
Thank you Class_crafter, that is exactly as I see it. The buyer paid at 9 p.m. her package was shipped at 8 a.m. It was beautifully wrapped and she received a free velvet pouch that was not even mentioned in the ad. So if it was not a good experience for her, it's because she failed to read. I don't assume any responsibility for her disappointment in anyway shape or form. For her to turn around and give me less than a positive because she failed to read, not one but twice and, failed to ask for a refund made this a negative experience for me.

I also disagree that the buyer isn't required to contact the seller. Ebay's policy states, contact the seller and try to resolve any problems before leaving feedback.

jake-deals-4u  (709 )     Apr-13-08 14:08 PDT     29
Op..Congrats on your great FB & DSR, however in the case you are referring to i agree that most likely the real problem is the retaliation neg you gave.

Ide say, your customer found a sympathetic ear at Ebay--The words been out for awhile now that eBay really REALLY doesnt like sellers giving out retalitory negs
--IMO this is very understandable, as if a massive portion of buyers leave the site because of them being retaliated against, eventually it will have a snow-ball effect on sellers who dont retailiate.

Consider that leaving a retalitory neg serves no real practical purpose--sure its an emotional release for those that need to leave one, but just one buyer that has a bad exp. with one seller, doesnt automatically equate to that buyer having a problem with every seller down the line.

However im sure eBay research shows that many many a buyer has never purchased again from ANY eBayer ever, after only one retailtory neg from only one seller, so hence the No retalitory neg policy & eBay taking action to prevent this, as they should

homedecorstudios  (20 )      Apr-13-08 14:22 PDT     30
Ide say, your customer found a sympathetic ear at Ebay-

Doubtful. Ebay doesn't respond or read emails from buyers & sellers equally. More than likely no human ever read any email from either party.
_____________________________________

In a democracy it's your vote that counts; in feudalism, it's your Count that votes.

oldspartantrader  (4045 )         Apr-13-08 14:24 PDT     31
It would seem that the seller could maybe resolve her standing by increasing her total sales, so that one buyer in a one month period would no longer constitute more than five per cent of her buyers?

Of course that is a solution --

It however presupposes that

1 -- The seller wishes to increase the work load and not be a part time for fun seller --

2 -- That eBAY will then give the seller a reasonable opportunity to make a sale by not burying product at the back end of search as punishment for one or two misques that could easily be buyer sources

At least 75% of the eBAY sellers I come into direct contact with list under 20 items a week -- eBAY selling is a hobby that brings pin money -- They will soon say goodbye in droves -- Yepper as individuals they are a miniscule percentage of listings -- as a whole ??? -- I believe they are a huge mass of what made the traditional eBAY successful.

I do not interpret the seller left FB in question as retaliatory -- The buyer failed to read -- The buyer failed to communicate -- The buyer in this case was a lunkhead who apparently single handedly cost the seller in question a goodly portion of their selling opportunity by causing search burial

The bottom line is that the buyer deserved the neg.

Our nearly 6000 item store was shuttered today --- Eighteen months ago the total items listed across our multiple ID's was nearly 12000 in store and between 900 and 1000 in auction at any given time

eBAY is a hostile selling enviroment -- PERIOD -- It can be prettied up with talk of scams -- talk of injustice -- talk of changing underfooting -- All of that is legitamate reason for change -- All of that is deeply rooted within the eBAY CORPORATE CULTURE far more than the vast majority of the seller culture -- eBAY by its very design and laise faire attitude has made their own bed -- they now throw the baby out with the bath water.

Add to that competing ads from companies that pay pennies on a dollar compared to the customer base -- A failure to understand the difference between brokerage and agency in the three way relationship -- and buyer dissatisfaction that runs so much deeper than than eBAY's seller whipping gals and guys -- and you have

A company flailing at its market in an effort to understand the deeply rooted issues it faces -- Looking to new markets to ensure its cash flow rather than stemming the holes in its base markets --

Add PAYPAL with its total lack of basic financial protections for any customer account whether it be seller or buyer -- Its new mandate to withold funds without genuine recourse -- and its growing mandate to be the only payment avenue acceptable in an eBAY transactio --

Sprinkle in the total lack of meaningful communication -- A parcity of trained customer service response people --

Stir well with a search engine that is purposely designed not to "find" the non traditional eBAY widget -- and to minimize the best part of the FUN BUYERS shopping experiance (browsing the goodies) -- While at the same time bringing the run of the mill average high volume mass merchandised product to the fore --

AND YOU HAVE

A company without meaningful identity experiancing the early symptoms of meltdown.

Pretty it up -- but a great face on it -- BUT -- If it walks like a duck -- squawks like a duck -- swims like a duck -- In this case it is because it is becoming a turkey.

Carl

jake-deals-4u  (709 )     Apr-13-08 14:30 PDT     32
Ebay doesn't respond or read emails from buyers & sellers equally. More than likely no human ever read any email from either party.

...???

So where did eBay get the No retalitory policy from? Out of thin air?

From a dartboard?

Not likely...

Keep in mind if 1000 sellers leave eBay because they are upset they cant neg a buyer anymore---is that a NET loss, when surely eBay research shows that leaving retalitory negs is one of the very worst things a seller can do, because many buyers will never buy again ever, after getting a retalitory neg?

sandrarn83  (2921 )       Apr-13-08 14:35 PDT     33
Carl you did a very nice job. Pretty much sums up my opinion of Ebay today. Jake both Ebay and you forget that sellers are also buyers. When those 1000 sellers leave they also take 1000 buyers with them. This site is in desperate need of buyers and Ebay needs to be looking for ways to make both sides happy. I am with Carl and I would have neged that buyer as well. My response to the feedback profile would have been "NEG Failed to communicate w/seller. Full refund available."


jake-deals-4u  (709 )     Apr-13-08 14:45 PDT     34
both Ebay and you forget that sellers are also buyers

Sandra, im curious if you ever got a retalitory neg from a seller?

If you havent, ide bet my last dollar that many good buyers have & it really really pisses them off.

If 1000 sellers leave because they are upset they lose an option that im sure research shows is extremely detrimental to overall site & other subsequent in-involved seller sucess, then obviously eBay doesnt see those 1000 sellers leaving as any great loss.

OTOH maybe you could enlightem me as to ( other than an emotional release ) what purpose does leaving a neg for a buyer do?

On your WWW, ide guess its impossible for you to check every customer & see if they ever got a neg as a buyer on eBay, but even if you could & found they had a couple negs as an eBay buyer, would you refuse service to them?

Would you refuse service to any buyer just because they got a neg on eBay maybe 1x or 2x??

j...t  (Private )      Apr-13-08 14:47 PDT     35
Carl, great job putting into words how many sellers feel.

If it walks like a duck -- squawks like a duck -- swims like a duck -- In this case it is because it is becoming a turkey.

Course in this case, more and more sellers can become the turkey as well during hunting.

Another seller who had a similar experience where the buyer accuses the seller, did not like the reply, gives a neg and all 1's for stars.

http://forums.ebay.com/db2/thread.jspa?threadID=2000549603&tstart=40&mod=1208075170226
- JT

oldspartantrader  (4045 )         Apr-13-08 14:55 PDT     36
The one very important -- and actually very crucial input -- that I have learned about eBAY these past couple years is that

A very large part of eBAY is actually a closed economy --

I am relatively old compared many --- I remember the beginnings of the building of the interstate system -- NOT the very beginnings mind ya -- BUT -- The beginning of it really taking root and fracturing many small communities --

Prior to the maturing of the interstate system small communities were relatively closed economies -- Of course they "imported" many things -- but the job base -- business base -- and money base was largely in or very near the town center -- or commercial district --

Interstaes basically detoured all but the most central areas -- Money flowed out -- workers and buyers flowed out -- In my area there are entire areas that thrived as few as 30 years ago that are now economic wastelands ---

The same situation is evolving here -- As sellers leave they contact -- smooze -- and entice an already dissatisfied buyer group to follow -- As buyers leave to other parts of the net they entice the commercial base to follow to those sometimes greener pastures --

eBAY thinks buyers are unhappy with sellers --- I think we are pretty typical -- 25% of our off shore purchases are made by buyers who first purchased from us on eBAY -- (that is a 1st quarter 08 tally) -- We fully expect to double that by 3d quarter end as we place a greater emphasis on moving these people to our hub --

IF these are typical buyers -- and I believe them to be -- It shows --

That the root of disatisfaction is not primarily directed at sellers -- and that eBAY is making a grave error in not recognizing that their greatest strength is the very person who they choose to use as the whipping whelp.

The tipping point is very close -- possibly already past -- BUT --

The disease I call Ivorytowerblindentitus will most likely cause a failure to recognize the cause and only see the symptoms of a growing malaise.

eBAY will likely survive the coming crunch -- BUT -- Not in its present form --

Carl

sandrarn83  (2921 )       Apr-13-08 15:00 PDT     37
Carl that's okay because I continue to blindside Ebay and take their buyers. It works for me.
Jake half of my negs on this ID were retaliatory from sellers. It's something you hitch up your panties and move on. It's not like a seller is going to refuse to sell to you based on your feedback numbers. Buyers don't even need feedback. So there is little reason for Ebay to remove the ability of sellers to leave it. As a seller I will work with any buyer to make sure they are satisfied with their purchase. The day I find a neg in my feedback without a communication attempt from the buyer first I consider that transaction closed. I never worked with any buyer who pulled that stunt. I had no incentive to do so as a seller. As I stated I would have neged the buyer for failure to communicate with me. As a seller I can't fix a problem if I don't know it exists until after the transaction has been completed.

jake-deals-4u  (709 )     Apr-13-08 15:11 PDT       38
Buyers don't even need feedback....Ide say getting +FB from a seller, builds their self-asteem & encoureges them to purchase again



So there is little reason for Ebay to remove the ability of sellers to leave it..

Ide agree that removing the ability to leave a buyer a neg is obvious--hence why eBay is taking that action, combined with more attention to complaints by sellers about problem buyers into the ebay message system.

Sandra, have you ever gotten a retalitory neg as a Buyer?

apache*belle  (1117 )      Apr-13-08 15:12 PDT     39 that is why some sellers are going to AUDIO descriptions........

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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).

.

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

.

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.

.

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

.

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.

.

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).

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From eBay Sellers Forum - The Noise from the Hostile eBay Environment (an eBay OldTimer's thoughts)

The following comment was found in the eBay Sellers Forum.

//

The Noise from the Hostile eBay Environment (an eBay OldTimer's thoughts)
http://forums.ebay.com/db2/thread.jspa?threadID=2000511787&tstart=0&mod=1202338599526

thebrewsnews  (2 )       Feb-05-08 14:17 PST
I am one of those lily-white A2 (used to be A1) sellers on eBay who has been selling (and buying) for about 10 years.

I manage 3 eBay Powerseller accounts, with sales of $25K+.

I am college-educated (M.B.A. +  a lot more) and I am an eBay education specialist.

Like most eBay sellers, I turned to eBay in hopes of living the American dream to provide my family with a good life by working hard and wanting a fair profit for my honest dealings.

Like most eBay sellers, every time eBay made changes in the past I looked around and thought about going elsewhere. I researched extensively the alternatives. Last month after the announcements, I took action and opened up an account on another site. Will I close my eBay store in February? Unfortunately I have too much invested on eBay to close the doors overnight (and I don't want to stop providing my family with 3 meals a day). But I am branching out and testing the waters elsewhere with passion and determination. I am extremely motivated to make it work elsewhere.

Having given you some background above, you fill find below my thoughts about the eBay environment in its current state.


Hostility

Why is the eBay environment full of hostility? 
Below are my "Top 10" reasons.

1. In eBay's system, a seller might have to hold on to an item for weeks or months going through the process of trying to get a bidder to pay. During that time, the item is taking up space, money is tied up, and time must be spent to "manage" the order. If the bidder ultimately does not pay then the seller still has to pay eBay for the privilege of listing the item and then has to put the item back into the marketplace, at which time the value may be lower.   In contrast, Amazon authorizes payments prior to the seller receiving the order. 

2.  In eBay's system, any competitor can create a new ID and then bid on a competitor's item for the sole purpose of removing the item from the market or to give negative feedback. Someone could purchase a competitor's item on Amazon but only if they are willing to spend money to do so (thus actually resulting in a paid sale) and only if they are willing to reveal their name and address.

3. In eBay's system, the rules are applied to sellers only ad hoc. How many sellers have had items removed (for any number of things such as keyword spamming or VERO violation) only to see their competitors continue to break the exact same rule for months or years with no apparent sanctions? The enormous number of hours sellers spend "self-reporting" could be better spent focused on selling and customer service.

4. The eBay fee structure is complicated and confusing to many sellers. In order to calculate the fees (in advance) for an item, a seller must add up the insertion fees, the final value fees (what a fun calculation that is) and then paypal fees. In addition, the insertion fees for items that do not sell have to be absorbed by the profit margin of those items that do sell, making it difficult to know in advance what kind of profit one could experience if an item sells. Now throw in to the mix the "possibility" of getting discounts for powersellers but only if certain conditions. Given so many different variables, an eBay seller can never predict with any reliability whether eBay sales will actually lead to gross profit.   In contrast, Amazon's fee structure is simple and encompasses the fee for selling and payment processing.

5. eBay Help and Customer service is, for the most part, nonexistent. Live Help should more appropriately be called "No Help" or "Incorrect Help." In contrast, Amazon will actually call you (either as a buyer or a seller) .... immediately!

6. The "value" of items on eBay has dropped significantly since eBay first began. The laws of supply and demand make eBay more of a "reverse" auction where everyone just keeps lowering their price in order to "make the sale". Amazon is no different, however, in the mechanisms driving prices ever lower. Lower selling prices combined with higher selling fees means that sellers are being squeezed. When sellers are struggling day to day just to keep the lights on they have little time for providing good customer service. Most sellers know the value of good customer service but it's hard to focus on that when you are worried if you can pay the mortgage this month.

7. Because manufacturers see the devaluation of their product on eBay, they often make it difficult or impossible for sellers to procure and/or sell items on eBay (can you say abuse of the VERO program?) leaving sellers frustrated.

8. There are "bad" sellers and "bad" buyers. The sellers who sell stolen merchandise, offer "presales" 90 days out and never deliver, or who ship a disposable camera (just to show delivery confirmation) instead of $4900 item are certainly doing well on eBay and don't mind the fee increases. The buyers who know and understand the paypal system for getting partial or full refunds while getting to keep the product are certainly doing well and don't mind the occasional negative feedback since they can easily create a new buying ID and start over. The rest of us.... good buyers and good sellers.... we're angry and frustrated over eBay's unwillingness to take control of their own site.

9. eBay keeps information about sellers hidden so that a seller never fully knows what is going on with their account. Big Brother eBay then seems to issue seller sanctions on a whim ... SoupNazi says "No soup for you today!" eBay sellers live in constant fear of having their livelihood removed on a whim when eBay decides to say "No selling for you today!".

10. eBay sellers feel that management is completely out of touch. Sellers are treated with disrespect and distrust except when they are being completely ignored. The surveys conducted for eBay (I have participated in both types of eBay surveys - for buyers and sellers) are so completely biased that it borders on ridiculous. At the doctoral (Phd) level I studied survey methods and have actually helped participated in and help with behavioral studies, too. eBay's "studies" are laughable and give no reliable information. The inaccurate and faulty data are then used by management to make decisions that make them appear totally out of touch with reality. Trying to implement some of Amazon's established policies in an eBay environment is not going to offer the "easy fix" management is seeking. eBay needs to think outside the box and needs to truly survey their users (buyers and sellers) to find solutions to the difficult problems.


eBay's Solutions
Removing eBay sellers' ability to leave neutral / negative feedback is management's "solution" to providing a better buying experience. We'll just have to wait and see what comes out in the wash in the long-run. In the short-run, there is no doubt that the hostility on eBay will increase ten fold. Since the feedback change announcement, eBay sellers are scrambling to figure out how to block bidders and where to post their blocked bidder list to share with others. I'm sure we'll see TOS changed so that buyers with low feedback or who have been given any negatives will be banned from bidding on items. Even if sellers' fears are not based on reality, their fears will cause eBay sellers to take very real actions which will only serve to increase the hostilities on eBay.

In their speeches, eBay management says that they must change in order to compete in today's environment. Ten years ago buyers didn't have many other choices online like they do today (according to eBay management). To that comment by eBay's management, I would say....... ten years ago sellers didn't have many other choices online like they do today. The "good" eBay sellers are now frightened enough and angry enough to actually take action and give eBay's competitors a chance.

As an eBay education specialist, I listen to the questions asked by new potential sellers and I understand their concerns and I see their hopes and dreams. As a Powerseller I know the frustrations of selling on eBay trying to make an honest living. And as an eBay buyer I experience first-hand the transactions from another perspective and can compare my eBay buying experience to my experiences on other retail and auction websites.

From my MBA studies I learned that change is most accepted when those that are being asked (or told) to change feel that they at least had input into the decision-making process.   
(I guess eBay's current management skipped class that day to go to the beach and missed out on the lesson. From college I learned a lot ... but then again I was in class every day and I paid attention.)

From my mother I learned that anything can be accomplished if you believe that it can. When I was 7 and said "I can't do these Math problems" my mother looked me straight in the eye and told me that word didn't exist in the dictionary and so I was never to use it again. So I picked up my pencil and finished my Math homework. To this day I've never looked for the word "can't" in the dictionary but since my mother never steered me wrong before, I'll just take her word for it.

From life I have learned that people are basically good. Individuals want to be treated with respect and they will respond accordingly. I have learned that good listeners are more likely to be considered good friends ..... each of us likes to hear ourselves talk and so (naturally) we like people who want to hear us talk!

In summary, the eBay environment is a hostile one for many reasons and eBay managements' changes will not create a better environment. There is so much that eBay could and should do to improve their " venue ". They could start by actually listening to the noise that is coming out from eBay's hostile environment..... or else management could find themselves with nothing but empty silence.

//
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Comments

victorian_rose_inc ( 729) View seller's items | View Blog Great post. I am in total agreement. Feb-06-08 15:17:30 PST

dawntiff090785 ( 555) View seller's items | View Blog WOW interesting and I can relate! Feb-06-08 15:20:48 PST

crazy_mooz ( 530) View seller's items | View Blog hi you always have great words. Thank you Feb-06-08 15:22:04 PST

frisky_dog_too ( 18) View seller's items | View Blog This bird should put his MBA to use and calculate the cost of a brick and mortar store and be grateful for the Ebay platform.For the most part it is the large sellers who create the most negative feedback given in retaliation and a great deal of it is computer generated.Like kind for like kind.Life is tough all the way around. Feb-06-08 15:31:58 PST

sharpgram14 ( 365) View seller's items | View Blog WOW  OMG  and TY for posting  can I say WTF? Feb-06-08 15:34:48 PST

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From eBay Search Forum - More about Best Match:

From eBay Search Forum
More about Best Match:
http://forums.ebay.com/db1/thread.jspa?threadID=2000511099&tstart=0&mod=1202165121692

[email protected] View      Feb-04-08 14:45 PST
Hello everyone…This is Julie on the Finding team. As Bill mentioned, Best Match will become the new default sort in search and browse in March. I’d like to give you more details about Best Match and the changes we are making to it.

As most buyers and sellers know, eBay’s Best Match sort option is an important Finding innovation that is intended to help buyers find relevant items quickly and easily. Best Match has been a sort option on our site for over a year, and it has been the default sort in other international markets. Since its launch, our data shows that Best Match helps buyer conversion more than any of our other sort methods. That’s why, starting in March, it’s going to become the default sort method site-wide.

[email protected] View      Feb-04-08 14:46 PST     1 of
How Best Match works
In addition to using factors like the listing end time, Best Match sorts the listings you see based on a concept called “relevance.” A particular listing's relevance is based on past successful buyer behavior for similar items. Essentially, buyers ‘vote’ on relevance every time they search for and buy an item, because these activities provide valuable input into the relevance system.

In other words, if buyers running a particular search often end up viewing, bidding on, or buying a certain type of item more often, this will be factored into our relevance calculations. These types of items might then display higher on the page in subsequent searches.

There are particular areas of the site where relevance plays a more important role in improving the buyer experience (e.g. Nintendo Wii queries) and others where it plays a smaller role (e.g. Collectible lunch boxes queries) We’re committed to using relevance where it drives more buyer success.

It is important to remember that Best Match will not change which listings are returned for a given search. Also, Buyers may still select alternate sort orders, including Time Ending Soonest and Newly Listed from the sort drop down menu at any time. Buyers may also customize their search options to always display their preferred sort as the default.


Adding Seller Performance to Best Match
One thing Best Match has not done is differentiate between sellers who provide consistently positive buying experiences and the small percentage who don’t. In March, we will be enhancing Best Match so that it makes greater use of Detailed Seller Ratings and a seller’s buyer dissatisfaction rate. As Bill Cobb said, this enables us to reward the great sellers on the site with increased listings exposure, and reduce negative buying experiences from sellers with high rates of buyer dissatisfaction.

For great sellers: Sellers with all DSRs of at least 4.6 within the last 30 days will get higher visibility in search results than sellers who have lower rates of customer satisfaction.

Sellers with high buyer dissatisfaction rates: Sellers with buyer dissatisfaction rates greater than 5% in the last 30 days or lower than 4.2 on the Shipping and Handling Charge DSR will experience decreased exposure for their listings in search results. This affects only a small percentage of all sellers and listings, but will make a big difference for our buyers.


In summary
We hope you’ll agree that this will be a positive change for the eBay marketplace and we welcome your questions and comments. We’re committed to helping buyers have the best experience on eBay as possible.

lin***  (4611 ) View      Feb-04-08 14:58 PST     2 of
No, we do not agree!!!!

Only an idiot will continue to list auctions here if they have no guarantee of ever being seen at the prime top spot on the search results pages.

If I am correct I can sit back and watch this site self destruct quicker than ever before!

dor***  (955 ) View      Feb-04-08 15:03 PST     3 of
Can you tell me how this is going to work with auctions? Don't you (we) want items that are ending soon to be more visible than those that are ending later? I'm obviously a non search expert, lol, but if I search auctions for pink elephants-I want to see the ones that are ending soon so I don't miss them incase one of those in the one I want. Is there some kind of default that at least gives you the ones that end in 2-3 hrs upfront?

D

fin***  (2951 ) View      Feb-04-08 15:13 PST     4 of
Hi Julie..

I am a Platinum Powerseller with over 3000 100% Positive Feed Backs. I am in the Toys and Hobbies category that has already been affected by BEST MATCH and I can tell you IT DOES NOT WORK. I have been on the phone with Ebay the past two weeks. They can not give me an answer as to why with a 5.0 DSR rating and very good listings my items appear on page 4, 7, 8. My sales have been destroyed and I am just about to close down my store is this issue is not rectified. So you can all make all the announcements you would like and tell us how BEST MATCH is SUPPOSE to work...BUT it reality unless you are a LARGE VOLUME SELLER WITH .99 cents auctions not minding selling you items for pennies.. BEST MATCH IS NOT FOR YOU. Sorry but it has been two weeks of disappointment. All the hard work I have put into my store to make it was it was and you all took that away by the flick of a switch.

the***  (2 ) View      Feb-04-08 15:22 PST     5 of
"our data shows that Best Match helps buyer conversion more than any of our other sort methods"
HOW was this data gathered?  And more importantly how are you comparing data ... mine against whose?

"It is important to remember that Best Match will not change which listings are returned for a given search. Also, Buyers may still select alternate sort orders, including Time Ending Soonest and Newly Listed from the sort drop down menu at any time. Buyers may also customize their search options to always display their preferred sort as the default."
Then answer WHY I keep (and have been) being dumped into Best Match, when I have clearly changed back to the sort I want?
In addition, my preferences are NOT being honored ... and this is nothing new.

eBay has provided mixed messages for years on various issues and this whole experience has been no exception.

It's nice to welcome our questions and comments, but of late I've not seen a PINK answering any questions, especially when the issues seem to be contrary to what has been stated by eBay.

Thanks for listening ...
the_ospreys_nest

lin***  (4611 ) View      Feb-04-08 15:26 PST     6 of
osprey...sure it does. People load up on those 99 cent items. lol

But, let's see how long they shop here when that is all the site has left for sale.

egn***  (1222 ) View      Feb-04-08 15:32 PST     7 of
As a collectible seller best match is by far the worst thing Ebay has ever done . If you want everyone to sell new chinese junk then just say it and we will go elsewhere.

As a default for auctions it makes no sense. The most important thing about an auction is its ending time.

You might as well just do away with the collectible categories now. Oh how I wish Google would buy Ebay and show everyone at Ebay what a pink really is as in pink slip.

All the collectible sellers have been telling you for a year that this won't work and we don't want it . But you know what, you know more than my years of collecting and the hundreds of combined years of sellers experience in the collectible categories.

When the collectible categories fall flat and all your good sellers leave you will ask yourself why didn't we listen.

das***  (719 ) View      Feb-04-08 16:25 PST     8 of
Julie,

I have to ask, How long do you search EVERY DAY. I do the same searches every day. How will this help. I will now have to go through every page of every search every day.

I used BM last week on one of my searches (VW Key). On the first page half way down was a good seller with a store and his item ended in 2 hours. Above that (top 10) was a stock photo of a "switch blade" blank at more than the going price for a seller I have not seen before. Oh yea that item ended in a few days too.

Now yes you say we can "switch" to the search preference we want but, 1) who will tell this to the new user that will come here and then leave 2) how long will this last till it is the only search (we were told that BM would never be a default search).

eBay really needs to use the site they are running. The more these changes happen the more we see that you don't use this site. Oh and before you look at this ID and say that I have not been around here long, This is my business ID (this is my full time job). My personal ID is WM971252, Yea I have been around for a bit.

lil**  (4335 ) View      Feb-04-08 17:12 PST     9 of
Best Match is a Major Disaster. Leave that trash on ebay express.

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[email protected]       Feb-05-08 14:48 PST       23 of
Good Afternoon Everyone

dorothysew, egnatz1, fflustred: As I mentioned in the posts above, we do understand that relevance plays a more important in certain categories than others (like collectibles). End time will continue to be an important factor in the overall relevance score in these areas.

dasbullihaus: There are no plans to remove the other sort options (Time Ending Soonest, Newly Listed, etc) from the site, and users can continue to set their preferred sort option as their customized default.

all*about*horses: Only sellers with an unacceptable DSR score will be demoted – we will not be demoting sellers with no DSR score.

Ussearch: Best Match is currently the site default for our UK and France sites.

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[email protected]        Feb-05-08 16:24 PST       33 of
Hi spombo: Best Match is just a sort. Playground is an environment where we can show the community new features and solicit feedback. You're getting different results there because the search actually is different. The best place for comments on the Playground results are on the Feedback on Finding 2.0 (New Search & Browse) thread tacked to the top of the Search Board.

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[email protected]        Feb-06-08 16:31 PST       48 of
egnatz, beachgal707 –We’re committed to driving buyer success for auctions and collectibles, and end time is a critical component for success in both of those areas. We know this from our own research, and you’ve told us loud and clear on the boards. Best Match is not a site-wide one-size-fits-all solution, but will be tailored to suit the unique needs on each area of the site.

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[email protected]       Feb-07-08 08:57 PST       65 of
themagicoftime- (post 55) Yes, 30 day DSR rankings were chosen because it does give sellers the ability to rapidly improve their scores. Your example is correct – the seller would only be demoted for that month, and would receive higher ranking in the sort as soon as their 30 day scores improved. (post 57) You are correct - sellers with no 30 day DSR score will not be advantaged or disadvantaged by the seller performance factors in the sort.

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[email protected] View        Feb-07-08 10:48 PST       67 of
all*about*horses - Sellers with a Shipping & Handling Charge DSR of 4.2 and lower will decrease in exposure. We are not evaluating the actual shipping charge on the listing.

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[email protected]        Feb-07-08 11:15 PST       69 of
the_ospreys_nest - Multiple factors including relevance, end time and seller performance factors will play a role in the placement of listings. The length of an auction only plays a role in placement to the extent it affects end time. There is no time of day Best Match starts – it is always on.

Occasional sellers with good 30 day DSRs will be advantaged by the seller performance factors. Occasional sellers without 30 day DSRs will not be advantaged or disdvantaged by these factors.

Regarding sort preferences, I’ll have the developers look into that. I know of an issue on the BIN tab, but I’m not aware of anything else that would prevent your preferences from sticking.

Regarding buyers who do not leave DSRs – I don’t know the answer with any certainty. I’ll look into it and get back to you.

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[email protected]        Feb-07-08 17:11 PST       83 of
lindaspostcardsandmore - The order of the keywords in your title does not have to match the order of the keywords in the user query.

I'm sorry I don't have any more time to post this afternoon. I'll try to pick up again tomorrow and catch the questions I missed.

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[email protected]        Feb-13-08 13:32 PST         107         of

            Hi Everyone - sorry to be away for so long.

the_ospreys_nest: Best Match should not be overriding your customized sort option, and I have raised this issue to our developers. Thanks for reporting the issue.

themagicoftime: Best Match is not currently customized per user. You may be seeing different performance due to customized sort options for different user ids since you won’t see your customized options if you aren’t signed in. I would expect any user without customized sort options to see the same version of Best Match for the same query on the same site. Each site will be tuning Best Match to suit the needs of their own market, so you will see different performance for the same query across different sites.

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Comments

pretty_blue_eyes0 ( 2345) View seller's items | View Blog ohhh no more changes?? Feb-04-08 18:40:05 PST

 

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From eBay - Rewards & Standards FAQ

01 February 2008

http://pages.ebay.com/sell/update08/rewardsfaq/#12

Frequently Asked Questions: Rewards & Standards

Search exposure through Best Match

1.	What is "Best Match"?
2.	How does "Best Match" work?
3.	You mention Best Match scores are based on a number of factors. What other factors are used besides the Community's buying activity?
4.	Can users change the sort back to "Time: Ending Soonest"?
5.	What is changing with "Best Match"?
6.	How will eBay determine which sellers will rank higher in Best Match?
7.	How will eBay determine which sellers to rank lower in Best Match?
8.	What does it mean to have a decreased visibility in Best Match?
9.	What happens to visibility in Best Match for sellers that have less than 4.6 DSR scores or do not have any DSR scores?
10.	Will Sellers who are being demoted in Best Match pay the same amount in insertion fees as sellers who are not being demoted?
11.	Will Sellers know if they are being promoted or demoted?
12.	What factors will be used to determine a seller's percentage of dissatisfied buyers?
PowerSeller Program
13.	Where can I get details about the new PowerSeller DSR requirement, PowerSeller fee discounts and other new PowerSeller benefits?
Feedback changes
14.	Where can I get details about what evolved in Feedback and how it affects me?
New seller standards
15.	What are Detailed Seller Ratings (DSR's)?
16.	Where can I learn how to improve my DSRs?
Safer payment options
17.	How will "safer payments" affect sellers? Which sellers? When will changes take effect?
18.	What are the payment policy changes? Which sellers do they affect?
19.	How are dissatisfied buyers measured?
20.	How will I know if my percentage of dissatisfied buyers is greater than 5%?
21.	If I sell in both higher risk and non-higher risk categories, will I be required to offer a safer payment option in all my listings?
22.	If I don't sell in higher risk categories will eBay require me to offer a safer payment option?
23.	If I have to offer a safer payment option, do I have to offer PayPal?
24.	What is the benefit to sellers of offering PayPal?
25.	How do I create a PayPal account?
26.	Do I have to relist items in my Store that are Good Till Cancelled?
Occasional holds on payment
27.	Which sellers will have their payments held?
28.	How will I know that my payment is being held?
29.	When will PayPal release the eBay item hold?
30.	What can I do to avoid having eBay item holds?
31.	How can I minimize the chances of having my payments held?
32.	Why is the payment being held for up to 21 days?
33.	Will my payments be held if I have excellent buyer satisfaction, but sell in risky categories?
34.	What should I do if a payment is subject to an eBay item hold?
35.	How will cross border items be impacted?
36.	What if I sell on other eBay sites (internationally)?
Search exposure through Best Match
1.	What is "Best Match"?
	"Best Match" is a sort feature that gives buyers another way to organize their search results, helping them find what they are looking for more quickly.
2.	How does "Best Match" work?
	When "Best Match" is selected, each listing's Best Match score is calculated using a number of factors and is tailored to each buying situation. Along with the listing keywords and other information, one of most important calculation elements is the historical buyer behavior on eBay for similar searches. Recent improvements to Best Match include seller performance factors that will give an advantage to sellers with DSRs 4.6 and above. Today more than half of all sellers have this high level of customer satisfaction.
3.	You mention Best Match scores are based on a number of factors. What other factors are used besides the Community's buying activity?
	For listings that have similar relevance-ranking, Best Match scores may also incorporate other data to break ties, such as: time left, price and seller's level of customer satisfaction
4.	Can users change the sort back to "Time: Ending Soonest"?
	Yes, users can simply change the sort by selecting a preferred-sort option from the "Sort by" dropdown menu, in the upper right corner of search results. Users can also customize the sort options from "Customize Display" to save their preferred-sort option.
5.	What is changing with "Best Match"?
	There are two changes with Best Match. First, although it is already available as a sort option, Best Match will become the default-sort in search and browse throughout eBay, beginning March 2008. This switch to Best Match as the default for search and browse, has already occurred in five categories, which launched on Jan. 17th. These initial five categories include Computers & Networking, Consumer Electronics, Cell Phones & PDA's, Cameras & Photo, and Toys & Hobbies. Second, Best Match will include seller performance factors that increase the odds of a good buying experience. eBay will give an advantage to sellers with high levels of customer satisfaction (4.6 DSRs and above) based on buyer input. Today more than half of all sellers have this high level of customer satisfaction. On the other hand, sellers will get decreased exposure if they have more than 5% dissatisfied buyers or very low Shipping & Handling Charge Detailed Seller Ratings over the last 30 days.
6.	How will eBay determine which sellers will rank higher in Best Match?
	eBay will give an advantage to sellers with high levels of customer satisfaction. Sellers with Detailed Seller Ratings 4.6 and above in the last 30 days will receive more exposure. Today more than half of all sellers have this high level of customer satisfaction.
7.	How will eBay determine which sellers to rank lower in Best Match?
	eBay will use these two factors: Sellers with more than 5% dissatisfied buyers in the last 30 days, will decrease in exposure. Sellers with a Shipping & Handling Charge Detailed Seller Ratings of 4.2 and lower will also decrease in exposure.
8.	What does it mean to have a decreased visibility in Best Match?
	If all other factors of two listings are identical, including relevance, price, and time ending soonest, the seller with poor a Shipping & Handling Charge DSR or high rates of dissatisfied buyers will be sorted below that of the other seller.
9.	What happens to visibility in Best Match for sellers that have less than 4.6 DSR scores or do not have any DSR scores?
	eBay will not give an advantage or a disadvantage to sellers with low or no DSR scores, as long as they have less than 5% dissatisfied buyers. Keep in mind, buyer satisfaction is not the only Best Match ranking factor. Listing keywords and historical buyer behavior on eBay for similar searches also influence rank.
10.	Will Sellers who are being demoted in Best Match pay the same amount in insertion fees as sellers who are not being demoted?
	A number of factors may influence where your listing appears in search, including: listing format, end time, keywords, price and shipping cost, feedback, and detailed seller ratings. A seller’s listings will always be searchable on eBay regardless of the sort-order, so all sellers will pay the same insertion fees--even when demoted in Best Match.
11.	Will Sellers know if they are being promoted or demoted?
	Sellers who will be demoted in Best Match for having more than 5% dissatisfied buyers will be notified. A Seller Dashboard will also be launched in May to provide sellers with detailed information about how their recent performance affects their search standing.
12.	What factors will be used to determine a seller's percentage of dissatisfied buyers?
	When stricter enforcement of Seller Non-Performance (SNP) rolled out in 2007, seller performance was determined by using negative and neutral feedback, overall feedback, and Item Not Received (INR) complaints over a 90-day period. Beginning in March 2008, performance evaluation will be based on a 30-day period. It will also include Item "Significantly Not As Described" (SNAD), and Detailed Seller Ratings (DSRs) of 1 or 2. eBay added these factors because buyers leave 1 or 2 DSR ratings nine times more often than negative feedback, which suggests feedback and INRs alone did not reflect customer dissatisfaction.
PowerSeller Program
13.	Where can I get details about the new PowerSeller DSR requirement, PowerSeller fee discounts and other new PowerSeller benefits?
	Several new benefits will recognize and reward PowerSeller contributions to the success of the eBay marketplace including PowerSeller fee discounts, unpaid item protection and expanded seller protection from PayPal. You can get complete details on these benefits and the new DSR requirement on the PowerSeller Portal.
Feedback changes
14.	Where can I get details about what evolved in Feedback and how it affects me?
	Get your questions answered in the Feedback FAQ.
New seller standards
15.	What are Detailed Seller Ratings (DSR's)?
	Buyers can leave a Feedback rating for sellers (positive, neutral or negative). Likewise, sellers can leave Feedback for a buyer (positive only). Recently we added detailed seller ratings (DSRs) represented by stars in four aspects of a transaction: item as described, communication, shipping time, and shipping and handling charges. These ratings are anonymous-sellers don't see which buyers rated them. DSRs allow buyers to provide additional information about their purchase experience and sellers can get a more complete picture of their performance. The detailed seller rating system is based on a one to five star scale. Five stars is the highest rating, and one star is the lowest rating. Detailed seller ratings do not impact the overall Feedback Score.
16.	Where can I learn how to improve my DSRs?
	Get tips for making customers happy and keeping your detailed seller ratings (DSRs) high to qualify for eBay's good seller rewards.
Safer payment options
17.	How will "safer payments" affect sellers? When will changes take effect?
	eBay and PayPal are working together to make buying safer on eBay. Giving buyers safer payment options on eBay will help increase buyer satisfaction and improve the marketplace overall. That's why we're making the two following changes to the Accepted Payments Policy beginning March 2008.
18.	What are the payment policy changes? Which sellers do they affect?
	eBay will require some sellers offer a safer payment option, either PayPal or a merchant credit card. These payment options offer additional protections to buyers. Sellers will be required to offer safer payment if they meet any of these conditions: have more than 5% dissatisfied buyers in the last 30 days have a feedback score of less than 100 are listing items in the following higher risk categories (and sub categories): gift certificates, video games, cell phones, computers and consumer electronics If you are required to offer a safer payment option, you might also be subject to holds on payment. PayPal may hold payments for the sale of an eBay item until the earliest of the following occurs: the buyer leaves positive feedback, 3 days after confirmed item delivery* or 21 days without a dispute, claim, chargeback, or reversal filed on that transaction. *This applies to US domestic transactions that are shipped by USPS or FedEx and either (i) use PayPal shipping labels to ship items or (ii) upload tracking information to PayPal via the transaction details page. eBay Motors vehicle categories (Cars & Trucks, Motorcycles, Powersports, Boats, and Other Vehicles categories and subcategories) will not be included in these payment policy changes.
19.	How are dissatisfied buyers measured?
	At eBay we consider a buyer dissatisfied if any of these occurs: The buyer leaves a seller a Detailed Seller Rating (DSR) of 1 or 2  on any of the attributes The buyer files a dispute, claim, or chargeback related to "Item Not Received" (INR) or "Significantly Not as Described" (SNAD) Buyer leaves negative or neutral feedback
20.	How will I know if my percentage of dissatisfied buyers is greater than 5%?
	Sellers who will be restricted based percentage of dissatisfied buyers will be notified. Also, a Seller Dashboard will be launched in May to provide all sellers with detailed information about their performance.
21.	If I sell in both higher risk and non-higher risk categories, will I be required to offer a safer payment option in all my listings?
	Not necessarily. Higher risk categories are: gift certificates, video games, cell phones, computers and consumer electronics. You'll be required to offer a safer payment option for higher risk categories. You will also be required to offer a safer payment option in other categories if you have than 5% dissatisfied buyers in the last 30 days and/or a feedback score under 100.
22.	If I don't sell in higher risk categories will eBay require me to offer a safer payment option?
	eBay is not requiring sellers in non-higher risk categories to offer Paypal or a merchant credit card. However, you will be required to offer safer payment options if you have than 5% dissatisfied buyers in the last 30 days and/or a feedback score under 100. We will also continue to require new sellers who registered after January 17, 2007 to offer PayPal or a merchant credit card.
23.	If I have to offer a safer payment option, do I have to offer PayPal?
	No. If you are required to offer a safer payment option you may offer either PayPal or a merchant credit card as a payment method for your eBay listings.
24.	What is the benefit to sellers of offering PayPal?
	eBay sellers listing with PayPal have an Unpaid Item rate more than half of sellers who don't. It's free for buyers and seller fees are low. With PayPal, your customers can shop and pay quickly using their credit cards, bank accounts, and PayPal balance. They can speed through checkout without stopping to enter their card number or address. PayPal has advanced anti-fraud technology, which literally gets smarter with every transaction that goes through our system and is often able to stop fraudulent transactions before they ever reach our customers. PayPal offers the Seller Protection Policy which covers most sellers in the US, UK and CA for up to $5,000.00 USD on any eligible transaction.
25.	How do I create a PayPal account?
	Go to PayPal.com and select the "Sign Up" link.
26.	Do I have to relist items in my Store that are Good Till Cancelled?
	Items that are listed in your Store prior to February 26th will remain as is. However, if you fall under the new payment restrictions for safer payments, you must offer either PayPal or credit card as an accepted form of payment when you re-list the item.
Occasional holds on payment
27.	Which sellers will have their payments held?
	In a small percentage of cases where it has been determined the risk of dissatisfied buyers is higher, PayPal may delay release of the payment funds to the seller until the buyer has left a positive feedback or 21 days have passed without a dispute, claim, chargeback or reversal filed on that transaction. To determine if a transaction may have a higher risk of dissatisfied buyers, eBay reports to PayPal a number of factors, including but not limited to: Seller's % Positive Feedback in the last 30 days Seller's Detailed Seller Ratings in the last 30 days Final price for the item Shipping & handling fee Seller's eBay tenure as an eBay member Seller's total number of Feedback
28.	How will I know that my payment is being held?
	Payments that are held will be shown as "pending" in your PayPal balance. PayPal will send an email notifying you when the hold is released. PayPal Money Market Fund customers will continue to receive income for amounts that are being held in your account.
29.	When will PayPal release the eBay item hold?
	PayPal will release the hold when the earliest of the following occurs: the buyer leaves positive feedback, 3 days after confirmed item delivery* or 21 days without a dispute, claim, chargeback, or reversal filed on that transaction. * This applies to US domestic transactions that are shipped by USPS or FedEx and either (i) use PayPal shipping labels to ship items or (ii) upload tracking information to PayPal via the transaction details page.
30.	What can I do to avoid having eBay item holds?
	Your payments WILL BE NOT HELD if you meet all the following requirements: eBay Tenure: Greater than 6-months Total Feedback score: More than 100 Dissatisfied Buyers %: Less than 5% Or if you meet all the following requirements: Detailed Seller Rating: Greater than 4.5 Total Detailed Seller Ratings Recieved: More than 20 in the last 12-months
31.	How can I minimize the chances of having my payments held?
	Improve your DSR feedback ratings, and Implement best practices to reduce buyer disputes, claims and chargebacks and if they do occur-resolve them quickly and to your buyer's satisfaction.
32.	Why is the payment being held for up to 21 days?
	eBay and PayPal are working together to help increase buyer satisfaction which, in turn, can mean more sales for you. We have found that after 21 days the chance of a buyer dispute or claim significantly decreases.
33.	Will my payments be held if I have excellent buyer satisfaction, but sell in risky categories?
	If you sell in the categories of gift certificates, video games, cell phones, computers or consumer electronics, your listings for those items must offer either PayPal or merchant credit card as an accepted form of payment. However, your payments WILL BE NOT HELD if you meet all the following measures: eBay Tenure: Greater than 6-months Total Feedback score: More than 100 Dissatisfied Buyers %: Less than 5% Detailed Seller Rating: Greater than 4.5 Total Detailed Seller Ratings Recieved: More than 20 in the last 12-months
34.	What should I do if a payment is subject to an eBay item hold?
	PayPal will release the hold when the earliest of the following occurs: the buyer leaves positive feedback 3 days after confirmed item delivery* 21 days without a dispute, claim, chargeback or reversal filed on that transaction. Once the buyer has paid for the item, ship it. Funds are released as soon as a buyer leaves positive feedback. The faster you get their purchase to the buyer, the faster they can leave you feedback. *Funds are also released within 3 days of confirmed item delivery. This applies to US domestic transactions that are shipped by USPS or FedEx and either (i) use PayPal shipping labels to ship items or (ii) upload tracking information to PayPal via the transaction details page. So fast shipping helps you here too.
35.	How will cross border items be impacted?
	The changes to the Accepted Payments policy for safer payments and occasional holds on payment apply to both domestic and cross border transactions.
36.	What if I sell on other eBay sites (internationally)?
	eBay sites outside of the US may have a similar program with their own polices which you must follow. Please check individual country web sites for that country

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Comments

315carolg ( 174) View seller's items | View Blog yes,I read that,good morning Feb-08-08 02:20:27 PST

kbfox ( 46) View seller's items | View Blog Do they really think we're that stupid and we can't do the math?!'' YES. You sellers are stupid. And lazy too. That's why we can stick it to you a little at a time, and you'll stick around for more. You chumps will be paying 50% FVFs before I get to the governor's office, baby! Also, in May we are introducing eBay's brand new product exclusively for sellers, eLube. It will be mandatory for sellers to keep their eLube at their work stations. However, sellers without their eLube will get screwed anyway. Feb-08-08 04:14:50 PST

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From eBay - A letter from Matt Halrpin on Feedback - [email protected]

http://forums.ebay.com/db1/thread.jspa?threadID=1000638812

                                       

A letter from Matt Halrpin on Feedback
[email protected] View Listings | Report		Feb-01-08 12:31 PST
Hi folks - Matt Halprin, who normally posts as [email protected], had some technical issues posting, so I agreed to share his letter with you all. He's been reading your comments here and around the forums, and wanted to share these thoughts. Also, the webinar Matt references has just ended, but we will share the archive link shortly.  --- Daphne "This is Matt Halprin, Vice President of Global Trust & Safety. I’d like to provide more of the rationale behind our decision to change the Feedback system the way we have. It’s a huge decision and a big change – one that we deliberated and debated extensively within the company at all levels. I understand and empathize with all the emotion everyone’s feeling about it – our internal debates were filled with emotion too. We landed where we did by relying on some key principles outlined below. Here we go: Purpose of the Feedback System – and how it was supposed to work The original intent of eBay’s public feedback system was to provide an honest, accurate record of member experiences. This accurate record of member experience depended on two key principles: 1. Accountability.  Members hold each other accountable by leaving feedback appropriate to the experience they had with another member. 2. Transparency.  Feedback is transparent – visible – for all to see. Over the years, we’ve adjusted the system to improve its accuracy, including making Feedback tie to transactions back in 1999 and last year’s addition of anonymous Detailed Seller Ratings. And we’ve also made changes that sacrifice transparency to maintain accuracy and accountability – like when we asked sellers for Non-Paying Bidder reports back in 1999. We use non-transparent feedback extensively to this day – and suspend thousands of buyers a month for Unpaid Item violations – all based on private seller reports to hold buyers accountable. Unfortunately, the current Feedback system isn’t working for the marketplace the way it should be.  The system’s transparency is preventing buyers from holding sellers accountable. Simply put - buyers are more afraid than ever to leave honest, accurate feedback because of the threat of retaliatory Feedback by sellers marking their public reputation. Sellers used to retaliate with negative feedback after receiving negative feedback twice as often as buyers. Now sellers do this 8 times as often as buyers. As a result, most sellers look alike to buyers. 80% of sellers have 99.3% positive or higher.  50% have 100% positive. So buyers don’t trust the Feedback system so they don’t have confidence when they hit that bid or BIN button. And this actually hurts sellers who provide great buying experiences because they can’t differentiate themselves from sellers who don’t provide as good buying experiences. Doesn’t this take away a seller’s power? I just got back from our annual eCommerce Forum with 200 of eBay’s largest sellers. Several of them said “I wait to leave feedback because the threat of leaving a (public) neg is what keeps the buyer from doing bad things – you can’t take that away.” I get it. There are bad buyers out there. And the implicit threat of receiving a neg helps keep these buyers in line. Ironically, that’s the problem. This power – and the way many sellers have begun using it – is exactly why buyers don’t hold sellers accountable and why we’ve lost trust in the system – and why we need to change it. So how are you going to prevent bad buyers from taking advantage of this? Our job is to hold all members accountable. Buyers are going to hold sellers accountable now that they’ll be more comfortable leaving honest feedback. Trust & Safety has an obligation – which we take very seriously – to hold buyers accountable based on sellers’ non-public reports of buyer policy violations. And we need sellers to report these violations to us. For example - if a buyer doesn’t pay – the Unpaid Item system is in place. While only 2% of transactions result in an Unpaid Item – UPIs do happen. Still, 85% of the time a buyer gets an Unpaid Item strike – they don’t respond to the Unpaid Item system. If they don’t respond to the system, we’ll remove any negative or neutral feedback they leave (we only de-score it today). If the buyer does this to 2-3 sellers (depending on how new the buyer is) – we’ll suspend the buyer and remove any negative or neutral feedback they’ve left – something we don’t do today. If a buyer attempts to extort a discount by threatening to leave negative feedback unless the seller changes the terms of their listing, we need the seller to report the buyer to us. And we’ll have policy and process in place to hold small minority of bad buyers accountable and, if we have to suspend the buyer, we’ll remove any negative or neutral feedback they leave. What other protections are you putting in place? We’re putting in additional safeguards in place to help sellers avoid negative feedback: - To promote communication, buyers will be prevented from leaving a public negative or neutral Feedback within 3 days of a listing’s end for sellers with an established track record (new sellers can still pose a fraud risk); - We are reducing the number of days a member can leave Feedback from 90 to 60 days; - We are increasing a seller’s Block Bidder List capacity from 1,000 to 5,000 User IDs. This is something sellers have been requesting for years and we’re finally going to deliver; - We will be taking more action based on seller reports of buyers violating our policies, including generating referrals of repeat policy violators. What if the buyer leaves a neg and eBay doesn’t suspend the buyer – I’m stuck with the neg Only for 12 months in your percent score. The Feedback percentage which calculates a member’s percentage of positive Feedback will be based on just the last 12 months (not all a member’s lifetime transactions as it is today), although the total count remains lifetime. We’re doing this because a member’s recent feedback is the most relevant to their transaction partners. Over the years, many members have questioned why a single negative can affect their score for years. You’ve asked for this change, and I’m pleased we’re able to deliver. Now any negative Feedback left for you more than 12 months ago will no longer affect your positive percentage. Repeat Feedback Credit – coming in February And finally, we’re going to give members credit for multiple Feedback from the same buyer or seller when the listings close in different calendar weeks (Monday though Sunday). This transaction window limit will help prevent “Feedback padding,” or the use of transactions to artificially inflate Feedback scores. We think this is a great change for our sellers (and buyers). If you are delivering great customer service – and it shows through repeat buyers – your Feedback score will reflect this. Town Hall on Monday, February 4th – Call us LIVE during the event.. this is a great way to ask questions and learn more I’d like to reiterate that we realize these are major changes, and we will be watching carefully for any unintended consequences. I also realize that reading a post on the discussion board isn’t the best way to learn about this. Frankly – people I’ve spoken with begin to understand it more after listening to us walk through the rationale and answering questions. To this end – I’d really like to invite everyone to listen to our seller webinar (Friday) or Town Hall on Monday. See the details below. You can also see Bill Cobb’s original announcement about these and other changes. Monday 3pm -  eBay Town Hall http://www.ebay.com/townhall Bill Cobb’s AB Post http://www2.ebay.com/aw/core/200801290559182.html Thanks, Matt"

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Banned By eBay - Glitchy Software Dude (with apologies to Johnny Rivers and Secret Agent Man 1966)

Originally posted early Sunday 11/25/2007 on the eBay Search forum. 
The following song was quickly banned by eBay's coders.

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An Ode to eBay's code and not test teams.
On the eve of Cyber Monday, here's to you Mr. Coders.


There's a dude who thinks he's a programmer
eBay sellers he meets he stays a stranger
With every change he makes another feature breaks
Odds are IT will crash before tomorrow

Glitchy software dude, glitchy software dude
They've given you a keyboard and taken 'way our sales

Beware of eBay sellers that you find
An eBay seller has an evil mind
Ah, be careful what you change
Or you'll fix something some way
Odds are IT will crash before tomorrow

Glitchy software dude, glitchy software dude
They've given you a keyboard and taken 'way our sales

Hackin' on the Best Match Smart Search one day
And then layin' in an eBay alley next day
Oh no, you let the wrong code ship
While evading chains and whips
Odds are IT will crash before tomorrow

Glitchy software dude, glitchy software dude
They've given you a keyboard and taken 'way our sales

Glitchy software dude



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9toYaZZKHA
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secret_Agent_Man_(song)

***Introducing Best Match: A new sort option based on relevance***
http://forums.ebay.com/db1/thread.jspa?threadID=2000241408&tstart=40&mod=1195343348001

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Comments ... from people with a sense of humor.

4343martino ( 679) View seller's items | View Blog LMAOFF !!!! Nov-25-07 13:31:08 PST

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And what are these eBay coders paid? Far too much for buggy software.

http://www.mydanwei.com/query.php?t_salary=ebay&type=salary&order_by=DATE_DESC

Query Records of ebay (1 - 30 of 836) ( 0.003 seconds)
	No.     Position  Salary  Organization  City  State  Hiring Date   1 Senior Software Engineer $95580.00  EBAY, INC San Jose CA 2007-04-01 2 Senior Software Engineer $96000.00  EBAY, INC San Jose CA 2007-03-27 3 Dutch Language Specialist $73840.00  EBAY, INC San Jose CA 2007-03-24 4 PRINCIPLE NETWORK ENGINEER $135229.00  EBAY INC SAN JOSE CA 2007-03-23 5 Staff Software Engineer $108272.00  EBAY, INC San Jose CA 2007-03-15 6 STAFF SYSTEMS ENGINEER $119356.00  EBAY INC SAN JOSE CA 2007-03-15 7 Senior Software Engineer $98102.40  eBay, Inc. San  Jose CT 2007-03-14 8 Senior Software Engineer $97124.20  EBAY, INC San Jose CA 2007-03-12 9 SENIOR SOFTWARE ENGINEER $101848.00  EBAY INC SAN JOSE CA 2007-02-27 10 Senior Software Engineer $95000.10  eBay, Inc. San Jose CA 2007-02-23 11 Software QA Engineer $80000.00  EBAY, INC San Jose CA 2007-02-17 12 Senior NOC Database Engineer $97479.20  EBAY, INC San Jose CA 2007-02-13 13 Globalization Management Systems Engineer $109332.00  eBay, Inc. San Jose CA 2007-02-07 14 Software Engineer $93554.00  EBAY, INC San Jose CA 2007-02-07 15 STAFF SOFTWARE ENGINEER $120570.00  EBAY INC SAN JOSE CA 2007-02-06 16 Senior Software Engineer $92359.10  eBay, Inc. San  Jose CA 2007-02-03 17 Senior Software Engineer $95000.10  eBay, Inc. San Jose CA 2007-01-26 18 Localization Engineer $104500.00  EBAY, INC San Jose CA 2007-01-15 19 Staff QA Engineer $115225.00  eBay, Inc. San Jose CA 2007-01-12 20 Business Analyst, Revenue Accounting $92500.00  eBay, Inc. San Jose CA 2007-01-05 21 Senior Software Engineer $94860.00  EBAY, INC San Jose CA 2007-01-01 22 Research Scientist $106050.00  EBAY, INC San Jose CA 2006-12-31 23 Senior Software Engineer $101142.00  eBay, Inc. San Jose CA 2006-12-29 24 SOFTWARE ENGINEER $89508.60  EBAY INC SAN JOSE CA 2006-12-22 25 SOFTWARE ENGINEER $89508.60  EBAY INC SAN JOSE CA 2006-12-22 26 Software Engineer $84930.10  EBAY, INC San Jose CA 2006-12-16 27 Manager, Risk Analytics $122000.00  eBay, Inc. San Jose CA 2006-12-10 28 Senior Software Engineer $101142.00  eBay, Inc. San Jose CA 2006-12-06 29 Software QA Engineer $93702.50  eBay, Inc. San Jose CA 2006-12-06 30 MANAGEMENT ANALYST (AD SERVICES AND OPERATIONS) $110000.00  EBAY INC SAN JOSE CA 2006-11-17

 

No.	Position	Salary	Organization	City	State	Hiring Date
31	Specialist, Direct Marketing Operations	$78000.00	eBay, Inc.	San Jose	CA	2006-11-13
32	Senior Database Engineer	$101990.00	EBAY, INC	San Jose	CA	2006-11-09
33	SENIOR SOFTWARE ENGINEER	$100017.00	EBAY INC	SAN JOSE	CA	2006-11-09
34	User Interface Designer	$87033.40	eBay, Inc.	San Jose	CA	2006-11-04
35	Senior Software Engineer	$94050.00	EBAY, INC	San Jose	CA	2006-11-03
36	DATA ARCHITECTURE MANAGER	$155845.00	EBAY INC	SAN JOSE	CA	2006-11-03
37	Senior Software Engineer	$95000.10	EBAY, INC	San Jose	CA	2006-11-01
38	SENIOR SOFTWARE ENGINEER	$98311.50	EBAY INC	SAN JOSE	CA	2006-11-01
39	Paid Search, Associate Data Manager	$96900.00