As it is so

The life and times of an honest ebay account

2010-08-30T10:35:00.000-07:00

The account was born mid may of 2010 after a discussion from its owner about the problems sellers were having to go through to sell their goods on ebay and as always its moto was not to screw anyone and try not to get screwed.

Now the discussion was one of those that thousands of sellers have had since ebay pushed the self destruct button, as they wondered how long an account would survive from a normal person that does not do all the things all sellers know they have to do to stay on ebay?

So in a realistic world, which is not ebay, the seller comes along and opens one account to sell their items. They are just used items and they know almost all there is to know about them, so it should be a simple job adding them to the auction format and letting the buyers decide what they want to pay for them, while assuring they have giving enough information and enough quality photographs to show what the items are.

So the first ten listings go up and the buyers buy all but two items, and the normal I missed the item, as I was at work sellers contact about the other two, which are relisted with another thirteen items. A few of them leave feedback after getting their goods so everyone is happy.

A couple of NPBs, one that claimed they made a mistake and another that did not respond other than to say sorry but I forgot about this item and I bought another.

Still in the first month and suddenly there is a red feedback glaring out at the poor seller who is just puzzled, as they assumed all was well, as the buyer had made no contact. They contact the buyer asking what was wrong and suggesting it is normal practice to contact the seller before leaving feedback, as if there is a problem with the item they do have the option to return it.

The buyer apologises and accepts to remove the feedback, and then decides oddly to keep the item.

So the sales continue but the sellers friends are saying you will see, as he gloats over fixing a problem.

The account has over thirty good feedback as they move through the second month, and the account is still only listing around seven to ten items and the account has to deal with its next oddball buyer that leaves a positive feedback but complains that the shipping was too expensive. The buyer is again puzzled over this one as the shipping was shown and the charge was only ten pence over the stamp price. When contacting the buyer, they claim that the fact the seller had charged for and used tracked postage on such a low cost item was what they did not like.

So their goes the clean DSRs of the account as they now have a one or a two for shipping charges.

Now the account begins to add a few more items with each listing and it is now at eight to fifteen every four days and things are looking up as the good feedback keeps rolling in and the buyers do seem to like what the account is offering, as they keep bidding on it.

It is almost the end of the second month when within a week of each other there are two people wanting to return goods, and both items had ended quite well. The seller just assumed buyer remorse, as the reasons for the returns were a little silly, as both reasons were shown in the listing. The seller however tells them to return the items for the refund.

It is a matter of days when the direct to ebay comes in with the reason being that they had changed their mind. The seller tells them that they could return the item and it is customary to contact the seller before going to ebay. They claim they are new to ebay, even though their account had started the beginning of 09. The next day the first of the requests that the seller had accepted had gone to ebay and put a return request in. when asked why, when the seller had already agreed to accept the item back? they do not respond.

The next day the second of the first two items does the same thing and goes to ebay and there is another direct to ebay return by a person with almost the exact name as the first one but for the fact they had added a letter to their name. This time they had made an error and had not looked at the measurements of the item. Again send the item back is told to them, while pointing out that it is customary to contact sellers before going to ebay

Looking at all those that had gone to ebay, all of them were on different address' but a simple search through google maps show the seller that they all live with in an hour of each other, as did the person that leaves a red feedback the next day claiming the item was not what it was. When the seller contacts them and suggests they are wrong but they can return it, and it is customary before leaving negative feedback to contact a seller. Another new to ebay that had been on for over a year suggests that their daughter loved the item so they had no intention of sending the item back and would have it checked. There response to the sellers response in the feedback is that they were wrong and they retract their statement. But then go on to ignore the request to remove the red feedback request and the emails sent to them, even though their account is still active buying mailing supplies and hair extensions.

Exactly a month after the second direct to ebay claim the buyer leaves a red feedback with more nonsense, as it was apparently being abusive telling them it is customary to go to the seller before going to ebay.

The account is suffering as its DSRs are being hit and the negative feedback is forcing the seller to sell more than they wanted to. They begin to list more, listing five days a week around seventeen items a day. Which is the only way to clean up the idiots feedback as if you get enough green then the reds are nothing.

Ebay makes a change and there is a glitch where all the accounts used goods are suddenly marked as new with tags, and as you can't make changes after bids are on the items then most of the items can't be changed.

Another black feedback claiming slow delivery for an item that the person took two weeks to pay for.

The fourth month of the account when paypal start demanding info such as photo ID, suppliers details and such. This comes in over the August bank holiday weekend and before the weekend is in its third day the ebay and paypal accounts are dead in the water with paypal holding the funds in the account for one hundred and eighty days.

The account has lasted four month, which is not good for those sellers that are fighting to stay on ebay, as you have to sell large amounts to stay on ebay and defeat the system, but if you sell too much then paypal will want to know who, what and why, and if you are not willing to hand over that info or would struggle if you buy all goods from many sources, who rarely give invoices, if ever. Then you will have to switch to having several accounts open at the same time, I suspect four or five would be the minimum. Each time the account gets attacked you move on to the next leaving the used account to heal itself over time.

Or if you have any sense then give up on ebay, take the hint and move on to ebid.net, as ebay has become too much hard work, that will be taking years off your life. Stress can kill, ask any doctor, and the stress of being an ebay seller is just one of those things that should be stamped with warnings like cigarettes or alcohol.

Return, Return, Return seems to be the new competitive attack

2010-07-16T22:49:00.000-07:00

Been talking to several sellers in the highly competitive unique goods/collectible markets that still stupidly sell on ebay and they all seem to confirm the current form of attack from their competitors seems to be the return hit. Also the obvious DSR attack
Even though they are still getting the occasional irrational negative feedback, and all the other rubbish ebay have set up for the scum but now the increase of direct to ebay return requests seems to have risen to the extreme for most, if not all of them. These could be down to a change in customer but it does seem to correlate to a drop in the older attack methods and they all seem to go along the same lines, as if a format were being used.

What I have been told is that these hits seem more preferred due to the long term damage, as even if the account of the attacker gets closed down the damage of the return request is still effective and often greater than a negative feedback. Also unlike with negative feedback, there is no stain on the account, so you can use it to attack more sellers.
Now the way this system is supposed to work is that it is supposed to be the last port of call for the buyer that feels the seller is taking liberties. But as always with ebay there is nothing to stop the buyer going direct to the return request without contacting the buyer. Too many of these and the odd negative feedback and the smaller accounts will be limited and then eventually closed down with continued attack.for none performance.

The return demand can also be used instead of the NPB when you are selling the same item and the sellers is obviously going to get more money than you, as they are better than you. Instantly hike up the bid with two accounts, removing the got to have it buyers that tend to start bidding at a lower price.

These returns also have the added benefit of hiding your own feedback cleaning and over bids on your shills, as they also have to relist it after a sale and are often too afraid to mention what the problems were with the sale. So relisted goods become common place on ebay and make it easier for you to hide your own activities.

If they are stupid enough to mention your involvement in the previous sale, then use the other "ebay tool" (I'm not talking about Donahoe) and say to ebay that the item is counterfeit. It does not matter that it is real ebay will remove it without looking.

THE SCAM

There is also a clever little scam using, "seller=bad", "buyer=good" ebay idiot mentality, the ebay return what you like system and the ebay combined purchase system.
Where the buyer buys more than one item, then goes direct to ebay to demand return, and no matter what the seller has in their terms of sale you can use any reason you want for return. I don't assume ebay would mind if you wrote "competitive attack on another seller" but more likely you will say "changed my mind." But what you do here is put the claim in for both items.

The buyer will have no choice but to refund you and will more often than not use the combined payment as the return on paypal for both items. Now this will clear one of the items but not the second. So once you have been paid the full amount for both items you demand payment for the second item.
The seller will refuse, and try to explain to ebay that they have paid due to the combined payment for both items, which the ebay employee will obviously have no understanding of what the seller is talking about, using the ebay ethos "seller always bad", "buyer always good" and will hit the pay button for the second item. So ebay pay back the buyer for the second item and then demand that money from the seller. This demand, as always is final so you keep the money and the seller looses their money, which most buyers on ebay seem happy about, obviously if ebay is aiding the theft of the money, why wouldn't they. This is not some small company, this is the "massive ebay" that look after them, so this must be the right thing to do.

The defense, other than moving your sales to ebid.net and saving yourself the stress of selling on ebay, is to pay back the items individually as partial refunds. There is no defense against the return I am afraid other than sell more, so that it does not damage you.

This really should show you how little you are thought of by ebay, as this is not a complex thing to see happening, or to fix but I assume they really do think that a buyer can't be bad. But you could also be correct in thinking what do they care, as it is not their money they are giving away and even a bad buyer that is only out to scam the seller is better than none at all. They will definitely tell all their friends about it who will also come to use the ebay system. Isn't that great?????

So you wake up that morning to find Mote is dead

2010-07-13T06:47:00.000-07:00

Were you surprised?
I was watching it on the news when it happened, and just knew what the wife would say "agh its sad."

I don't know this man came out of prison and went to win back his girlfriend, not with a bunch of flowers but with a shotgun. Now that is sad.
I suppose what is also sad is that so many people will be relieved, even if they say it is sad, they will be so relieved this is over.
The Police for one and their accountant, as they try to sort out the cost of this manhunt, as they go back to try and balance the books.
The people of Rothbury that can now get back to normality.
Even his ex girlfriend will now be able to get on with her life without fear of his return and that freedom has to bring some relief.

I would say it would be a relief to Chris Browns parents that someone remembered that he was involved and killed trying to defend his girlfriend.

The fact there are so many people like Raoul Mote around, either pushed to the limits with steroids or pushed to the edge with life. Not all of them will go this far though. But is that due to conscience or having no access to firearms?

And now the story goes on and it looks like the Police fired a Tazer or two at him while he was holding a shotgun to his head. Seems a bright thing to do, or maybe I'm the only one that thinks sending 50,000 volts through someones body will make them squeeze a trigger.

But this whole thing is puzzling, as the questions seem to either have no answers or the wrong answers, which either do not make sense or should not make sense.

Raoul Mote comes out of prison making threats, which are handed on to the police. The police either choose to ignore them, due to hearing it all before or have no power to do anything until he actually does something.
The problem with that is how could you change that and how could you know the difference between some numpty mouthing it off, to someone that is over the edge and really is a threat? Their past crimes, Mote was not really a Mr Big by any standards, but if the reports of the reason he had been in prison were true and that he had been imprisoned for beating his child then maybe that should have been an indicator, unless there are circumstances in that case, which make it sound worse than it is.

Then there is the point he is cornered and sitting with a shotgun to his head with a number of G36 Assault Rifles pointed at his head and the police for what ever reason use a Tazer on him. As I say above that does not make a lot of sense.
Firstly he was out in the daytime, meaning he was likely in need of something, and in his circumstances, he had to be pretty desperate.
He was totally outgunned and no place to go once he was cornered and the people were being kept at a safe distance.
The rain that night poured, as if the heavens had opened so here was this man trapped, demoralized and soaked to the skin totally cut off from his own world. So what reason would the Police have to fire anything at him? Maybe his mood changed and he became aggressive? But that would have been heard, as was the shouting from the police after the Tazers were fired. Also if he turned the gun on the police they would have cut him down with bullet fire.
Maybe his state of mind had shifted to the point of actually pulling the trigger on himself and this was a last ditch attempt to save his life? That is possible but even if the police say it is so, who will believe them?

Hopefully it was not due to pressure from above for the police, as I said above this manhunt must have cost a lot of money and there was probably some bean counter clocking up the meter every minute this went on. But hopefully that was not an issue, as the state he was in and the rain just adding that extra kick in the teeth, in all likely hood he would have given up before the sun set, one way or another. His option was prison or death and he had just got out of prison and it looks as if he did not handle it well. So who knows what fear a twenty to life stretch would have had for him?

And now we have the public and press bandwagons picking sides of Hero, Villain or Victim which I can only say is stupid on all parts, as most sensible people know that if the right buttons are pushed through a persons life or the right situation arises and a person can become any of the three in the blink of an eye.

This is a sad event for the Hero's, Villains, and Victims and it would take a better person than me to work out which was which. Then again, maybe it no longer matters, as there is only two people left with the excuse that they will not be able to learn from any mistakes made. So as long as all those involved can do that then those two lives and all the pain of the others involved directly or otherwise will not have been in vain.

eBay seller fined in court for bidding against himself to rig online auctions

2010-07-06T11:47:00.000-07:00

Jul 6 2010 Dave Higgens

A CROOKED eBay seller who rigged his own auctions has been fined £3500 and given 250 hours community service.
Paul Barrett is the first person in Britain to land in court for putting goods on eBay then bidding on them himself to drive up their prices. He was also hit with a costs bill of nearly £1500.
Judge Peter Benson told the fraudster: "It is an obviously dishonest practice, whichever way one looks at it."
He added that Barrett's lack of a record for dishonesty had saved him from going to jail.
Married dad-of-one Barrett, 39, used eBay to sell lots including two Mercedes vehicles, a Land Rover, a pie and pasty warmer, three mobile phones and a digital camera.
Bradford Crown Court heard he had two eBay user names - "paulthebusman" and "shanconpaul". He would set up auctions using one name and bid in them using the other. If he ended up making the winning bid, he would leave feedback on the site praising himself. Harvey Murray, prosecuting, told the court that the pie and pasty warmer had been set to sell on eBay for £74. But Barrett placed five bids himself just before the sale closed and it eventually sold for £127.
Trading Standards began investigating Barrett after an eBay customer complained he had been sold a "clocked" minibus. The bus had been advertised with a mileage of 55,000 but had actually done 132,000.
Officers looked into Barrett's eBay deals and discovered the "shill" bidding. Both his user names were traced to the same computer.

The full story here

My Opinion
I just love this story, as you can see ebay has no involvement in catching the offender, who was ripping off those poor customers. The customers concerned did not even know that they had been ripped off, as ebay had done so much to hide the fact, possibly because it would interfere with what equates to a protection racket, where sellers have to buy their own goods using alias accounts to clean up their feedback as they struggle to live up to the unrealistic expectations of ebays feedback system. Which all means more money for ebay.

The ebay response
An eBay spokeswoman said the site used the latest technology to track down "shill" bidders. She added: "We are extremely pleased with Paul Barrett's sentence."
So no mention of why they did not catch this one then?and he was not using any of the things that others have said you need to get past ebays "brilliant security" LOL.

Shill bidding is a common part of ebay, along with other dubious practices like attacking anyone that dares to compete or to use alias accounts to clean up the feedback. All ebay have ever done to stop it was to make it easier and to offer more encouragement to those sellers that are willing to pay the extra fees.

Take some advice and no matter if you are buyer or seller move to ebid.net and tell those that you buy from or sell to to do the same. Eventually ebay will get the message and go away to the tax collector in the sky.

Always wanting to end on a happy note. I know of several sellers that are using aliases to clean up their accounts attack other sellers and more than likely shill bid their customers and before there was nothing you could do about it, as we all know ebay did nothing about it when you did. But now you can hand that information over to Trading Standards http://www.tradingstandards.gov.uk/ and let them deal with it.

I know you may feel you don't care about this, as you have moved on from ebay but you are wrong, as this is going to damage all online auction sales where ever you go, as looking at some of the responses on forums and other places over this matter, then people seemed to accept it as the norm, as if it were something we all knew was happening and accepted it. What happens to online sales if that spills outside of ebay and the buyers feel that is the norm?

One last point I thought was funny is that auctions on ebay were based on the same system as auctions in the UK with the buyer beware system, so that if you bought it then it was yours with no returns. Ebay removed that system and destroyed their auction business in doing so and now added the "buyer beware" term to the general use of ebay. Beware of those sellers second accounts.

World Cup 2010 england slaughtered england humiliated england beaten

2010-06-28T18:22:00.000-07:00

And I use the lower case e on purpose, as that is all they deserved.

What a diabolical travesty of a game that was and even though some players worked their behinds off, the fact that some members of the team should not have been on the pitch just made it all the more sad, as they just could not do what was called for to defend against the Germans.

I said the other day that the fact fabio capello could not work out the problems they were having worried me and he showed those worries were well founded, as he had to have seen the problems the team were having in their defense. Upson should not have been on that field, as he was out of his depth, and I suppose when it reached the second half and he was still there is the point I gave up and knew we were doomed, along with the manager and the team.
The Manager made some changes that were pointless and were never going to solve the problems and now I hear he is saying I may just sit it out and collect the money from the contract. Even though he knows he has to hold his hands up and take the blame. If the team do not perform then it means you picked the wrong players in the first place.

But that is what happens when you build your team around one player and you suddenly find that player is off their game. Gerard got so tired of passing the ball to Rooney to see it wasted that he tried shooting for goal himself but that went to nothing, as he was trying from the position he was forced into.

And the goal that was but was not. I suppose the Germans will say just deserts for the one of sixty six, but I still feel that in this day and age that in such a major championship that it is making a mockery of the competition, when so many decisions are so blatantly wrong, especially the offside decisions that seem to be so hit and miss.

I don't know I suppose we now have to sit around for another four years and see what the hell they do to mess up the next one. But what annoys the fans so much is that we know they are better than their performance and if it is pressure or tiredness that is making them play so bad then maybe it is time to start moving away from the premiership for the England team, as at least they will enjoy the game and you never know the heart to play factor can turn mice into lions. They can't do any worse than the current selection.

And yes I know I said england would win against Germany in my last post but that was just me being a fan and thinking happy thoughts, and hoping beyond hope that capello knew what he was doing. OK I was wrong, as it seems he does not know his arse from his elbow.

World Cup 2010 England Vs Slovenia

2010-06-24T04:55:00.000-07:00

12:10

So England play their final game and all we can do is wait to see if they have fixed the problems the team have been having.

All I can say is good luck lads, and stop reading the damned papers if they bother you that much, most of the British press is owned by foreign companies any how so what they going to want to hear, as you more often than not face their home country.

Well they WON and more importantly showed the spirit that they had been lacking, and even Rooney held onto the ball and ignore the fact he did not get a goal and be thankful he is shooting again. Strikers always miss a few.

it was good to see Capello so buzzing and through that first match side interview, he looked as if he had been running the pitch as a player, as he was so elated.

Congrats to the USA that got through top of the group, I missed the match but it was supposed to be a good show from them.

So now onto The classic England Vs Germany match that the doom merchants have already started their woe is me chants. I don't know if they are right, as this team does have the talent to win if they play to their best ability and if Rooney starts playing the way we know he can, then goodbye Germany.

In reality I think it will be a hard fought game, as the maturity of the England team fights to defeat the youth of the German team and I still think that maturity counts in these sort of games.
If the England team play their own game I see this ending up a 2-1 victory to England, the only problem with that is the Gerard factor, as he is still playing on the left and although he is playing well there, there is no one to take over the first tough goal that he tends to offer when the defence choke the path of the striker. But if Rooney does do what we know he can and Lampard can take that role from Gerard, then add another two goals to the English scoreline.

Well what ever happens then role on Sunday it should be a game worth watching, even though it could be torture I am looking forward to it.

What an odd World cup this has been as South Africa leave on a high

2010-06-22T15:31:00.000-07:00

Africa fought well in their last game but were unable to do enough to stay in and their fans should be proud of them.
I still have no idea what happened to the French team who are also out. Just another oddity of this world cup.
Sad to see the French manager refusing to shake the hand of his counterpart of the South African team, which I think shows the mentality of this little man and probably gives people more idea of why the French team were struggling so badly.

To the french and African Supporters that are feeling down and would like to try out some shopping therapy, you may like to look at ebid.net that does have both French and South African sites

And now we wait for the England game and see if the players can get some feeling or pride for playing for their national side and we can also be grateful that even though they are playing rubbish, they are still not loosing, unlike France, Germany, Spain, who have all lost games, England have played like crap and still taking a point, so for all those doom merchants, it is still not too late to turn this around and step into the next stage with our heads held high and this is England we are talking about that will do everything the hard way.

I still say the fact that no one has done anything stupid is something to be thankful for, as with the state of play, we could be going into the next game with a lot more players unable to play. But then again some people may see that as a bad thing, stating that for a player to act stupid they would have to actually care in the first place and a lot of people are feeling this team of players are just doing this to add zeros to their own price and do not have the pride in the shirt of others that have gone before. Terry is already trying the blame the manager game in a funny episode that had me puzzled as to why he was talking for the players, as he is no longer captain.
I don't know personally I am just tired of hearing excuses and whining about team position, this one playing with that one or anything else they wish to add, as these are professional footballers playing for their country and heart and pride should make any position the right position. I have seen players going in goal after their goal keeper had been sent off after all the subs had been used and the players did not stand there whining about being out of position, they got on with it.

What I am worried about is the fact Fabio Cappello said in an interview that he was unsure why England were not able to do the same on the pitch as they do in training. Now that worried me a lot, as he has to fix the problem that he does not understand. Then all the interview crap that has been going on, I just feel their time would be better spent fixing the problems, than playing games with the press.

And now onto tonight's football and who to watch, the Nigeria or Argentina game? I am tempted to watch the Nigeria game after the South African game, but the Argentinian game should be a good one, as they will be going for goals, as always.

Well that was fun. Nice to see Martin's again. One of those players that should be great, as he has two good feet and is fast and can maneuver well but is just missing that something. But they are out now along with Greece.

Someone on the radio just said that the Brazilian players are spending their nights with their wives and girlfriends and look how good they are doing, So on that level the British have been stopped from spending time with their wives and girlfriends and they are playing really bad. So I am wondering so how long ago was it when the French players seen their wives and girlfriends?

Whatever happened to the World Cup

2010-06-21T03:35:00.000-07:00

Last few days of football overdose has been insane, the Spanish, who were pegged as favorites struggling to get going and then the Germans, not only getting beat but missing a penalty. We have had the Argentine team being saved by a linesman error, as up to the point of that offside goal their heads were dropping. The Americans putting on a show in a game they should have won, as that third goal was fine. Some strange player antics that still have me puzzled. Some of this can be blamed on that beachball FIFA have used for the world cup but most just stupid mistakes by players, referees and the moment.
But as always you can always rely on the English team to do all they can to maintain the status quo and play like they have never touched a ball in their lives. Their second game and they crossed that white line into the bland land of what can only be described as uselessville.

They have built that team around Rooney, but seem to have no idea what to do when Rooney stops playing, and the fact he had the cheek to complain about booing fans after the performance he offered us just showed that something is not right in that camp, as he can't believe he played well. It was as if he was the twelfth man for the opposition he was giving them the ball so often, in fact every time he touched the ball it ended at their feet.

There were three players I would have had on that field and one that claimed he was a striker in the run up to the match, I would have moved to midfield as a holding midfielder, as Emile Heskey is a striker in peril and is afraid to shoot for the goal. But he was the only player up there that could get hold of the ball and keep it. But he was afraid to go into the box and when he did eventually break into it, he was afraid to shoot and opted for pointless cross, as Rooney was probably still on the opposite wing at that time.

Jamie Carragher who will not be playing in the next game due to a second yellow was defending our box on his own at times, mainly because the Algerians had realized they could charge down that side as many times as they wanted and the England team were too dumb to notice they had a problem.
And then James kept us in the game and the competition, as our goal was under constant attack that was no easy feat.

What is wrong with the players that they can play so bad and without heart is being hidden behind the camp walls but like I said before I look at the other teams and do not see anyone that we could beat and even the so called "lesser teams" could hold us to a draw or even beat us. I have heard the pundits say that other teams have had a bad start but then gone on to win. But does anyone believe that this England team could go on to win a tiddly winks competition if they continue to play the way they are?

Now that said I will still watch them as long as they are there, as I like many others am thinking that this is just bad opposition syndrome. This is where a team struggles to play against teams they should beat, but then go on to wipe out those teams they should struggle against. Normally because teams that expect to loose will put up one hell of a defensive line up and work on stopping attackers so hard that it becomes impossible to play against them. Hopefully they get through and prove this to be the case but if that is not the case and it really is some other problem (the beachball) that most of the seeded teams seem to be facing, then I think FIFA have to look into it and sort out the problem, as I have never seen a world cup like this one, where so many teams that we know can play have been suddenly made to look like fools. The first world cup, where qualification to the knock out stages is open to all, no matter how good they are.
But just like England playing bad we also have Brazil playing good, the divers trying to and succeeding a lot of the time to do their diving and the referee's making one bad decision after the other. (That Kaka red card springs to mind.) So not everything has changed.

And we can always console ourselves in the fact that we have yet to loose a match and we are not doing as the french team are doing and asking for a guillotine on their requirements list

This is a modern world and the FIFA World Cup is a multi-million pound business, if not billion, you think they would give the fourth official access to a TV monitor, as those offsides and handballs are shown to us in seconds. It would also be nice to have some one that actually understands what is required to create a ball for the next one, as watching the explanations of what is wrong with the ball really does make it sound like they are discussing a beachball.

Anyone recall the Penny Floater football that you bought for a day at the beach for a quid or something and it always ended up floating off to sea, after a strong breeze grabbed it while you were playing football on the sand. There must be thousands of those things someplace floating around in packs, probably awaiting the arrival of the world cup 2010 balls.

I also wonder if England are training with the new ball or with the balls they brought with them, as it really looks like they are not.

One good point is that Rooney has showed he is maturing, as Rooney of old would have been red carded after some stupid challenge, after playing so bad.

But maybe the FIFA plan is to bring in more fans from nations that would normally forget about the game five seconds after their team has gone from the world cup stage, as the rest of us will keep coming back for the torture whatever happens?

http://england.worldcupblog.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/England_national_football_team

What ever happened to African Drums?

2010-06-15T17:16:00.000-07:00

Everyone who has viewed the World Cup 2010 in Africa will have an opinion on the African Horns, even though at the moment I am starting to ignore the sound. Unsure if that is down to the TV comps changing the sound or just my brain ignoring it, as I am sure they are quieter on the BBC than on ITV.

But the thought did come to me, What ever happened to African Drums? It was their method of communication, celebration and ceremony in every thing I have seen with tribal Africans in it. But it seems for football they have taking up an instrument that is akin to the Aborigine horn or the Bagpipe with the way it grates on the poor person listening to it. I mean from what I recall from Tarzan, I am sure there were drums in the background, and the only horns I recall were from the elephants, as Tarzan had them trample the bad guys

So today's games are over and several players stood out and hopefully the England players can learn something from the North Koreans, like Heart, even though they struggled to maintain their shape into the second half, they really did show the spirit of the sport, even fighting enough to get a late goal.

I am also very happy to see Christian Renaldo's diving antics were quickly carded, even though he still got away with a few more dives, it was good to see a referee willing to quickly stamp it out. I also found it interesting that Portugal's game stopped the moment it happened and the Ivory Coast players were allowed to run past them and take the ball without the likes of Renaldo falling down, rolling round the floor and then demanding a card for the player. Maybe they are not as good as they thought they were?

As you can tell Renaldo is not one of my favorite players, as I just think his diving and demanding cards is just his cover to hide his flaws, as if you are as good as he thinks he is then he would not be loosing the ball so much and have to resort to frightening the opposition into staying away from him.
Maybe I am wrong and he does not dive just to put the opposition at a disadvantage, but if I am and he really does fall so often and with such effect, then maybe he should start playing for the girls team, as playing with the men is obviously too much for him.

Now onto the next days games and hopefully I can get to watch them all, as so far things keep coming up and I have to be driving someplace or other.
Has anyone noticed that the radio are not talking about the football, so once you are away from the TV you can't find out what is happening? I know one of the radio stations are supposed to be broadcasting the games or the England games but they don't come up on my car radio, so I am rushing back trying to catch whatever is left or the highlights, if I am pushed.
I have to be pushed to watch the highlights, as it is like watching a different game at times, as they are so heavily biased toward whatever team the person selecting the clips is partial to, and I want to make my own opinion of who played well.

Spain tomorrow, which should be a good game and South Africa's second game and set in the booby game morning spot is Honduras versus Chile.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/worldcup2010
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/table/2010/mar/22/world-cup-2010-tv-fixtures

So time for Auction selling hell

2010-06-14T18:36:00.000-07:00

If you are not loosing your customers to the World Cup 2010, then the Big Brother show could swallow them up, so when to end your listings is a nightmare for the auction sellers.
On the upside you can always rely on your team or in my case the England teams dismal display to depress people enough to maybe want to do some shopping therapy to cheer themselves up. Not that I want England to do badly but being a Newcastle united and England fan does sort of get you used to football failure after all those years of hurt. This video captures the emotion of being an England fan perfectly

But every chance we get we willingly sit through the misery, as the alternative shown on the video is even worse.

Yes I have been watching the games even though I ended up missing most of the England match, and what I did see was very disappointing. Normally I would look at the other games and think there is no one there to be frightened of. But with the England performance I did see, there was no one there I could be sure we would beat. Maybe I am wrong and I hope I am but England just got held to a draw by a team they should have walked over.

We can't even blame it on the vuvuzela or what ever they are called. God those things are annoying and I am sure most of us have a suggestion of where they can shove them, rather than making that annoying noise.
The new damned world cup ball on the other hand, we like other teams could be blaming, as so far the only team that has had any success, has been the Germans, who have somehow been using the same ball for the past six months. Why they can't all agree to use one ball as standard across the world so we don't have this same ball change every World Cup. Yes I know we used to play with anything that was round or otherwise in a lot of cases, as children but these or superstitious primadonnas that think it is unlucky to step out of the dressing room on the wrong foot. So they don't handle change well. FIFA sort the bloody thing out, it can't be that hard. Just look at the goal drought of this world cup and the dire grade of football we are getting.

The Big Brother part of the problem, I don't even know if anyone is watching it at the moment, but it does have a tendency to sneak up on the viewers and suddenly they are watching it religiously, every bloody night.

I have been looking at the schedules for both the World Cup and Big brother, and there is the occasional thirty minute window but soon we will have the dreaded Penalty Shootouts, which knock any timing of it all to hell, and then your item goes out for the asking price. Probably to some heathen seller that does not like Football (and that is proper football to our American cousins, which you play with your foot.You call it soccer. Just in case you missed the fact you have a team playing in Africa playing in a world cup tournament.)

I suppose now is as good a time as any to add more to ebid.net, as you really will kick yourself later if you see your hard fought for items appearing on some sellers ebay store in a few days or weeks.
If you have not tried out ebid.net then give it a try and enjoy the sudden drop of fees to minimal or even zero if you like. Check out the ebid.net fee structure here.

And now who is playing tomorrow that I can scream at through the television?

WE WAS BRUNG UP PROPER !!

2010-02-17T03:18:00.000-08:00

Just got this in an email and thought it was funny

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL MY FRIENDS WHO WERE BORN IN THE

1930's 1940's, 50's, 60's and early 70's !

First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they carried us and lived in houses made of asbestos.
They took aspirin, ate blue cheese, raw egg products, loads of bacon and processed meat, tuna from a can, and didn't get tested for diabetes or cervical cancer.

Then after that trauma, our baby cots were covered with bright coloured lead-based paints.

We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets or shoes, not to mention, the risks we took hitchhiking.

As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags.

We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle..

Take away food was limited to fish and chips, no pizza shops, McDonalds , KFC, Subway or Nandos.

Even though all the shops closed at 6.00pm and didn't open on the weekends, somehow we didn't starve to death!

We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually died from this.

We could collect old drink bottles and cash them in at the corner store and buy Toffees, Gobstoppers, Bubble Gum and some bangers to blow up frogs with.
We ate cupcakes, white bread and real butter and drank soft drinks with sugar in it, but we weren't overweight because......

WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!!

We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on.

No one was able to reach us all day. And we were O.K.

We would spend hours building our go-carts out of old prams and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. We built tree houses and dens and played in river beds with matchbox cars.

We did not have Playstations, Nintendo Wii , X-boxes, no video games at all, no 999 channels on SKY ,
no video/dvd films,
no mobile phones, no personal computers, no Internet or Internet chat rooms..........WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!

We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no
Lawsuits from these accidents.

Only girls had pierced ears!

We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever.

You could only buy Easter Eggs and Hot Cross Buns at Easter time...

We were given air guns and catapults for our 10th birthdays,

We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just yelled for them!

Mum didn't have to go to work to help dad make ends meet!

RUGBY and CRICKET had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!! Getting into the team was based on
MERIT

Our teachers used to hit us with canes and gym shoes and bully's always ruled the playground at school.

The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of.
They actually sided with the law!

Our parents didn't invent stupid names for their kids like 'Kiora' and 'Blade' and 'Ridge' and 'Vanilla'

We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned HOW TO
DEAL WITH IT ALL !

And YOU are one of them!
CONGRATULATIONS!

You might want to share this with others who have had the luck to grow up as kids, before the lawyers and the government regulated our lives for our own good.

And while you are at it, forward it to your kids so they will know how brave their parents were.

PS -The big type is because your eyes are not too good at your age anymore

Removal of free Postage & Packaging policy and April seller news for ebay UK

2010-02-03T02:33:00.000-08:00

Research has shown that when buyers are exposed to
unreasonable postage charges in the Clothes and Shoes
categories, they spend less in the category overall. The majority
of sellers like you already provide reasonable postage charges.
Unfortunately a small minority of sellers don't; therefore from
29 March 2010 maximum postage charges are being
introduced in the Clothes and Shoes categories.

Please note the free Postage & Packaging policy in Accessories has also been reviewed. Although buyers have responded positively, some sellers indicated that it is having a negative impact on their business and asked for alternative options to prevent excessive postage. As a result, from 8 February 2010 the existing free P&P policy will be removed and replaced with maximum limits to Postage & Packaging charges.

As buyers continue to respond positively to free Postage & Packaging, sellers who offer it on their fixed price listings will continue to receive a boost in search results.

Rewarding more sellers

To reward more sellers who consistently deliver great service, the sales level to reach PowerSeller
status will be lowered from April 2010. This means more great sellers will be able to enjoy the discounts and benefits of the PowerSeller programme.

Regards,

The eBay team

Raising the minimum performance standard of selling on eBay

Changes to PowerSeller eligibility requirements

Attract buyers from the US and buy visibility on eBay.com

Good 'Til Cancelled listings older than 16 months without a sale will end automatically

	Business seller information to be displayed on View Item page

You can find out more from ebay here or the check list here or just give up and move to ebid.net here

Feb 18-25th 2008: Worldwide Ebay Strike

2010-02-02T03:44:00.000-08:00

Here we Go Again?

I have just skipped that article that you can find if you do a google search, as I personally think boycotting ebay is a waste of your time. If you want to hurt ebay and those die hard sellers that act as if ebay can do no wrong, and it is all your fault then the answer is obvious. STOP PAYING THEM YOUR HARD EARNED MONEY AS BUYER OR SELLER TOTALLY AND FOR EVER. Easy as that. BUY and SELL somewhere else and if you see something you want and it is only available on ebay then say to the user "If you sold on ebid.net where I buy and sell then I would have bought that off you for a better price than you are going to get on here and it could have cost you nothing to sell it to me." But what do I know?

So here is an article that explains how some are looking at the changes and how little ebay management think of you and a little more from me at the bottom, as I can't resist a chance to rant.

Is eBay facing seller revolt?

eBay's latest move, some of the auction site's devotees say, is straight out of the Ministry of Truth's playbook.

The company made an announcement last week about lowering the listing fees for items--even though, in many cases, final value fees will be raised. The company's discussion forums simmered with outrage over the executive decision, and frustration over the lack of other options for auction-style e-commerce.
"What a joke," commented one person on the eBay Seller Central forum, asking for advice about transferring the items from an eBay "store" to another auction site. Another suggested putting together an April Fool's Day protest.
eBay representatives say that these opinions come from the minority. "A lot of the sellers that we're talking to are very, very happy with these changes," said Todd Lutwak, eBay's senior director of seller experience. He said it gives a better array of options for different kinds of sellers. "What we've done with these price changes is, we've segmented the seller population and then we've provided those segments with what we feel are better options to meet their needs."
Here's the math: Individual eBay items with a starting price of 99 cents or less no longer have a listing fee, and if they don't sell, the seller pays nothing; but if they do sell, the final value fee is 9 percent with a maximum of US$50. Previously, it had been 8.75 percent for the first US$25, and 3.75 percent after that. For more serious eBay sellers who purchase subscriptions to run "stores", final value fees have been altered so that they start at a lower threshold, but in some cases can ultimately get higher. eBay piloted these changes in some European markets starting in 2008 (with success, representatives say), and later added some U.S.-based beta testers whom it's showcased in a new promotional site explaining it all, called "The Best Place To Sell".
"People who have store subscriptions, who sell thousands of items a month, are being advantaged," explained Alan Lewis, who worked at eBay as a product manager for five years and now serves as the platform manager for Auctiva, a site that makes tools for eBay sellers. "(This) continues the direction that they've been going for the past couple years, which is catering more and more to large sellers...It's something that makes sense for eBay. They just have to deal with the consequences. If they are bringing on larger sellers, there will be consequences for smaller sellers."
An eBay pundit who goes by the handle "AuctionWally" wrote a blog post in which he speculated that the fee changes "will benefit the savvy consumer of collectibles, antique and unique items as this plan brings a lot more product to the marketplace with low starting bids," and that "this stuff can be more like reading tea leaves than a flow chart, but it looks pretty good from an auction seller's perspective, and just as nice for most store sellers." Still, many of Wally's own commenters disagreed with him--some with extremely strong language.
Granted, when a company makes a product change announcement, it's the ticked-off ones who are the most vocal. But those dissatisfied sellers sure want to be heard.
"The lower announced listing fee decreases are absurdly trivial to the extreme, and will cause eBay to become more cluttered than ever with overpriced, worthless stuff that people will put purely on speculation that some fool will bite," an Alexandria, Virginia-based antiques dealer related to CNET in an e-mail. "I have been selling on eBay since 1997 and I know eBay like the back of my hand. It is a true love-hate relationship."
Any community site--particularly one where members may be making a profit by participating in that community--is sure to experience some dissent when changes are made. For eBay, however, the uproar from some sellers about this week's fee changes was more vociferous than usual. It amounted to Orwellian doublespeak, some claimed; and the "Best Place To Sell" microsite was little more than propaganda.
"Maybe eBay thinks a simple and transparent 'spin' that they are trying to offer will work--dropping their listing fees, which are small, and then upping the final sale fees from 3.5 percent to 9 percent--and just slip by all their sellers," said Northville, Mich.-based eBay seller Bill Wever, who says he has used the site for over a decade and owned eBay stock since its initial public offering in 1998, in an e-mail to ZDNet Asia's sister site CNET.
"After reading (this week's) announcement, I will be expanding my presence on other sites and will be significantly reducing my presence on eBay," another seller e-mailed to CNET on the same day the fee changes were announced. "It never ceases to amaze me that eBay management seems to dismiss or disregard how constant change negatively affects their fee-paying sellers. Last year, there were two major change announcements. This year there will be three."
At the center of the mayhem, really, is a problem that eBay has had a rough time with in recent years: It obviously wants to make a profit. That profit comes from commission fees, and those commission fees are biggest coming from the sales of relatively expensive goods by well-established sellers--many of whom pay a subscription to operate "stores". Hiking up listing fees has had a noticeable impact on eBay's quarterly earnings in the past.
"All the things that they've done in the past couple years have been to bring more large sellers onto the site and bring them the economic incentives to do so, and they really haven't done anything for small sellers," said Alan Lewis of Auctiva, which targets smaller-scale sellers.
And eBay has been feeling the pressure for years. It made some arguably poor acquisition choices in the past half-decade that ultimately resulted in the selling off of properties like Skype and StumbleUpon, all of which dealt a blow to shareholder confidence. Plus, online auctions are no longer the hub of deals that they used to be: An increasingly diverse cornucopia of e-commerce innovations has emerged in recent years, from handmade-goods emporium Etsy to fire-sale deal-a-day outlets like Woot and Gilt.
But the flip side of this is that eBay still has a lock on auctions. It smoked out much of its would-be competition years ago, and many of its sellers deal in niches that are better off operating as auctions rather than flat-fee sales that could be handled over Amazon or Craigslist. eBay can make many of these controversial descisions and rest assured that it still owns the market.
"All of us have been hoping for someone else, perhaps Google or Amazon, to step in and provide true competition, but that has not happened," said the antiques dealer from Alexandria. "It would require a huge investment to do a proper worldwide advertising campaign to get something going."
eBay admits that the most recent changes will make the auction process more expensive for some sellers, but stands by its decision.
"There are cases in which this new fee structure is actually more expensive than what they were paying before," admitted eBay's Lutwak, "but the fact is, what (the sellers) asked us for is they want the lower risk associated with lower fees on the front end, and that they were willing to pay the final fees."
eBay hopes to extend an olive branch in the form of new buyer-protection coverage that it says will make buyers more comfortable spending money on eBay, particularly in large amounts--and that sellers will make more money as a result. "Coupling these two messages not only shows that we're making some adjustments to the fee structure but that we're also making major investments as a company to ensure that our customers are coming back more," said Kellie Cobaugh, manager of the buyer protection program.

Article from here

ME AGAIN

More messing around, more increases and with more options to scam sellers for bad buyers. This is even more reason for users not to be there, as ebay no longer want those users that are both buyer and seller, as you read above from Kellie Cobaugh, manager of the buyer protection program.who says "we're also making major investments as a company to ensure that our customers are coming back more" They are talking about their customers who are now only buyers not the normal users on ebay that both buy and sell. I still can't see what they view those users that also sell as?

Great Really Great!

If you want to look through it and see what they are talking about then check here on ebay. If you can make sense of it when you consider the enforced free shipping and the fact that ebay is no longer a place you are guaranteed a sale of anything other than the start price if you get a sale at all then maybe you can let me know.

Not sure if there is going to be another boycott, I think most sellers have giving up caring enough to boycott ebay, and most will just float off to the alternatives like ebid.net where they really do offer free listing and those that should not stay and fight to stay will just fade away and stop selling as it becomes impossible to make a profit.

The normal suspects on PSU are voicing their opinion, as everyone expected them to, and I really do wonder how some can ignore the fact that there are very few buyers on ebay. Most users are both buyer and seller, so even if the changes ebay make do not effect their sales directly, they will eventually be effected by the loss of customers, that I have still not seen ebay do anything worthwhile to replace.

But if you are tired of ebays changes and attempts to get rid of you, then maybe this is a good time to jump ship completely and start setting up your stores on places like ebid.net, as the sellers that fight to stay with ebay will eventually find themselves with nothing.

But as always I will wish you good luck for the future.

I will see you back on ebid.net soon, as I am busy researching some marketing stuff with Social Networking like FaceBook that is taking up a lot more time than I had hoped, and looking at some new product lines that I may consider selling.

Succeeding in Your Business by Cliff Ennico

2010-01-06T00:52:00.000-08:00

Ten New Year's Resolutions for 2010 (Part One)

A happy and prosperous 2010 to all my readers. As always this time of year, here are my 10 New Year's resolutions for business owners and self-employed professionals.

Update your Web presence. Look at your business website and make at least five changes that will make it more attractive, fun and "cool" to prospective customers. Post some content-rich articles answering commonly asked questions about what you do. Put some videos on your website (and post the videos on YouTube) demonstrating in an entertaining way how to do (or not to do) something. Start a "blog" or discussion group where your customers can talk to one another about the stuff you do, with you as the all-knowing "moderator." Most importantly, hire a search engine optimization consultant and learn what you can do to get your website higher in the Google search rankings.

At the same time, delete things from your website that are boring, difficult to access or not driven by your customers. If you are a lawyer or accountant, nobody cares what you look like or where you went to school, so get rid of the website photo and biography. Put up your fee schedule instead because clients do care about how much you are going to charge them for your services! Also, a little free advice on commonly asked questions wouldn't hurt.

Don't have a business website? Create one! People expect you to have one, and it dings your credibility if you don't. Make sure your Web address appears on all of your business cards, stationery, telephone answering message, the signature line on your e-mail messages, and all offline marketing materials (such as the stenciling on your car or van).

Find three new places to sell stuff online. E-commerce is evolving rapidly right now, and the goal is "ubiquity" — promoting your goods and services in as many places as possible. Are you selling on eBay but are not happy with recent changes benefiting buyers and bigger sellers? Learn how to sell on Amazon, Yahoo and other online retail sites that still treat the "Mom and Pop" retailer with respect. Start listing your stuff on some of the "eBay clone" sites that many smaller eBay sellers are migrating to, such as www.bonanzle.com, www.ebid.com and www.ubid.com. If you sell antiques and collectibles, look for collectors associations online — they usually have a website and will post your ads for free if you agree to become a member or write a couple of articles for them.

If your market is primarily local, list your goods and services on the Craigslist site for the region or subregion nearest you (just stay away from the "personals" section).

Learn the meaning of "marketainment." As people are increasingly bombarded with media 24 hours a day, seven days a week and 365 days a year, and as their attention spans grower shorter and shorter, they expect more from you than advertising. They want a show! And you have to provide it for them. Whenever you're selling anything, online or otherwise, you are in "show business." Your message must be memorable, entertaining and "fun" in order to stick in people's heads.

Create a "blog" and post it on your website. Create a crazy, offbeat instructional video and post it on YouTube. Get involved in discussion forums on eBay, Craigslist — heck, anywhere there are people who share your interests, passions or personality. If people like you, they will want to know more about you and what you do. Show people you share, or at least empathize, with their fears and passions (what turns them on, and what keeps them awake at nights), and they will like you. Oh, and don't forget to talk about the stuff you're selling online that will either turn them on or help them sleep better at night.

The rest of the article here

Social network tips for Facebook that you may find usefull

2009-12-07T17:48:00.000-08:00

Interesting selection of articles on making use of the social network sites for business this one is on Facebook

Top 5 Tips to Increase Social Capital on Facebook

By Ethan Lyon, Senior Writer
Coca-Cola is the leading brand on Facebook with over 3.7 million fans. More and more brands are creating fan pages to capture the hundreds of millions of Facebook users across the world. Facebook can be a powerful tool to generate website referrals, engage existing and acquire new customers. It’s about creating meaning in your digital space that people want to be a part of. We’ll discuss how to brand your page, build relationships and engage and empower your fans on Facebook.

1. Brand Your Page
When you arrive on the Coca-Cola Facebook page, it is clearly branded. The landing page is almost a mini-Coca-Cola site where fans can “celebrate” their love for the soft drink company and become a member of the Coca-cola community. This pseudo Facebook splash page introduces users to the brand in a way different that the typical landing page. From the start, Facebook users understand the Coca-Cola page not just to be another Facebook page, but a platform to discuss, interact and promote the brand.
2. Inform Your Network
Send personal messages to those in your network that might be interested in your page. Blasting requests to join your page might not be the best approach–as it might alienate some of your network. Consider how you can make your page more than just a self-promotional tool. Maybe your Facebook page is where you raise money for a social cause… If so, it is a great introduction between your friends and your business–making the page less about you and more about your positive impact.

3. Be a Catalyst
There are many tools to engage your audience on Facebook. Consider the hundreds of Facebook apps, from SlideShare to Mafia Wars. Select those apps that are both relevant to your business and your fans. Some businesses have even developed Facebook Apps. San Francisco’s mayor, Gavin Newsom offers an application that serves as a badge of support and a fundraising tool. Or, consider contests and voting. Target was able to engage their audiences by asking their fans to allocate their donation dollars.
4. Offer Rewards
Why would someone want to return to your Facebook page? Consider how Sears added coupons for the products on their Facebook page. Users simply printed off $10 off coupons and brought them into the store for a discount. Simple, easy and a great way to engage your audiences. Or, what about contests? Adding a lottery-like drawing can entice non-fans to engage in your brand.

5. Empower Your Fans
With the influx of blogs and social networks, more and more people are empowered to become publishers. To capitalize on this, consider how you can incorporate your fans’ content into your site. For instance, your customers could create commercials for your brand. Have your customers submit the commercials and turn the voting over to your fans. The campaign creators will drum-up support through their own networks to create incredible brand exposure.

http://sparxoo.com/2009/12/07/top-5-tips-to-increase-social-capital-on-facebook/

If you follow the link you will find others on Twitter and Linkedin

The great ebid treasure hunt

2009-12-06T14:59:00.000-08:00

Treasure hunt on ebid net

Over the last few days we have been secretly hiding a number of "Treasure Hunt" listings throughout our 9000 product categories.

Each "Treasure Hunt" item listed is a popular product that, when found, can be won for free simply by clicking the ‘BuyNow’ button on the auction page. Each "Treasure Hunt" listing will be identified by a picture declaring “Treasure Hunt Winner”.

To make things harder the picture will not be shown in any search results or category listings and no keywords can be searched to giveaway the listings. Successful treasure hunters will have their prizes delivered before the New Year completely free of charge.

The number of "Treasure Hunt" listings will remain a guarded secret but 24 hours after the last one is found a notice will be placed in the News forum.

Good luck!

This is the image you need to search for but you have to be quick as three of the items have gone already and they are A lexmark printer worth and A coffee maker and the last one was a Heart Rate monitor.

You need to look for the image above, that will only be shown inside the treasure hunt listings, and will not be shown on the search image. So if the image is not shown then it is not a treasure hunt item, so only buy it if you are willing to pay for it.

Now I am off to search for some treasure and hopefully I will get it before you.

You can find out more and see who and what has been won on the ebid forum here.

Postal workers could strike again within weeks

2009-11-28T17:42:00.000-08:00

LONDON, November 28 - British postal workers could renege on an agreement to suspend strike action until after Christmas because of a lack of progress in talks aimed at resolving a dispute on pay, jobs and modernisation. Billy Hayes, general secretary of the Communication Workers Union (CWU), has written to members saying more strikes could be called within weeks because Royal Mail is refusing to offer enough concessions, British media reported on Saturday.
“Unless there is sufficient evidence of a change in management’s attitude, local agreements being reached and significant progress towards a full and final agreement, then we will have no alternative other than to return to strike action before Christmas,” The Daily Telegraph quoted Mr Hayes’ letter as saying.
Earlier this month Brendan Barber, the head of union umbrella group the Trade Union Congress and a mediator in talks between the two sides, said strike action had been suspended pending further efforts to settle the dispute and to prevent disruption of deliveries at the busiest time of year.
But the CWU letter goes on to say that a “strike-free Christmas” was not part of the interim agreement, the newspaper reported.

More Here

This is like drawing teeth, as even these threats of strike action must be damaging business, as companies and people wonder if they should make other arrangements, or even not bother buying from an online retailer and just save the worry and go into town.

Christmas postal strike postponed

2009-11-05T18:50:00.000-08:00

Thu 05 Nov 2009

LONDON (SHARECAST) - The prospect of major disruption to Christmas post receded today as the Post Office workers called off their planned strike tomorrow and Monday to allow talks to resume with management over modernisation plans.

TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said the decision had been made to provide "a period of calm" to enable a long-term deal to be thrashed out, though he added agreement over a deal remained a long way away.

Communications Workers Union deputy general secretary Dave Ward said the decision to end the strike action had been unanimously agreed by its executive board.

"We can now have a period of calm where we hope we can genuinely take forward modernisation in a way that puts the union at the centre," he said.

"It will take exceptional efforts to rebuild trust," he said. "But we will work very hard to ensure that the agreement stays on track," he added.

More here

Online Shopping: Postal Strike Concerns Unfounded

2009-11-05T18:05:00.000-08:00

80% of online retailers that are Royal Mail clients offer
alternative delivery methods

LONDON--(Business Wire)--

Twenga, the shopping search engine, has carried out
research to predict how the Royal Mail strikes will
impact online retailers in the run up to Christmas.

Twenga investigated the delivery options offered by
the top 50 online retailers in the UK to see how
they handle delivery during the Royal Mail strikes.
The results show that 80% of those advertising
delivery of goods through Royal Mail before the strikes
now propose alternative delivery methods to their
customers, in most cases at no extra cost, or at
a reduced fee for express delivery. For example:

* Amazon offers delivery through a courier service
at noextra cost.
* HMV offers priority delivery through a courier
service at a reduced £3.50 fee.

Many retailers go to great lengths to make sure
customers are not inconvenienced, in particular:

* ASOS has extended its returns policy to 28 days, and
introduced a paid collection service to return goods
without using Royal Mail.

Online shopping is not dependent on Royal Mail

The reliance of online retailers on Royal Mail has been
greatly exaggerated.
Even before the strikes only 31% of online retailers
relied solely on Royal Mail, a figure now reduced as
online retailers react swiftly to customer delivery
needs. 54% offer in-store collection or a collection
point.

http://www.reuters.com/

Also some reports I have been reading from sellers on
ebid, is that the Royal Mail postal service has actually improved
since the strikes started.

But articles such as the one above should hopefully reassure buyers

is ebid.nets good news of three million listings being hidden?

2009-10-29T19:32:00.000-07:00

I know most people like a who done it, so here is one for you.

This blog post popped up in my google news stuff for ebid.net and it shows this link

http://thingstosellonebay.net/ebay-alternative-other-places-to-sell-and-buy-online/

As you can see I made some changes to the original spam of the article, I marked out the first few in red to point that out what I have changed. Basically changing ebay to ebad and then changing ebid to ebid.net

Currently is eBad is the biggest player in the online auction and e-commerce game. But things are shifting and these shifts are not necessarily in Ebad’s favor. (Though eBad remains a great way to make money — as well as a great place to find great stuff at a great place, many are looking for an eBad alternative.) Now is that a marketing line or not?

The reasons for this are several fold. But the number of reason people are looking for alternatives to eBad is that eBad has made several changes in the past couple of years. The most important of these for sellers has been the initiation of new fees for listings. As a seller you will have to pay a fee when you list your item as well as when it sells. If it doesn’t sell, you still owe Ebad for the listing fee.

There are other reasons people are looking else where as well. These include buyers who have grown weary of the old Ebad style of business. Despite the fact that there are well over 100 million eBad users, the company’s growth has slowed and people (both buyers and sellers) are finding new sites to do business.

There have been alternatives to Ebad which have cropped up in the past, Yahoo!Auctions is a good example, but many of these were not successful in part because most everyone was pretty happy at Ebad. Today, many folks are looking elsewhere, so if you are looking for an alternative to sell your products, here are a few of the best options.

eBid.net
My favorite non-Ebad e-commerce site is the fast-growing eBid.net for a couple of simple reasons. First, and most importantly, my stuff has sold well there even though it is still a much smaller marketplace than Ebad. But it’s growth quarter over quarter has been phenomenal.

The other reason why Ebid.net rules is that they do not have any listing fees so your costs will be lower. Some sellers use the lower costs to offer buyers better deals, but most simply pocket the difference and improve their margins. In fact, some people that I know use both eBid.net and eBad for simultaneous listings and to great effect. But, back to the listings.

On eBid.net you have the option to enroll to their basic or premium seller structure. As a basic seller you are charged 3% of the selling price per item. As a premium seller you can buy access to the site in chunks for a time. You simply pre-purchase access for a week or a month and can list and sell items during that period. It’s a hassle free way to do business and works for both volume sellers (who work as premium sellers) and smaller sellers (who operate under the basic plan).

But, clearly, the best thing about eBid.net is that there are not any listing fees. This is huge if you want to test out a market or have some items that you aren’t sure will sell. For this reason, eBid.net is my number one Ebad alternative.

Another option is netSpray which bills itself as the “Free Online Marketplace.” At netSpray there aren’t really any fees. You don’t face an insertion fee, a service fee, a final value fee or have to subscribe to the site in order to use it. Additionally, you can export your listings via a widget and place them in your own website or blog or on another site such as Facebook or MySpace. You can also include mini-listings of your item in emails if you have a newsletter or are an email marketer.

So those are a couple of options you might consider if you are looking for an ebad alternative. And of course there will always be new e-commerce sites popping up every now and again and I will do by best to keep you appraised of those. But, and here is my final word:

For most people eBad remains the best place to start out. If you are already a powerseller, you have the resources and background to conduct a successfully campaign on another site. However, if you are just looking to learn how to make money with auctions then eBad remains your best bet. Sure, sign up at eBid.net and netSpray but focus most of your efforts on Ebad. You can still make a lot of money on eBad if you are willing to learn the game and learn your market. Even in the face of new fees, most people are still doing well on eBad and will continue using the site.

You can read the rest if you follow the link and You can find the real ebid fees here http://uk.ebid.net/help_money.php and if you would like to know what ebid.net sellers are doing to promote their products without paying others money you can check here http://meetup.ebid.net/forumdisplay.php?f=131
Most ebid sellers do offer their goods cheaper than ebay. In fact if you search the blogs, almost every seller offers their goods cheaper on any other venue, including their own sites or auction sites like ebid.net. This is one of the problems ebay is trying to face, as they offer their powersellers around 20% discount, in a hope that their sellers would pass on the discounts to buyers. Problem is none of them did, so ebay had to start offering the discount coupons direct to the buyers, which also seemed to fail.
The only thing you may notice on ebid, is that sellers will list at the lowest price they want, as they are not restricted by the extortionate fees that ebay have for simply listing an item, and as everyone tells you, that ebid.net is the growing site, and the traffic is still building. So the start price will often be the end price, and unlike the hidden buyer system of ebay, if anyone shills on ebid they will be kicked, and unlike it seems on ebay, that will not depend who they are.

One or two of us tried to add a comment telling the writer of their error, but, as with so many of these ebay promo articles, the comments are ignored.

NOW THE PUZZLE

Now this is an ebay marketing blog, which is easy to see, as it has mentioned them more times than anyone would in a lifetime, and they offer ebid as their favourite alternative, my stuff has sold well on ebid.net. (Adding that red to indicate their clever use, or none use of the name when they mention that their stuff sold well on ebid.net. It is littered with that stuff)

Now there is so much that is puzzling me on this, so I may add to this page over the next few days, as I gather my thoughts.

But one of the puzzling things is this blog is basically a nothing blog, and by that I am not calling the writer, I just mean it has nothing on it to warrant its rating 1/10.

Then when I did a search for its back links

I got this

1 http://easywaytoebay.blogspot.com/ items to sell on ebay
2 http://4myc.com/?p=2004 things to sell on ebay
3 http://b2bshirts4u.com/?p=43 items to sell on ebay
4 http://www.submittolinkdirectory.com/Auctions/ Things to Sell on Ebay
5 http://ft8.org/detail/link-640.html
6 http://www.thinkrevs.com/category/online-business/
7 http://www.submittolinkdirectory.com/Auctions/eBay/ Things to Sell on Ebay
8 http://ezinearticles.com/?Best-Things-to-Sell-on-eBay&i.....
9 http://ezinearticles.com/?How-to-Make-Money-on-eBay-Wit.....
10 http://ezinearticles.com/?How-to-Make-a-Sustainable-Inc.....
11 http://www.scottsoloff.com/the-single-secret-to-buildin.....
12 http://www.auction-essentials.com/secure-your-financial.....
13 http://www.homebasedbusiness.1stforgen.com/achieve-fina.....
14 http://hubpages.com/hub/Things-to-Sell-on-Ebay things to sell on ebay
15 http://www.cmasterson.com/home-based-business/the-singl.....
16 http://www.cmasterson.com/38/home-based-business/the-si.....
17 http://www.printingaustralia.com.au/printing/business/t.....
18 http://www.printingaustralia.com.au/printing/business/a.....
19 http://bigebayprofits.blogspot.com/ things to sell on ebay
20 http://bigebayprofits.blogspot.com/2009/08/ebay-alterna.....
21 http://www.cash-mission.com/2009/08/16/secure-your-fina.....
22 http://www.cash-mission.com/2009/08/16/secure-your-fina.....
23 http://www.lcroskey.com/rss.php?c=691 items to sell on ebay
24 http://ft8.org/blogs/making_money/
25 http://auction-tips.datgms.net/?tag=internet-business products to sell on Ebay
26 http://bigebayprofits.blogspot.com/2009/08/is-there-sti.....
27 http://www.internetmarketingreview101.com/online-busine.....
28 http://shywriting.com/?cat=5
29 http://cheapest-wholesale-products.com/category/uncateg.....
30 http://emialcash.com/achieve-financial-freedom-with-a-s..... wholesale products to sell upon ebay
31 http://www.yoursrank.com/achieve-financial-freedom-with.....
32 http://www.cmasterson.com/achieve-financial-freedom-wit.....
33 http://www.deniseasinclair.com/the-single-secret-to-bui.....
34 http://www.auction-essentials.com/achieve-financial-fre.....
35 http://qualityarticlessite.com/secure-your-financial-fu.....
36 http://www.homebasedbusiness.1stforgen.com/secure-your-.....
37 http://www.cheapwebsitehostingaustralia.com.au/the-sing.....
38 http://www.cheapwebsitehostingaustralia.com.au/secure-y.....
39 http://ft8.org/blogs/making_money/?s=H&p=1
40 http://www.submittolinkdirectory.com/Auctions/eBay/Thin.....
41 http://www.onestoponlinebusiness.com/blog/index.php/tag.....
42 http://www.gogosun.net/computers_and_internet/world_wid.....
43 http://1aaadomains.com/blog/?p=1930 stuff to sell on ebay
44 http://www.cmasterson.com/tag/ebay/ items to sell on ebay
45 http://nichearticle.net/directory/category/Business/too.....
46 http://g-p-group.com/gpgblog/the-single-secret-to-build.....
47 http://www.cmasterson.com/the-single-secret-to-building.....
48 http://auction-tips.datgms.net/714/achieve-financial-fr.....
49 http://auction-tips.datgms.net/721/secure-your-financia.....
50 http://www.helpinyoursuccess.com/blogs/secure-your-fina.....
51 http://www.rekliarticles.com/business/secure-your-finan.....
52 http://www.submittolinkdirectory.com/home/consumer-info.....
53 http://resolutionsale.com/blog/2594/the-single-secret-t..... wholesale items to sell on ebay 83
54 http://www.hongkongawards.com/2009/08/secure-your-finan.....
55 http://www.artipot.com/articles/416964/achieve-financia..... wholesale products to sell on ebay 41
56 http://www.learningisfree.com/internet-business/ecommer.....
57 http://www.learningisfree.com/internet-business/ecommer.....
58 http://www.rhinopm.com/v9/content/view/15388/116/ wholesale products to sell on ebay 57
59 http://mantrauangsaya.co.cc/2009/09/06/make-money-onlin..... wholesale items to sell on ebay 110
60 http://www.kelseypub.com/blog/internetbusiness/ecommerc..... items to sell on ebay 246
61 http://www.kelseypub.com/blog/internetbusiness/ecommerc..... best wholesale products to sell on ebay 246
62 http://www.verygoodsearch.com/blog/internetbusiness/eco..... wholesale items to sell on ebay 213
63 http://www.theuniquearticle.com/achieve-financial-freed.....
64 http://bigebayprofits.blogspot.com/2009/08/ebay-brings-.....
65 http://www.bablouse.com/index.php?c=139 Things to Sell on Ebay 35
66 http://cheapest-wholesale-products.com/how-to-find-prod..... things to sell on ebay 26
67 http://www.lcroskey.com/blogs/making_money/ Things to Sell on Ebay 93
68 http://www.lcroskey.com/detail/link-9013.html Things to Sell on Ebay 61
69 http://directory.ezweb-tools.com/Gambling-Casinos/Inter..... Things to Sell on Ebay 57
70 http://auction-tips.datgms.net/tag/internet-business/ products to sell on Ebay 40
71 http://www.monsterlinkdirectory.com/Computers_and_Inter..... Things to Sell on Ebay 63
72 http://directory.ezweb-tools.com/Internet/Internet-Mark..... Things to Sell on Ebay 57

I left it in a bit of a mess at the bottom as I got bored cutting out the crap but I am sure you get a idea of the sites that they are back linked to, and what they do. You may not be able to do this again, as all the back link sites I checked today no longer show anything for this site.

The who is reads like this

Domain ID:
Domain Name: thingstosellonebay.net
Created On: 06-Jan-2009 00:00:00
Expiration Date: 06-Jan-2010 00:00:00
Sponsoring Registrar: 'Check Whois' (GODADDY) (GODADDY)
Status: client_delete_prohibited,client_renew_prohibited,c lient_transfer_prohibited,client_update_prohibited
Name Server: ns1249.hostgator.com
Name Server: ns1250.hostgator.com
Registrant Name: Bryan Stabile
Registrant Street1: 1013 Oaklands Dr
Registrant City: Round Rock
Registrant State/Province: Texas
Registrant Postal Code: 78681
Registrant Country: United States
Admin Name: Stabile Bryan
Admin Street1: Round Rock, Texas 78681
Admin Country: (512) 255-9879
Admin Email: bryanstabile@hotmail.com

Now there is the question of who done it and why?

Could it be that ebid.net has a lot of talk going on about the fact ebid.net are about to reach three million listings, and if you swamp the search engines, with professional use of search words and a forced 1/10 rating, then anything you write will be pushing the real story to the bottom of the listing, and people can be lazy, and not look further than page one.

netSpray by the way does not really look like an alternative selling venue, but is more some form of marketing tool, used by ebad sellers. Never heard of it so I may look at it later.

If you are new to online selling or an old hand, check out http://www.ebid.net

If you are new to selling, I can only advise you to stay away from ebay, if you are wanting a safe place to sell, as it has become a hard place for those that have been there for years and have seen it all. So I really do not know how hard it would be for someone new to selling to start up on ebay.
You will be better off going to ebid.net, where the sellers on the forum will help you all they can. Even if you sell what they sell, they will still offer guidance. Unlike ebay where if you sell what another user sells, then you will either be attacked for daring to offer the same goods, or they will use you for a supplier, while ebay hides your goods in the best match.

But if you have found this and are looking at the article above, then do your own research before taking anything as gospel, as there does seem to be a lot of misinformation flying around.

I may work on this again in the morning, but now it is late and I have had enough for the night.

But hopefully you ask the same question as I have is ebid.nets good news of three million listings being hidden, and by who?

The lunatics have taking over the asylum or ebay

2009-10-28T04:28:00.000-07:00

Ebay seems to have taking over the clawback procedure, and as always they have their own idea of how you should read the distance selling regulations, or will just blatantly ignore them,

Ebays links you to this:

Your legal rights and obligations

The Distance Selling Regulations 2000 generally apply to sales to consumers made by sellers acting in the course of a business, which have been made at a distance. In other words, where there's no face-to-face contact between the seller and the consumer before the contract is made.

The Distance Selling Regulations apply to items purchased via Buy It Now listings and Second Chance Offers on eBay.co.uk. However, they don't apply to auction format listings on eBay.co.uk.

These regulations provide a period of 7 working days after the date of receipt within which the consumer can cancel the contract (often referred to as the "cooling off" period) and get their money back, including the original postage and packing charges.

The consumer can be asked to return the goods at their own expense, but only if the seller informed them of this requirement before the contract was made (otherwise, the seller is responsible for collecting the goods).

This right of cancellation does not apply to:

Custom-made goods - Goods which are tailored to your own specifications (such as custom-made wedding gown).
Goods that by reason of their nature cannot be returned – This covers medication for example.
Perishable goods - like fresh foods or flowers.
Sealed items, which have been unsealed - audio or video recordings or computer software that you have unsealed.
newspapers, periodicals or magazines
Accommodation, transport, catering or leisure services - where the seller has agreed to supply the service on a set date or within a set time period (for example hotel accommodation; plane, train, or concert tickets; car hire; tickets to sporting events).

The regulations above only apply to a business seller – consumer buyer transactions. However, even a consumer seller is required to ensure that correctly describe the item. Learn more about returns and your legal rights and obligations

As you can see Auctions are excluded, and are supposed to be excluded on ebay UK but, you think sellers are going to be allowed to use that. Not in this lifetime.

So if you need an auction, where you are assured that the idiot is not going to come back 35 days later after they have tried to sell the item, and failed, and then asked ebay for their money back then go to http://www.ebid.net/, where auctions still work.

Extra taxes plan for car boot sales

2009-10-26T03:38:00.000-07:00

(UKPA) – Oct 18, 2009

Car boot sales will face extra taxes under new Government plans, it has emerged.

A revaluation of business rates from next April is set to hit the sites of car boot sales, including pub car parks, ministers confirmed.

Communities Minister Barbara Follett confirmed the plans in a written answer to shadow communities secretary Caroline Spelman, saying: "Where a property is used entirely, or on occasion, as a car boot sale site, its rateable value for the 2010 revaluation should reflect any rental enhancement attributable to that use."

Mrs Spelman accused Prime Minister Gordon Brown of a "tax assault" on those who wanted to use car boot sales to kit out their homes during the recession.

The Valuation Office Agency is set to revalue business rates in England and Wales in April 2010. For car boot sales, these rates will be on top of those charged by the council.

The Tories said the Government was "tapping into the growing popularity" of car boot sales as a result of the credit crunch.

They warned that higher taxes on car boot sales would inevitably be passed on to customers through higher admission charges and more expensive goods.

Mrs Spelman said: "In the depths of a recession, car boot sales are more important than ever to help households raise some cash or give people a chance to buy second-hand.

Full Story from here

Another attack from this government on recycling and the environment, so next time they are at the door and saying we are looking after the environment for your children, then you can shut the door in their face with a loud laugh, and not feel guilty over it.

Sellers believing the ebay hype like 1984 double speak

2009-10-15T04:14:00.000-07:00

The biggest issue I have noticed at the moment, is more a problem for the BIN sellers, that seem to be under some delusion that it is their own ability that is doing all the work, and it has nothing to do with the changes ebay have made to increase their profits.
I have heard it several times from some of the most level headed sellers, claiming they are there due to their great knowledge, and ability. And then adding that those struggling on ebay are struggling due to their inability, as if ebay had not made the changes.

I think, if they really do believe this, and they really do seem to, then they need to check themselves, as this could really hurt their business in the future. Over confidence in your abilities can be just as destructive as under confidence, as when they come to face a real challenge then they quickly have to face up to the truth.

It is funny how these same sellers, start to struggle again, when they move to what is an auction site, such as ebid.net, that is set up like ebay used to be when it worked for all. Most of them are selecting the BIN alternatives, or stick with ebay, as their confidence in their abilities seems to falter when faced with the work to prove what they are claiming.

Come on people wake up I know ebay have a good brain washing school, but this could harm your business in the long run.

Ask yourself the magic questions?

What changed?
What did you change?

Now be truthful, when you ask yourself this, as the rest of the world is laughing at your stupidity and sudden ebay inflicted ego boost. I am also wondering if you get a message on the telephone every night that goes something like this

In hypnotic tone "Bad sellers will be removed from ebay, so you must be good sellers, praise yourself for all the good selling you are doing. You are successful, and we have not changed the search, the feedback and the pricing system to suit you, that is just the bad sellers making noise , do not listen to them, just remind them they are bad sellers, and you are good sellers, good sellers, good sellers."

Funny how when these sellers speak, and praise their own ego's that you would not think ebay had changed anything.

Stocking up on ebay.

2009-07-17T00:55:00.000-07:00

Using ebay as a product source for your off ebay store

As ebay is determined to destroy the online auction part of its business, by slowly forcing sellers of that format to leave, through hook or by crook methods, then it is becoming more of a source of goods for off ebay stores, such as bricks and mortar, personal websites or many of the new improved venues.

Don't bother with the new stock on ebay, as most of the time you will find it cheaper on the sellers' websites, or alternative venues, (Most of these sellers are using ebay as a marketing tool, and are no more wanting to pay the fees to ebay than you are.)
Ebay are trying to make it cheaper, by offering these "good sellers" a lot of discounts, such as free listings for some of the bigger ones and percentage off their fees if they be "good" and reach their monthly quota for most of the power sellers. The problem is these "good sellers" are supposed to be handing these discounts onto their customers to make ebay twenty percent cheaper than high street stores. The sellers however are the ones that have to pay for all this "buyer protection" that ebay is adding, and unlike the auction sellers that basically just have to swallow it, the "good (BIN) sellers" just use the discounts and benefits they get to cover that. Making ebay more expensive, and a place to avoid for new goods.
You may be asking why do the auction sellers not just raise their prices to cover the costs of "buyer protection" and the other problems ebay are landing on them, but I am afraid that a lot of them, still do not even know about it, and those that do also know that people will not bid on items that start at too high a price. So they are just another group on the edge of extinction, but this does mean more money for you.

So if you are looking for unique vintage used goods, at a discount price then ebay is great for that, if you know where to look, as at the moment ebay are messing up the search so badly for these sellers that their items being auctioned are going out at the start price, or a lot less than most other venues.
All you have to do to find them is learn to use the search, which is often more of a case of skipping back as far as you can go, to where those sellers who are not shill bidding and feedback cleaning are hidden.
These are the ones ebay consider "bad sellers," but the only bad thing they are doing in most cases is being small sellers, that are not out to rip off their buyers, so as to pay ebay more money, and if you do not pay the piper (ebay) then you are sent to Coventry ( the back end of the listing pages.)

If you are unsure of their "crimes," as you are not sure of the changes occurring to ebay then you may wish to look around any of the message boards linked to the right.

Ebay have been making a really bad mess of their system for some time now, and it seems it had gone past the point of repair sometime ago, so they bring in Donahoe to make the changes that were started before he even arrived.

These changes are things like giving big selling companies special treatment, such as free listings.
Forcing free shipping on sellers, so that ebay not only get the fees from the normal ebay fees and their paypal fees, but also the fees that are now added due to the shipping that was before not charged by ebay. So a bit of circumventing sellers fees in favour of ebay, and more swallowing of fees for the auction sellers.
The "feedback system" is now so destructive to small sellers that even a single negative feedback can have them pushed back in search, or even kicked off ebay.
There are so many more changes that are basically the destruction of the auction format and the small unique goods sellers that made ebay, so I suggest you look at the forums and see the massive list sellers have to deal with.

So back to the subject, if you go right to the back and look at the numbers you will notice that several of the sellers should be ending sooner than the rest but have been pushed back and, the pattern will keep going the further back you go, and the reason you are using the normal search rather than ending soonest is to see, which sellers this is happening too. You will notice that there is no easy way to jump to the back, and you have to go through the pages 1, 2, 3, 4 etc'.

Once you find those sellers, with goods that you are interested in, then start adding them to your favourites, if their stuff is ending too soon to ask any questions you may need to ask, or if you are ready to bid, understanding ebays new hate the seller "buyer protection."

Once you have them there then you will be able to search their goods without even thinking about the search, at least until they are kicked, which most will be.

If you are wondering if they are good or bad, then I would like to say check their feedback but I am afraid the feedback system is in such a state at the moment, that it is not really going to tell you anything, make sure you ask any questions you need to ask if you see an item you like, and try and find more info. Even if they are not great answers, then that still may not be a problem, as a lot of them are not experts and will rely on the buyers expertise to tell them what to look for.

They may also take a day or two longer to get the items out to you, as these small sellers are often, a housewife or granny just trying to make ends meet, and are often restricted with the chores of life, so do not panic if the item takes a few days to get to you.
Most of them will not have a set of scales so will often use a flat rate shipping, or a guestimate, that is not always close to the shipping you see on the label. this is not always trying to rip you off, which if you think about it, is not really hurting you, as you picked your price, that included the postage and then that was the most you were going to pay. So the only people losing anything will be ebay, just not purposefully in most cases, but as you look above then who cares about that.

When you get your item and find it is what you want, take a look at the sellers feedback, and see how healthy the DSRs are, if they are low give them five stars, as anything less may have them kicked and you have to start searching for their new account or a new seller.
If their DSRs are high then a four will keep them at the same level, if not drop them a little. I know four stars say good, but that is just more of ebay trying to get rid of the sellers they no longer want.
But you can check to be sure with the feedback tool from auctiontrax. What you are trying to do is not bring them forward in the search, which would make more buyers find them and then cost you more money to buy their items, but try and make sure that they do not get kicked.
They will eventually quit ebay all together, as ebay want them too, and it has become so they are no longer making any money back for their work, and in some cases will find they are paying out more than they are making, due to the higher ebay fees and the rise in the cost of the goods they are buying to sell for next to nothing to you, so do not forget to keep up searching for new sellers.

If the item is not what you want, then do not panic, do not start screaming and shouting on the email. Calmly make your point, as an ebay seller has no rights.
Your aim is to get your money back without costing you anything more than the return postage, and not getting your name added to their block bidder list, if you still wish to shop with them.

If they persist and claim they clearly state that they do not accept returns, then still do not get angry, just state that you are not trying to be awkward but are trying to sort this out amicably before having to resort to contacting ebay and paypal to get your money back, but you do not wish to damage their account.
You may find yourself added to their block bidder list due to this action but all you have to do is open up a new account, which will bypass that.

Again with the feedback, the same rules apply as above.

Most of the people I know online know most of this, so it is more for those that are just finding the ebay mess and are wondering what to do with it, so hope this helps and allows you to build your business in these times of panic, when others are going under and not doing so well, as they try to fight ebay, rather than try and save their business.

Remember your future belongs to you not ebay, or anyone else.

Just love this sort of article with lots of useful links

2009-07-06T03:40:00.000-07:00

Just added a new article link to my free stuff links although it is not totally free it has a lot of great links to save you money, and is all related to online shopping.

A lot of the links are full of more links, like the Stop spending, start swapping! link, which leads you to links that allow you to swap everything from your home for a few weeks (holiday) to the clothes off your back.

As it is from a UK site, most of the info is for UK shoppers, but a lot of it will transfer, and some of the info such as in the second linked article Online shopping is cheaper which offers the insight into a buyers mindset to some extent. This also allows us to see what tools the buyers are now starting to use to search for items, and why getting your items out there is more important than ever.

If you wish to read the full article you can read it here

Just like busses three come along at once

2009-06-25T18:07:00.000-07:00

I have heard of three deaths tonight, and it is strange the way people react to them, as most of us have never even met them or even those that did probably never really knew them.

Farrah Fawcett

The first was, one that was expected, and yet I doubt it would have made it any easier for her friends and family, as Farrah Fawcett finally lost her battle against Cancer.

LOS ANGELES – A winsome smile, tousled hair and unfettered sensuality were Farrah Fawcett's trademarks as a sex symbol and 1970s TV star in "Charlie's Angels." But as her life drew to a close, she captivated the public in a far different way: as a cancer patient who fought for, then surrendered, her treasured privacy to document her struggle with the disease and inspire others.

Fawcett, 62, died Thursday morning at St. John's Health Center in Santa Monica, nearly three years after being diagnosed with anal cancer. Ryan O'Neal, the longtime companion who returned to her side when she became ill, was with her.

More of the story here : Yahoo News

Michael Jackson

The next came as a bit of a shock, and I suppose you just know the ghouls will be all over it with the sick jokes, forgetting that it will be Michael Jacksons children and family that will have to live with those jokes, and just as sick comments that seemed to plague him in the last ten years.

Michael Jackson, singer, songwriter, performer, and perhaps the most famous pop star of modern times, died tonight less than a fortnight before he was due to start a record-breaking 50-concert tour in Britain.

Jackson was rushed to hospital in Los Angeles from his home in the Bel Air district while paramedics tried to restart his heart after he suffered what the coroner later described as a "full cardiac arrest".

More on this story from the Times

For me both are sad events that leave behind grieving family members, who now have to face up to the future without their loved one, and who should be giving some space and time to grieve.

But will they get it? I very much doubt it, as the idiots will buy more papers with those stories than without.

The Michael Jackson death keeps going back to the same argument for me, which is how much protection should we offer celebrities, especially as in MJ's case, when they start off their career as children.
Yes they enjoy the fame or the money that goes with the job, but does that mean they have to give up being human?
Does that mean the fan has to continue acting like some jealous partner not allowing the person they are supposed to love any freedom to breath and grow?

Maybe it is time the fans prove their love, by taking action, and start giving these humans some life back. As it seems that what is destroying most of the stars is the demands of stardom put on by their fans, and when the celebrities complain about it, it just seems to come across as sour grapes, as the next day they actually need the publicity.
Using complex laws just does not seem to work, as we keep seeing the broadcast or photographed breakdown of so many celebrities, and I am sure the fans would stop buying the papers, which showed images that were taking in a manner that was preventing their favourite celebrity the opportunity to grow, or would not go toward them if they knew the celebrity was just trying to enjoy a small slice of normality.
Instead of the laws that do not really seem to be helping, make it something simple, like the wearing of a red hat, means they want to be left alone. It does not have to be a red hat, just happened to be the colour I selected when I was making the designs for the blog image. The point is that if the image in a paper or magazine shows whatever the selected thing is, then do not buy it if you're a fan.
If you see your favourite person wandering around some place and they are wearing the red hat, or whatever, then instead of approaching them shoving your autograph book in their face, you let them get on with it.
I don't know it just seems to me if the government or the press will not protect your favourite celebrity, maybe it is time for the fans to make the rules, and decide they want better for another human being.

Gary Hendrickson - The Auction Rebel

The last death, yet no less important, even though it is not likely to be front page news, or giving live commentary from the BBC, or any other TV station, and has just been spread discreetly round the blogs and ebay related sites, as if between friends, which is possibly the better way for it to happen.

Gary, better known as The Auction Rebel was one of the original eBay bloggers that I started following in the early days of TameBay. Sadly his family have reported on his blog that Gary passed away on Tuesday this week.

Gary’s readers will remember him for his “Garage Sale Challenges” where he documented the gems he found and the prices the items fetched at auction. I’ve followed his challenges with great interest over the years and he’s never failed to inspire with his dedication to show that “real eBaying”, as it was in the early days, is still alive and kicking.

The story I first read on PSU here and then Tamebay here

good bye

Posted on 24 June 2009 by Gary H

I am sorry to write that we lost a friend yesterday. Gary passed away about noon on Tuesday June 23rd following a massive heart attack with no previous warning.

We know that this sight and computer auctions were a big part of his life and so wanted to let anyone out there know what had happened.

The rest of this announcement on the Auction rebels blog

I had never heard of this blog before, and I have been back several times as I write this following the links and reading the information Gary has added, and some of the information being supplied is priceless, and well worth a read for those trying to find more information on what sells, and even where to find it. I would recommend taking a look at the Garage sale challenge here. This is all very old ebay, with the community spirit, and friends helping each other, while trying to make a little extra cash, and the Plan It! Believe It! Work It! Achieve It! tag line under the title is great advice.
The garage sale challenge does have a serious side, and would possibly be a good thing to work on, even if by yourself, especially now ebay are making it more and more difficult to make a living.
Keep a good record of what you get from where, how much it makes, how much it cost to sell, and any other information that can help in the long run, as six months down the line you may just be wondering why you have not got enough to feed the cat.

I think you will find it well worth a read, and maybe find it a little sad when you think that these are the people ebay are doing all they can to get rid of.

Maybe the reason death comes like a bad bus service when it is not as personal, is to make us all take a little time to think about how our own lives are shaping up. Are we doing all we can, all we want to do, and are we where we want to be?

I know the three people above, each seemed to make the most of their lives, and if their death matters to you, then you can at least take some comfort in that, and if not at least take a moment to think about any ways you could improve your own life.

My commiserations go out to the families of those I have mentioned. Just remember their smile and it will get you through in time

Ah well the sun is rising and it looks as if it will be another fine summer day, all messages are sent, all packages posted, and life goes on.

More free stuff on ebay No 3

2009-05-13T17:11:00.000-07:00

And just when you think the ebay idiot can't get any worse, then they just keep on messing up.

I first read this from an article being shown on PSU, that came from Auction Bytes here

How about this one for those of you wanting free stuff on ebay, and this one seems to be a great one for all, and up to this point I really can't see any defence against the thief and its accomplice (ebay.)

From ebays Purchase Protection Policy or better know to some as the thief's bible

What happens if a buyer believes an item is not authentic?
When buyers file a claim alleging that the item is not authentic, we require the buyer to destroy the item. Once a buyer confirms destruction of the item, we will reimburse the buyer or provide an eBay coupon.

You notice the none mention of proof of any form, that you destroyed the item or that you had the item verified by a professional.
Even if the worse came to the worse, how much does it cost you for a fake designer bag for you to destroy instead of the genuine article you bought from the ebay seller? And take photographs of the fake one destroyed.

Now the number of ways to take advantage of this are so numerous, it is just insane.

I really can't see any defence against this one, as ebay think you as the seller are just a thieving scumbag, that is out to rob the poor unsuspecting buyer.
They are ignoring the fact that you as the seller are more likely to have put a lot of effort into selling on ebay, and have plans to stay on ebay, so are not likely to want to destroy your feedback or your reputation, where as the buyer has no such concern, they can be back five minutes later with a new ID.

This one has now been changed slightly but ebay are still taking over the buyer protection, and you should read on to see how bad that is going to be for the honest seller.

So an insight into how ebay are going to run this policy is shown here at tamebay, which just confirms what we all knew would happen with ebay, and how they would be hitting the yes, yes, yes button every time without any thought or common sense. And this was not for a fake item, but apparently for an item not as described.

This is supposed to be coming out fully, next month, and as you can see by the test case that it is a great chance to get free stuff. Ebay will be claiming that they will be monitoring for misuse of this system but we all know how little ebay know about security, so this is your chance to have all the free stuff that you want with little effort.

Now as always I will consider the angle for the scumbag seller that attacks their competitors, as this one not only gets you some free stuff from your competition, which you could even sell on ebay (as they will not check.) It also costs them the item cost, the postage, and an ebay backed no arguments strike against the sellers account. Then you can hand out your bad feedback and the seller is closer to being kicked from ebay, back in their search, so you can use your alternative accounts to buy more free stuff, but with a lower payout.

Defending yourself against this one, as I said is impossible, as it is totally down to ebays judgement, so nothing you say or show will pacify their stupidity.
They also seemed to have failed to mention any seller protection for this, so it really is a case of the only way to be safe is sell some place else.

For a lot of the large sellers this will be nothing, but for the smaller sellers, this will be the nail in your ebay selling coffin.

So if you have not started moving at least some of your stuff to the alternatives, then now really is the time to start, as eventually one or several of the new ebay rules will have you closed down.

If anyone has any tips on protecting yourself against not just the scammers and destructive sellers with this one, but also the buyer who decides they are a little short one week, and figures it would not be made possible if it was not supposed to be used, then I would be happy to see a response, as I can't think of a thing.
And please do not just say bend over and give whatever the buyer asks for, as for most small sellers or auctions sellers, then that is not an option, as they have no way to build the loss into the price. A lot of us are having to do this now anyhow, but hopefully someone has a way to defend yourself from ebay. The only one I can think of is not to use it.

ANOTHER DESTRUCTOR FOR THE SELLER ATTACKER

Another great trick for those auction wrecking competitors seems to be to get round the buyer requirements, so that you do not have to fit any of the requirements.

This is quite a simple task, as all you have to do is get the buyer to make an edit of their listing.
This can be done by asking if they could add a photograph, or if you see something wrong then mention it. The target will even thank you for your help.
Once they edit their listing, another little ebay glitch seems to work its magic and turns off the buyers requirements.

Your defence against this is do not make any changes, which includes adding extra photographs. Your customers may not like it but, they will like you less if you are no longer there.

The shut down of hotandvintage.com

2009-05-07T18:30:00.000-07:00

I created www.hotandvintage.com for me and my wife, in a hope to draw her away from the mad house that has become ebay and what I could see it becoming, which turned out to be warranted in this case.

The problem is, as with the old saying "you can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink" she struggled to see beyond the short term answer of ebay, as are a lot of sellers still hanging onto ebay are fighting to stay on ebay.
And although the customers were building and the sales were starting to flow regularly I think I agreed that we both preferred the auction format.

I am still looking at ways to increase sales off ebay, but now it will have to be through using the alternatives, as I can only see ebay getting worse and the more sellers stay on there the more damaging it will be to the auction used vintage market.

We are still trading to a small extent here and there but nothing major, as at the moment it feels like ebay is going to get their way, and the auctions will eventually be faded out, but not fast enough to let any competition get a hold on the market. So it is a case of just waiting until the small profit that is left on their is gone and we give up, as I am just so tired of the animals, that are the new ebay buyers, and the ebay mess that is allowing it to get like this.
The market is made for BIN sellers and unless you are willing to step into that method, it, in my opinion, is time to search out an alternative method of making a living.

As to our website customers, sorry for the inconvenience and I hope we see you soon on the alternatives.

A message to those buying from the alternative auctions.

2009-05-07T18:12:00.000-07:00

I understand that on first glance you will think the auction listings are higher than the start prices that you see on ebay.

This is not just because most of the sellers have been restricted so long on ebay with their high fees that they now feel they can rip you off, but more because the traffic on these websites has not risen to the point that you can be guaranteed a sale at this time. So sellers are starting the item at the lowest price they will accept so as to prevent them becoming a feeder for other sellers.

I know the prices do look higher but how many times have you been on ebay and seen items you must have start at £2.99 only to shoot up to forty, fifty pound or more. But the likely hood of that happening at the moment on the Auctions I have chosen is very slim and you are likely to be getting the bag for the start price you see, which is a lot less than the price you will get on ebay.

At the moment during the transition period we are still accepting paypal, but as we move away from ebay, then we will also move away from paypal to what we feel are more secure payment methods for both buyer and seller.

We must add that these bargains may only be available for a limited time and eventually the auctions will have enough turn over to allow the sellers to reduce the start prices to what we have all grown accustomed to

Now why would the seller want to move from ebay where all the buyers are, I assume is your next question?

I can only speak for myself but it is possibly true for most sellers that I am moving from the ebay system, as I feel for to long sellers have had to put up with growing fees and lower security, with false claims of security to the buyers that they do not or cannot deliver.
This eventually comes back on us, as buyers have had a bad experience or have heard of someone else that has. So buyers tend to go into our business relationship jaded and afraid.
This I am sure you agree is not a great way to start a relationship and basically forced our decision in this matter.

And now to your security at the new auctions, please take the same precautions you would anywhere else and do not assume that scammers would not have followed us. At the moment, however, it may be a little harder to spot them as a lot of sellers are moving to the new auctions with a fresh start in mind.

So check through the listings carefully. You do have the option to get a lot of good bargains here, but again read everything and if you are unsure start asking questions, just as I hope you would on ebay. You are not under as much pressure with the listings on these auctions at the moment, I must stress, at the moment, as more people are starting to come to the auctions as buyer and seller, so this opportunity may only last a short time.

We are happy to see you and hope we can continue with the success of our past transactions and hopefully we have brought you here in time to grab yourself a bargain or three.

Take an opportunity to look around the forums, as part of my criteria for selecting the auctions, was the friendly forums. So if any of my customers require help then they can either ask me or unlike with the ebay community board they will not have to fear entering the forum and asking for help.

I would just like to add that we at hotandvintage wish ebay all the luck in the world with their new direction, and even though we do not agree that the world needs another Amazon. We sort of understand your thinking in this, so hope the rewards are as good as the risk you have taking with what was a sound business. We thank you for the good times and the opportunities that you gave so many people in the past, including ourselves. Once again good luck.

And now to our customers please feel free to browse our store that is constantly being filled, almost daily, as are our new auction sites to bookmark us so you don’t get lost in the future

The making of the Holy Grail or the Auction Search Engine

2009-05-07T18:08:00.000-07:00

I have been partaking and watching some of the discussions on the making of the new MOAAS, (A Search Engine for Auctions that showed promise but suddenly faltered with no word of why.)

But some people seem a little lost in what we are asking of the search engine. I will try answer as best I can.

A normal search engine like Google and yahoo do not really go searching the web every time someone asks them to find something. They have already found it before you asked by sending out small programmes called spiders or bots that search the web scanning every site they find and mapping out the important details, and all that info has to be stored on a massive database or should I say lots of massive databases all over the world.
The reason they are so up to date is they have a lot of spiders running twenty four seven, as spiders are what they call low impact, which means they only use up small amounts bandwidth so they do not interfere with the running of the website.

They also have things like google base that you may know as google products search. Where people submit the info for their products, or the auctions they are selling on hand in the info for them. But this is only for items that have a fixed price and some auctions will only hand in items that fit specific criteria.

So when you ask for the latest mobile phone and google search for it, they are searching the database not the websites.

This is not really great for what we want but could be used for some parts of the search, such as fixed price, as long as we had enough spiders to keep it up to date. If the item is no longer available every time a customer searches for it then, they will stop using the search engine.

There are also other methods to search sites. You may have heard of meta search, that is closer to what we want but still has problems as it can produce massive amounts of data and if you look at sites like AuctionLotWatch that use this method, they will only scan the first page due to the amount of data it creates and the fact live searches can be slow if it tries to take on too much.

There are also the JavaScript searches that you can see with Alfie search or the Ebid searches that you can find on the PSU. These work by making use of the sites own search commands as if you were on them.

Problem with those is that not all sites can be searched, as some have coded search commands, it is limited by the number of sites that can be opened at once, it is controlled by the auction sites own options, there is no real sorted comparison and finally not everyone will allow JavaScript on their computer due to the fact it is heavily used in popups and can have security risks.

So what is the answer?

For me the perfect search engine (if we can’t have the auctions extending their own search engines) will scan the auctions like javascript but show the results in the same way google or a comparison script will show from the database.

But we can’t have that, as like I said live search is too slow at the moment but we could possibly request a compromise if we can get the auctions on board and try to get them to make a standard search criteria of search options. BIN, Auction, Ending Soonest, Newly Listed and all the other things we are used to, or more importantly our customers are used to. This would give the search engine a frame work to search under and the customers the option to thin down their search

Then after the user selects their preferred criteria we have a search engine that searches the first couple of pages the same way AuctionLot watch does. But at this point the server in normal circumstances will become dormant as the user reads the data it waits for the user to start pressing buttons or links.
So what if the Search Engine used this time to start searching on the next two or three of pages building a mini cache for the user sort of a smart search.
If we also had spiders doing the work, then some of the items could be drawn from the main database if there are a lot of fixed price in the search then all the better.

Now there have been a few other questions on why the search sites that are available now are not up to the job and do not seem to be covering the bigger auctions.

Again I can only offer what I see and make an educated guess but it could be a few things.
Database issues they just do not have the space.
Cost Issues, they have tried to charge for the service and failed.
Spider Issues, the spiders can be prevented from searching a site.
This can happen if the spider is not acting in the right manner, sticking its nose where it is not supposed to be, or is drawing on resources, as the person has set the spider up wrong, or as in ebays case with one company, the site thinks the search engine is detrimental to its business.
The only other issue that I can think of but there are probably a lot more is they are not searching the sites and are only using file upload like google product search, which is no use for auctions.

What you can do now if you are a seller?
If you sell fixed price items and you do not fit the criteria of your auction (ask them first,) then you could start making use of google base and sites like bidfind that will allow you to upload a csv file with all your fixed price items. If you do not have fixed price items, then would it not be possible to add a few just to make use of this service. And draw customers into your other products.

I think I have to stop working on this now for a little while, as it has started to cost me money, while I am doing the auction search stuff I am getting behind in the listing of items and stuff. I still have not had time to list on the new auctions, which I have to get round to as you see in the countdown on the top time is running out.

10% off if you help us rip them off

2009-05-07T18:03:00.000-07:00

Old blog, some of this changed, as even ebay have to use their brains at some point

Has ebay hit the self destruct button again or is this just the funny season when all the nuts come out to play?

Ebay create a system where you can get better discounts if you have higher DSR's ( those stars on ebay feedback) And then set up the a second system to make sure you can't ever reach that goal as they will give a buyer 10% off their next purchase if they hand out lower stars to a seller.

So if you are happy or not you are better off giving out lower stars, as you get ten percent off your next purchase, still to find out if these can be combined, so you can get twenty, thirty or even one hundred percent free. Nothing would surprise me with ebay.

This is only in the US at the moment but will spread as all crap ideas from ebay do, but who is coming up with this stuff?

Another great idea from those great people at ebay, is to say yes we know that if you only offer item collection that paypal is not for you, but we will still force you to take the payment through paypal, as if a buyer wants to rip you off then they should be allowed to, (as long as we get our fees at the end of the day then who cares seems to be the thinking there.)

And for those of you selling eBooks and such ebay are about to bring in a rule to stop the sale of electronic media. But the clever part about it is, that they can kick you now and even suspend your account, and the fact they have not changed the policy yet, have not publicized the fact that this is going to happen, or even changed their system to prevent you from listing them, does not matter, as all good sellers will now have mind reading skills, and they will get rid of those bad sellers that do not.

Am I missing something here, has ebay decided they do not want any sellers or buyers, have they some other use for their servers that we do not know about?

Why do ebay not just allow us to promote our other auctions and websites on our listings? If they do not want the custom, all the other auctions will be happy to take us off their hands?

Please if anyone can shed any light on this I would love to hear from you, as these people have me stumped, why would anyone want to destroy a billion dollar business?

Ebay driving sellers to insane measures

2009-05-07T18:02:00.001-07:00

Found this on the PSU and first thought it was funny until I started to read the listing on ebay, that I have pasted bellow, just incase they remove it. You can just feel what the person is going through and maybe it is the fact that we all probably feel the same it just makes it worse.

springlering (3241 ) View Listings \| Report		Apr-02-08 17:50 PDT
http://tinyurl.com/2vk6r9 I am waffling about closing my 11 year old eBay account, and am hoping this will prompt eBay to do it for me, and save me the trouble. I am so sick of the whole da*n thing. I don't know what prompted me to start selling again. A moment of weakness, I guess. It's like a bad drug habit.

Ebay Member User ID For Sale 99.7% 3000+ Feedback!!!

Up for Bid:

One Ebay Member ID, opened May, 1997.

ID boasts a healthy 3,250 positive individual feedbacks making for a feedback rating of 99.7%. (eBay does not count feedback from repeat buyers, even though those are the best kind.)

Having left well over 10,000 feedbacks, this ID is very experienced, and prides itself upon those very repeat buyers, which are the lifeblood of any good ID.

It started out life as an enthusiastic, healthy member ID, taking pride in its appearance and reputation, and experiencing joy and serendipity in it's dealings as both a buying and selling ID. None of this schizophrenic "I buy under one ID and sell under another ID and sometimes I diddle with both on the same auction" business.

It is proud of being an honorable ID, one that, as a seller, works to make it's winning bidders happy with their wins, and, as a buyer, to pay promptly when invoiced by fellow sellers.

A globe-trotting ID, with all the necessary shots, it boasts friendly and personal feedbacks from nearly fifty different countries, and considers it has done nearly as much for global relations as any host of ambassadors.

For many years, this ID was happy in its warm, comfortable, nurturing eBay environment, but then it noticed it was becoming tired and out of breath trying to create listings. "It's just old age", the Member ID thought. "I'm not as fast or efficient as I once was." "My arm is sore. I wish this Mexican bidder would stop twisting it and threatening to leave negatives if I don't give her the same postage rate as someone in the USA."

It wearied of trying to outrun accusations of dishonesty by prank bidders. "What men are these," the ID wondered, "who would steal their closest kinfolks passwords and bid nilly willy on laptops they didn't really want? What hath the world come to? Nay, is it the End of Days? Or simply a Fool's Paradise online?"

Then the ID realized, it wasn't all old age. eBay was secretly contributing to the problem, like six pound ankle weights on a treadmill walker (the Member ID was very familiar with this form of torment). It seemed every day there was a Policy Change email lurking in the inbox, waiting to pounce like a crazed nonpaying snipe bidder.

"My head hurts!" moaned the ID. "The rules are changing so fast,I get dizzy".

"Take the Pill!" cried eBay. "Trust our diagnosis! Our corporate doctor, while knowing little about the day to day operations of an actual eBay user, does know what's best for all Member IDs!! He's not an auction participant, but he did play one on TV!"

But the honest little Member ID found the side effects only made things worse. It began to question eBay's motives, worse, to doubt them.

Question upon trouble, trouble upon question began to burden the poor ID's wearisome thoughts, even intruding upon its sleep.

The Member ID even tried taking a six month cold-turkey holiday from eBay, but foolishly found itself lured back, like a hobby moth to the flame of virtual e-commerce.

So, now, sadly, this ID finds itself in poor and declining eBay health lately. The relationship has become abusive, and unhealthily co-dependent.

In short, the Member ID finds that it needs to make a clean break from it's owner, for both their sanity.

This Member ID has been diagnosed with the following malaise:

Advanced Non-Paying Bidder Syndrome: a cancer eating away at eBay

DSR Fluctuations: symptomatic of Advanced NPB Syndrome (see above), in which nonpaying bidders can leave malicious feedback and infect otherwise healthy cells, I mean, stars

Best-Match Palpitations: onset of sudden and unreasonable fear of being lost and never found in a formerly friendly environment

TurboListerrhoids: frequent cramping and bloating occuring during loads

Fee Ennui: Debilitating worry that fees are multiplying and spreading, and finding you no longer care

Bull-imia: The act of accepting absolute and utter bullcarp from eBay as Gospel, and trying to keep your feet out of it, while you wrap you mind around what sense it makes. Warning: This condition may cause confusion, disorientation, and irrational spurts of anger.

Altzliarheimers: Symptomatic of foreign wiseheimers demanding you to lie and put an alternate value on Customs forms.

Scams: Embarrassing condition involving others. Not to be confused with scabs, although equally ugly, bothersome and annoying when visible in public. Deemed necessary to hide, or at the very least, politic to ignore, by eBay.

Blockage: frequent necessity to block unwanted or unwelcome bidders, since Ebay won't operate to remove these dangers themselves. Avoid eBay Brown Bag Lunches at all cost, as these will only exascerbate symptoms.

Shillarrhea: When one's blood pressure rises upon suspicion of shilling. Often accompanied by Blurry Vision: seeing stars when one should see bidder IDs when viewing a bid history

Fleas: Irritating condition in which ID's items are considered unworthy. All small IDs have them. eBay said so.

Quarantine: a mandatory 21 day isolation period for Paypal payments, at eBay's discretion

IDgestion: the gut wrenching, sickening feeling occuring upon logging in to eBay these days

This ID has been told it has four weeks to live, and should make arrangements for last rights on or near May 1st, at which time, life support, in the form of Feedback reciprocation, will be removed, and negative bloodletting will begin.

There is no transfusion for this condition.

There is neither health insurance, nor customer service available, either, unless you count the standard eBay canned response: "Take two aspirin, clear your cookies, and don't call us in the morning."

This ID has been fully tested, and found to be devoid of any relatives, small children, or pets. It is therefore guaranteed completely free from the infectuous, highly contagious problem that many other IDs suffer from: "my brother/toddler/dog placed the bid and didn't mean to".

It comes from a smoke-free household. It does, however, cause steam to escape involuntarily from the ears on occasion.

Winning bidder will win all rights to this ID. Seller will provide winner with password, after payment of winning bid, and after removing seller's personal information, and replacing it with winner's own information. We can complete this transaction via phone, or in person. Seller retains all rights to, and will erase the current About Me page, but will happily work with winning bidder to create a replacement page.

Seller cannot, obviously, guarantee continued success, or profit of any kind, to buyer. Take at own risk. May cause irratibility and/or cramping. And gas. Do not use while operating machinery or size 4 font.

The photo below is a non-bidding, non-binding dog, and is not included with the auction. I show him only as an example of what this Member ID plans to do upon shedding itself of itself.

Anyone wants to show the way this is hurting people to the press, then show them this listing that you can find at: Link to listing

The vasaline add on ebay

2009-05-07T17:54:00.000-07:00

160246537635 This is the number of the listing, although I don't think it will be there any more than the two day baby offer.
But this is a have to read so copied it to here.

A BRAND NEW JAR Full Of Petroleum Jelly!

Note: The photograph is of my own personal jar of petroleum jelly that is opened, only to show you what is offered inside the sealed containers I am selling. Many vendors often disply the contents of their sealed packages done in this listing. Notice mine is almost empty? I had to use a lot of this after my first attempt to bring you this listing and you will need a lot of this product too in the near future! OUCH!!!

Your buying experience online has been improved with new policies. Members are reporting they got bummed by new policies. Obviously a A spoon full of petroleum jelly is not nearly enough so I have revised my listing and now offer full jars! The product I am now offering is Brand NEW, FULL, UNOPENED JARS of Petroleum Jelly. I offer this to the community because it is obvious you will really need lots of Petroleum Jelly to ease the pain you are feeling as an online buyer or a seller. This is not a medical cure nor is it intended for cosmetic purposes but please read on as it will help you bare the pain of your online buying experiences!

Buyers feel they can trust online sellers with 100% feedback ratings when unknowingly, the feedback systems are manipulated by third parties who did not participate in any part of any of the transactions between buyers and sellers. Lowlife, former low rated, sellers appear to be trust worthy today. There are currently sellers online right now with a lifetime achievement of 70% and even lower, who are represented as 100% rated sellers. This happens when the seller is inactive and after 12 months his negative feedback doesn't count any more. If you meet one of these sellers as a buyer you really need this product because you are getting bummed two ways! Ouch! Buy It Now to ease the pain!

Sellers who were just days ago rated 99% now have lower ratings than complete bums, although they have been selling 100 items a week online for 10 years! All they did was let non-paying bidders off the hook and processed a mutual decline an exchanged neutral feedback to make it complete! If you are one of those sellers or a buyer who misses out on that sellers great services due to feedback manipulation and search manipulation you really need this product because you are getting bummed!

If you are a buyer and don't get feedback because a seller is boycotting the feedback changes, you need this products because you are getting bummed!

If you are a seller and your bidders have offered to sell you positive feedback and you can't neg them, you need this product because you are getting bummed!

In all, the only members who may not need this product are the low rated members who's feedback improved. This bummed the whole community so you can really see there is a high demand for this product! If you are one of the sellers who have benifitted from the new policy you might want to buy this product and Neg me for offering it to the community! In that case I can do nothing about it and I will use my own product since I will be getting bummed!

I will provide you with one brand new jar of petrolium jelly with your purchase to sooth the pain of getting bummed! I reply to email promptly in the event you need some sort of customer assistance but hopefull you will already know what to do. I offer free shipping and will pay all fees on the money I spend to ship your petrolium jelly to imporve my ratings. This does increase the price for you overall but no one told you that. Opps you got bummed again. Maybe you should buy two!

With the above in mind it is obvious that some people may have been bummed emore than others. For those requiring large quantities of petrolium jelly at a volume discount, you should contact me for a special listing. I am to please all of my customers!

Some online servces like the idea of sellers leaving feedback for all buyers when payment is made. I think this is a bum policy but I will comply with the trend and wishes of these services and post this positive feedback for you when you make your payment. "They Bought Petrolium Jelly when bummed by Policy! A+A+"

I will ship one brand new jar of petroleum jelly to each buyer within one day unless damands overwhelm me. This product may become back ordered due to overwhelming demands, but I just got off the phone with my suppiers and have been assured that I will be receiving tractor trailer loads as needed to assist my custmers pain! I also have employees that I will bring into the packaging process of this item to meet the demands of the community. Rest assured I will provide product to ease your pain!

Profits generated from the sales of this product will be used to assist in promoting this product, so other members who got bummed and don't even know will be made aware. With any luck the whole world will soon know this community got bummed by changes, through the sales of this petroleum Jelly to help ease that pain.

I offer other interesting crap for good causes in my other listings too, so be sure to check them out. All the crap I offer is of the finest quality money can buy and proceeds help a good cause. The only one who can make a differance is you and this is how you do it! God Bless!

Payment:

Flat Rate shipping services for mailed payments only with no returns.

Parcel Post & Priority Mail (UPS if applicable) shipping services are listed for PayPal or mailed payments with a 14 day return policy.

All payments are expected within 10 days of online purchase. Items paid through Paypal with improper shipping charges will be refunded and handled as an unauthorized payment option through Ebay until an authoized payment option has been completed as specified in this listing.

Shipping:

Flat rate shipping is offered for mailed payments only with no returns.

Parcel Post & Priority Mail (UPS if applicable) are offered for PayPal or mailed payments with a 14 day return policy.

All items will be shipped with delivery confirmation. Items valued over $250 total including shipping will require a signature. Insurance is always an option you may wish to add. Original packaging must be retained for any shipping claims.

Terms of Sale:

All items listed are sold under the Ebay Trade Assistant Program. As a result I offer two shipping options to simplify the legalities of consignment sales online.

It is required by FL law that I operate under the supervision of a Licensed and Bonded Broker. I also must retain posession of all items offered on consignment until the consignor is paid in full. Due to the Buyer Protection program offered by PayPal it would be illegal for me to accept PayPal as payment for the consignor since the payment could be reversed. Here is why! The reversal would actually place a hold on another consignor's funds where the new Ebay buyer's goods could not be shipped until PayPal decided the first dispute and the funds were again collected on the item disputed so the next consignor could be paid. That is a direct violation of laws governing consignment sales! Paypal should address this issue for consignment sales on Ebay and persue inforcement of the Ebay contracts on consignment item since PayPal automatically voids all Ebay contracts! Furtunately there is still a Non-Paying Bidder Policy and those individuals who have made Paypal illegal by voiding the Ebay contract through Paypal will be booted off Ebay after three strikes by other sellers who sell there own goods. Below I will describe how I offer a return policy or discounted shipping legally and can accept PayPal with the return policy option only.

Flat Rate Shipping: I offer a discounted flat rate shipping to all buyers who purchase the item as-is using mailed payments. This saves the buyer money but this does not mean I cannot offer you any service. I want you to be happy with your purchase! The ebay contract however is a binding contract and it allows me to resolve any buyer issues according to law and moral responsibily as with any reputable business.

Parcel Post, Priority Mail or UPS Shipping: PayPal and mailed payments are accepted. A 14 day money back guarantee is offered! Return shipping is te buyers responsibility and S&H is money spent to ship the goods and is non-refundbable. In order to make the return policy legal I pay the consignor for the item myself, ship it to you and stand behind it! Keep in mind Pawn Shops and Consignment Shops never offer any warranty so this handling charge is a valid and valuable service and you are almost always getting the item for less than you would have paid at the Pawn Shop or Consignment shop even with the shipping & handling.

Note: There is no CC surcharge being applied here. You are paying a higher S&H for the option of making your purchase contract void on ebay where I will personally stand behind an item I would legally have to offer as-is only...

Big fight Live Amazon Versus ebay

2009-04-23T18:08:00.000-07:00

Which of them would win in a fight Ebay the bigger bruiser, with its mistreatment of its sellers, or Amazon the smaller lightweight with its higher prices to its sellers but a lot less work and the safer feel. Ebay with a set up for auctions, Amazon with the set up for BIN

I'm not totally sure which of them would win, as if you look at them both they each have things that would be a benefit in that fight.

I think the biggest question is do ebay have the courage needed to do what would be needed to take up that fight, and by what donthehoe is saying they are talking of changing over four years, which I suspect will be more to Amazons advantage than ebays, as Amazon keeps growing, while ebay is struggling to deal with the upset it is causing its users. Users that are more than willing to use any format possible to shout about the ebay sins against its users. (if you were a new user wanting to sell anything, would you start on ebay now, or even, could you start on ebay now?)

I do think the only way ebay would win, is to stand by their claims, and just turn off the auction option now, and then change totally to BIN, while they still have the size, as their system is no longer the best option for auctions.

It would bring out yells and screams but at least they would end, at some point.

However, I don't think ebay will do it, as they are making a lot of claims that auctions are over, but they have to know their actions towards sellers over the years are the main thing to hurt auctions on ebay, and if they did that, we ( the auction sellers) would move on, and I think it is looking as if ebay are still not totally sure that their BIN sellers are enough to bring in the customers they can bring in now or to keep those customers they have.

Add to that fact, if a lot of us are right and auctions are alive, the ebay story would end with us moving on, and the BIN sellers following, leaving ebay with a lot of empty space full of google adds.

The other option is what they are doing now and messing around on the edges for four years, as Amazon keeps growing stronger, by time ebay becomes ebayzon, they will be nothing more than a sad clone of Amazon, just as several of the auctions are seen as a sad clone of ebay now.

The alternative auctions will have grown, with the auction sellers that ebay no longer want, and a lot of the smaller BIN sellers. Then ebay will have a third contender, taking up its old users, as you are going to eventually loose that fight to stay on ebay. They are determined to get rid of you, and that sort of determination generally brings results.

Opening a new ebay account after the suspension

2009-04-23T15:13:00.000-07:00

I have several links on the right for websites and BLOGs that tell you how to do just that, and most of them swear by their method, some of them are totally free, and trying to make at least some money from the links they have. Others will charge you if you wish to take part or ask questions. It is your choice which you prefer, but you can read through most of them.

I tell you to make sure you check them all out before following one, as some of them may not be updated as soon as they should be, and the more info you have with this the better. There also seem to be a growing number of pay to get back on ebay e-books available, I have looked at a few of them, mainly through their free pages. By reading them you would think ebay was some security master, who you will not get past without their help, which by this time you probably know ebay are definitely not, they seem to know less about ebay than they do about selling on ebay.
But if you have extra cash and would like to try them, then do a google search and they will turn up in their droves.

My advice for those of you wishing to get back on ebay, is don't. I know in the short term you need money fast, as the bills will quickly add up, and I don't know what you are going through (yeah right!) I have also had to face the ebay axe, which always seems to come at the most inconvenient time to all it has hit. Mine was due to competitors malice, but that is the new ebay (Great place you're fighting to save!)
So with this in mind I at least suggest trying to make use of the alternative venues, and try to build an off ebay presence, so that the next time this happens, and it will happen again, as ebay decides to change something else, then at least you have the option to look at it long term, and can quickly download your customer list from ebay or paypal if you do not back it up normally, and let your customers know where to find you with a simple email.

Ebay do not want you on ebay any longer, and that is why your being kicked, not because you are a bad seller (at least I hope not,) I don't think they really care about that. But just because they do not need the messing around with so many small accounts when they can have several large accounts, that are a lot less work. Auctions are being fazed out eventually, as will any used goods that do not fit the new image of ebay, so just think how important it is for you to build that alternative, as ebay want the masses to hang around long enough for them to change, while also preventing any alternative to get a grip of the market that they said was dead.

Another idea is if you do get back on ebay, make use of a blog or some other form of off ebay contact system, and make it interesting for your buyers.
Why not use google Blogs that are free, just press the B at the top of this page.
Make sure they add your blog to their favorites, as a lot of people will not, so try a simple request or bribe.
If the worst happens and you disappear from ebay, if you are lucky they will come looking to your blog, where you can point them in the direction of your off ebay venues.

So Ok you really need to get back on ebay and you have looked through the Forums and blogs, and think you know what to do, which is surprising, as they do seem to differ slightly and on reading some of their info myself, I know for a fact that there are easier, and often cheaper ways to do things.

I will give you what advice I can, as I have the links and feel I should at least offer a little guidance.

The IP address:

Now this one still has me puzzled, as most of us do not have a fixed IP, and the more popular your ISP, the more likely your IP will jump between ranges.
If you want to know more about IP address' then google the subject.

The point is that your IP could change automatically every time you start your modem, check by coming back after restarting your modem, (remember to bookmark/add to favorites before doing so.)

If your IP stays the same changing it depends on your modem and ISP. Again do a search on google naming first your ISP to see if they have a standard fixed IP, which you will have to contact them to change but if they do not then google search change my IP and add the name of your modem or router.

If it changes automatically, every time you start up then make sure you restart your modem before moving between accounts if you plan on having more than one, this also includes any old paypal accounts that you may need to sign into. Although some are suggesting that you now treat paypal accounts as throw away as an ebay account, so by their reckoning you should not be sighing into old paypal accounts

I would try to avoid the use of proxy servers, when dealing with money, as you are handing over your security to a third party when using them, even though it still may be safe, I personally would not be comfortable, but that is your choice.

If you use Dial up, then it tends to always use a different IP, and some will show very little data, so you may not have to worry, but please check before assuming it is fact.

Your telephone number:

If you have the BT home Hub, you may already know you have a talk number, which is a second number, where you can link a telephone to your modem that works like a normal line.
This talk number also gives you access to five more numbers if you go to the BT website and look up softphone, it will show you how. I think the cost is around ninety five pence a month for each number and looks a lot cheaper than the alternatives.

The softphone numbers, which works on your computer can be used as your telephone number with your ebay accounts.

AMENDED
This will work with ebay but the softphone numbers no longer work with paypal so you are likely to need to use the virtual numbers mentioned. They charge a set up fee that seems to vary from ten to fifty pound per number, as you can have more than one, and you can change them quite easy if something goes wrong.
They also charge a monthly fee that is around five to ten pound per number, and then there is a call charge for when people call you, you are charged anything from two point five pence to three point five pence plus vat unless you want them to divert to your mobile and then prices seem to start around fourteen pence.

The normal lifetime contract with anything telephony does not seem to apply and you only have to give them thirty days notice to quit

You can search for them in google adding your country after writing virtual number or ghost phone number.
Here is a selection I found for the UK with a google search most of them seem to charge about the same but there are some differences. You should check with the ones you try to use, as they do not all work with ebay or paypal, such as the one shown on the top. Those that do just be careful you do not end up with another sellers used number that has already been conected to a kicked account.
http://www.organiclocalnumbers.co.uk/ cheapest set up I found at £10.00 + Vat
http://www.dbs-uk.co.uk/telecoms/local-ghost-virtual-numbers.html
http://www.thevirtualnumbercompany.co.uk/virtual-local-phone-numbers-selection.aspx
http://www.ashgoal.com/ashgoal/index/telecoms/non_geographic_numbers/out_of_area.html Seems to offer cheaper call costs at 2.5 + Vat, which may not be important unless you have to deal with a lot of competing attackers who may try calling the number.

I have not tried any of these yet so just read all the bumf they have on their sites, as always look out for things that can trip you up.

If you do not have BT then look at the how to get back on ebay links in my list, several of them offer you links to telephone services and number forwarders, and you support them by following those links and signing up.
They also have the links to the cards you will need, if you are only opening a savings account, you will need a passport or drivers license to sign up for those cards.

When they suggest deleting cookies and flash cookies, may I suggest you bypass that by opening a new user account on your computer, which will have its own set of cookies, unrelated to any of the other accounts on your computer. The other alternative is to use another browser that you have not used before for your new account, as cookies and flash cookies do not transfer between browsers.

About using your own name and address, I would not like to say, as it does not seem to set off alarm bells with ebay, if you have a problem with competitors, it could be a different matter, as they are not likely to change their hunt for anyone selling what they see as their product.
If you do not have another address or you are unable to obtain a PO Box, it may be the only way.

If you would like to find another address for bidding accounts, then look for empty places, or work places but they may have been used before, so be careful you do not get another sellers problems, if you have not protected yourself, as above first.

If you are opening several accounts on ebay, then make sure you keep good records of what is where. Possibly using some form of note book and/or a database style file, as it will get confusing, and mistakes can be annoying or even costly. Especially if like some claim you are operating around fifty ebay accounts.
I would also like to add do not leave opening new accounts to when things have turned bad, as you should be opening new accounts when things are OK, which will allow them time to mature, and you can always use them to buy the odd discount item that has been badly listed or from those silly buyers that continue to list when their stuff has been pushed back into no mans land

Try change as much as possible, and do not forget things like the backgrounds of your images, if you have a style, ebay is not likely to notice, but your competitors will. Plus ebay still may have the selection of idiots that search through listings just because they have no life and feel they are the lonely sheriff of ebay stalking the bandits. How their imagination must feel when they catch their VICTIM.

Once you are on, then start to build up slowly, as suggested by others, as if you suddenly start throwing on fifty items, then ebay will start asking you to prove everything, including that you have the stock. I heard one person claimed they had to have photographs of them holding the item with a newspaper.
If possible start selling a different stock, while you build up the account, and stay away from anything that could offer a VERO problem.

Others may also suggest hunting down low cost items to build your feedback before selling, that is your choice but there does seem to be a lot of feedback hiking bumf still left on ebay even after they removed the e-books, those little trolley coins were abundant the last time I checked. You really think they send them through the post????

I have also heard some suggest that you open up several accounts, and list several items that will not sell, and then buy them yourself, giving yourself the five star feedback you deserve. This will keep your seller rating up, and if you keep this up it could be the difference between staying on in the future and being kicked again.
I would have thought ebay would have tried to stop this, but by looking at some of those sellers that are doing it openly, using accounts that are so obviously the same person. This may just be them over bidding, while they are shill bidding their buyers but it does seem to happen a lot. I have noticed they tend to switch items to private listings, as they do this and switch the buyer accounts to private feedback.

This is no way intended to be a fully fledged get back on ebay guide, so please go read the proper ones, I am just adding a little info, that may help as a supplement to those guides.

Although you may find it easy to get back on ebay, the same problems may arise and have you removed and back where you started, so please take the opportunity to try out the alternatives, if it be other auctions, or your own website. They are growing with more and more members and more and more sales every day, as ebay shrinks, and the fact they are not full of all the problems of ebay, then that growth will continue. So consider your long term plans and start to build your off ebay presence.

PS please don't tell the new breed of ebayer, and hopefully we can leave the scum with the organization that deserves them. Christ! that place is creating some strange people, buyers and sellers alike.

Ebay showing again how little they understand selling

2009-04-22T15:47:00.000-07:00

'Misleading' eBay prices ad banned

The advertising watchdog has banned eBay from boasting its prices are a quarter cheaper than those in high street shops.

The ASA has banned eBay from claiming it is a quarter cheaper than high street shops

A poster advertising the popular online marketplace read: "Guess what? 25% cheaper than the high street on brand new items."

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) upheld a complaint that the ad was misleading because it did not make the basis of the comparison - carried out for eBay by a third party company - clear enough.

eBay said that for each of 288 new products, the average price from recent eBay sales - including postal charges - were compared with an average of prices in stores such as Debenhams and John Lewis.

However readers, the ASA said, would take the poster to be an absolute claim that eBay was cheaper than all main high street stores for all new items, although there was not enough evidence to support this.

The rest of the story can be found here

Ebay are constantly telling sellers that use ebay what they can and can't do, yet they are struggling with simple tasks like advertising.

But for those that are selling through ebay auctions, I would really consider what type of customer they are trying to bring onto ebay.

Those that are selling BIN and enjoying those discounts that ebay are giving them, I am sure you now see what you are supposed to be doing with them. But I hope you realise if ebay is not your only selling venue, and that if they do get you to reduce your prices then you may as well kiss your other sales venues goodbye, as you are working for ebay to close down your other venues, and we all know ebay can be a jealous mistress.

And if you follow the link to the ebay FAQ you will see the new logo that ebay are bringing out, all for those that sell their items with free shipping and for good value, as shown in the image. You think I would be wrong to think the good value, may be 25% off?

I don't know, it really is starting to look like an ebay seller has to be like one of those monks, that wack themselves with whips, as you have to see the pain coming your way, whatever way you sell.

Ebay making more of a mess for sellers

2009-04-16T17:57:00.000-07:00

Some have classed this as the long awaited updates, or changes. Personally I think it is just more evidence that the lunatics are running the asylum.

So what are these changes?

More of the same sort of misunderstanding who their customers are, as they try to give the "sellers customers" more, which I assume their thinking is, if they just give the buyer everything for free, then they will have to start using ebay.
They are still struggling with the concept that it is the seller they have to keep happy.
Make it easy and safe for the honest seller, and ebay will grow. If they keep following this insanity, then ebay will continue to shrink, and these changes are a long way from any changes in the right direction for the honest seller.

You can find the changes in this FAQ here for US or here for UK but be careful of the ebay wording most of it is in bong speak, as in pass me the bong dude.

A few new pages that your customers will not use and a new super bargain logo, but as the new pages are using best match and also have to be selected during a search then who will use them, so we may as well forget they exist.

Here is ebays view on what they are doing

So that eBay remains a thriving marketplace we need a close partnership with sellers like you so that we all give buyers the experience they expect. We’re continuing to invest in driving traffic and buyer loyalty, and we need your help to make buyers happy and keep them coming back to you.

For our part, we’re also taking steps to make it easier and more profitable for you to sell - including consolidating the changes that impact your business and giving you plenty of lead time to adapt.

These updates are scheduled to take place the week of 15th June 2009 and you have to laugh or you would cry.

The new Smart FAQ

What are Smart FAQs? This is a new free feature that draws on live information from your listings to answer the top 20 buyer questions before buyers reach you through the "Ask a question" or "Contact seller" links.

So maybe the customer is not going to get through to you at all. You really think the ebay buyer is going to buy that? They really do not know the ebay buyer.

And there goes a way to really kill off any new customers if you look at number three

Direct buyers to another version of the Smart FAQ page from which only existing customers (users who have already made a purchase from you) can click "Contact seller" from the FAQ page to send an email directly to you. This option is not recommended unless it's absolutely necessary for your business operations. Removing the ability for buyers to contact you directly can cost you sales and have a negative impact on Detailed Seller Ratings.
A question to that last line, so why add it if it is not recommended and could even impact a sellers detailed seller rating. You can just hear the yells in their office of "pass over the bong before I start on these ebay changes."

How ever for those of you setting up new accounts with a thousand names, this one may be a good one to stop the ebay messages, and force the buyers to contact your email, which you add to the listing. Maybe ebay created this with you in mind, as it saves you having to log in to ebay.
Also useful for those that wish to have info to their off ebay venues in their emails.
But what good does it do ebay or any normal seller that just wishes to sell on ebay.

Tracking in the MY ebay section is useful if they bother to tell the buyers that it is there this time, or if it is clearly visible. They have not had a good record of informing buyers of this sort of thing in the past.

The next in the list is Return Policy and handling times.

This is another of those pointless exercises on ebay, but for what it is worth, you basically have to make sure you select either you do accept returns or you don't accept returns, which if you use Auctiva to list, it is already forcing the selection, so not really a problem.
Why is it pointless? Due to the fact that any return policy you have is overridden by paypal, and soon will be overridden by ebay.

More postage mess coming

Now we all understand handling time but ebay have decided to step over the line again, and make the seller responsible for not just the handling time but also the time it takes your postal service to deliver the item, as you can see here.

How will delivery estimates be calculated? We calculate estimated delivery time based on your specified handling time and the estimated times provided to us by the shipping service. Delivery estimates are calculated as a range of days, not a specific date.

Now there is a reason I have pointed this out, as we skip the next few items in their list, as they have little to do with me and if you care, then go read it. But the next important part, as far as I'm concerned is the new eBay Resolution process.

It seems ebay are struggling to control those with merchant accounts or those taking other payment methods, throughout the resolution process, as if the person does not use paypal, then there is little ebay can do about any problem at the moment.
So what it seems they have decided to do is move the resolution process, that will include any payment made by the seller to ebay, rather than allowing paypal to deal with it.

There are several things you need to worry about with this, as ebay seem to be under the same impression that they have been under for some time, which is "buyer good, seller bad" using my best Frankenstein monster impression, as I am sure ebay employees must have to chant every morning, as they sit at their keyboards, possibly using their best Frankenstein monster impression..

When can buyers contact eBay about a transaction? eBay Customer Support will be available for buyers at any time to answer transaction questions. In many cases, this will save time for sellers, because our Customer Support agents can answer basic questions that otherwise would have gone to the seller.

Seems a step toward taking the seller out of the loop, or they are board, as sellers are no longer wasting their time contacting customer support.

I have found one positive so far though, but not really

What if the buyer never paid for the item? Can they still call eBay with a dispute? Buyers are welcome to contact eBay for any reason. However, eBay will not permit claims when the buyer has not paid the seller.

At least that will stop those NPBs from playing their retaliation game on sellers, although how will ebay know if they have paid for an item or not, unless you only accept paypal payments.

That problem seems to be a theme with ebay and these changes, ebay could be paying back a customer who has not actually paid for an item, and then taking the money from you.

This one should also panic all those trading on ebay

Would eBay ever settle a case with a buyer without first contacting the seller? eBay may decide to refund the buyer before contacting the seller, but in all cases the seller will have five business days to respond to a claim. If a seller successfully settles the claim and the buyer had already been refunded, eBay will absorb the cost of the refund.

Is it me or is this just a little too much of that bong talk, as this really does not make sense, unless they already have the system set up to forget to inform the seller, when they feel like it.

Now another that you should worry about, even though it is worded oddly.

What if the item is still in transit when the buyer contacts us?
If the item is still in transit, eBay will consider the delivery estimate in the listing. If tracking indicates that the item should arrive within the delivery estimate plus a reasonable amount of additional time (3 days in most cases), the buyer will be told to wait and the seller will not be held accountable. If tracking indicates that the item will arrive outside this timeframe or is lost in transit, the seller may be held accountable. The same proof of delivery criteria apply to cross-border transactions.

In other words if the post office delay the delivery of your item, then the buyer will be refunded, and you will have a strike on your account, if your postal service loose the parcel and you have a customer with the brains of a nat, then you end up with a strike.
Also added from a pink on the ebay board, if the money is refunded and the item turns up, ebay will not request payment until the buyer contacts ebay to let them know that they have the item. And how many of the new breed ebay buyers are going to bother doing that.

So the basics of the above are if there is anything in the pipeline that will delay your postal service, such as bad weather, strike action, or anything else, then stop selling, as you are going to be blamed for their delays, as with the last UK postal strike.

For those that like that free stuff there is probably a few good ways to use this. One off the top of my head is do not be in when the item is to be delivered, do not request redelivery until the third day and try get your postal service to deliver on the fifth day. Or how about requesting all your packages go to your local post office or PO box, and they are not marked as collected until you pick them up. If the seller does not deliver to a PO Box, then just pay the small fee to your postal service to have your mail forwarded to a PO BOX.

Or the easy one, if they really do plan on acting like paypal, make sure your payment is an e-cheque, or take your time paying for the item, how much you betting that ebay are not going to look at when the item was paid for.

One good thing I have noticed is this

If a seller successfully appeals a dispute will Buyer Satisfaction Ratings be affected? When eBay decides a seller is not at fault for a dispute, the seller's Buyer Satisfaction Rating will not be impacted.

Which is better than the current system, where a seller is guilty until proven innocent.

And this one would be funny if it was not so damaging to sellers.

What can sellers do to protect themselves from buyer abuse? Sellers should report buyers who are abusive, either by contacting eBay Customer Support or by following eBay's process for reporting inappropriate behaviour.

We all know to take that with a pinch of salt, ebay will listen to what we say, yeah right and I am out hunting flying pigs in the morning, with a pea shooter.

For the Ebay UK there are a few changes that I think are basically ebay pushing that free postage scam they are trying to push on your customers. So check through them as they are going to force free shipping in several categories.
And if anyone from ebay is reading this, please look in my link section there is a link to a website called free shipping org (http://www.freeshipping.org/) Nip onto that site and see how the professionals offer free shipping, before you run your sellers into the ground.

The rest is basically the move of shipping labels to ebay, rather than having to use paypal, as you do now.

So what do I think of all this?

A lot of the changes are part of ebays plan at removing paypal from the complaint procedure, as stated above.

To be honest, the rest is really not that great either, as always with ebay, they just show how little they understand their own market place or any market place, as they make it more dangerous for the seller, who pay their wages.

You really need to start finding alternatives, as I think, ebay has gone so far out of the field, that even if they could work out how to get back, I doubt it will ever be what it used to be, as they are not only destroying the market place that was once ebay, they are also destroying the users that were once proud to be ebayers.

The new breed of buyer and seller is like nothing we have ever had to face from ebay in the past, as they have no pride in ebay, the market place or care for other users. They seem to have brought in a mass of scummy or powerless people that use the person they are dealing with as a punch bag to make up for what they are lacking in face to face confrontations.
Ebay is making their venue a place for the scum now so please lets get gone before they spill out into the other places we use, as something else I have noticed on ebay due to all these changes that the more unscrupulous a seller is then the more successful they are becoming, as they are willing to attack other sellers with no concern, and are very willing to shill bid up the price of their items without worrying about it, if they win it, then they just give themselves five stars and it is one less they have to do later, as that seems to be a normal thing for these sellers.

Most of the other changes are set up for BIN Sellers and they will already know about them.

More free stuff on ebay part two

2008-12-28T17:21:00.000-08:00

You have bought your stuff before the Christmas and love it dearly, but maybe you would love it more if it were free.

As paypal clawbacks can go on up to I think around three month, ( you will have to check, as I cant be bothered searching back through the dribble,) then you still have the chance to ask the seller if there is a reason your item has not turned up.

The reason for this is due to the fact most sellers on ebay are small cottage business' or just people selling their old stuff, and most will not have held onto their postal receipts and their tracking numbers. They may know you have received your item but if they can't prove it then they have no option but to pay you back your money, or you can go to paypal and ask them to do it.

Even if you have left them glowing feedback, it does not matter, as in most cases I have been involved in paypal has not even read the writing in the comments of the claim.

The buyers defence against this is to hold onto all receipts up to the time limit or at least three to four months.

They can also add you to their block bidder list, what good that does, as what is stopping you opening a new account to bid on their items in the future? NOTHING...

Writing this one as I have had several of the messages through ebay from different buyers, so assume it must work, as they would not be trying it. So take it as a heads up and make sure you hold onto your postage receipts.

If you are attacking your competitor, as I know so many of you love to do on ebay, then this one is another great one.
Item not received through ebay, negative feedback if you have not left it already and zero stars, and the paypal clawback will all damage the sellers standing.
Also some added benefits with this one if you try it before the seller starts trading again, as they may have cleared their paypal account, which will make paypal take the money from their bank account. If there is no money in the bank account, then you could have cost them up to forty pound in bank charges, depending on the bank, and paypal will be a little miffed that they are unable to pay you back, so could start holding there funds.
As a lot of ebay sellers are struggling on ebay at the moment due to the poor quality of buyers that seem to want everything for nothing, then this may be likely.

You may not get your money back if they do not have it, but it may be worth the loss.

Another benefit is that most sellers on ebay work as a team of man and wife, or some other relationship, and you have just added a lovely little row into their loving relationship, as the one who deals with the postage is going to get it in the neck.

Free stuff is always good or is it? part one

2008-12-04T07:49:00.000-08:00

Not all is as it seems, when you look at age old systems, some that claim to be adapting and others that just have no idea, that there is more than their own view of the world.

Three of these systems that have been around for a while, one for what seems to be an eternity, are the subject of my first blog on here, as thanks to their systems, there is possible goodies galore for most if not all.

Most people on ebay UK know that royal mail is not perfect and were possibly surprised when ebay/Paypal started offering RM postal services through paypal but should it have been a surprise, as each of the companies seem to work as if they are the only affordable or feasible option, so it turns out that they have a lot in common.

Now how does this give you the opportunity to get free stuff?

Ebay allows the user to sell their goods, and until a few years ago they basically stayed out of the trade, allowing the community to police itself but then they bought paypal and decided to take a more active role in the policing of the trade, as it was more profitable to do so.

Now as they made the changes, each of them, trying to tackle dishonest sellers, but with each most found it had little effect on the dishonest seller but did make it more difficult, and often insecure to sell on ebay. Possibly by chance more than anything else they also started making ebay more money but only in the short term, as the difficulties started to hurt sales for the sellers.

Now back to the free stuff.

If you live outside of the UK and take a look at the ebay UK for any products that are being shipped by Royal Mail, International signed for or Airmail, then that little notifier really means FREE. The other Airsure may also be free, but I have yet to see it tried, but if you look at paypals demands for postage, then it should, as it is not signed for, which paypal requires.

So find your item and pay for it through paypal, give them a week or so until the item turns up and then go into paypal and claim the item did not turn up, as the seller is unable to prove the item was posted then you will be fully refunded the full price and the postage.

Now how is it so if the buyer paid for International signed for or even Airsure?

Basically because RM is a selling a false service with International signed for so there is no covered postage method from RM, outside of the business post they offer, which most sellers on ebay could not afford.
The international signed for is sort of a RM scam, as if you ask them where it is or who signed for it, then they will not be able to tell you, as they stop tracking it once they hand it over to the other countries postal service.
That fact will also mean the sender will not be refunded for any loss, as RM do not see it as their fault once they have handed it over to overseas postal service.

Now for those inside the UK it is not that simple, and it is not always guaranteed that the item will be free, as occasionally RM staff do actually do the job you paid them to do, but only occasionally, so it is always worth checking the item has been tracked.

If you are UK based look for the RM first class on any ebay listings, that also means FREE. RM recorded can be just as free, but it is more as an afterthought, so can't be guaranteed.
After you receive the item, even if you signed for it check the tracking number on the RM website and see if it is has been tracked, if not it is FREE.

Now why would sellers on ebay do this, as it does not make any sense?

Basically they are being pushed to offering low or even free postage by ebay, as to not offer it, can mean that their items will be shown further back in the search, which means they will be less likely to sell their items.

Also the problem for most is what RM knows, and that is that most ebay sellers can't sell enough to get business post discounts, so RM basically have them trapped in a Monopoly style situation, of "So don't use us if you don't like it." They really have no other option for a postal service.

And this is great info for those that like to attack their competitors, as you can also start an item not received through ebay. What this will mean to the seller is that you are able to strike them so many times that they will be spinning by time you're done, and how do I know most of this, most of it has been done to me at one time or other.

The item not received on ebay has been said to be worse than a negative feedback and is effective from the day it starts.
Then you have the negative feedback. What can they do about it?
Then you can leave the one star, which is ebays super bad seller rating.
Then the paypal clawback, that is a great one as each time it is used on the seller, then the closer they come to having any payments held by paypal.
They may also try to recoup their fees from ebay, in a request that you have both agreed to cancel the transaction. Just say, no I do not agree, and they still pay the fees.

This is all going to make them drop back in the search and also damage any chance of receiving a discount from ebay on their fees, but better than that from the destructive sellers point of view, it will eventually break them, either through cost of the lost sales or the price of the damage to a persons spirit.

Then you leave RM to do their bit for you, as they have their own system ready to smack the seller about.

Royal mail have an ebay box on the lost item form. If the seller selects this then they are basically saying to RM, go on rip me off as well, as RM will only pay them for the item price and will not refund them the postage they have paid back to you, or the postage they have paid to RM.

If they do not select the ebay box then they have to show the value of the item, normally with a receipt, and if they can't they may just get a pack of six stamps. Remember if RM contact you, you should mention that it is an ebay item even if the seller says don't.

Not sure how well these work for those postal services from other countries, as it may just be a RM, UK thing and may not be possible, as most other countries have a proper postal service that is there for their customers and able to adapt to the market needs rather than, like RM just ignore their customers needs and continue to enjoy their Monopoly.

Now this actually started as a mocking look at selling on ebay, while using RM, that has always been based on trust, but it is all possible, and not mentioning it is not going to stop it happening but mentioning it may force those in charge to make some changes, so if you are a seller or buyer on ebay that thinks this is wrong, then contact the companies involved, that are making it all possible and in some cases are making it impossible for the seller to find a way to protect themselves from those people that wish to make use of all that listed above.

Or you could just ignore it all and take advantage of the freebies.