New google search

Just been messing round with the google search once again, which is claimed to be new and improved, although some of the options are still not available.


I have only listed the sites in the auction site count list, that you will find on power sellers unite, and I added my own www hotandvintage.com, as I am not paying for google at the moment, so wanted to see if it still came up.

Let me know if it is any better or worse? It just seems the same to me but like I say above not all the options are available yet on google.

Will keep checking to see how it is working or if I can add the other options over the next few weeks.

Sorry about the javascript toys in the links

Just trying to work out what info your computer is giving out, for anyone that wishes to make a list of identification.

Adding to this as I go

I found this one that may interest those of you that wish to see what I can show you is on your computer, if it shows nothing then drop back and tell me what you have on your comp to stop, other than javascript disabled, as that causes problems on ebay Take a look at the difference with IE and Firefox.

http://www.raingod.com/raingod/resources/Programming/JavaScript/Software/BrowserProps/index.html

Another that tells you information

http://javascript.internet.com/user-details/browser-properties.html

Another for fire rather than IE

http://javascript.internet.com/user-details/plugins.html

I have a list of these sort of things and trying to see who is reading what, or who is able to read what??? I have not looked at the scripts yet, as I am still searching, but assume it would be nothing to make them store this data rather than show it to you, especially if written in a different code type.

And as IPs can be changed in an instant, then it is more likely they have something else to confirm the persons identity.
Flash cookies and IPs are just not enough alone.

But consider this, javascript can show you this information but it stops there, unless you use cookies, that can gather this and other data, and then return it to the website the next time you log in, and cookies also use javascript to add to the page

An idea of how much info can be passed is here

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/87365/what-identifying-information-can-a-website-capture

Now this is interesting

http://www.funkydragon.org/en/fe/page.asp?n1=39

THE LAW US
We can only use your information for the reasons we give on the site. If the reasons change we have to tell you. We have to give you a copy of your information if you ask for one. We can charge you for copies. We have to remove your information from our records if you stop using the site. We have to keep your information secure and not let anybody else see it without your OK.

THE LAW YOU
You can ask to see your information at any time.You can ask us to change the information we have about you at any time.You can tell us to delete your information at any time.You can contact us at:enquiries@funkydragon.org or at

I do wonder if anyone has requested ebay firstly remove their data from their site, or ask for the information, which is LAW in the US and maybe in the UK or other places?

I suppose it would depend on tax law and if it supersedes the privacy law concerning the first part. But the second part, I wonder what information they do keep on a user? It would be interesting finding out.

A little more info on companies keeping your information

http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/government/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=188701348

And now they are trying to make flash cookies cross browser, so before you know it hiding on firefox will not be possible.

http://www.nuff-respec.com/technology/cross-browser-cookies-with-flash

FEEDBACK what does Good mean?

FEEDBACK what does Good mean?

I notice on reading a lot of message boards, that there seems to be a lot of confusion about feedback and especially the DSRs, and how some types of stock seem to be having more trouble than others. Used and vintage items like those I sell being one of them.

On reading I find the main confusion seems to be in the use of DSRs or the lack of use in some cases.

And how important these are to a seller on ebay.

Basically due to the confusion around DSRs such as the term good, as with the fourth star, which buyers leaving feedback think is good, as that is what it says, but sellers are saying if it is good then why does getting too many goods lower their DSRs? I have looked into this, and it does seem to be lowering a sellers DSRs, so good is not always what it means, on ebay.

So basically, the way I will look at feedback in future is, as I did with the old feedback system.

Do I want to buy from this seller again? If the answer is yes then I will leave five star feedback right through but if not, and it is warranted then I may leave negative feedback and or low stars, as I tend not to be the type of person that leaves bad feedback for people, most of the time I would just leave none. But that is just me I know some sellers deserve bad feedback and that some buyers relish the chance to dish it out. Each to their own, so you do what is right for you if the circumstances warrant it.

The do I wish to buy from them again may sound drastic, but that is really the question I think I should ask, as I watch my favourite sellers disappear, or their stuff disappear back in the search so that some other seller can buy their goods at a discount and then sell it buy it now for an inflated price.

I also heard a lot of sellers have been saying, only fifty percent of people leaving feedback actually use the DSRs, which is not going to help the seller, as other buyers are saying they only use the DSRs to complain, and never see the need to leave DSRs they are happy about.

The way I am looking at it is that any of the sellers I buy from need my help, so leaving the five stars is the least I can do.

What effect do the Stars have on the seller?

The stars as I read it:

Can effect the sellers standing in search, making it less likely that you will be able to find their goods, and making it less likely that they will continue, as they are no longer getting a fair price for their products.

It also means you may end up having to pay another seller a lot more for the products they sell, and you will see later in some cases with a lot less information than you did from your favourite seller.

Can also have the seller removed from ebay, as even if the feedback is good, low DSRs are considered by ebay as poor seller performance, so they are kicked off ebay.

If they are power sellers the lowering of DSRs can reduce or remove any discounts they are able to get from ebay, which in these hard times will make the difference between survival of their sales or closing down.

So for me, when leaving feedback, I ask myself, is this seller likely to have something I will want in the future? If yes then it has to be five stars all the way....

There is also the other factors in this that I am hearing about that seems to be rampant in a lot of vintage/used fields, none more so than ladies fashion. This is the use of the DSRs and feedback to attack competitors.

Some sellers seem to blame other sellers for the fact that they are not getting sales. It has nothing to do with the poor quality photographs they produce, or the poor descriptions they use, or the fact they have no customer service. In their mind they are not getting sales because another seller is.

So instead of spending time fixing what is really wrong with them, they spend their time creating new accounts and using them to attack other sellers that they feel are their problem.

Now what difference does this make to the buyer?

One problem is that it makes your good five star feedback to be more important to your favourite seller than ever before, as just like the old feedback, your glowing greens swamp the bad feedback from those sellers, and your five stars feed the sellers rating, allowing ebay to see the truth.

There is also the point that your good seller is taking his time with you and has not got the time or the inclination to attack other sellers to make them all look equal, so all they have is their customers to protect them by leaving the deserved feedback required to protect them. I don't know I suppose as I said above, leaving five DSRs is the least I can do.

After all this talk of the DSR horror, I must say there are still a lot of good buyers out there, so please don't have nightmares. Or do if you are a seller one ebay....

If you would like to see how the DSR feedback works, then check out the auctiontrax seller rating tool linked to the right. Have a play, and see how hard or easy it would be to loose your favourite seller.

Ebay Members to Seek Recourse Through the Courts

Had to copy this across before ebay delete it, as they seem to be doing with so many of these things these days. STOP PRESS : Ebay Members to Seek Recourse Through the Courts
guitareasy1 (9084 ) View Listings | Report		13-07-08 17:44 EST
STOP PRESS : Ebay Members to Seek Recourse Through the Courts Appended below is the media statement distributed widely to the media in the past hour. The group of ebay members which has guided a large number of us in recent weeks to make written submissions to the ACCC, petition and attend a conference, and write to Ministers, Senators, ASIC, the Banking Ombudsman, industry regulators and our banks, will now launch a further series of initiatives to bring ebay into line with decent trading practices. The first of these initiatives will be to seek remedies through the courts. Please read the media release - it is self explanatory. Make a copy now - in case ebay are foolish enough to delete it - and be prepared to distribute it via email, via your web site and any other means at your disposal to anyone who has an interest in these issues. On your behalf the group is taking a stand. Now, more than ever, is the time to show your support. Ebay members the world over will watch with interest whether individual mums, dads, and small businesses spread across this country of ours can join together to achieve a fair deal at the hands of ebay. The group has faith in our justice system. Come join us. Thank you. ========== Media Statement – 5.00pm 13th July, 2008 Ebay Members to Seek Recourse Through the Courts Early last week a well co-ordinated group of ebay members was instrumental in facilitating large numbers of their peers, nationally, to write to their local Ministers, Senators, The Banking Ombudsman and to ASIC and other relevant organisations to register complaints over the aggressive manner in which ebay continues to promote PayPal as its preferred payment method. The complaints are well documented and numerous, and ranged from : ebay’s misrepresentation, suppression of other payment methods, deletion of sellers’ listings without cause, refusal to allow sellers to pass on PayPal charges and the issuing of misleading statements to further the illusion that PayPal is more secure than other established and proven payment methods. Other complaints included PayPal’s freezing of member’s accounts, the inequity of the PayPal User Agreement and PayPal’s refusal to sign the EFT Code of Conduct - therein denying ebay members the same protection which banks and other financial institutions provide to their customers. Later in the week the group again led their peers to write en-masse, but on this occasion to their respective banks, to air concerns over ebay’s public statements that PayPal is the safest product in the EFT marketplace, implying that all other EFT transactions – and in particular Direct Deposit – are unsafe by comparison. On the basis that the ACCC concluded in its draft Notice : "The evidence available does not support the view that PayPal is the most secure method of payment or offers the best service for all transactions", ebay members sought reassurance from their banks that ebay’s assertions are incorrect and that Direct Deposit is a safe transaction method. This week the group will launch a further series of initiatives. Mr Tony Green, the group’s spokesman on legal matters, announced today that “… as ebay’s response to member’s legitimate concerns is woefully inadequate it is now time to commence our next offensive which will be to seek remedies through the courts”. Mr Green went on to say ”Ebay’s recalcitrant behaviour has pushed us to the point that we must now use the legal system to bring ebay into line with decent trading practices.” Mr Green said, “In a conference last night the group decided unanimously that it would use legal due process to stop ebay from destroying its own site and, in the process of this, destroying the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of loyal ebay members”. He added, “We are ebay’s customers and to date they have refused to listen to us. Ebay has left us no alternative than to appeal to the courts to right the wrongs that ebay has forced upon us.” In anticipation of this offensive the group has had a team of researchers looking at legal precedents, similar legal actions and the various legal alternatives available to it. “We discussed several options available to us in prosecuting these actions,” said Mr Green “… and the possibility of a major legal firm doing the work on a no win no fee contingency basis is being examined.” “The principles at issue here are of vital importance to the largest consumer group in Australia – 5 million people according to ebay’s own figures – only a few of these are commercially scaled businesses, most are mums and dads striving for a modest supplement to the household income, and these people do not have the financial resources to pursue fair and just treatment at the hands of ebay”, said Mr Green. “It appears that political leaders and regulators have yet to fully comprehend the significance of the issues and have not yet commenced the required corrective actions, and thus the group has stepped up its activity to rally ebay members together and to take ebay on as one. Ultimately, ebay will be made to comply with all of the laws of our country.” Contact has been made with a University Law School as the group are exploring the possibility of engaging law students – ironically, many of them also disaffected ebay members – to research this area and begin cataloguing the huge volume of accumulated evidence assembled by ebay members. Further, there are a growing number of other ebay members offering to contribute to a fighting fund to pay for the planned actions. “Ebay members are delighted to learn of Paymate Pty Ltd’s announcement on 11th July of it having lodged a formal complaint to the ACCC concerning ebay’s alleged breaches of s47 and s52 of the Trade Practices Act 1974,” said Mr Green, ” … and our group will now examine the merits of approaching Paymate with a view to the pooling of evidence and conducting a joint legal offensive against ebay.” “Our research to date is moving us on from the Trade Practices, and other Acts, competition sections to those sections dealing with unconscionable conduct, and breach of contract “, said Mr Green. “We need to do something dramatic, and quickly, to protect ebay members – mums, dads and businesses – from being destroyed by a company that can see no further than its own profit figure. If the anger of its loyal customers means nothing to ebay we intend to look to the courts to uphold Australian Law and to give us respite from the excesses of ebay”, said Mr Green. “Ebay believes that ebay members are isolated from each other, largely ignorant of ebay’s actions with regard to PayPal and are therefore ineffectual in complaining about or opposing ebay’s deplorable practices. For the average ebayer being channelled into paying by PayPal may seem to be a risk free and temporary thing rather than a calculated deception by ebay”, Mr Green said. ”Most ebayers are unsure how and where they should complain, and ebay are counting on this to push its policies through. We intend to expose this tactic to all ebay members.” “The discussion boards on ebay are a good indicator of the level of anger at ebay’s new policies. There is no flocking to the boards by people who support the new policies. To the contrary they are full of horror stories and tales of anger and frustration from people who are violently opposed to them”, said Mr Green. “Between them the co-ordinators of the group have a data base of over one hundred thousand email addresses of ebay members who have purchased from us, and through other supporting sellers access to many hundreds of thousands more. If necessary we will contact every one of them to alert them to the full consequences of the disastrous policies that ebay have introduced. We will do the job that ebay is morally obliged but too frightened to do – to keep ebay members informed,” said Mr Green. The group will conference again this evening to make decisions on its first legal offensive against ebay and to decide on a timetable. Meanwhile, activity on the ebay site from both buyers and sellers has taken a nosedive, member’s anger and frustration continues unabated, and the level of disaffection with ebay is growing. Ebay’s only response has been to temporarily discount listing fees – again – the third such promotion in the past six weeks in a desperate move by ebay to arrest the steady decline in the number of listings. ----- Statement Ends ------ Media Enquiries : Mr Robert Vandermeer Tel : XXXXXXX Email : XXXXXXX ----------------------------------------- You tell your king that eBay sellers will NOT be ruled ... and ... that they may take our money, but they'll never take ... OUR FREEDOM!!!

Added new currencies to Hot and Vintage

As we understand that most people have not got time to spend time trying to convert the price of each item or items they wish to purchase from Hot and Vintage, we have added new currencies to solve this problem.

Now you can view your favourite items in US Dollars, Canadian Dollars, Australian Dollars, Euro and still the British Pound.

Hope you like this change and we will be looking at adding other currencies in future, so if your currency is not available at the moment then please let us know and we may add it if possible.

The currencies will be updated each morning as we monitor changes in the exchange rate, so we can set an acceptable level sorted between our payment providors.


Hope you like this change and again any problems then let us know so we can try and solve it.

An email sent to atleast two ebay users, and that is now in the hands of the FBI, this one was on the ebay boards that they kicked off, maybe they thought people should not be warned in advance, or something. Who knows with ebay.

This one may just be the start to the way things are going to become on ebay, so even though this is US based, it could travel anywhere.

Listen very carefully. I am the winner of this item. I have 4 other eBay Users in place either bidding on or have won items from you plus myself totaling 5.

We are prepared to leave you 5 Positive Feedbacks or 5 Negative Feedbacks depending on your actions. In a nutshell, we are in the business of selling Positive Feedbacks to eBay Sellers for $20 each, totaling $100 for 5 Positive Feedbacks.

If you purchase the 5 Positive Feedbacks for $100, you not only get to sell your items, you also receive 5 Positive Feedbacks. As you well know, Feedback is EVERYTHING to an eBay seller on whether they are successful or not.

I’m sure that you want to remain successful in your eBay business. Plus, along with the 5 Positive Feedbacks, we will also Guarantee Never to contact you again and we take you off of our list. You’ll even get a receipt for your purchase.

Now, here’s the important part.

If you refuse to purchase the 5 Positive Feedbacks, we will leave you 5 Negative Feedbacks for starters. We have 100’s & 100’s of eBay Users in place that we can use to leave feedbacks. In fact, we have enough to consistently leave you Negative Feedbacks for months resulting in you having to shut down your business.

The absolute worst thing that you can do at this point is to try and contact eBay at any time about this or refuse to cooperate; we Will start leaving you Negative Feedbacks and shut your business down.

Make no mistake, we’ve been doing this for years and have the power & resources to continually leave you Negative Feedbacks resulting in the closing of your business.

Think about this, if you try to report us to eBay and they try and suspend our account or something like that, it will not stop us whatsoever. Remember, I said we have 100’s if not 1,000’s of eBay Users in place that we can use to leave you Negative Feedbacks over & over again until you are forced to shut your business down that you worked so hard to build up.

Even if eBay were to keep suspending our user accounts, we have plenty more that we can use to keep leaving you Negative Feedbacks and there’s No way that eBay can keep up and stop us. They have tried & failed miserably. They also know about what we do. So the best and smartest thing that you can do is protect your business and just purchase the 5 Positive Feedbacks from us. That way, it’s done and over with and you can successfully continue to run your business without ever hearing from us again.

We will give you up to 72 hours from now, to reply. The sooner, the better of course. Just send us an email stating that you want to purchase the 5 Positive Feedbacks from us and let us know your main email that you use so we can contact you.

If we don’t hear from you by the end of the 72 hours, we will assume that you are refusing to cooperate and we will start leaving you Negative Feedbacks. So don’t do anything stupid. The smartest thing that you can do is take this seriously, we know what we’re doing. After we hear your reply to this email, we will contact you with further instructions

Really does make me want to swear, as ebay have made so much of a hash of things it has come to this?

The vasaline add on ebay

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...