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...

So anyone know how the ebay boycott is going?

So busy sorting out my own mess at the moment, and getting into those pointless talks with the ebay stooges that you find on some of the forums out their.

I hate those people and say people, as they always work in pairs. You watch the next time you try to pick up on one of their points, a new name will come back and answer with any point but the one you were questioning in the first place.

A bit like dealing with ebay customer disapointment, avoid the subject and tell them something that is of no use to any one, so they don't dare to question us again.

So as I said anyone know how the boycott is going, as it feels a little different this time. I don't know why, just does.

Hope you are all surviving and you are not disheartened by those of us that can't afford to jump ship at the moment.

Hope those of you on the alternatives are making sales, just added some stuff to ebid and will try to add some more tomorrow night or tonight as it is 2:30am, and then start on the others. Just so bloody time consuming.

Anyway good luck to all, but this one does feel different than the last

GRIEVANCES AND TERMS STATEMENT sent to ebay

GRIEVANCES AND TERMS STATEMENT

GRIEVANCES

1. Feedback Changes
A. Buyers will only be able to receive positive feedback effective May 2008.
B. Feedback older than 12 months will no longer be applied towards your
feedback percentage.
C. Neutral Feedback will now be considered as negative to determine buyer
dissatisfaction rate and seller account restrictions
2. DSR'S (Detailed Seller Ratings)
A. eBay allows buyers to think that a 4.0 (on a scale of 1-5) denotes good
business practices by the seller regarding item as described, communication,
shipping time and shipping and handling charges, while sellers are subjected to
various penalties for that same score.
B. DSR's are rated on a curve. Results of this curve may make even a rating of a 4.8
the median in a given rating category.
C. DSR'S will now be intertwined with "Best Match" search positioning.
D. eBay is unjustly red-flagging "good" sellers as well as "bad" sellers by stating
sellers with a 4.5 rating (On a scale of 1-5) now have a "low" rating, thereby
implying they are in the category of "bad sellers".
E. "Bad" Sellers will be kept because of their monetary value.
3. Minimum 21 Day PayPal Hold For Risky Sellers And Risky Categories
A. Sellers whose total feedback score is not more than 100 will have payments held
for up to 21 days.
B. Risky category sellers will be subjected to a 21 day hold, even well established
sellers.
C. Sellers with 5% or greater negatives in a 30 day period will be subject to the 21
day hold regardless of the circumstances.
4. Unreasonable Fee Increases
A. Promoted to the Ebay community as decreases, only the insertion fees were
decreased. Insertion fees decreased by $.05 with the gallery picture given free
($.35 savings) yet FVF (final value fees) raised by as much as 66%
B. Reserve fees increased from $1.00 to $2.00 and will no longer be refunded if
the item sells.
C. Store FVF's (final value fees) increased to 12% above and beyond monthly and
listing fees.
5. Miscellaneous
A. The universal anonymous bidder policy promotes additional
unsafe buyer practices and has led to buyers losing trust in the system.
B. The majority of Power Sellers will not qualify for newly stated discounts
C. The note "This item is not covered by buyer protection on eBay," which is
placed in two areas of the listings of sellers who do not offer PayPal, causes
harm to the good sellers' reputations and intimidates buyers.
D. eBay sellers are red-flagged on their listing page if their rating is 4.2 and below.
(per the beta test)
E. When sellers are red-flagged, eBay also lists other sellers' items on said sellers'
listings. (per the Beta Test for eBay Express items)




TERMS

1. Remove the DSR system or change in accordance with the above grievances.
2. Revise the feedback system through constructive means with user input and
suggestions.
3. No PayPal hold of the seller's payments associated with eBay transactions..
4. Reduction of fees
5. Anonymous bid policy should be up to the individual eBay member or be removed.
6. No seller or buyer should be required to use PayPal.
7. Equitable search

My own opinion is that Ebay will not bend but, this should do the job that everyone intended and promote the move to the alternatives.

Added a music video to the player

Added a music video to the player from Ali Campbell's album that I think is how I feel about the future situation.
And I know it goes against the make some noise chant, but for me that is all about ebay, and although I see it is serving a purpose, it is all about ebay.

I still sell on ebay but I no longer feel we should be ebay refugees, or ebay anything, that was the past and what ebay wants us to be, so they can be sure we are all going back or staying depending on where you are at the moment.

But the record I have chosen that I think is track one on the player at the bottom of the page, covers what it will mean to stay at ebay and the hope for the future. Adding in a little of it is time to stop going on about the ebay past and start working out ways to build our online seller's future.

Fair Shake

You can find it here FairShake

Yet to see what it offers but may know more after the round table meeting on the 10th of April. 3am UK

I think the aim seems to be a place to link all the groups together, so we can decide on the best way to move forward.

If you have just followed a link from FairShake to here, please feel free to take a look around.

Ebay driving sellers to insane measures

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

10% off if you help us rip them off

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?

And ebay talk about disatisfaction

Ebay paypal policy changes

And ebay say we are bad traders? When has any seller tret their customers like ebay are doing now and have done in the past to their customers.

What I do not understand is how they plan on keeping the top sellers, why would they stay and take this crap for more money than they would pay if they followed the rest of us to the alternatives?

If you think of the fees we pay ebay and paypal, then how much must they pay, so by the same standard how much would they save if they made the move?

Does anyone know any of these top one hundred sellers that ebay think are so dumb they will stay with ebay when everyone else is taking the lower fees?

How dumb do you have to be to allow yourself to be included in that list no wonder they are staying quiet.

We are the top one hundred sellers on ebay and no we don't want
Lower fees
More protection
Less interference.
Better customer services.
The fact that a lot of their custmers come from the rest of us so they will loose them if they stay.
Why would they want to stay?

I mean really would you say yes I am that dumb?

I really do understand smaller sellers like my self that have to make sure they do not loose earnings but still intend moving, but the top one hundred, the amounts staying with ebay must be costing them, just does not make any sense.

If anyone knows any of the top one hundred, ask them the question and let us all know how they see this?

Added a small section of a Auction search engine.

Live Alt Auction Search

Have added a small section of a Live Alternative Auction search site I am playing round with. And it is still a work in progress so do not expect too much.

It is just an option for the main script I have been working on so I have not done much to it in the way of style, so please do not complain about that.

Its just Javascript so nothing major but maybe you can let me know if it works for you.

Had a problem using some of the auctions I wanted to add but still trying to find a way , as some of them are sites I intend selling on.

You can select up to four sites at once, that will open up on the same page so you can use it as a comparison site.
For buyers perfect to find the sellers you lost touch with on ebay or to search out those bargains you have been looking for.
For sellers a perfect place to check out how your things look when compared to others. Especially usefull as we step into the new market place and we each have to change or methods.

The auctions on at the moment

Etsy
eBidUK
Blujay
iOffer
Tazbar
eCrater
OnlineAuctions
RubyLane
Overstock
Specialist Auctions
Amazon

There is also a google search that you can find bellow, it has all the listed auctions I can find but as it is not that good at finding what I know is there I changed the settings to web search with the selected sites priority. Still not sure how good it is but does seem to bring up some of the sites that are not on the list.

Feel free to use it or just watch as I may be adding more auctions to it when I have more time.

If you use it and have any problems could you let me know so it can be fixed?

Ebid US and a few of the others may be added again if I find that one alone is not showing right for the user.

Have added the links to the other search engines that I know of so as to offer the user as many options as possible, at least until MOAAS is up and running again.

And an update on that is on the PSU site, that I suggest you check out.

Also working on adding more sites as soon as I get time.

Thanks

Javascript Countdown code for boycott day

If you want your own boycott countdown the code is at Javascriptkit website

Just search for countdown

Have tried to put this one and a few others in my Sig on the PSU but does not seem to like javascript and also has size issues.

If you are looking for a diferent style then you can type code javascript countdown into google

The making of the Holy Grail or the Auction Search Engine

The making of the holy grail or the auction search engine

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.

Summer discount

Added the summer discount to the website, that was originally called the Boycott discount, but we decided against it. But it still runs up until the 1st of may and is set up to draw people to the website and the alternatives I have selected.

Update on the Holy Grail

A group is trying to make it.

After nothing being done with MOAAS they are trying to see if they can make a new search.

For me I am looking at a simple javascript version, although I have been looking into other things, but hopefully someone will come up with something that works.

Added some links to online Game sites

Added a few links to game sites to the blog, for those of you with time on your hands and nothing to do, while waiting for the changeover.

The Javascript games have very little impact on your resources but they are basic. Still ok to while away some time though and I believe you can add them to your site.