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