In every issue, readers soundoff about issues important to them. From feedback to payment services, from increased fees to posting policies, AuctionBytes Soundoff gives you a chance to air your views.

Hello, Ina.
I found this writeup a fascinating discussion on the ethics of "taking advantage" of a less knowledgable seller: http://www.jewishworldreview.com/jewish/ethicist_garage_sale.php3
Whether your AuctionBytes.com readers would appreciate the perspective, only you can decide.
Wishing you well,
Dee

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Hi, Ina.
We would love to hear Hani Durzy's, or even Bill Cobb's, official stance on what eBay is doing to rectify an escalating situation with regards to eBay Guides. It certainly appears that there has been an apparant abandonment of the eBay Guides concept, an ongoing situation which is more than several months old now.

Link (edited for length)

Ina, I hate to be another screaming voice in the wilderness, but I sometimes send you links like this out of pure desperation. The days of communication between David and Goliath are often, as Goliath is doing everything possible to appear deaf, blind and stupid to his surroundings.

When you have a chance, if you have a chance, see what you think ... if it's worthy of pursuing a response, that's great, if not, I understand. You've got quite the busy operation going there, so on behalf of all of us sellers, keep up the great work!
Regards,
D.

Editor's Note: Here's a shortcut link to the blog post referenced above: http://digbig.com/4qpbx

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Hi Ina, happy holidays to you! I wanted to ask you if you would run an article about ebay unfairly censoring members on the ebay blogs, yet not providing enough protection for its members. I have felt for awhile that ebays "blogs" were nothing but a way to improve ebays page rank with the most basic features of a true blog removed. There is little direction ebays blog manager to begin with to help understand clearly what can and cannot be posted.

The result of the lack of management is that now there are huge numbers of bloggers who are using it as a spam engine. Creating new IDs daily only to show up immediately at the blogs under the pretense of friendly conversation or to make a post with a link that goes elsewhere. Many of us are there for the social environment but flee because of the retaliation from certain posting IDs that show up just to stir the pot up. A good number of these bloggers are new to the world of blogging and eBay should be especially sensitive to them.

I don't believe ebay has the slightest clue what a social network is. I'm writing to you because Ebay doesn't listen. There should be a better way to protect members from clicking and ending up at the doors of a scammer. There should be a block list, some posting limitations on newly registered IDs or the Posters ID should show up right next to a topic before we click on it. Something. Ignoring the situation just places its members in a position where we are vulnerable to security attacks.
Ebay Blogger

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Hi Ina,
Just a couple of things you may be interested in.
We've published a couple of articles following correspondence we received from Gary Sattler (blogging stocks writer). Unfortunately, Gary's editor found the content too inflammatory and rejected the article. Subsequently, he has asked us to spread the word. Here are the articles:

http://www.pheebay.com/blog/2007/01/classing-action-of-ebay-fee-hike.html

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/117567/ebay_hike_feesagain.html

Secondly, we've also launched www.pheebay.com recently. The forum members are generally an amalgamation of "CORE" from the UK, as well as "The Tiny Mob" from the US. We even have an Ebay pink as a member! It would be great if you joined up, as we currently have a journalists section' planned which may be of use to you.
kind regards,
Jim

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Re: eBay Password Security (Vendor Monday)
http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/abn/y07/m01/i01/s02

I LOVE the article about password safety! Thank you!
Harriet, subscriber for 2 years +

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Dear Ina:
Happy New Year!
Thanks again for a WONDERFUL newsletter.
Hope 2007 is the best yet for you.
Regards,
MJ

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Re: "From the Editor"
http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/abu/y206/m12/abu0181/s01

Hello,
First, you produce a very helpful newsletter. I share it with others who do not auction vintage jewelry. They appreciate your insights and information. Thank you for your time and effort in keeping us current.

Your opening of this newsletter hit home. Yesterday, 22 of my 24 listings on eBay were removed. Ten were removed at 10:00 am and 12 were removed at 2:00 pm. Fifteen had bids - many had multiple bids. All of the auctions were due to end in 1-1/2 days. I went to 'Live Help" immediately. The only help she could give me was to tell me that my fees had been refunded and referred me to the Trust and Safety Team. I emailed them twice and have not yet had a response. I have not received any notification from eBay as to why these items were removed.

I reviewed all of the auctions that were removed. As with vintage costume jewelry, all of the auctions were for different types of items. The only thing similar was a blurb that referred lookers to my other auctions. I had used this blurb before.

Needless to say, I am frustrated to have my weekly income taken away at such a critical time of the year. My questions: Do you know if this is happening to others? What is the best way to get a response from eBay or to get help?
Thanks for listening.
Louise

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Re: "eBay Sellers Ask about Forthcoming USPS Shipping Changes"
http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/abu/y206/m12/abu0181/s02

hi ina,
of special concern to me is how much they are proposing to raise media mail costs, and in particular the uneveness of the increase. a 2 lb package will go up from $2.07 to $2.47. while a 10 lb package will only go from $5.49 to $5.51.

http://www.usps.com/ratecase/media_mail.htm

if amazon and alibris take the same stance as they did on the last increase... that this is a seller problem, and don't increase their already too low shipping alotment, this could spell the end of the dollar sellers and even the $10 sellers on those sites.
robert

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Hi Ina,
I'm a new subscriber and wanted to compliment you on your newsletter. This particular issue was a 100% hit on my relevance meter. All meat, no fat. Very much worth the time it took to read.

I had just recently come across scan forms at click n ship and was wondering when Paypal was going to implement it in their shipping service. It's on my list of things to ask my Paypal account rep. Any chance that you've already addressed this with them?

I'll be reading the back issues as time permits. Thanks again for a very useful tool.
Happy holidays. See you next year!
Neil

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Hi Ina,
I noticed that a Quik Drop store in McKinney, TX closed after only being open for about 6 months. I have talked to several franchise owners and believe that the concept is in real trouble, has there been any other reports on this that I may have missed. Thanks.
-Mike

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Ina - Have you heard anything from eBay sellers that the recent Powerseller Challenge was pretty messed up? There have been a few threads on the PS board about how the numbers that eBay shows on the PS Challenge page are REALLY incorrect? Here's a few links:

Link (edited for length) - PS Board

Link (edited for length) - PS Board

Thought it might be an interesting story, and might make others aware that they should really doublecheck those figures since math is definitely not eBay's forte (6% increase anyone?)
Patrice

Editor's Note: You have to be an eBay PowerSeller to access the boards.

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Hello...
I was wondering if you have seen any of the numerous discussions about eBay's description database either not indexing "common words" or searches using "titles and description" filtering out "common words"?

This is affecting some categories, sellers, buyers more than others BUT it is a serious problem as eBay has not acknowledged the 2 plus month problem so that its members can adapt... This includes saved "Favorite searches" and the resulting email alerts to members that subscribe.

Just a few of the threads you will find discussing the problem...

Problem with Title & Description search ignoring certain words: Link (edited for length)

SOOOOO.... WILL I GET A REFUND???? PINKS?: Link (edited for length)

UNABLE TO SEARCH THE DESCRIPTIONS FOR PHRASES ANYMORE???? HELP!!!: http://forums.ebay.com/db1/thread.jspa? threadID=1000369440

Thanks,
T.