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

Now, you can follow a new blog for readers. The AuctionBytes "Letters to the Editor" blog is found on this page.

Send a letter to the editor by emailing ina@auctionbytes.com with "Letters to the Editor Blog" in the subject line. (Remember to include your name as you would like it to appear in the blog.) I will be selective in the letters I publish on the blog, and I will continue to publish letters in this newsletter as well.

Be sure and follow the AuctionBytes Letters to the Editor blog!

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Not sure if this is news or not, but it looks like eBay is considering offering a 10% USPS discount to Powersellers. Here's some text from a survey that I was just sent today.

The questions that followed this page asked whether the drop in rates would prompt me to ship more with the USPS (I already use USPS 100%), and if the drops would prompt me to drop my item or shipping price on eBay (yes to shipping, no to item price).

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As you may know, PowerSellers rank among the most successful sellers on eBay in terms of sales and customer satisfaction.

Suppose that eBay were to offer PowerSellers a 10% Power Seller Discount on shipping costs with the United States Postal Service. The discount would apply to all Priority Mail, Priority Mail International, Express Mail, Express Mail International, and Global Express Guaranteed shipments. In order to receive this discount, you must use the eBay Shipping Center to print shipping labels for your shipments.

Please look at this potential new rate structure below and click "continue" to answer the questions that follow. When answering these questions, please assume that all other shipping carriers' rates would remain the same.

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Comment on this letter on the Letters to the Editor blog
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Dear Ina,
I have never written to you before but read your site almost daily.

I just wanted to bring something to your attention and that is the radical change on the page eBay previously had posted their policy called Buyer Accountability.

Unfortunately, I did not take save an image of the page but here is a link to how that page is now configured http://pages.ebay.com/services/forum/sellerprotection.html

The wording is so radically different that what was previously presented, I am almost speechless.

I thought if you had copy of that page, it would be worth reposting on your site and might be a topic for one of your daily news headlines.

It's omission now removes a number of lines of defense that sellers had against abuse by buyers.

I suppose that this may have been part of the recently proposed changes to the user agreement; however those are scheduled to go into effect on 8 June 2009 and that date has not arrived yet.

Other than that, I saw no notice announcing any change in that page.
Regards,
Kyle

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Comment on this letter on the Letters to the Editor blog
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Dear Ina,
I have been reading your ebay news for well over a year now and truly appreciate that ebay has not been able to BUY your silence.

I know you posted the article regarding ebays new resolution policy but it appears that they may end of being nothing more than paypals new policy, which has proven to be the sellers WORST NIGHTMARE!

As a powerseller myself, most of us have noticed that WINNING a claim has been almost IMPOSSIBLE no matter how INSANE the claim has been.

It appears that a rep has told a seller that these claims are actually done by a computer and processed automatically, which explains why sellers are not winning them.

If this is true then it would process that the claims process has NO bases in facts, proof or holds ANY form of LEGITIMACY and why claims are at an all time high.

Buyers are now realizing that they can claim ANYTHING and still win, so if this is how they are going to handle the FAKE/COUNTERFEIT claims then what ebay and paypal have done is declare OPEN SEASON for scammers at the cost of their sellers.

I would also think this has to have MANY legal consequences for both ebay and paypal.

Thanks again for ALL that you do for ebay sellers.
P.S. I LOVE Bonanzle and I truly hope they end up surpassing ebay.
Tania

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We received three reactions to the eBay's announcement, "Coming in June - 5 Free Insertion Fees Every 30 Days" (link):

This is just more silly listing manipulations.....what is a simple listing tool....? Never heard of it. I know what the SYI tool is, but an SLT is unknown to me.

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Big deal...

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Like giving out Free Drinks on the Titanic!

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Re: eBay buying Korea's Gmarket for $24 a share

There goes another $1.2 billion
Gregory

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Hi Ina,
Was reading Griff's monthly "Ask Griff" topic in the eBay forums and learned that he will no longer accept questions from a posting id, rather than strictly basing it on the MERITS of the question. This makes NO sense to me, since eBay could ALWAYS tell WHO you actually were, since posting ids only "protect" you from bad eBay USERS. As a result, I don't see any real benefit to eBay by doing that, unless they are just trying to scare some people off from asking "real" questions.

Link

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I posted here a few days ago about my account being restricted for alleged shill bidding. After multiple phone calls and emails the restriction was overturned the next day. Since then there has been a change on my dashboard every single day ... one day all looks good, next day I'm flagged for a policy violation, next day my powerseller status is gone, and then we start over. We've gone through this cycle twice.

I've called customer support at least once daily for the past 7 days and emailed or received email 2 or 3 times daily during the same period. Ebay support, Powerseller support, T&S, and the Office of the President have all been involved. I have 3 phone calls and 2 emails that tell me all has been restored and it is okay for me to list again.

Yesterday my account was flagged with a policy violation again. I called CS. I'm told it was their error and the flag was removed while I was on the phone. This morning there's a warning on my dashboard again that the account is restricted. I called powerseller support. I'm told someone forgot to close out the file and the rep fixed it while I was on the phone. All looks good and I'm ready to list again, right?

I went out to run some errands. Get back and there's a phone message from T&S who says the account restriction will stand until reviewed around May 20th. I log back into ebay and the restriction has been removed. What will it be tomorrow????

I just can't deal with another phone call or email or any contact whatsoever with ebay today, but know I'll have to deal with them once I get my act together. Does anyone have any idea how to find someone at ebay who can settle this issue for me once and for all??

I feel like I've talked with the entire staff but they aren't talking to each other. I did nothing wrong so why is this so dang hard to fix?
Kathy