The Rise and Fall of eBay Reich

Redux

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<= span style=3D'font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"'>THE RISE= AND FALL OF THE eBay REICH

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<= span style=3D'font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"'>Written = by

<= span style=3D'font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"'>Richard Bilderberg

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Contribu= tors

Randy Bansa

John Coleman

Cam Harvey

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Princeto= n, May 2008

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eBay:

The Community is made up of members, buyers and sellers, as well as staff. You'll find that respect and communication are the cornerstones of a dynamic Community. The Community is guided by the following five fundamental values:

We believe people are basical= ly good.

We believe everyone has somet= hing to contribute.

We believe that an honest, op= en environment can bring out the best in people.

We recognize and respect ever= yone as a unique individual.

We encourage you to treat oth= ers the way you want to be treated.

eBay is firm= ly committed to these principles. And we believe that community members should= also honor them—whether buying, selling, or chatting with eBay friends.= 221; (1)

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From Joseph Goebbels' Speech = on Adolf Hitler's 49th Birthday (April 1938):

“The Fuehrer has probab= ly never had so many happy people gathered about him for his birthday as in th= is year. […]And beyond our borders, millions upon millions of our ethnic clan = join with the citizens of the Reich in a unique affirmation of loyalty, connectedness and faithful attachment.

The highest form of joy there= is on this earth is to make other people happy. Who has had this joy in fuller measure than the Fuehrer himself. I truly believ= e in the goodness in everyone, a fruitful environment, shared values where the individual strives and grows, within a great community.” (2)

&= nbsp; Apart from referring to itself as “the world’s largest marketplace,” (3) today eBay is “one of the most hostile Intern= et venues” according to Adams (4). What is more, and that is the focus of this article is that eBay is an illegal corporation. Similar to Nazism and = the installation of the totalitarian state under Hitler, eBay operates under the guise of legality, uses propaganda mechanisms, manipulating information, extortion and many other criminal means to disguise its malpractices. =

Thus, behind the colorful eBay logo, thus rests a hideous and seemingly untouchable totalitarian oligarchy, as will be explained hitherto. This is arguably wor= se than what happened in the Third Reich, because we know what happened then: the destruction of millions of peop= le, as part of mass extermination, hiding under the face of Nazism; today in 20= 08 the abuse of millions of users, denying them proper use of its website, was= ting people’s time and stealing their money, is not only one of ’s unlawful practices, but more so, what Call= ahan calls “a digital holocaust.”(5) We are not just talking about a company that lies and cheats, but is actively involved in hitherto unprecedented criminal activity - violating a plethora of national and international laws - seemingly getting away with it, until today. On this matter Bankman notes:

The consistent violation of civil, corporate and legal l= aw, however is now catching up, as indicated by the individual and class action= law suits against them. Enron and Fastow were then, eBay is now! (6)=

Lies deception, fraud, slande= r, artificial auctions creation artificially inflating the total auction listi= ngs count, human rights abuses, stock fraud, user “expendability” a= re all part of this digital holocaust. This list could go on, but significantl= y it is also a summary of the practices and conduct of the ruler of a totalitari= an state, in the case of eBay with parallels to the third Reich under Hitler, = that cannot be overlooked: all aspects relate to the “world’s biggest marketplace”, eBay, whe= re you can apparently “shop victoriously.” The following is an overvie= w of the current situation for eBay (as of May 2008) its rules, fees, feedback policy, abuse of its users (buyers and sellers), unwanted new users, financ= ial malpractices, lack of growth potential and alternatives to eBay.

The first= , and one of the biggest problems for anyone selling on eBay are its rules and policies. So-called “listing violations” are a continuous probl= em any seller faces on eBay, i.e. violating one of 's my= riad of endless and incomprehensible rules and policies that even eBay doesn't understand. The rules are inconsistent, due to variations, such as in China, for example, where an eBay seller can list for free (or deeply discounted listings) without fear of having auctions terminated for trademark or copyr= ight violations: a place where the eBay listing rules don't apply because eBay w= ants to encourage developing markets. Daines maintains that over 75% of all eBay rules and regulations (in addition to the flawed listing rules) do not make sense, causing default seller suspensions, a.k.a. NARU (Not A Registered User) - term for a user who has been suspended by eBay (7). Howe= ver, this aspect does not really matter since eBay has now rolled out its random user suspension, in order to reach fixed quota goals.

In addition eBay is a health hazard. Several clinical studies conducted by the Harvard Medical School ha= ve shown eBay is a medical danger; on this Becker states: I have had patients = of different ages and gender suffering from psychological turmoil to depressio= n as caused by their experience with eBay. We are not talking about a mere bad feeling in your stomach, but psychological damage caused by mental trauma, as a result of dealing with t= he automated eBay system and its inhumane indifference to my patients. (8)

This clinical study will also= be published in several medical journals in late 2008, and segments of it are already on file as part of evidence on plaintiffs seeking legal action agai= nst eBay. The painstaking documen= tation was the main challenge to compile, evaluate and format in order to be accep= ted as a court filing, but was obviously necessary to make a proper medical case against eBay.

= The major problem, that is also causing health problems (along with many emotio= nal responses by abused eBayers – see Appendix C) is the fact that eBay d= oes not offer any proper form of customer service, or support. eBay uses standardized notes, templates and never properly addresses customer concerns. The most commonly used term to be found in the eBay templates is “proprietary” - The dictionary meaning for proprietary is somet= hing that is secret or privileged. When this term is used by the eBay staff it m= eans "we have no idea what we are doing and you want us to tell you?" = When the eBay staff is asked to justify a statement or decision that is contradictory to eBay rules, practices, or common logic, they declare that information to be proprietary. eBay staffers use= it to evade the truth: there is no logical or legal basis for their answer because the answer they gave was pulled out of their collective template source, of= ten randomized, to cite Gilligan, a former eBay seller:

Many of us have left permanently en masse. I like to cal= l it the Great eBay Diaspora. So much for 's good reputation. Someone else can grow now, It will take time for 's competitors to grow, but they will. Reputation is everything. Whether you're worth billions or a few thousand. Peopl= e like being treated well. And that, eBay, is the bottom line. (9)

The PINK – is Posting B= oard slang for eBay employees who are readily identified by their PINK banner. T= hey have unlimited power to make decisions and never have to justify them. PINK also stands for "Powerful Individual with No Klue". Their favorite word is also "proprietary", as in "that information is proprietary". It is their catchall escape clause wherein they avoid answering questions and having to supply logical answers. Most use a pseudo= nym rather than give the sellers a clue as to what their real name might be. Si= nce they almost always only sign just a first name, why use a pseudonym? Even m= ore flawed is the so-called Live Help - A difficult to locate link on eBay that takes one to a live chat link where one expects to actually get help. Live = Help often experiences high call volume and extended waits for the wrong answer.= The reason for this is that the people operating the eBay chat are hardly train= ed, can only use template answers and have no authority regarding anything. Paterson has questioned for years, why eBay does not have an ombudsperson? = (10) One reader responded in posing a counter-question: “Why did the Gesta= po not have an ombudsperson?”

= This leads us to the next area of legal controversy surround= ing : data collection, data control and the VERO debacle. eBa= y often mentions computer glitches, a term used when a company spokesperson blames the computer software for failure when the actual failure belongs to= the programming department and the management team that approved the flawed programming change without adequate testing. eBay (falsely) denies using “Easter eggs” i.e. computer programming, special code hidden in the program that does unexpected things. In legalese, weasel wording embedded in a contract that produces results unexpected by t= he signer. "Not that we would ever actually use this", said one eBay lawyer, trying to hide his smirk.

These sellers are not whiners, crybabies, or losers and = they don’t belong at a yard sale. This is about control, total control of = the sellers and the buyers. If you don’t believe it just watch what eBay = is doing, you will be overwhelmed. (11)

= The worst part of any user experience is having to deal with ’s Trust & Safety Department, which once a user is caught = up with, she/he never escapes. According to Weizman ’= ;s Trust & Safety is an exactly replicated mirror of the Gestapo (Geheime Staatspolizei) Hitler relied on to control his citizens. What is more, “the mechanisms and techniques used by eBay T & S, are identical = to the Nazi’s secret police, namely operating by means of surprise, fear, intimidation and terror.”(12)

The Trust & Safety Board - one of many chat boards hosted by eBay.&nb= sp; Some are open to the public for posting; most require one be a registered eBay user. All are monitored by eBay groups and have enrollment = requirements, and many users have been suspended by eBay, simply for asking a questio= n. The chat boards, thus, are an ideal way to eliminate people who have their own opinion or think differently or independently, an extension of the “digital holocaust” as mentioned earlier: off to the concentrat= ion camp. In an eBay memo by Lorrie Norrington of eBay - she admits that eBay h= as files of users on a list “under probation” if a complaint is ma= de against a user, regardless of its validity. (13)

The T & S Gestapo works c= losely with the “VeRO” Program, a program by which owners of intellect= ual property rights can enforce those rights on eBay, also used as a verb as in, "I've been VeRO'd". A VeRO Takedown is what happens when a VeRO member notifies eBay that someone's auction is infringing. The VeRO member = is not required to provide proof of IP ownership, or provide the seller with an explanation of why the listing was removed, or a legal basis for demanding = the takedown. No VeRO member has ever been punished for misusing the VeRO Progr= am although one study estimated an abuse rate of about 30%. eBay will not help= a seller who has been VeRO'd and will suspend a seller who is repeat "offender" while pointedly ignoring improper and illegal VeRO takedowns. It has been estimated that as high as 50% of VeRO "takedowns" are invalid or unjust. eBay does not "verify" the claimed rights. Norrington’s Memo clearly states, that eBay does not care about what happens to its sellers in such circumstances, since apparently “there are more than enough new idiot= s, signing up every day.” (14)

= Subsequently, eBay T&S fetishism in combination with the faulty VERO system under the guise of protection leads to users being suspended for no reason. So, how d= oes eBay’s Gestapo operate? Once eBay suspends a user they have a meticul= ous system in place that tracks and analyzes users, their moves, behavior patte= rns, keystroke analysis moves, behavior patterns, syntax and much more; using a public computer will automatically get you suspended. Thus, “buying&#= 8221; an eBay account from someone else will not work! There are guides out there which suggest tips to get back onto eBay,&= nbsp; such as using dial-up, always changing your cpu name, ip blockers, u= sing false names, new credit cards. However, Tim Young, an MIT computer security expert, who knows how eBay works states:

eBay will al= ways track you down, despite having circumvented ALL their tracking mechanisms. = eBay WILL GET YOU......The people who should be workin= g in eBay customer support, are working in a HUGE eBay security-tracking department...!!!! The Gestapo of the 21st Century!!! (15)=

= As a result, ’s security and safety departmen= ts employ more people than their customer service department. In fact eBay nev= er considered installing proper customer service, like a phone call-back servi= ce, successfully used on Amazon.com, but instead decided to implement the shoot-first, never-ask-questions-later approach, which is consistent with Norrington’s assertions, since there will always apparently be enough= new users on eBay. Gould sums thi= s up as follows: “The upside of the continuous abuse of human beings on eB= ay and its Gestapo is a chance for other auction and ecommerce websites to gro= w. eBay never has and never will care about people, the nightmare for many is almost over, since eBay has entered a spiral into its= own death beyond any point of return.” (16)

The gassed bodies were then taken to another area, where they were scrutinized for anything deemed of value. This included their sho= es, clothes and gold teeth. The teeth were removed with a special hammer and chisel.

(17)

= Among the many illegal business practices of eBay the holding of funds and overpa= id seller fees are one of the major crimes eBay openly commits against its use= rs. eBay has a payment system for monthly fees that does n= ot provide a check on amount entered to prevent overpayment; Torman asks: “How much money does eBay make every month by doing overnight investi= ng on the overpayment monies it collects and holds on to this way for several = weeks. Why doesn’t the government step in and look at this illegal practice?” (18) What is more, however, is the money eBay has actually stolen from eBay users it has suspended. Just like the Nazis stealing the m= oney from the Jews in the Third Reich, eBay simply takes the money from users, r= ight down to “the last gold tooth” it can knock out of a person̵= 7;s mouth, without facing any legal repercussions for such crimes, until today.=

= Like the Propaganda ministry under Joseph Goebbels, eBay employs methods of falsifying facts, misleading people, and using what Orwell called “newspeak” and “doublespeak” and can be found in the Newspeak Dictionary, stating such communication is “Deliberately ambiguous or evasive language; any language that pretends to communicate but actually does not." (19) Until today eBay has been seemingly successfu= l in manipulating many people, since eBay assumes, the majority, or what they ca= ll “the masses” are simply stupid, too dumb and will believe anyth= ing they are told. Take for instance the blatantly obvious eBay Live! Events, an annual -sponsored convention where eBay staff (all wearing blinders) spend = the entire time pretending there is nothing wrong with eBay. This is a great opportunity for eB= ayers everywhere to over-pay to stand in long lines to hear self-serving tripe and receive schlock. It is much reminiscent of Paul Joseph Goebbels and his fam= ous plenipotentiary for Total War. According to Havercamp, eBay here, again mim= ics similar sensory and linguistic techniques in order to distort and manipulate (20) ; the “Get IT on ” is what appe= ars to be the first in a series of failed advertising slogans foisted on the publi= c by eBay. “Shop Victoriously” is the latest idiotic eBay adverti= sing scheme professionally supported by equally idiotic Shop Victoriously televi= sion commercials. Some advertising firm is making a lot of money from eBay.

= The eBay sellers have been lied to, tricked, cheated and manipulated many times, again, without real repercussions. Take for instance propaganda words, such= as “ Express” a replacement marketing approach heavily promoted by eBay to minimize the effects of eBay Store listings. By manipulating the eBay search engine, eBay has the Express listings appear l= ong before the store listings, if one can even find the store listings. Similar= ly, “eBay Stores” was a successful marketing approach heavily promo= ted by eBay and then orphaned. In an attempt to revive its core auction base, a= nd generate higher revenues, eBay took steps to minimize the effects of the successful eBay Store listings but did not eliminate them. Finally, a “Power Seller” is an eBay seller who averages over $1,000 a mon= th in sales for three months or more. There are three levels of Power Seller: BRONZE, the lowest level, over $1,000 a month; SILVER, over $3,000 a month; GOLD, over $10,000 a month. Some buyers resent power sellers, which is why = some sellers refuse to accept the icon. For the seller, other than receiving a colorful “Power Seller” icon, there is no advantage to it whatsoever, other than the tax agency (21) looking for them to cash in on taxation and demand all sales records from eBay, which always hands them over withi= n a few hours.

= Finally, eBay openly “abused” its sellers during several joint initiativ= es of sellers in 2008. This is how eBay keeps the listing numbers up when there are boycotts: eBay manipulates the auction counts by turning people's stores back to “active” even though they set them to “vacation” with Items hidden before the boycott. Many members h= ave complained that their closed stores sudden got a sale, and checked to see t= hat their settings had been changed BY eBay.&n= bsp; Thus, like the Nazis, eBay has no moral compass at all. Like Hugenbe= rg and other Nazi industrialists assisting Hitler in getting a hold on power, = eBay openly lies to the public, their customers, and their stockholders by blata= ntly manipulating the auction counts so they can shove their heads in the sand a= nd try to pretend that the THOUSANDS of people boycotting the site aren't maki= ng any difference; In the words of Wallace: “Until the government steps = in and shuts down eBay,&n= bsp; nothing will change, and they will continue their criminal activity.” (22)

I'm a small sized eBay seller honoring the boycott and beyond. You see the screw 1st starts to turn with eBay telling me how much money I can make to sell with them. Then the screw completes it's revolution once I see all the FEES associated with having two titles, neon = glow bars around my item, super big pictures, double category/double exposure fe= es, and on & on. 2nd revolution (keeping with the screw metaphor) happens w= hen the auction starts to wind down, and the 10 vultures watching my item wait until the last minute to place a bid. 3rd twist comes when bidder never pay= s or takes forever to pay. 4th is when eBay takes another chunk the FVF (fancy f= or it sold fee) just imagine a real store pulling this sort of crap, fee'd aga= in because PayPal was involved (we know how costly it must be for them to tran= sfer funds from one members account to another. 5th & finally is trip to the Post Office & driving on 3.25 a gallon gas, which when all said & d= one leaves me a little sore and none the richer. Bottom line: It's not fun & eBay gives you no respect afterwards.

(23)

= Apart from injustices and crimes of Orwellian proportions, eBay cashes in (big) on fees. Previously eBay had reasonably priced fees for items with 99 cents st= art bid, and no reserve, the very kind of auctions that made eBay so successful when they first “took off”. However, the recent price changes a= ffect many eBay businesses greatly. They will result in the fees going up 40% annually, as Ulrich explains:

If I were to achieve the 5% discount eBay is offering a = very select few, my fees would go up by approximately 27%. If I were to achieve = the 15% discount, my fees would go up by approximately 13%. I feel that the pri= ce increases are extremely misguided. Normally, companies only raise rates when THEIR costs increase, or when they are delivering better results to their customers. In THIS case, ’s costs have not= risen and they are not only NOT delivering better results. (24)=

= Many thousands of sellers & buyers are now united together to protest the ne= west changes made by eBay. The rea= sons are - Pricing - announced as "significant price reductions" are a= ctually a decrease of eBay. 05 for listing fee and an increase of up to 67% on FVF -Store FVF are increasing - Reserve Fee has been increased by 100% AND is no longer refundable.

still bl= atantly tries to cheat people to come back and say, “Gallery is free.” Gallery is not free. They hit the sellers in this category in the back end = with that huge whopping fee increase in the back end of their fees. In effect, w= hat they’re doing is forcing everybody to pay for Gallery now: “You know, right now lower tier – which is bringing in the high transaction volume. So now, if we look at the same $14 ASP item where the seller had a – remember it was a 4.3% increase if he had a 17%= sell-through… If you double that sell through to 33%, he got hit with a 13.4% increase. S= o it’s actually affecting the better sellers.” (25)

, an Auction site, for all intents and purposes, is still a market place, and is governed by the same = rule as any other market place. Supply and demand. One thing noticeable is the prices for many items on eBay have gone down. This = is not by accident, as eBay is just simply over crowded and because of this, h= as an abundance in supply. This over supply causes less d= emand, and in turn, forces prices down. While it is not known if this is good or b= ad for eBay, we do know it’s bad for the auction seller. Items that use to sell for dollars now sell for pennies on the dollar. While eBay fees continue to ris= e.

How is it that its use of price structuring, and now one sided feedback is not deemed as restraint of free trade in the market place, when it can be shown that s fee policies and its restructuring of its feedb= ack system are broadly based in manipulating the normal unfettered free flow of merchandise from seller to buyer, to drive selling price points where they = are most advantageous to the eBay thought the number of listings on eBay and the type of services that can be selected by a seller? (26)

Apart from the latest lawsuits against eBay, the feedback controversy is one of the most recent issues of illegal activity e= Bay is engaging in. Anyone ever selling on eBay knows what the changes in feedb= ack rules mean, eBay knows what it means and the Nazis knew the effects of publ= ic pilloried, letting the executed bodies of opponents of the Reich dangle fre= ely in the wind on broad public display.

As for the opening quote it c= an be seen that eBay does not care about anything or anybody, only itself. Some have argued that ’s latest feedback changes help ’s pricing sys= tem, and insures that sellers will chose only those alternatives that fit the mo= del for s quarterly earnings reports. But this argument does not hold, since eB= ay has also begun to implement random user suspensions. Higgins (27) looks clo= sely at ’s “rationale” behind the feedback changes with short commentary; anyone who can read, can quote eBay itself, who state:

eBay: We bel= ieve that: 4. sellers will leave Feedback upon payment more often in order to increase their chance of receiving positive Feedback.

Commentary: This is a ridiculous claim made by eBay, based = neither on fact, nor research and thus has no merit, period.

eBay: Is eBay favoring buyers over sellers with this change?

eBay: The ch= ange in the Feedback system is designed to improve the eBay marketplace that sho= uld benefit both buyers and sellers. Improving the Feedback system should incre= ase the number of buyers whose expectations are met. This should result in more buying activity which will benefit sellers.

Commentary: This is a ridiculous claim made by eBay, based = neither on fact, nor research and thus has no merit, period. It is moreover a pathe= tic fallacy, since buyers know they can now get anything for free on eBay. Also note how eBay never addresses= the initial question they pose THEMSELVES.

eBay: When b= uyers receive negative Feedback, they reduce their activity in the marketplace, w= hich in-turn harms all sellers.

Commentary: This is a ridiculous, even idiotic, claim ma= de by eBay, = based neither on fact, nor research and thus has no merit, period.

eBay: The th= reat of receiving retaliatory negative Feedback from sellers, prevents buyers fr= om leaving honest feedback about sellers, undermining the accuracy and value of the Feedback system.

Commentary: This is a ridiculous claim made by eBay, based = neither on fact, nor research and thus has no merit, period. And, by the way, what about the sellers?

eBay: Doesn'= t this change create an imbalanced system?

eBay: We bel= ieve we will reduce any imbalance in the Feedback system with these changes. Buy= ers will be able to more accurately assess sellers and sellers will be protected from buyers who violate our policies (via the Unpaid Item system and other reporting) without risking a cut in good buyer activity.<= /p>

Commentary: This is simply an outrageous eBay lie. eBay does not have the means (nor does it intend) to p= rotect sellers, and thus has no merit, period.

eBay: Why is= eBay preventing buyers from leaving negative or neutral Feedback within three da= ys of the end of a listing?

eBay: Most negative or neutral Feedback left in the first few days is due to lack of communication between the buyer and the seller. We believe that this three-= day restriction will create a "cool down" period and encourage communication before the buyer decides to leave negative Feedback. If the b= uyer still feels the negative Feedback is deserved at the end of the three-day period, there will still be an opportunity to post honest Feedback.

Commentary: This is a ridiculous claim made by eBay, based = neither on psychological fact, nor scientific research and thus has no merit, perio= d. In plain English: The dishonest buyer will just wait the three days before threatening and blackmailing a seller with neutral or negative feedback in order to get an item for free, period.

eBay: I let = the buyer know that I ran out of stock yet they still left me a negative?<= /o:p>

eBay: Sellin= g an item and then backing out of the transaction for any reason is a violation = of 's Seller Non Performance policy. When a buyer does not receive an item alr= eady paid for, especially if hours were spent on the winning the auction, it accounts for a bad buying experience. Sellers should always notify buyers if they run out of stock and offer the buyer a full refund, though this does n= ot ensure that the buyer will still not leave a negative.

Commentary: This is a ridiculous claim made by eBay, sin= ce how can someone “spend hours” on win= ning an auction? Obviously eBay has and always will think people are dumb, especially its sellers. eBay itself, thus, is the cause of the bad buying experience.

eBay: Current rules for negative Feedback removal under dispute resolution will still app= ly. The guidelines for removal may change as we adjust 's Mutual Feedback Withdrawal system during the second half of 2008.

Commentary: The Mutual Feedback Withdrawal “system” is so utterly flawed, it cannot be improved by any changes, especially in the wake of the unfair feedback changes - what an incredible hassle and red-tape sellers have to face just to sell an item.

eBay: Recent Feedback is more representative of the experien= ce a buyer should expect from a seller. Twelve months is long enough to show tre= nds and patterns and will enable buyers to make more informed decisions. It is = also a long enough period of time to prevent a single bad transaction from havin= g an overly negative impact.

Commentary: A user works hard for their feedback, often = many years, but eBay will only credit the last year? Simply outrageous, period.

eBay: Why do= n't you just count all of the Feedback I earn?

eBay: Counti= ng all Feedback would be Feedback manipulation. By separating Feedback into weekly buckets, we are attempting to capture the intent of the buyer who returns t= o a seller after having a good experience.

Commentary: Nobody can capture “the intent” = of another person. What is a person’s “intent&= #8221; ? Example: The Waffen-SS intended to protect the civilians of a Poli= sh village, until they found out they were Jews – the result was a mass execution with precisely “intended” shots to the head. Thus, the atrocities under the Nazis in the Third Reich are more easily to comprehend than eBay and its silly games it plays with people.

eBay: What criteria will eBay use to identify buyers who violate eBay Policy?

eBay: The sa= me criteria as today. Reports from sellers based on specific policy violations such as Unpaid Item, transaction interference, Feedback Abuse and Feedback extortion.

Commentary: This is a ridiculous claim made by eBay, it is unrealistic since eBay cannot even properly handle customer problems today, since 75% of its staff are located in the eBay Gestapo department, a.k.a. e= Bay Trust and Safety.

eBay: If we suspend the buyer, any negative or neutral Feedback the buyers left for sel= lers will be removed. Sellers should only file these complaints when the buyer a= sks for more than what is promised in the listing. Filing a false claim may res= ult in seller suspension.

Commentary: This is a ridiculous claim made by eBay, since = they cannot mediate between buyers and sellers as it stands today (how can a “false” claim be distinguished?) and thus has no merit, period. This is just another facet of the already hostile trading environment on eB= ay, similar to the Jews being reported to the Gestapo by other neighbors and community members= .

eBay has replicated the mechanisms and tactics of the Gestapo successfully used in t= he third Reich. no other Internet service today use= s and operates tools of fear and intimidation against its users. (28)<= /span>

Overall, the difference between eBay, its false rationale and Hitler’s Gestapo is only marginal at best. eB= ay knows they cannot properly manage such problems, so they will just pull the trigger and suspend users, in addition to their random seller suspensions.<= o:p>

What eBay has done is taking = away the seller’s ability to leave negative feedback on a buyer - But buye= rs can leave negative feedback on sellers. And so there are no repercussions at all for a buyer to do that. Even if a buyer is totally 100% satisfied he/she can write that he’s not satisfied and that’s the end of it. Bronfman (28) predicts that “we’re going to end up with about a= 20% negative feedback ratio on eBay. You’re going to see red ink, red ink everywhere. The feedback changes are disastrous. Sellers are now victimized= by feedback extortion by buyers who threaten a seller to lower the final price – if I couldn’t leave feedback then I’d have even more negatives–wrongly so.

The three core areas of concern, according to Bronfman (= 28) to eBay sellers are:

1. Feedback - system by which eBay sellers and buyers can rate each other. Originally there were three categories: POSITIVE, meaning satisfied, NEUTRAL, meaning so-so or not sure, and NEGATIVE, meaning unhapp= y or unsatisfied. Only one feedback from a seller/buyer counts towards a member's rating (UNIQUE feedbacks). eBay has recently (20= 07) deemed NEUTRAL to mean NEGATIVE when evaluating sellers as a Non-Performing Seller while totally ignoring repeat Positives as a factor.

2. SNAD (Significantly Not As Described) - What a buyer can claim to PayPal to get out of paying for an i= tem.

3. INR (Item Not Received) - Buyer files with PayPal in = an attempt to retrieve funds. Buyer is never heard from again after seller provides Delivery Confirmation number showing item delivered.

4. SNP (Seller Non Performance) - Non-Performing Seller - according to a formula that only eBay understands, a non-performing seller = is a seller whose positive/negative feedback ratio falls below a set percentage, regardless of circumstances. eBay restricts a NP= S to a percentage of listings for a variable amount of time. The percentage and the amount of time depend upon factors that eBay will not disclose. Typically, = the first restriction will limit a sell to 75% of their listings for 30 days. Ultimately a seller will be suspended based on average neutral/negative percentages.

What is now happening on eBay= is that honest sellers will now be subject to the whims of dishonest, unscrupu= lous bidders, who face no feedback penalty for leaving false negative feedback. = What do you do when a buyer leaves you negative feedback the same day he pays for an items, because he/she says you are late with shipping?

Dishonest buyers can now get anything free on eBay follo= wing the simple formula: With the new Feedback rules being implemented at eBay, It is = the perfect time to start getting something for nothing from eBay, while playing their own game. (or at least what they are encouraging) eBay

Rules: eBay 1) Find item you would like to bid on eBay 2) Place Bid on the item eBay 3) Pay for and receive the item eBay 4) Post negative Feedback eBay 5) Have Seller issue refund eBay 6) Retract Feedback= if you want eBay The above method will actually cause 2 effects. eBay 1) you stand a excellent chance of getting your i= tem(s) for FREE! eBay 2) this will also cause sellers eventually stop using eBay once they realize they can not make a living in = this environment. If you use the Pay Pal service you can easily prove item was p= aid for removing any unpaid item strikes. If any are even incurred. Most sellers are so relived to have a negative strike remo= ved very few even report an item as unpaid. With ’s new Feedback system, bad buyers are playing within the rules they have set.= But then again, who wants to trade in such a hostile environment, facing discrimination, unwarranted suspension as well as (newly implemented) random suspension of sellers. Quinn notes: “All this, just to make a penny or two? It’s just not worth the time and energy.” (29)<= /span>

Additional factors of ’s hostile selling environment include Evolving Feedback - announced as "putting trust back into the system" Translation - feedback histo= ry will only go back 12 months and sellers will only be allowed to leave posit= ive feedback for buyers. DSR's (Detailed Seller Ratings) - will unjustly make g= ood sellers look bad by rating them on shipping time & costs will directly impact a sellers visibility in search results. P= ayPal changes - 21 day hold on funds for sellers not meeting s 'criteria' and they get to keep the interest is fraud, plain and simple. As Deventiava notes:

Positive changes to the eBay feedback system should have focused on eliminating personal comments; expand the 1-5 rating system that included rating both the buyer and seller; and qualify buyers as they have sellers, not create a one sided power. Holding payments 21 days and expecti= ng shipment of goods is just outrageous, isn’t it obvious they want to w= eed out everyone except mega sellers? The way I looked at this is they made this tremendous feedback change based upon the negative experiences of less that= 1% of the buyers on eBay. So for= that miniscule amount that’s far less than 1%, they have now basically mes= sed up the entire feedback system for everybody else. (30)

So, what about the mutual feedback withdrawal? It is another brilliant eBay move, and the main reason= for the current feedback disaster. Instead of fixing the problems eBay is using them to their financial advantage. ’s new changes are no different th= an their past approach. Their thinking is still focused on the ancient Company Store model, and the premise that people do not have any common sense and a= re basically stupid. Change in the business world is inevitable.

The eBay feedback system was ill-conceived and flawed fr= om the beginning. Over time instead of adapting it and thinking it through it became and has become a decisive factor in the demise of the eBay experience for its users, especially the sellers. (31)

The proposed seller protectio= n is useless, since: Paypal always decides disputes against a seller; eBay has m= ade and continues to install major changes without properly thinking it though and/or ignoring other interests, apart from its own; the SNP policy is in S best interest, because it helps reduce the total amount of unwanted sellers= , in addition to the new random suspensions. Feedback blackmail is what eBay sel= lers now face on a daily bases, which, in conjunction with the SNP policy based = on feedback (neutral is same as negative) is similar to the techniques used by Kurt von Schleicher (32), a senior officer of the Reichswehr to assist Hitl= er in his rise, by blackmailing political opponents to support the Nazis.=

Hugenberg was one of the main financial backers of Hitle= r; exploiting a weak economy and exploiting a volatile global market, financed the Nazi party into power.” (33)

In its annual shareholder fil= ing 2007 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, eBay cited a variety= of new threats to its business that reflect “changing customers demands.” eBay acknowledged that its main auction business faced slow= ing growth in each of its top three markets. The San Jose, California-based Com= pany also acknowledged that significant changes made in January in fees and poli= cies on its marketplaces have been controversial with many sellers: <= /span>

“If these changes cause sellers to move their busi= ness away from our sites or otherwise fail to improve gross merchandise volume or the number of successful listings, our operating results and profitability = will be harmed,” eBay said. (34)

Based on their past experience they have a habit of messing things up.

One is that verifying all users would mean they would ha= ve to admit they would actually have something like 80 million users, instead = of the 250 million users they claim (which counts all IDs as separate people, which everybody knows is complete fiction). Whether the= y see this coming or not, they’re going to get hit as well because as those high trends, as action volume sellers leave eBay. The biggest problem with the 2007 shareholder report is that is not only inaccurate, but also openly deceptiv= e as it fails to address the most important financial setbacks, such as the Skype write off.

Skype is an on-line communications method. Skype was purchased by eBay in late 2005 for 2.6 bil= lion dollars and overnight it became an immediate failure after years of success. Originally, Skype offered high-quality voice communications to anyone with = an Internet connection anywhere in the world. eBay = had other plans. In late 2007 eBay took a $1.4 billion charge to reflect the impairment of goodwill arising from the acquisition. According to Bryers, t= he charge was actually much higher, estimated to be betwee= n 3.7 to 5.2 billion. (35)

Just as Hugenberg in pre-Nazi Germany, eBay has perfected the methods of deceit and shareholder manipulation. eBa= y shareholders are generally vulnerable to such fraud, due to their transpare= nt susceptibility, as Johnson argues. (36)

Like sellers and buyers, shareholders are blind to realize, eBay has no respect for either. Now-leav= ing Meg Whitman and the individual they call the "founder" built a company that functions only for the bottom line and avoids any expenditure = even if it means very little customer service, and high customer dissatisfaction= . On this, Berger recently posed a decisive question: “Why has eBay stock remained so low over the last four years, when other stocks have shown incredible growth?” (37)

Part of the answer is that the eBay bubble burst a long time ago and the formula that nickel and dime user= s to distraction and offered them canned emails as the only means of service - u= ntil a customer revolt three years ago - has taken its toll on growth. Whitman, a major shareholder et al may wish to believe that 's dwindling growth is the result of a maturing market, but both sellers and buyers on eBay know, that seller quality offerings have dwindled in all categories and that buyers ha= ve been turned off by the downtrend in seller listings. To sum up, eBay keeps raising the fees sellers’ pay, without delivering additional value of= any kind, and in fact recent years have seen a deterioration of the value they = have provided. They also continue to micromanage their sellers, taking control o= f a greater and greater percentage of their businesses. Pascale maintains: “ has splintered its seller base, and now beyond= the point-of-no-return, with the feedback changes incredibly unfair to eBay sellers.” (38)

The other part of the answer = is that when any analyst takes a closer look at the few credible figures on eB= ay there is a discrepancy; this aspect is listings growth versus transaction growth on eBay. Pascale reveals that “the growth – the trend is certainly shifting to Amazon as well as other venues.” (39) Also, the feedback changes before implementation date of February 20 just put sellers= to go – sellers have always been gravitating towards Amazon and other venues, including their own Web site.

Finally, eBay hires people to manipulate blogs and chat rooms to maintain that despite obvious share loss= es and layoffs all is well. (See Appendix A) eBay management uses bribes to pay off operators of blogs, news feeds and websites to gain control over general public opinion. The FBI is currently investigating a case initiated by the California DA’s office against Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales, who received “donations” from an offshore account linked to eBay. E= vidently eBay donated 2.5 million to the Wikimedia Foundation, the operator of Wikipedia, but “forgot” to file taxes on it in 2007, as publicly accessible court filings reveal (40). The Wikipedia entry on eBay, must thu= s be seen as biased which would clarify why the overall tone of the entry is ove= rtly positive, despite the latest feedback controversy eBay has an intricate sys= tem of bribery and paying of government officials as is evidenced in the latest court filings against eBay (40) There is no room for growth and eBay is knowingly undermining itself and its potential by implementing the latest changes to the already flawed and unfair feedback system. As seen later, eB= ay is also quietly cutting off users at random. Cautious analysts argue that e= Bay shares are just a moment away from freefall, and placing a realistic share price under $5 per unit.

Wollner and Kent (41) anticip= ate that large shareholders like Whitman, Omydar and Cobb are trying to rid themselves of their stock, slicing them up and throwing them out as smaller bundles as well as manipulated floats. They are doing this via smaller hold= ing companies, all located offshore, including grand Cayman, Liechtenstein and Luxembourg, which, ironically are where the headquarters of eBay Europe are located. PayPal is still keeping eBay financially afloat, but as indicated, users are migrating to other financial services, often even going back to more conservative payment methods, such = as mail-ins of money orders. The global installation of Google checkout (curre= ntly only available to UK and USA) will undoubtedly replace PayPal as online merchant payment system within a few years.

The biggest financial blow to eBay is just around the corner; it is not the irreversible restructuring and downsizing and layoffs of thousands of eBay employees eBay, but according to Anderson, = the forthcoming national and international lawsuits against eBay. The anticipated cuts on ’s “free cash” are estimated at 6-8.5 billion dollars, according to xyz The international lawsuits will force eBay to write off another $4 bill= ion, as xyz notes: The eBay share price is currently overrated. A realistic price per share should be around $2-4 dollars or even less. (42)

Similar to Hugenberg, Krupp a= nd other Nazi-affiliated businessmen in the Third Reich, the key eBay sharehol= ders Whitman, Omydar and Cobb manipulate the stock price, with artificially manipulated pump-and-dump techniques. In effect they are selling and buying their own shares, in order to change the share price as they see fit. Owen maintains “there are no true share floats of eBay stock” since = the only floaters are trade-manipulated, and it is a shame the SEC has not exam= ined this more closely.” (43)

Unknown to the general public= , to date, eBay is facing several major lawsuits, including three major class ac= tion lawsuits. Several court filings against eBay have already commenced, pre-fi= led in Los Angeles and San Diego. The cases involve: Shareholder deception and stock fraud, Stock manipulation and Artificial Share price inflation. (44)<= o:p>

The Public Citizen Litigation Group - A Washington D.C.-based non-profit that defends free speech on the Internet and is one of the major plaintiffs against eBay. Gilson points out the most important fac= ts and arguments of the lawsuit:

eBay will suspend a user based on a false complaint, whi= ch means they will shut down a user and then make them appeal to be reinstated again when feedback or and open complaint is shown not to be factual – this practice by eBay is illegal.

(45)

Under interstate commerce rul= es and regulations it is illegal for a company to penalize someone, without fi= rst ascertaining if such a party has acted in violation of agreed rules. No corporation or individual can legally penalize parties to an agreement befo= re it has shown that under the terms of such an agreement such parties are in violation of the agreement. Thus, eBay is in violation of the law when it assumes such regulatory powers over buyers and sellers against due process = and equal protection rights, including fairness in business practices. In other words, as Pohlmann notes, “eBay is appropriating the legal practices = that were performed by main Nazi judge Freissler in the Third Reich under Hitler= . Period.” (46)

It is only a matter of time u= ntil the attorney general’s office in California will respond to such complaints against eBay, despite it having been part of the regional glamour economy. Research by Grundfest and Klausner (47) has shown that eBay spends millions on lobbying federal and state authorities to resist badly needed regulation to make it less predatory and a company that is required to offer customer service and a level playing field, as well as adhering to proper business practices and the law. Since its inception, eBay has argued that i= t is not subject to the regulatory and taxing authority by state and federal government because the items listed are not owned by eBay, and are presente= d by private sellers, offered to private buyers - an outrageous claim, that clea= rly violates business law, as Titian asks: “while the federal government = was so busy investigating Microsoft’s monopolistic practices, and penaliz= ing Martha Stewart for example, why is it that a real monopolistic model here h= as not been scrutinized?” (48) As a result anyone holding eBay stock (or buying and selling on ) may be guilty of supporting an ongoing criminal enterprise – the time has come for the FBI, the Treasury Department a= nd the US Attorney General to begin an investigation into this company.

In order= for eBay employees to mediate the up-coming new Feedback Complaints... They ma= y have to act as a "Law Enforcement Agency", "Court Of Law", "Judge" and "Jury".... According to current business law such acts are Illegal. The eBay and PayPal Employees that render the daily complaint decisions between Buyers and Sellers operate under incomplete Fal= se Names. The decisions they are making are thus against the Law. eBay may be in deep trouble as the legitimate brick and mortar Major Retailers such as Sears, Target and Wal-Mart have already filed charges against eBay involving corporate fraud. Legal action is pending, as filed with US law firms Morgan, Lewis & Bockius and Melveny & Myers. (49)

It is a fact that illegally withholding funds and positive account balances of suspended users holding positive account balances of suspended users without returning it, EVEN if stated in its user agreement, is FRAUD.

As of 2008 eBay has retained an estimated $2,8 billion US dollars from sellers with a positive eBay account balance that were suspended and never reinstated. Any other business that conducts itself in such a way would be reprimanded, penalized and loose any lawsuit filed against it. eBay is not above = the law anymore. (50)

Heller and Victor have conducted research on participant= s in the class action lawsuit filed against eBay (handled by Skadden, Arps, Slat= e, Meagher & Flom), showed over 40,000 cases of users who were abused by eBay. (51) The biggest class-= action lawsuit against eBay has now been filed in Australia. (52) Strong governmen= t regulation is at work there and eBay is not a financial institution the Reserve Bank of Australia is working with the Australian Securities and Investment Commissi= on (another government department) in forcing companies (whether they are financial or not) to comply with trade practices acts and Corporations laws. The regulations and acts are in place to force fair prices and services on = both the merchant and the consumer. The intentions of the laws are to allow more small merchants access to a wider market, and to ensure customers are aware before they commit to purchasing a product that they know their costs. eBay is blatantly attempting to remove the level playi= ng field that the Australian government has set up, but will be remediated in a court of law; this is litigation that will cost eBay several billion dollars – a financial abyss they have created for themselves, since they cann= ot win that lawsuit, due to current Australian law. Taking on the Reserve Bank= of Australia, may not have been such a wise decision overall. In sum, apart fr= om the aforementioned billion-dollar lawsuits eBay is facing even greater challenges, such as civil litigation, exceeding an estimated 12 billion $US. (52)

Additional controversies surrounding eBay include a sepa= rate study by Stanford law professors Heller and Victor (53) with a forthcoming = book expected in early 2009 showcasing all findings, results and legal implicati= ons eBay will have to face. The study follows a sample of over 10,000 selected = eBay users (buyers and sellers) over a 10-year period (1998-2008) and reveals th= at eBay is in violation of user data and privacy laws, freedom of information = and many other legal statutes mandated by applicable laws.

Some major findings include:

eBay violates basic good business practices

eBay violates basic human rights

eBay violates freedom of speech

eBay manipul= ates business data to deceive shareholders

eBay violate= s tax laws

eBay discrim= inates against people based on religion, sex and creed

eBay discrim= inates against people with disabilities

eBay today suspends users at random to reach prefixed quotas

(53)

“The SS guards at Auschwitz, of course, knew about= the “special treatment” the inmates being led to “shower̶= 1; houses were about to face. All of this process was accompanied by a notable silence, maybe a friendly smile, while guiding men, women and children to t= heir extermination rooms.” (54)

Unknown to the general public, eBay has started to randomly suspend users, predominantly sellers. This is a recent eBay malpractice in 2008 and, at first glance, may seem nonsensical, i.e. why would you cut off the hand that is feeding you, thus sellers who p= ay listing and FVFees? To understand this better, one has to look at what part= of eBay users were actually hit by the random suspension; of the 10,000 users, 6800 were suspended in March and April combined.

Given this small sample one c= an multiply it several marks up, 10-20 times and upward, as calculated by Hell= er, thus reaching about 65,000 to 85,000 users illegally targeted and terminate= d by eBay in the last two months; this number is growing. Notably over 60% of us= ers had not been actively using eBay, thus received the standard generic eBay suspension notice “we regret to inform you…” Applying for reinstatement was pointless as nobody was reinstated after contacting eBay using the standard fax procedures (see Appendix B for the template variations in eBay responses to suspended eBayers).

As it stands, eBay does not w= ant new users. The changes illustrate that eBay management is totally out of to= uch with its core business… the sellers, who bring products people desire= to the marketplace. And they have already said that the sellers will just come back or be replaced by other sellers. eBay are doing it on purpose, it̵= 7;s part of their business plan, they know full well they are hitting the selle= rs with all these recent changes, they want sellers to go, they do not want sm= all independent sellers anymore, they don’t want a “flea marketR= 21; They are going to turn eBay into a channel for faceless corporate retail gi= ants to flog brand new mass market items, eBay themselves will have a financial interest in the retail of these items. Dumont states: “That is the fu= ture of eBay right there - they figure they have this huge customer base, (yes t= hey see the buyers as their customers not yours) and they’re going to have all the pie to themselves soon. They want YOU gone, the wheels are already in motion, just watch and see. &= #8220; (55) The number of sellers is totally irrelevant to eBay.

eBay is gett= ing ready to become a selling environment in which only large-volume sellers are wanted. The “small-fry” thus minor sellers, with limited sales revenue or occasional activity are unwanted, thus “expendable” = and are simply suspended, without notice. What eBay did not know was that this study was ongoing and active, thus not only delivering empirical evidence, = but hard facts with complete documentation, prepared for submission as part of several class-action lawsuits against eBay.

"I feel they will be more responsible to me as the seller," Cox said. "It certainly won't have the market that eBay = does now, but I'm positive in time buyers will migrate to other sites." (56= )

“Greedbay (a.k.a. eBay) has been "showing us = the door" for the last few years, however this desperate attempt to get ri= d of us is working... I've opened stores on eCrater.com, as well as several other venues and couldn't be happier... My 10 year greedbay anniversary comes up = on the 4th and I won't be celebrating it by listing on their site (…) I'= ve fully devoted myself to helping others find new venues and start selling (...) Th= ere are lots of choices everyone! www.ecrater.com www.hibidder.com, www.ioffer.= com, www.onlineauction.com, www.ebid.com www.epier.com, www.bidville.com and many more! Keep selling, just don't give all of your = money, not to mention your hard-earned positive feedback and excellent reputation = to greedbay! BOYCOTT ON! :)” (56)

eBay has miscalculated in my case. I have to examine how much I pay eBay per year, a= nd what I received in return for that money. I have concluded that I can do far better opening up my own auction on my own site. Unlike many other sellers,= I had my own business for 10 years prior to starting on eBay, so I am now reversing the p= rocess I started in 2000! At that time, I moved my entire business ONTO eBay, and in= 2008, I am moving my entire business OFF of eBay.&= nbsp;

(56)

eBay already= drove the good sellers to Amazon two years ago. Hence, Amazon is experiencing hyp= er growth in those categories. What eBay is doing is driving buyers away to en= gage in other sites. As seen eBay does not want new sellers, but was not nice en= ough to tell it as it was. Thus, even as we speak, newcomers are trying to set up shop at eBay, just to find ou= t in a few days, or weeks, that they are unwelcome (receiving the standardized template suspension message) and then wasting their time and energy trying = to get reinstated – which they, of course won’t (see Appendix B).<= o:p>

The Internet doesn't provide = the type of problem solving services and money making services that make our li= ves easier. The craze now is social networking or entertainment of some kind. M= any want the web to be a source of practical applications that can be used in physical daily life that reduce the stresses. So what alternatives to eBay = are there? Burwell has examined several options for sellers to get started and names ioffer.com, ebid.com, ola.com and bidville.com as top contenders. (57= )

By providing services and new innovations that give back time or help make more money, not just take them away, Web 2.0 has the ability to do that, we just need those innovators to = come out of the woodwork and show us what they have to provide. The three previo= usly mentioned options are a good example of 2.0 and some people are making some decent money with Google AdWords, and services like Basecamp, Blinksale and Harvest, helping people improve productivity and make money.

= The marketplace is shifting, even if eBay tries to deny that fact (to keep smal= ler shareholders of its stock at e(bay). Many even, = like Douglas, wonder why the market place (apparently) has failed here: “ = is a predatory monopoly with no serious competition, despite the fact that compa= nies like Google, Yahoo, Amazon are ideally situated to become avis to 's hertz,= or burger king to s McDonald's. =3D Googlebase and Google checkout end of eBay= and PayPal.” (58) However, this is only a matter of perception. As seen, = eBay is forcing many to look elsewhere, similar to the mass exodus of many people who were hunted and had to escape from Nazi Germany.

= There is hope at the end of the tunnel, as other (friendly) venues are already th= ere, in which buyers and sellers can come together again, without having to deal with discrimination, abuse, threats, fear, intimidation and terror as experienced on eBay. Watkins confirms: “what use are hits and page impressions, if I am not sellin= g my product, or the sale is reversed and my merchandise is gone? on eBay I was making $300 a week paying over $100 in eBay fees. I have now sto= pped selling there. On iOffer I am selling the SAME merchandise and making $500 a week, with a fraction of the former eBay fees.” (59) Therefore, a more diversified selling portfolio may be best, utilizing common free listing options on other websites. Googlebase with Google checkout will be globally available soon, and that will be the last breath of eBay. Period.=

eBay started= as a fairly managed company a decade ago, but today it has become a rubberstamp = of a totalitarian regime, where the individual (the user) has become and IS SUPP= OSED to be expendable. It is important to understand what eBay is up to, since, apart from its deception, eBay management will never tell anyone (not even = its shareholders, who it is obliged to be transparent to) what it is up to, bec= ause, as seen, the average user is not wanted anymore.

eBay has bec= ome a hostile, discriminatory, mismanaged, non-profitable, increasingly non-viable Internet platform. The community placard initial is not a joke, it is a spit in the face of human beings. Stock is overrated, forthcoming lawsuits and class action lawsuits as well as a long due investigation by t= he FBI and SEC are posing a serious threat to eBay. Indicative of this trend are the l= oss of the eBay share value, the recent layoffs and departure of Whitman as CEO. <= span class=3DGramE>iOffer, ecrater and ola.com are bringing buyers and se= llers back together again, smaller sellers are seeing a profit again. Thus a small and medium sized seller (under 85,000 annual sal= es) should not rely and depend on eBay itself, ideally stop selling there altogether but should diversify and sell at other sites. Ioffer, ecrater and OLA are mandatory, others are optional but also useful, for example highly specialized websites like gunbroker and overstock.com. Like the Nazis in the Third Reich, eBay has created an illeg= ally operating business, mandated by fear, intimidation and most recently, the unpublished mandate to reduce its user size, by randomly suspending users, = as part of an ongoing digital holocaust.

Appendix= es

Appendix A

eBay hires people to manipulate blogs and chat rooms to main= tain all is well, here for example, an anonymous user on the yahoo blogs:

excellento. seichiro POST: eBay "The results have been very profound, measurable and positi= ve. The much covered 'boycott' didn't cause any decrease in listings or buyer activity that we could see (I'm sure I'll get flamed for saying that, but t= here it is folks.)."

Another user’s response: How can you, excellento.seichiro, make such an untrue statement? Anyone can look at the stock price chart and see that the shares= are falling (and have been ever since Jan08)! My questions to you, excellento.seichiro, THUS ARE: eBay 1) If you ar= e an eBay company employee, why would you make such false claims? Why don't you = work somewhere else, if you are so afraid of losing your job? 2) If you are an e= Bay shareholder, why would you make such false claims? Why don't you just sell = your shares RIGHT NOW, before they fall below $10 a pop? 3) If you are an eBay user (buyer = or seller), why would you make such false claims? Don't you know that there is= a MASS EXODUS from eBay to other websites, such as olg.com, ioffer.com ? 4) If you are ALL OF THE ABOVE 1) 2) & 3), why don't you just leave honest people alone, stop posting such false information and insult o= ther people's common sense! eBay Sincerely, Robert M. Watson

Appendix B

It is important to understand that once suspended, eBay WILL NOT reinstate a u= ser again, as part of its latest strategy – faxing, or emailing eBay is pointless. Thus, as part of ’s latest 2008 random suspension, a user applying by fax to eBay for reinstatement will receive ONE of the following:

a) NO RESPO= NSE

b) : eBay Hello, Thank you for writing to eBay. I am happy to assist you further w= ith eBay <<<<enter customer concern>>>>. eBay Again, thank you for your e= mail and please don't hesitate to let us know if you have any further questions = or concerns. eBay Regards, eBay Skip eBay Community Support<= /p>

c) FPA NOTI= CE: eBay Registration Suspension - User Agreement - Abusing <= /p>

Dear Mem= ber,

We regret to inform you that your e= Bay account has been suspended due to concerns we have for the safety and integ= rity of the eBay community.

"Abusing " of the eBay User Agreement states, in p= art:

"...we may limit, suspend, or terminate our service and user accounts,<= /span>

prohibit= access = to our website, remove hosted content, and take technical and legal steps to keep users off the Site if we think that they are creating problems, possible le= gal liabilities, or acting inconsistently with the letter or spirit of our policies." Due to the suspension of this account, please be advised you are prohibited from using eBay in any way. Please note that any seller fees= due to eBay will immediately become due and payable. eBay will charge any amounts you have not previously disputed to the<= /span>

billing<= /span> method currently on file. Regards, eBay Trust & Safety.

&nb= sp;

d) eBay INS NOTICE: eBay Reinstatement Denied (<case.id/>) Dear eBay,

Thank you for sending your request = for reinstatement. We understand your desire to have your eBay account reinstat= ed.

I have reviewed the information you have provided, as well as the information we have on file. The decision has been made to deny your request.

You are prohibited from registering under a new account name or using eBay in any way. Also, eBay reserves the right to suspend accounts opened by anyone in the same household of a suspe= nded member, or by any other associates of a suspended member.=

We appreciate your cooperation in this matter.

Regards, eBay Trust & Safety

&nb= sp;

Appendix C

Some responses by former eBayers, who have been mistreated and abused by :

Terrible customer service, it does not deserve me.

I f***n hate eBay, I hope they all go to hell

You can kiss my ass while I am taking a sh*t

Lick a dead donkey’s rotting anus, !=

I am no longer waiting my time and energy on eBay.

P**s Off, Whitman, you retard.

The fee increase is bad for many of us and the “many” is why there = are buyers. eBay DOES have competition – this = may not have been serious before, but watch the numbers rise for them now.=

It used to be on eBay in the late ‘90s early 2000s you could put an item= up for 99 cents and it would close at a price that was the value of it. And that’s what eBay really wanted you to do. Start the auctions at 99 ce= nts, let them roll and they’d close at a market value. That’s back w= hen people really bid on the site.

eBay says that boycott had no effect.. Ha! Last night eBay members found several sellers who had 1000’s of listings that had NO option to pace a bid! Two of these “sellers” were NOT a registe= red user and still had active listings.

Specifically fees and feedback are – appears to be the big one. And we can go into talking about the fees a little bit. We had some concern because ’s had – eBay has had issues for years. And ’s take rate seems to be quite high in many areas and that has caused these issues.

Creating this hostile buyer-seller environment is going to be their downfall.

F+F++F+++ eBay Don't deal with eBay, Big time Scammer! Tak= es your money in Fee$ & will treat you like disposable diapers.

Are People Striking to Increase Their Wealth, or to Survive= ?... Yes, there are eBay millionaires, just as there are lotto winners... few and far between. A more likely eBayer is a single mother trying to earn the sch= ool lunch money so she can afford some extra time with her kids, or the retiree with no or little pension, a young, hopeful couple trying to save for that = ever elusive house, a disabled person and many, many small business persons -the= mom and pops... The people, the reasons, are as vast as America is diverse. One thing they will surely tell you is "It is NOT easy money." Shame = on those who brag they will capitalize on lower listings to increase their tak= e. Shame on those who do so quietly. = Shame on those who clamor to invest in a company that will heartlessly stomp out the cries of the very people who brought it to greatness -like so much noise. Lies and deception only thinly veiled... as if not worth the bother, really= - packaged as a gift... and you'll take what you get and like it.<= /span>

You don’t have to beg us to leave, we will use= you as a crutch to leave this lousy site. I can be treated with respect and we'= ll find it on another site. Sure glad I didn’t take my customer service = so lightly! Appears a little person like me has much higher values than a big corporation. IT is America and there are choices!! Your not the first compa= ny the American people have been crapped on by, I see many companies struggling that have sold us out, keep listening to big business! Watch the elections,= the people words will be heard. I have been graciously invited to other sites, a concept strange to me, but I like it.

eBay management is SCUM. They not only should all be fired, = most of them probably should be arrested. The SEC ought to look into these practices. Deliberately deceiving investors about the condition of the comp= any is ILLEGAL. At the very least, they have breached their contract with these sellers by manipulating those store settings to keep sellers from being abl= e to boycott. eBay sucks. BOYCOTT VICTORIOUSLY one company's "noise" is another company's "music"

The problem facing eBay sellers is a collective problem, and therefore requires= a collective solution. Only the eBay users themselves can truly break the eBay Inc. monopoly, rescue our auction businesses from destruction at the hands = of corporate greed

If you want to get even with eBay, then start making complaints to media for failing to tell the story and start sending financial bloggers and your rep= s in state and federal government complaints about eBay with outlines of your own examples of how eBay dealt in an abusive way with you.

As run by Meg Whitman eBay is one of the companies that got it into its head t= hat its rasion d'etre was to make money--well it is, but you need to provide a valuable service or product that a reliable customer base is happy with, to= get to the winning bottom line. the bottom line here= , is that all eBay cares about is the bottom line.

I no longer sell on eBay, I bid once and a while but never win anything anymore because= I do not trust the system. The not so funny part is I had 6 years with out any serious problem, now they are rampart.

Just turn around...and walk away... As long as you stay connected with the negativity it will follow you to your new endeavors. eB= ay can still be used as a resource for looking up the unknown article or a pri= cing ballpark. You can list one item or 2, but go ahead and start out new again!= We are all out there ready to start building!

Endnotes=

(1) From = the eBay website (May 2008): www.ebay.com

(2) Haffn= er, Sebastian. Germany: Jekyll & Hyde. London 1940, Berlin 1996.=

(3) From = the eBay website (May 2008): www.ebay.com

(4) Adams, Paul. "Reshaping the Net” in Wall Street Journal 05/08

(5) Calla= han, Dan. Issues on Ethics. Health Policy Review, Jan= uary 2007.

(6) Bankm= an, Joseph. Corporate Governance and Practice, New York, 20= 08.

(7) Daine= s, Robert. Future Prospects of Legality, Duke: Duke University Press, 2007.

(8) Becke= r, Anne. Professor of Medical Anthropology, Clinical Study= IV, B03308.

(9) Gilli= gan, Laura. Five Years After – The eBay Exodus, Dallas, 2008.

(10) Luke Paterson. “Making the Internet a Better Place” in Newsweek, June 2006.

(11) Weizman, Isaac. L= awful Procedures in the 21st Century. NYU Press, 2005.=

(12) Weizman, Isaac. L= awful Procedures in the 21st Century. NYU Press, 2005.=

(13) Norrington, Lorri= e. eBay Memo 2007, San Diego court filing # C-08-137=

(14) Norrington, Lorri= e. eBay Memo 2007, San Diego court filing # C-08-137=

(15) Young, Tim. “Keeping it Safe “ in MIT Internet Security Anthology, July 2008.

(16) Gould, Martin. Faster and Better. Chicago: Chicago Free Press, 2007.<= o:p>

(17) Haffner, Sebastia= n. Von Bismarck zu Hitler: Ein Rückblick. München 19= 87.

(18) Torman, Bryan. “Banking Today” in Forbes Magazine 1/2008.

(19) The Newspeak Dictionary. http://www.newspeakdictionary.com/ns-dict.html

(20) Havercamp, Eugene= . Instrumentalizing Words. Oxford: OUP, 2006.=

(21) Podinsky, Chris. “Powerselling on ” in New York Times, August 12, 2007.

(22) Wallace, Henry. <= span class=3DGramE>The Countdown Divers. Edinburgh: Edinburgh New Press, = 2008.

(23) Johan Ulrich. “ sellers unite against ” in Newsweek, 5/2= 008.

(24) Johan Ulrich. “ sellers unite against ” in Newsweek, 5/2= 008.

(25) Windsor, Evan. Pressure, Visibilty & Credibility. Boston: MIT Press, 2008.<= /span>

(26) Pralait, George. = “On-demand Yesterday, Today” in Sun-Times, March 03/2008.

(27) Higgins James M. Innovate Evaporate. Management Publishing, 2008.=

(28) Bronfman, Kate. <= span class=3DGramE>The Cultures of Work Organizations. Prentice-Hall, 2008.

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(31) Allan M. Kennedy.= Corporate Culture. Addison-Wesley,= 2006.

(32) Winkelmann, Diete= r. Geschichte einer Epoche. Stuttgart= & München 2000.

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(34) &= nbsp; http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUS= N2923696420080301

(35) Bryers, David. “Sales Inhibitors from Beyond” in Wall Street Journal, 04/08.

(36) Johnson, William.= Global Business Reader. New York: Praeger Books, 2006.=

(37) Berger, Briget. <= span class=3DGramE>Culture of Entrepreneurship. ICS P= ress, 2007.

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(40) Morrison & Foerster, San Francisco court filing # A-08-443

(41) Wollner, Daniel a= nd Kent, Ray. “Southbound” in New Media Journal, 05/08.=

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(43) Owen, William. Theory Z. Afton Books, 2008.

(44) Superior Court of California, County of San Diego, court filing # C-08-1002=

(45) Gilson, Ronald J.= The Legal Journal, Stanford, 2008.

(46) Pohlmann, Heinz. = Wirtschaftsbetrug heute. Berlin 2007.

(47) Grundfest, Joseph A. and Klausner, Michael. Stanford Business Review, 03/2008.

(48) Titian, Doreen. <= span class=3DGramE>“A Better Time, a better way” in Los Angeles Time= s, March 24, 08.

(49) Melveny & Myers. Press Release, May 9, 2008.

(50) Yuronis, Harriet.= Upsizing for Downsizing. New York: Ballantine, 2008.

(51) Heller, Thomas C.= and Victor, David. Untitled Study. Stanford, 2008.

(52) Gillian, Jones &a= mp; Primek vs. eBay. Sydney, Australia, Office of GA, #M 2281-02, 08.

(53) Heller, Thomas C.= and Victor, David. Ongoing Study 98-08. Stanford, 2008.

(54) Aust, Erwin. Der Teufelspakt: Hitler und andere. Zürich = 1987.

(55) Dumont, William. “Life on the Fast-Lane” in Chicago Sun-Times, May 4, 2008.=

(56) Former eBay selle= rs. “Making the Change” in Washington Post, April 14, 2008.

(57) Burwell, Jennifer. Internet Selling Made Easy. McGraw-Hill, 2008.

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