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• I'm so happy to see the truth finally being told. If ebay survives the end of this year I'll be surprised. I see the good ship ebay sinking while the band plays Hail to the Chief. Keep up the good work!

  A former ebay seller AND BUYER!

  Posted by: CEP | June 13, 2008 11:40 AM





• We already have it directly from eBay that buy.com has preferential pricing for listings:

  Usher Lieberman, speaking for eBay:

  “eBay is aggressively using price as a lever to improve the value and selection on eBay.com. Consistent with our goals, we have entered into a partnership with Buy.com to bring their new-in-season merchandise onto eBay.com. We expect to learn a great deal from this partnership and we will build upon the results.”

  Posted by: Further Information | June 13, 2008 11:49 AM





• It came to my attention a week or so ago how Buy is an anomoly on ebay.
  Initial research showed an astonishing discrepency. That Buy had listed over 500,000 items; over 420,000 items in the books category, which had over 900,000 total listings including all the subcategories; which translated to just about 44% of all listings.
  Due to time constraints, I have not had a chance to see if there was a similar pattern in other categories. But, I plan to make that a top priority.
  Regardless, we have all come to expect that anyone can list whatever they want, and however much of it they want. Unless of course, they dont have the products. But, I will return to that shortly.
  The initial search, a sampling, showed nearly 500,000 listings, and a sell thru rate of 1.39% far below that of what an ebay rep approximated to be 30-33%
  What I discovered next was even more outrageous. It was by accident that I discovered a dutch auction had been cancelled "because the items were no longer available". Interesting that a dutch auction was no longer available. And that it had been closed at 1am. Interestingly enough, at this point, I was curious, and sure enough, my suspicions were correct. Nearly every auction (if not all) on that page had been closed "because the items were no longer available".
  Unfortunately, I did not have time to sift through 20,400 pages of closed auctions to determine if this was more often the case than not. And, despite getting more accurate information, via terapeak.com, that information does not include early closings. But, i find it very suspicious that at least one page filled with dutch auctions "were no longer available".

  Here are the hard cold facts gathered earlier this week from terapeak.com regarding the Buy records over the most recent 90-day data available (March 2-May 31, 2008):

  Seller: Buy
  Total Items Listed: 2,708,987
  Total sales: $3,924,907
  Successful listings: 64,638
  Total Items Offered: 249,431,285
  Sell through rate: 2.39%
  Average Sale: $44.43
  MINIMUM listing fee would be: $270,898.70 (based on the minimum 10 cent listing fee, AND does not include dutch auctions, or Final Value Fees).
  Minimum fee, including dutch auctions: $24,943,128.5 Does not include Final Value Fees).

  What is going on, Ebay? We deserve to know the truth. Investors deserve to know the truth.
  Tim
  http://forums.delphiforums.com/boycottebay/start
  http://myspace.com/boycottebay
  

  Posted by: LegendsOfBatman | June 13, 2008 12:04 PM





• buy and eBay are engaged in deceptive practices with regard to bogus listings.

  In reference to the article above, in one catagory with 55 pages of listings, 20 pages were examined to see how many items titled only as "NEW" appeared.

  227 seperate listings were found over 20 pages. Item descriptions were virtually identical on every page, the only differences being the item price and a reference to a buy SKU number.

  The majority of these items did not even carry a picture of an item, but rather a generic grey drawing of a house.

  The items were reported to eBay for Listing Violations > Listing policy violations (improper keywords, outside links, excessive shipping, etc) > Misleading title > Intentionally misleading or deceptive titles, but remain active as listings on the site.

  eBay is definately allowing buy to pad listings so that eBay can maintain the appearance of high listing volume.

  In the searched catagory where these listings were found, the bogus listings accounted for better than 10% of the total listings for this seller in that one catagory.

  Item numbers with description "NEW" were:
  180251226722, 180251226874, 150256266043, 170226830357, 150256267366, 170226831384,
  180251228944, 150256284533, 150256284661, 180251259385, 180251269016, 170226866562,
  150256311249, 180251269447, 170226866813, 170226866814, 150256311389, 170226866815,
  150256332122, 170228985955, 150258744251, 150258739806, 150258739782, 150258736960,
  150258736944, 180253584991, 170228981714, 150258731757, 150258731754, 180253098907,
  180253098595, 150258193603, 150258193604, 170228518552, 150258191496, 150258188722,
  180253098917, 150258193961, 150258193962, 150258193964, 150258193965, 150258193966,
  170228518818, 170228518819, 170228518822, 170228518825, 150258193967, 150258193969,
  150258193970, 170228518823, 170228518824, 170228518826, 170228518831, 180253098912,
  180253098915, 180253098916, 150258193972, 150258193978, 150258193979, 150258193983,
  170228518828, 170228518829, 170228518830, 170228518832, 180253098918, 180253098919,
  170228519133, 180253099191, 180253099192, 180253099193, 170228519060, 180253099129,
  180253099131, 180253099132, 170228518834, 180253098920, 150258194268, 170228519135,
  170228519136, 150258194260, 150258194261, 150258194262, 150258194263, 170228519131,
  170228519132, 170228519133, 180253099424, 180253099427, 180253099428, 150258194324,
  150258194325, 150258194326, 150258194328, 170228519203, 180253099244, 150258194327,
  180253099508, 180253099480, 150258194533, 170228519406, 170228519416, 180253099478,
  150258194501, 150258194503, 170228519358, 170228519359, 150258196552, 170228521488,
  180253101630, 170228521486, 150258196551, 180253099982, 170228524714, 180253105295, 180253105296, 180253105297, 180253105298, 180253105299, 170228524709, 180253105292,
  180253105293, 180253101840, 150258200138, 170228524716, 170228524717, 170228524718,
  170228524720, 180253105300, 180253105304, 150258200125, 150258200131, 170228524711,
  170228524986, 150258200139, 150258200140, 150258200141, 170228524721, 170228524723,
  180253105306, 150258200132, 150258200134, 150258200136, 150258200875, 150258200877,
  170228525585, 170228525586, 170228525587, 170228525588, 170228525589, 150258200417,
  150258200418, 170228524985, 170228545762, 170228545763, 170228545766, 150258227113,
  170228545767, 180253127402, 180253126621, 170228544668, 170228544674, 170228525591,
  150258227449, 150258227451, 170228545814, 170228545815, 170228545817, 170228545819,
  180253127985, 170228545768, 180253127946, 150258227395, 170228547564, 180253129749,
  150258229171, 150258229173, 170228547559, 170228547561, 180253129746, 170228546730,
  150258227448, 150258227449, 170228549198, 180253131600, 170228548123, 170228548125,
  170228548126, 180253130428, 150258229757, 150258229759, 170228548122, 180253130426,
  180253155403, 150258258655, 170228571331, 180253155041, 180253155043, 170228571330,
  180253155039, 150258230817, 180253155042, 170228549197, 170228704020, 180253288143,
  150258357404, 150258261377, 180253157779, 150258261367, 150258261375, 170228573848,
  170228547563, 170228573849, 170228704723, 170228704726, 180253288907, 180253288908,
  180253288897, 150258407595, 150258407118, 150258407115, 180253288299, 170228704024,
  170228705052, 170228705053, 170228705049, 180253289232, 180253289235, 180253289237,
  180253288960, 150258408097, 180253289116, 180253288963, 170228807838, 170228807839,
  180253397018, 150258527370, 180253396220, 170228802845, 180253391395, 170228793450,
  180253357839, 170228705051, 170228895158, 170228893034, 180253481336, 180253474873,
  180253474473, 180253397578, 150258528801, 170228807831, 170228807834, 170228807836,
  150258731755, 180253579768, 180253579176, 150258730902, 180253579168, 170228977534,
  170228977535, 170228977446, 150258635914, 170228900338, 170228573851, 170228573852,
  180253157774, 180253157775, 170228573846, 170228573847, 150258258949, 170228571564,
  170228571566, 180253155402,

  Posted by: RicRoe | June 13, 2008 12:53 PM





• we have entered into a partnership with Buy.com to bring their new-in-season merchandise onto eBay.com

  I guess the season hasn't started yet because these "NEW" entries apparently aren't yet ripe enough for picking.

  Buy has a miserable sell through rate. They are selling almost nothing that they put up. Some have said their sell rate was between 3% and 5%. The only reason it appears to be that high is they do some sales in the computer and electronic categories. If not for those items, their sales would be flat-lined. They are just about totally bombing out at selling books on eBay.
  Of course you do get a very poor sell through rate when you have only the word NEW to sell for pages and pages.

  I am soooo eager to see the sales reports of their November-December 2008 season.
  If Buy Dot Com is their idea of success, every stock holder in the world will be racing to their broker to get rid of eBay.
  Last Christmas season Amazon beat them slightly.
  How much do you want to bet that by adding a failing Amazon imitator to their servers, dumping the previously passionate sellers who gave them their identity, and attempting to become an Amazon clone, that they get solidly trounced in sales by Amazon this year, not just slightly beaten?

  Posted by: Andrea 'Enthal | June 13, 2008 2:56 PM





• I sure wish someone would look into the manipulations going on within ebay. Most sellers believe the listings are padded and the numbers are crunched to make each quarter look good. The fact that they dump Paypal in with their ebay earnings also gives an artifical look at how their business is really going....which is one reason why ebay wants to have paypal only on its sites globally and they've started waging this battle in Australia. I can only speak from my own experience....sellers around me are listing less or not listing at all - everywhere I go sellers say they are moving on to other venues, decreasing their listings on ebay. Once in a while I'll actually come across a seller who says he's doing much better now than before...but those seem to be rare as hen's teeth. Well, if this is a taste of what is going on then I would say ebay is not in as good shape as they brag they are. The whole thing needs a professional investigation. One would think that since they are a company traded on the stock exchange this would be worth looking into...but Wall Street believes whatever ebay tells them and in that, they are doing a great disservice to stockholders!

  www.ACEOart.net

  Posted by: Patricia | June 13, 2008 5:48 PM





• Looks like a few posters have debunked your allegations.

  Not very responsible reporting before you got all the facts.

  http://forums.ebay.com/db2/thread.jspa?threadID=1000718218&tstart=80&mod=1213397678417

  Posted by: joe davis | June 14, 2008 7:27 AM





• @Joe: I fail to see anything in the eBay forums thread yo linked to that contradicts what I have written.

  Posted by: Josh Catone | June 14, 2008 8:08 AM





• that's because you didn't read slowly and carefully enough.

  Read the complete thread.

  Any of those ebay numbers above, posted by RicRoe, can be traced through buy.com by their sku #'s.

  So what if they don't have an actual description for some or a photo on most.....yet.

  It does say it's a new product.

  You try listing a half a million items on ebay and get them all correct. Bet you can't.

  
  Buy.com wouldn't list phoney items on their own website, what would be the point? Yet, items are listed in that way on the site.

  It only appears that incomplete listings from buy.com got transfered over to the ebay listings.

  It's not an "empty" listing as you say. If you don't believe me, go bid on one and I'll bet any amount that you will receive a product. And that product will match their sku and price on the buy.com site.

  Whether it's a ebay listing violation is another subject but you have no real proof of your statement:
  "But there is evidence that the listings numbers over the past month or two are being artificially boosted"

  If I owned buy.com I would sue you.

  Posted by: joe davis | June 14, 2008 11:52 AM





• @Joe - Obviously you're not a software engineer. If Buy had sent incomplete listings over to ebay AND ebay didn't monitor that, it's a major f 'up or they're inflating their listings. Either way, it exemplifies a huge problem.

  Posted by: Lefty | June 14, 2008 1:12 PM





• @Joe: I think you're completely missing the point. I never "phoney items." What I posed was a question: is Buy.com getting preferential treatment by being allowed to do things that regular sellers can't (such as list items without a description)? And, corollary to that, how trustworthy are the eBay new listings numbers when they contain a flood of items that no one can actually bid on?

  It doesn't matter that I can bid on it and receive a product -- unless you're in the habit of shopping blindfolded, this isn't a relevant point.

  Joe, if you owned Buy.com, you'd have a team of lawyers who would be able to tell you that the lawsuit you're proposing is unwinnable, frivolous, and terrible PR. I think then you might think better of it.

  Posted by: Josh Catone | June 14, 2008 2:06 PM





• Edit: That should read, "I never said that Buy.com was posting 'phoney items.'" -- part of sentence was accidentally deleted before I posted the comment.

  Posted by: Josh Catone | June 14, 2008 2:07 PM





• I'm not going to say that I feel they are padding listings. I'm pretty sure they did it before when the sellers boycotted back in Feb. I know they came out with a reduced price listing day right in the midst of that boycott ...and then all the shop.com listings were found. Now, its empty buy.com listings. You'll have to judge for yourself since nobody with this type of expertise wants to investigate this company...though it is traded over the stock exchange and its stockholders really deserve to know the truth. I only know from my own experience as a 10 year seller....sales are way way way down. Everyone I know is complaining about the lack of sales and everyone I know either isn't listing or has reduced their listings to the bare minimum. Here's an example - I have only 6 listings that have been running on auction for awhile. When I got up this morning all 6 listings had a total of only 100 views - by early evening they had 101 views...what does that tell you? Some sellers are bragging they are doing well but if you go on Ebay's own boards you will find the majority are complaining and all seem to be sitting around waiting for some miracle to happen.

  www.ACEOart.net

  Posted by: Patricia013 | June 14, 2008 5:10 PM





• you're completely missing the point. I never "phoney items."

  No, YOU're missing the point. I never said, you said, phoney items.

  I was the one that said phoney items.

  Boy, you have trouble reading don't you? Maybe if you improved at that, you could write a little better.

  I said that YOU said "empty listings" which is not at all true.

  If you want to investigate empty listings, try the SDC_PROD listings that ebay put up on their own.
  The 10's of 1000's that wouldn't accept a bid at all.
  Then you'd have a case.

  To try and pull a handful of buy's auctions like you're talking about, and claim that it's padding ebay's listings, you're exaggerating.
  Even a few thousand would have such a small impact against 13,000,000 listings that it just doesn't make sense.

  Why don't you get all the "empty" listings as you say, together and see just how much you're talking about. Build a real case, show some solid proof behind your accusation, instead of posting a screen capture of 5 auctions listed as "new".

  "I fail to see anything in the eBay forums thread yo linked to "

  And quit calling me "yo"

  
  By the way, I do respect the fact that you didn't delete my posts and block my ip address like the auctionbyte blogger did when I called her out on her mistake.
  She made a big deal out of them listing "one" battery for $7.99 and if she had actually read the auction, it said "package of eight" which is right in line with the price.
  Instead of admitting her mistake, she deleted my post, and blocked [one] of my networks.

  Posted by: joe davis | June 14, 2008 10:54 PM





• Joe, resorting to ad hominem won't get you very far.

  The simple fact is that those listings were empty -- i.e., devoid of a description of item.

  See this page on eBay's seller rules:

  http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/search-manipulation.html

  Quote: "Ultimately, it is the seller's responsibility to ensure that each listing accurately reflects the item being sold, while not using any unfair methods to divert members to their listing. This includes, but is not limited to, a listing's title, subtitle, item specifics, description, pictures, links, and meta tags."

  While specifically eBay is attempting to stop people from misrepresenting items, not describing an item is also not "accurately reflecting the item being sold."

  Ultimately, this type of listing would not be permitted for regular eBay sellers, and flooding a category with listings that are of no use to buyers creates what eBay would call a "poor shopping experience." These were the points I was making.

  And as much as I don't appreciate that you've attacked my character and my writing to make your point, I do respectfully disagree with you.

  Posted by: Josh Catone | June 15, 2008 8:57 AM





• Hello, glad someone is watching the machinations of this goliath as it tramples long time sellers in its efforts to pump up the volume for stockholders. Mr. Donahue, the CEO trumpets a disruptive philosophy, which the writer of the text book admits doesn't work with a well run company, in an effort to make itself over into Amazon. Hopefully, you will continue to watch ebay...and take note of its search policy which is killing long time sellers, best match (for who), neutral feedback as negative, items with no feedback (I have nearly 10,000 over the years) are not counted as positives...which presumably they are, as no one is complaining. You might note also that on the search pages, the items actually for sale are smashed down between ebay's advertising of huge corporations i.e. monster.com and now below, about 4 or 5 items from buy.com and other off site listings...what do you think that does to sellers on ebay?
  Lastly Alibris was one of the off site sellers, but clicking on its link sends one to a blank page....is there any sanity left at this corporation. Or is Mr. Donahue going to get his golden parachute in record time. One wonders, but by the end of the month, one wonders from afar as another power seller bites the dust...thanks, Russ

  Posted by: Russ Ketter | June 16, 2008 9:19 AM





• If we are all to believe the reports that companies like eBay show, we are in for quite an awaking...

  I work for a publishing company that produces several magazines that are distributed both by subscription and shipped in bulk to newstands for sale, given free to the bars & restaurants... These magazines report their distribution as being 30% to 50% higher than what are printing order represents.

  Now, you do the math... How does one distribute more magazines than one prints? Yup, they dont. The numbers are fudged because the higher the reported distribution is, the higher prices the magazine can charge for advertising.

  I am sure that the same basic theory works for eBay...

  Posted by: Paul Trosko | June 16, 2008 9:34 AM





• Ebay is causing sellers to leave in droves, with the new policy changes and tens of thousands are upset and will be protesting at Ebay Live 2008, this week.
  
  The changes are idiotic. Sellers can no longer leave negative or neutral feedback, even if a buyer bids, wins your item, ingores your emails and doesn't pay. What right do they have to leave any feedback, if no transaction has taken place? We have sellers, bidding on competitors items and ruining their feedback, just to get a boost, on their own items.
  
  Ebay went in and retroactively turned all neutrals, to negatives. Neutral, means just that, how can ebay call neitral, negative? They swtarted giving new discounts to people with good ratings, but they knock them down first, with the neutral change, so that many can't even meet the requirements, for the discount.
  
  That is not the worst of it. We have thousands and thousands of sellers, who have closed their stores and we KNOW that the listing count should be going down. But, we have uncovered the source of the raised listing counts and I can't see it being anything, but fraud.
  
  The seller BUY or Buy.com was taken on by ebay, right at the time ebay KNEW they were going to lose sellers. They are using buy.com, to pad the listings, to make it look like the count is up, when it really isn't. We have found thousands upon thousands of fake listings, that have no description and you can't even buy them. I found them ending tens of thousands of listings early, saying they are no longer available for sale and then immediately relisting them. Most likely to keep the sell through rate up and then relisting them again, to up the listing count 2 fold. They don't even pay any fees, being owned by ebay, so all the listings that they are padding, aren't even bringing in revenue???? Something isn't right here!
  
  Isn't this making the stockholders think that listings are up, when they really aren't? We have all the proof documented. I even have it documented of when I was talking to Ebay Live Help and asking them about all the ads, being ended early and it immediately stopped, when they found out that we knew about it.
  
  Please help us in exposing them, for what they are trying to pull. The boycotters should have a fair chance, to show what is really going on, behind the scenes.

  Ended early and relisted:
  180251226722, 180251226874, 150256266043, 170226830357, 150256267366, 170226831384, 180251228944, 150256284533, 150256284661, 180251259385, 180251269016, 170226866562,
  150256311249, 180251269447, 170226866813, 170226866814, 150256311389, 170226866815, 150256332122, 170228985955, 150258744251, 150258739806, 150258739782, 150258736960,
  150258736944, 180253584991, 170228981714, 150258731757, 150258731754, 180253098907, 180253098595, 150258193603, 150258193604, 170228518552, 150258191496, 150258188722,
  180253098917, 150258193961, 150258193962, 150258193964, 150258193965, 150258193966, 170228518818, 170228518819, 170228518822, 170228518825, 150258193967, 150258193969,
  150258193970, 170228518823, 170228518824, 170228518826, 170228518831, 180253098912, 180253098915, 180253098916, 150258193972, 150258193978, 150258193979, 150258193983,
  170228518828, 170228518829, 170228518830, 170228518832, 180253098918, 180253098919, 170228519133, 180253099191, 180253099192, 180253099193, 170228519060, 180253099129,
  180253099131, 180253099132, 170228518834, 180253098920, 150258194268, 170228519135, 170228519136, 150258194260, 150258194261, 150258194262, 150258194263, 170228519131,
  170228519132, 170228519133, 180253099424, 180253099427, 180253099428, 150258194324, 150258194325, 150258194326, 150258194328, 170228519203, 180253099244, 150258194327,
  180253099508, 180253099480, 150258194533, 170228519406, 170228519416, 180253099478, 150258194501, 150258194503, 170228519358, 170228519359, 150258196552, 170228521488,
  180253101630, 170228521486, 150258196551, 180253099982, 170228524714, 180253105295, 180253105296, 180253105297, 180253105298, 180253105299, 170228524709, 180253105292,
  180253105293, 180253101840, 150258200138, 170228524716, 170228524717, 170228524718, 170228524720, 180253105300, 180253105304, 150258200125, 150258200131, 170228524711,
  170228524986, 150258200139, 150258200140, 150258200141, 170228524721, 170228524723, 180253105306, 150258200132, 150258200134, 150258200136, 150258200875, 150258200877,
  170228525585, 170228525586, 170228525587, 170228525588, 170228525589, 150258200417, 150258200418, 170228524985, 170228545762, 170228545763, 170228545766, 150258227113,
  170228545767, 180253127402, 180253126621, 170228544668, 170228544674, 170228525591, 150258227449, 150258227451, 170228545814, 170228545815, 170228545817, 170228545819,
  180253127985, 170228545768, 180253127946, 150258227395, 170228547564, 180253129749, 150258229171, 150258229173, 170228547559, 170228547561, 180253129746, 170228546730,
  150258227448, 150258227449, 170228549198, 180253131600, 170228548123, 170228548125, 170228548126, 180253130428, 150258229757, 150258229759, 170228548122, 180253130426,
  180253155403, 150258258655, 170228571331, 180253155041, 180253155043, 170228571330, 180253155039, 150258230817, 180253155042, 170228549197, 170228704020, 180253288143,
  150258357404, 150258261377, 180253157779, 150258261367, 150258261375, 170228573848, 170228547563, 170228573849, 170228704723, 170228704726, 180253288907, 180253288908,
  180253288897, 150258407595, 150258407118, 150258407115, 180253288299, 170228704024, 170228705052, 170228705053, 170228705049, 180253289232, 180253289235, 180253289237,
  180253288960, 150258408097, 180253289116, 180253288963, 170228807838, 170228807839, 180253397018, 150258527370, 180253396220, 170228802845, 180253391395, 170228793450,
  180253357839, 170228705051, 170228895158, 170228893034, 180253481336, 180253474873, 180253474473, 180253397578, 150258528801, 170228807831, 170228807834, 170228807836,
  150258731755, 180253579768, 180253579176, 150258730902, 180253579168, 170228977534, 170228977535, 170228977446, 150258635914, 170228900338, 170228573851, 170228573852,
  180253157774, 180253157775, 170228573846, 170228573847, 150258258949, 170228571564, 170228571566, 180253155402,
  

  Posted by: Disgruntled Ebay Powerseller | June 18, 2008 11:27 PM





• This video shows statements made by Pierre to John Donahoe regarding 'special deals for big off-eBay sellers to get them to come onto eBay would be DISASTER'

  The video is only a couple minutes long and shows Pierre telling Donahoe how such a thing would be 'Disaster'

  http://valleywag.com/5017352/ebay-demolishes-level-playing-field-for-buycom

  Pierre telling Donahoe that Buy.com and eBay is bad.

  Posted by: Fake_Pierre_Omidyar | June 19, 2008 12:40 PM





• The phantom listings first started at the time of the first seller boycott in Feb. It was an ebay ruse to make it look like the boycott was not having any effect. It was discovered by the sellers themselves and posted on the boards. My question is- if this is all above-board, then why didn't ebay simply announce it like they do everything else? Why was it only discovered by accident by some very observant sellers? Why did it have to be exposed by the sellers to come to light? Very suspicious. And why was no explanation given until it was well-publicized? Then it was a "test", then it wasn't a test, whatever. Ebay got caught red-handed and then had to fumble for some lame explanation. How embarrassing. Something's rotten in the state of ebay.....

  Posted by: dumpebaynow | June 21, 2008 1:19 PM





• I'm a longtime member on Ebay's site. I buy and sell on the site. Since the Seller strike in February, I have closely watched how Ebay is playing a "shell game" with it's listing numbers. One category I've tagged is "Model Kits". Pre strike the category was listing 50,000 to 60,000 total kits in an Auction format. This number gradually declined under excessive fee pressure on it's poor sellers, until last week (06/21/08). At that time, total listings dipped below 34,000. Almost overnight, the Model kit category jumped to over 280,000 Auction Format listings! They cross list all sorts of non Model kits in the category now, to the tune of 240,000 plus! I emailed Ebay to complain that the category is now so flooded with items from other hobby categories, that you cannot find a "model kit" in a general search. Ebay would not respond, even though I'm supposed to receive priority support as a Power Seller. This thread is true. Ebay is playing some serious inflation numbers to those idiots on Wall Street.

  Posted by: Tim Daniel | June 28, 2008 10:34 PM





• Just received an email from Ebay's technical support on the inflated listings in the "Model Kits" category. The tech who answered my email confirmed that there was some "unknown" technical problem that was being forwarded to their team. Hmmmmm..... Maybe it will be "fixed" after this quarters numbers are reported to investors???? The Tech told me that there were supposed to be 38,0000 kit listings, but when the category was pulled up, there were over 280,000! Thats a substantial chunk of "Double, Triple, Quadruple" Counting! I just wonder how many items are being listed in who knows how many unrelated categories, and being counted as Individual listings in each of those categories. Anyone who invests in this "Shell" of a Company, deserves everything that is inevitably coming.... Can anyone remember a major company being run into the dirt overnight by a crew of idiots????

  Posted by: Tim Daniel | June 30, 2008 3:50 PM





• Listing padding continues to run rampant at eBay with the help and assistance of buy.com.
  
  Previously, we have found hundreds of listings placed by Buy that were simply titled "NEW", the listings contained no pictures or item descriptions other than the buy SKU number which was the only information placed in the listing description. These items were reported to eBay, and have been subsequently taken down and/or corrected.
  
  Recently, we have found hundreds of items listed on eBay which carried a shipping & handling fee if purchased on eBay. Researching the items using the buy SKU in the description and searching them on buy.com revealed that smart buyers could purchase the item directly from buy.com without shipping and handling charges which were present on the eBay listings.
  
  This practice amounts to listing violations that include circumvention of eBay Final Value fees as well as PayPal Fees for transactions completed on eBay, not to mention indirectly encouraging buyers to complete transactions outside of eBay in order to take advantage of free shipping for the items.
  
  Further, it has been noted that if those items were smartly purchased directly from buy.com, buyers would have to complete the transaction using Google Checkout, as PayPal is not offered on buy.com's web site.
  
  A significant number of those items were reported to eBay. The only response from eBay has been a standard reply acknowledging receipt of the report. Those items continue to run on eBay as of our last check earlier today.
  
  Now the latest find indicates obvious padding of eBay listings and could be the most blatant example to date of how the combination of eBay and Buy have publicly misrepresented their deal while actively engaging in padding eBay listing volume.
  
  When eBay announced the agreement between eBay and buy, the public was told that buy would be limited to a single listing of each item based on SKU. In other words, one item one listing per make and model number of the item.
  
  Research today proves that this is patently false, and serves as an example of how buy continues to game the system with or without the cooperation of eBay, but certainly to the benefit of eBay.
  
  The following list represents a sampling of items posted by buy which appear as separate identical listings, not once as eBay claimes to have limited buy to, but instead, each SKU appears on 3 currently running listings on eBay at the time this search was completed. Each of the items in the list are posted 3 times within the same category - not even separate categories.
  
  The list contains the eBay listing title, and the unique eBay listing numbers of each of the 3 listing numbers on eBay for the identical item.
  
  NEW TTI Dirt Devil M0213BLU Kone Vacuum Cleaner , 150264583625, 150264913053, 180259784433
  NEW Lorex CVC6995HR Night Vision Bullet Camera , 180259084883, 170234288646, 180259784396
  NEW EUREKA BAG FILTER SYSTEM - CANISTER 12 AMP . 170233977498, 150264912111, 170234624629
  NEW Axis 232D+ Network Dome Camera , 170233977746, 170234287855, 150265308501
  NEW Deflecto RAWT Auto Warning Triangle , 170233977327, 180259413279, 180259783319
  NEW Weber Q 100 Gas Grill , 170234295237, 170234631563, 150265541929
  NEW GPX CP308S Clock Radio , 170233988055, 150264920259, 150265316806
  NEW Q-see QSCC4 , 170233986221, 170234294145, 180259790631
  NEW iRobot Roomba 400 Vacuum Cleaning Robot , 170234296015, 150265083086, 150265317072
  NEW Lorex DMC2030 Webcam , 180259084937, 150264913045, 170234625443
  NEW Cyclops BL08 PLASTIC BOOK LIGHT , 150264580205, 150264910201, 180259781519
  NEW Equity 40222 INSTA-SET 10" WALL CLOCK , 170233975243, 170234285446, 180259781301
  NEW Universal Power Group 86070 4-Pk Flashlight Set , 180259412988, 150265307841, 170234815682
  NEW Dirt Devil Bv2030Blu Broom Vac (Blue) , 150264581725 ,150264911609, 150265307764
  NEW M & S Systems AVR7500 Bagless Central Vacuum , 180259087216, 150264914649, 180259786263
  NEW Haier 10-Cup Digital Coffee Maker HDC10LBS , 150265310725, 150265541183, 180259982436
  NEW STY777004T , 180259086388, 170234289524, 170234626263
  NEW Memorex MI4004 Clock Radio , 150264584749, 170234289521, 150265310187
  
  
  Based on this research, it is clear that eBay is allowing, permitting, and condoning multiple listing occurrences of buy.com items and that their reported listing volume since buy began listing on eBay are potentially inflated by unknown millions of listings.
  
  The benefit for this activity is that eBay can continue to publicly claim that their listing volume is consistent, and remains unaffected by any boycott or seller exit activity. This is particularly important as the second quarter financial reports are being prepared as we speak. Given triple listing activity by this seller, statements made about listings made by eBay are seriously over stated.
  
  It is clear that eBay is not enforcing the agreement announced when buy.com was brought on to list and sell on eBay, and that triple listing activity appears to be benefiting eBay by inflating the listing volume statistics which eBay regularly uses to boast of their corporate performance in public statements and reports.
  
  eBay has been smart enough to allow this activity of triple listings per SKU in order to be able to distance itself from the misrepresentation of reported facts in their quarterly reports.
  
  Buy.com continues to circumvent listing fees, circumvent PayPal fees, triple list the same identical items to help eBay hide lost listing volume, and eBay refuses to take action to sanction buy for their systemic violations.
  
  Any other seller on eBay would be subject to having listings canceled, and or accounts suspended, but in the case of buy.com, these violations continue to run.
  
  Quoting from the canned response provided by eBay to previous reports of listing violations by buy.com:
  If we determine that the listing does violate policy, we may choose to:

  - send the seller an informational alert;
  - remove the listing or post; or
  - suspend the seller.

  Account suspensions are usually reserved for those sellers that
  continuously disregard policy.
  It is clear from the extent of previous and current violations on the part of buy.com that they are engaged in activity which clearly qualifies as actions which "continuously disregard policy".
  
  It is also clear based on repeated reports of various listing violations reported to eBay that the company does in fact tolerate continued listing violations on the part of buy.com, given that buy.com continues to list.
  
  It is obvious that eBay is making repeated exceptions for buy.com because of the volume of listings the relationship affords eBay.
  
  Currently there are over half a million active listings on eBay which have been placed by buy.com. The fact remains that it is possible that the real listing volume can be reduced by two thirds. If the one listing per SKU policy was enforced by eBay, there would potentially be an instant loss of over 300,000 listings.
  
  However, given the extent of the multiple listings of identical items, one must seriously question the motives behind this continued relationship, and eBay's lack of enforcement since it clearly benefits eBay if they continue to ignore the listing violations and allow them to continue.
  
  It is no wonder sellers continue to strongly voice the opinion that eBay can no longer be trusted. Any other seller listing in flagrant violation of eBay policy as buy has would find their accounts promptly suspended and or closed for good.
  
  How long before eBay comes out with their latest Public Relations story explaining away buy's flagrant violations as just another glitch? How many times will eBay rely on the 'glitch' excuse to explain away blatant manipulation of numbers?
  
  Seems to me that in light of the triple listings and the volume represented, that eBay needs to restate their listing volume figures since the abuse appears to be so wide spread.
  
  

  Posted by: RicRoe | June 30, 2008 9:57 PM





• Buy.com is the First... GM is the second that eBay is giving preferrential treatment to. They just annouced a "Diamond Seller" program for super sellers and as an incentive eBay can give "volume discounts on a case by case basis".

  It looks like eBay is setting up their site to do more and more business with the big hitters in different segments of the market.

  Jason Watson
  http://www.auctionarena.com

  Posted by: Jason Watson | July 1, 2008 5:00 PM





• It wont be long before federal prosicutors $$$$$ starts to take a long look at the monkey business going on at loco ebay.com.$$$$$

  Somebody is selling bad fish here.$$$$$$ Insiders dumping stock, manufactured statistics, uneven playing fields for vested sellers.

  Smells like rotten fish in ebay town!

  Dumped my stocks in February with the rotten smell back then!

  Thank God i did!

  Posted by: Ralph crandon | July 7, 2008 6:09 PM