Why I Blog About eBay

You may wonder just what I have against eBay.

When I first started selling on eBay, I checked out the eBay discussion boards and my education concerning the real eBay began. A lot of information about what goes on can be found there. When there are glitches on the site; when changes happen; when the site appears to have been hacked (more on this below); what the latest scams are... the boardies are always the first to know these things.

Unfortunately, a lot of the information one can find on the discussion boards never seems to make it to System Announcements or General Announcements so many eBay members remain unaware. Many of us who have seen too much think that isn't right so we blog about it hoping to get the word out to more people. Others upload informational and consumer awareness videos to YouTube.

So what have I seen happen on eBay? The list is long but one of my earliest issues with eBay's methods came about because, one at a time, several buyers turned up on the New to eBay message board looking for help after being scammed in a ponzi scheme. eBay was offering them no useful assistance at all. Board regulars had to inform these people about where to go and what to do in an effort to get their money back. I was still naive enough at that time to be stunned at how little eBay did for these people.

That was only the beginning. I continued to help new members and, as I became somewhat jaded about eBay, I found myself getting reported to LiveWorld frequently for telling people the truth. I got many warnings from the moderators as did others who thought the truth was more important than spinning the eBay party line.

If someone new asked questions about selling on eBay, we were expected to tell them that all was rosy. If we tried to tell them about the fees or how slow sales were, we got reported or the trolls came out to shoot us down, malign and mock us. Board wars and battles are common on eBay.

I can't begin to tell you how many people were reported or even suspended from the boards for talking about the incident that took place on eBay's Trust and Safety board when a hacker calling himself Vladuz posted hundreds of eBay user names along with accompanying personal and financial information, including passwords and credit cards numbers. eBay tried to sweep it all under the rug and maintained, for quite some time, that those of us who had seen this were imagining things.

Right now there are probably thousands of sellers who have no idea that they are paying for product listings on eBay that are nowhere to be found in a Search. eBay hopes that they will remain ignorant. I experienced that myself when an item that I was trying to sell could not be found even though I was the only seller with that particular item at the time. A search of the exact title would not bring it up in a search. This goes on all the time and it's getting worse all the time. Buyers think they are seeing everything that is available for sale on eBay but this is not reality.


Speaking of buyers, how do they feel about the new eBay? I intended to link to a buyer complaint on the eBay stores discussion board posted yesterday. But apparently, the thread was killed by Live World. Fortunately, I have a screenshot. Click the Image below to enlarge.










These are just a few examples of things that have happened on eBay and continue to happen which should NOT be swept under the rug. I am just one of many eBay members and former members who think it's important for people to be educated about the true eBay with all its warts.