Make a Suggestion to eBay - Get Suspended?

Suppose you want to make a suggestion to eBay. Did you know that eBay may threaten you with a suspension if you do?

As ridiculous as that sounds, after emailing a suggestion, at least one eBay seller got an email from a customer service rep warning him that the consequences for future suggestions could be suspension.

The following comment was made by cdaysgoneby23 on an eBay message board:

"Hell,I just got reprimanded from them for offering a way to prevent the
huge increase in Non-paying bidders.

Got told that it
is their policy not to take suggestions unless they ask for them and then if I
asked them again I would be taking a 7 day hiatus from the site.I'm like
WTH.

I think I'm going to write a book about the true
Ebay.The one that made it one of the greatest online business ventures in
history and the joke it is today surviving off the success of the past."

Here is the email response this seller got from eBay:

"Thank you for writing eBay in regard to your suggestions.

eBay welcomes comments from members of our Community, and
we appreciate your suggestions. This type of communication helps us improve our
services and meet your needs.

However, our company
policy doesn't allow us to accept suggestions unless we specifically request
them. We hope that you understand that this policy can avoid future
misunderstandings if new products, services, and features developed internally
by eBay employees seem similar or even identical to a member's idea.

Also continuation of suggestions is considered spamming and
may/could result in a suspension.

***Important***Any
comments or materials (including questions, technical or creative suggestions,
and ideas) that you send to us aren't considered confidential or proprietary.

To learn more about eBay's policy on submitting
unsolicited ideas, go to:http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/unsolicited-ideas.html"

The lesson is: do not offer any constructive suggestions to any eBay employee. They may assume that you might later try to claim that one of their new ideas for the site was, in reality, your idea. So what's the deal? Could it be that the eBay corporate mentality so reeks of unethical behavior that they ASSume everyone else is unethical as well?

C'mon! Suspension for offering a positive, helpful cure for one of eBay's many ills? As John Stossel would say, Give me a break!