eBay - confusion and litigation

[cybertrax]

I am currently fighting a battle with eBay about their user agreement.

I have in the past had sales on eBay relating to matrix sites. Unlike most other auctions, these ones were NOT selling links. I looked into the user agreement, and noted that link-selling was against the selling policy. Instead, I added 50% onto the price of the matrix-price, and offered the items (signal boosters mainly) at this revised price. I naturally included details of the free gifts available, such as iPods, mobile phones etc. I also made it quite plain that these free items were offered as part of a matrix system, and that delivery times were not guaranteed, and they would definately not be sent straight away due to the way matrix systems worked. Once people had bought at the auction I then passed the needed fee to the matrix sites concerned, and kept the rest, minus ebay and paypal fees, as my 'commission'.

I have now had my eBay account suspended due to a breach of the user agreement. My problem is two-fold.

Firstly, before offering these items I had listed the auction in the test category, and emailed eBay staff asking if it was OK to list. They emailed back stating that the only problem was that it was listed in the wrong category - the test category.

Secondly, the user agreement is different for England than in America. In America the user agreement states quite specifically that matrix advertising is forbidden. However, in England this policy is missing from the user agreement. eBay staff are ignoring all my emails pointing this fact out, and are now refusing to reply to any further emails unless I provide 'new evidence'.

I have gone so far as to contact a firm of solicitors who are looking into the matter for me. However, I feel that eBay are behaving like a 'big bully' as they have the power, they can control who is a member, and who isnt.

Has anyone else had any similar problems, and if so, how did they deal with it? Does anyone know how/why eBay can do this?

[cybertrax]

As an addon, and an addition due to the refusal of an answer in another thread, can either Watchdog (the big boss!), Mercinary (the eBay Watchdog boss) or other active working members of this site please answer the following question.....

Which eBay sites do you 'monitor'? There are several sites, do you examime all of them? Also, how do you judge what is and isnt a valid auction??

[concerned]

I have a question for you before we can answer your question. Maybe we can try to help you realize where you violated their AUP.

When you sold signal boosters, how did you advertise them? Did you advertise them as signal boosters in the correct place? I am assuming that you had something like:

Xbox for the cost of $1 signal booster

or something like that. Please point us to one of the ads, or please post the exact wording. Although you should be asking at the ebay forum why your ads were removed, I am sure we can show you where you violated their terms.

To answer your other question, you should know that answer yourself. I know you aren't that dumb, so just by looking at forums you should know what sites we monitor, but just to answer you, because your excellent researching skills have not allowed you to read the titles of forums, I will help you out, just a little. I don't want to give you the whole answer, because we all know you are smart enough to figure it out on your own.

Go to this link and read the list of sub forums. I would think an expert researcher would find all the information they need here.

http://www.matrixwatch.org/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=72

[cybertrax]

Concerned;

Thankyou for your post, I'll try to help.
Here is the link for one of the sales, http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=5118495845

I have briefly looked at the link you gave me - interesting. I note that Matrix Watch monitors Yahoo in USA, eBay USA and eBay UK. However, there does not appear to be any monioring in any of eBay's other sites, such as France, Brazil, Germany, Canada, Australia.....I also see that many other auction sites such as QXL and eBid are not monitored. Would it not be a good idea to monitor these as well? If matrix Watch truly want to stop all scams from operating, would it not be useful to do these?

Incidently, I heard back from eBid today - they have confirmed that this advertising, a copy of which I had forwarded to them, is perfectly legal and acceptable to them.

[Dreamer]

cybertrax,

are you offering to volunteer your services to monitoring the eBay auctions on Brazil? Thats awfully nice of you. I'm sure the eBay watchdog team would appreciate your help.

Oh, I looked at your auction. You sold a monitor for $35. Thats pretty good! I wish I could pick up monitors that cheaply. I can only assume you sold the monitor since thats what you advertised in the title.

[Dreamer]

Q: not being fully computer literate, Is this really and 21 inch TFT (Flat monitor) and will it work with any standard computer. if so how come you can sell...more answered on: 26-Aug-04
A: Yes, and yes! The price is £34.99 - there is NO MORE TO PAY!! there is a downside to the cheap price, a time delay. Typical wait is 2-6 months, depending..

[Dreamer]

- please can u confirm when delivery will take place
- Misleading advertising. No communication whatsoever!
- good deals just waiting for product to arrive
- send me it quik styleeee
- That will teach me not to read the blurb properly!
- thought i was bidding for t.v. not ebay books on how to work the tv (you sold books on how to work a tv? Here is the power button!)

These are too old to verify they were matrix sites:
- I thought i was actually gettin a tv didn't read the whole ad...will read ebooks
- Swift and pleasant but link for info on cheap product didn't work...

[Dreamer]

Did you ever respond to this?

http://www.complaints.com/directory/2004/june/17/15.htm

plasma/Ebay Auction

I have printed proof &have been congratulated on winning best bidder for a plasma TV from cybertraxmusic (seller) off the Ebay auctions.But now they have classed the auction as invalid ?i can not get even a phone no. to contact seller to see whats going on!!

[mercinary]

The given link has a deceptive title and falls under that rule on eBay.

The dogs only report auctions that violate one of the three main offenses found in our FAQ:

http://www.matrixwatch.org/modules.php?name=FAQ&myfaq=yes&id_cat=5#20

-Merc

[weirdid]

cybertrax

Your listings had a "misleading title", that could be one reason they got pulled


weird

[cybertrax]

I have printed proof &have been congratulated on winning best bidder for a plasma TV from cybertraxmusic (seller) off the Ebay auctions.But now they have classed the auction as invalid ?i can not get even a phone no. to contact seller to see whats going on!!

That is silly - my phone number is available to all eBayers!! All that anyone has to do is go through the proper ebay process to request contact information, and you get it in an email along with my address!

I actually did not know about this - interesting. The sale was only for £27.00, but Salvo Pellegrini was the ONLY person to send me abusive emails and so I have taken the decision to stick to the principles of the sale, and it is currently going though the court process. The sale was for 20 units, and out of these 12 sales have been paid for. A futher 3 people emailed to ask if they could withdraw from the sale - as 2 of them were polite I let them off and cancelled their sales. The third, Salvo, was abusive in his emails, swearing throughout and threatening to 'do me'. Therefore, I have not let him off his purchase.

As far as the comments made from above - these have been taken out of context. It is interesting to note that I have a rating of 165 positive feedback, with only one negative feedback made. I am also registered as a powerseller on eBay, which signifies a trustworthy member of the community. My problems with eBay are only temporary, and I will soon have my account restored. For those of you who wish to check what I say is true, my eBay username is cybertraxmusic - search through eBay for my feedback rating to get the true picture.

[Dreamer]

those positive feedbacks I posted here were from matrix listings. I didn't post any other feedback becaue I had no idea what you sold.

[concerned]

Well, you proved all of our points. You tell us that selling links on ebay should be legal, as long as you are not deceptive. You tell us that it is never right for a matrix owner to be deceptive to the customers. Then why do you tell them 2-6 months to get the monitor, when you know full well, that it only works like that for about 2 months, and then after that the wait is 6 years. You are being deceptive in listing the auction wrong. You are deceptive with the timeline. You are deceptive in not allowing them to see the list till after they make the purchase. These are all things you said were wrong of a matrix owner to do, and you are doing it yourself. You claim to be selling a signal booster, but the title of the auction doesn't say "Signal Booster". You just violated Ebay's policy. Are you that dumb? Can you not read the AUP? Again, your self proclaimed excellent research skills should have lead you to the answer.

Your stupidity in asking this question and pretending that you didn't do anything wrong, when it is clear that you completely violated Ebay's AUP in several ways, makes your credibility that much more worthless. I hope potential customers are reading this guy's posts, because this is the typical actions that these scammers take when trying to scam you out of your money. They stop at nothing. Since this thread is obviously a cheap attempt to distract the goal of this forum, this topic is now closed. Maybe when Cybertrax grows up, and quits blaming others because Cybertrax can't follow the rules of Ebay, then maybe he might have an ounce of credibility to his name. Until then, he will be nothing more than the scammer he has showed everyone he can be.

[weirdid]

The powerseller logo does not mean that you are trustworthy, it means the value of your sales meets the requirements to be classed as a powerseller.

ebay love the fees you pay them.
weird