eBay - litigation and confusion Part 2

[cybertrax]

The first thread was closed by a moderator - for being against this forums policies. I resent this implication, and feel this is a form of censorship. the link to the previous thread is http://www.matrixwatch.org/forums/showthread.php?p=13753#post13753.

I also find it incredible that a thread can be closed, but 10 minutes later a different moderator can make a comment on the case. This is unfair, as nobody else can comment on this thread except moderators - this does not reflect freedom of speech as I cannot defend myself against the statements made.

Concerned - your actions smack of 'big brother', it is unfair to make statements that cannot be refuted as you have closed the thread.

Weirdid - you are actually incorrect. An eBay Powerseller IS classed as a trusted member of the eBay community - eBay themselves state this on their website.


For those of you that did not read the original thread - here is the first posting I made....

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?

[jokach]

Its unfortunate, but eBay can do this because they own the service and they decide who can and who cannot trade on their website. You are correct that they are a big bully, but in America, that is what I consider corporate America. The little guy usually loses because of a lack of resources and money to fight the big bully. If you spent money on solicitors to contact eBay to resolve your matter, I'd love to hear what the result is. If you read the user agreement, they state somewhere (not sure where, i'll look for it), that violations of the user agreement are not limited to just what is listed, and that they have the right to interpret it whatever they want. This is how they (and other companies) get around people trying to fight them in courts and stuff, because its a catch all for everything that they don't have listed, which i'm sure your case will fall into.

I'd be very surprised for the money you spent on a 'firm of solicitors', that you'll get any return, but i'd seriously like you to send me a PM or post it here when you get resolution from eBay letting me know what the result was.

jokach

[jokach]

found one of the references ...........


Please note that the above list is neither exhaustive nor restrictive. eBay reserves the right to delete any listing that may violate any legal provision or the general principles and values of the eBay community, even if the legal provision or principles and values are not explicitly stated on the site.


from

http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/sell/item_allowed.html

[concerned]

First of all, I didn't hit the close button till several minutes after my last post. In that time, the other post was posted before I hit the close button. I find it truely histerical that you are crying "Freedom of Speach" when you don't even live in this country where that law would apply only to the citizens. If you have similar laws in your country, I am not bound by them. I am also not interfering with your freedom to speak here, I am just closing a thread that has no business on this forum, since it doesn't do anything to help customers out. The only thing it did was allow customers to realize that you were just another one of the scammers using all the same tricks you say are wrong.

Now, let's see if you can understand what our stance is.

I have now had my eBay account suspended due to a breach of the user agreement.

Not our problem, so you really shouldn't be bringing this to us. We (at least me personally) don't really care, but what I can tell you is that it isn't our fault you didn't read the TOS. Maybe you should have learned after telling so many matrix customers that they should do the same.

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.

Well, in the test category it was wrong. It was also wrong in the Computer category, monitor category, Xbox category, or any category other than Signal Booster. Again, you are that stupid? Don't you know that if you want to sell a signal booster, you need to list it in the signal booster 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'.

Really? Please show us where this information is in both AUPs so that we can follow up. I don't have time to do the research myself, because I need to go feed my chicken.

Does anyone know how/why eBay can do this?

Because it is their company, and they can do with it as they please. If you don't like that, then don't use their service.

[cybertrax]

Jokach; Thankyou for your information. I am going to go visit the solicitors tomorrow - they should have called on Monday so I want to know what is happening. Personally I feel that it is the principle of the thing that is important, so if the solicitors agree, I want to sue - depending on the cost. I may not be poor, but neither am I rich, so it may be too expensive to sue. I have given the entire user agreement to the solicitors to view, so hopefully they have also read your referenced clause.

Concerned; Your comments are getting ruder and ruder - most unprofessional. I am a mere member, you are a high-standing member of this community and as such should set an example for others. Please refrain from sarcasm in future - after all, sarcasm IS the lowest form of wit!

Your comments about freedom of speech show how much, or little, respect you have for other members. The subtext is that as I live in a different country to this site, you feel that you are entitled to alter postings if you disagree with them. Is this true? By the way, England has very similar rules and laws to America....it would do, seeing as how originally most of America was populated by the English! I might point out that England was one of the few countries to back up America when going to war with Iraq - showing that there is a close link between the countries.

As far as the TOS is concerned - I did read it - thoroughly. The reason the auction was placed in the test category was because it was being tested - exclusively for eBay benefit. I had to list it in order for eBay to check it and approve/disprove - that is what the test category is there for. After all, what reason do YOU think there is a test category?!

Regarding the different TOS in different eBay sites; the American TOS is found at http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/items-ov.html and the UK TOS is at http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/sell/policies.html. For some reason many of the USA policies are missing - my viewpoint is that as I signed under the UK TOS then I cannot be tied to the USA TOS.

It is regarding the TOS that my account was suspended. If I can prove successfully that I should not be penalised under another countries TOS, then I believe that my eBay account should not be suspended for this.


Regarding the comment about eBay being allowed to act as they want because it is their company - this is a very silly thing to say. All business's have to follow guidelines and regulations, and if they break these then they have to face the consequences. Paypal know this to their own detriment, having to pay millions of dollars compensation to users that sued them.

[weirdid]

Just to backtrack a little bit, to become a power seller on ebay, you have to have a certain number of sales every month, or you sales have to reach a certain value.

Trust and "pillar of the community" is just ebay PR.

Have a look at the number of illegal raffle's that are run by power sellers, i have seen link sellers with both the PS logo and the squaretrade logo,makes a total farce of both.

weird

[cybertrax]

Werdid; I agree with you, both that you do indeed have to have a certain amount of sales, and also that I too personally believe eBay statement about a 'trusted member of the community' is just PR. In that respect I apologise.

[concerned]

Concerned; Your comments are getting ruder and ruder - most unprofessional. I am a mere member, you are a high-standing member of this community and as such should set an example for others.

Well, since I don't find this forum to be my "profession", I don't see the need to act "professional". I come to this forum for the entertainment value in arguing with people such as yourself, because it amuses me so much that someone like you can have such a twisted logic and set of values. I also enjoy reading when people like you say that matrix owners should be honest and never decieve anyone, and that you are the exception to the rule, when it is obvious that with this thread you have shown us all that you are being extremely deceptive to matrix customers.

Your comments about freedom of speech show how much, or little, respect you have for other members.

I have lots of respect for most of the members. If I didn't I wouldn't be here. I don't have respect for you because of what you stand for. You are the person I am trying to protect most of the members here from, and most of them appreciate that I take the time to expose scammers like yourself.

The subtext is that as I live in a different country to this site, you feel that you are entitled to alter postings if you disagree with them. Is this true?

When did I ever alter any posts? Please show proof. I have seen pro matrix sites alter my posts all the time. That is because with my posts, the matrix sites cannot properly scam unsuspecting people.

As far as the TOS is concerned - I did read it - thoroughly. The reason the auction was placed in the test category was because it was being tested - exclusively for eBay benefit. I had to list it in order for eBay to check it and approve/disprove - that is what the test category is there for. After all, what reason do YOU think there is a test category?!

You obviously didn't read it thouroghly, or you would have seen this.

Proper category listing

Items must be listed in the appropriate category. There are over 4500 categories in which to list an item, so finding a category for your item is relatively easy.

Policy: eBay may end items that are not listed in the appropriate category. The listing fee will be automatically credited for that listing.

If you think selling a signal booster in the Computer Monitor category is not a violation of this policy, then you are truely uneducated or plainly naive.

You also failed to see this policy in your "thourough" analysis.

Key word spamming

Inclusion of unrelated key word terms used in effort to gain unfair exposure for seller's auction. The seller will usually state in title; Beautiful Brand X boots - not Brand Z.

Policy: These types of auctions are not permitted and will be ended. The listing fee will be automatically credited for that auction.

Saying "Samsung 21" TFT Flatscreen Monitor" instead of "Brand X Signal Boosters" violates that policy.

It is regarding the TOS that my account was suspended. If I can prove successfully that I should not be penalised under another countries TOS, then I believe that my eBay account should not be suspended for this.

Again, under the TOS that you included a link to, I was able to show you 2 seperate instances where you violated their AUP. It wasn't under the USA version, but the UK version that you are talking about. You violated it not only once, but twice, and you fail to see that. This is the exact reason the first thread was closed. Because of your narrow minded view of the world that doesn't allow you to decifer right from wrong. Again, quit blaming others when you are the one to blame for being NARU'd. If your analysis of the UK AUP was so thorough, then why did it take me only 30 seconds to find 2 places where you violated them?

Oh, I forgot this one. In fact, you are bound by the USA TOS if you use the USA site.

By agreeing to this User Agreement, you also agree that your use of other eBay web sites will be governed by the user agreement posted on those other web sites.

Simply put, if you are selling to users on ebay USA or selling directly on ebay USA, you are automatically bound by the ebay USA terms based on this line in the UK terms. Oh, and that would include Paypal I would assume, since it is an Ebay web site.

Oh, and if you wanted to know why they aren't answering your emails to them, why don't you read this. They are not required to reply according to their terms. I guess you aren't following their TOS AGAIN!!!!


# Notices.


Unless otherwise explicitly stated, notices to eBay must be sent by registered mail to eBay International AG, attention eBay UK Legal, Helvetiastrasse 15/17, 3005 Bern, Switzerland, and notices to you will be sent to the email address that you provide to eBay during the registration process (receipt is deemed 24 hours after an email is sent, unless we receive notice that the email address is invalid), or by registered mail.


Regarding the comment about eBay being allowed to act as they want because it is their company - this is a very silly thing to say.

Why, it is the truth, isn't it? If they don't want to do business with you, they don't have to. McDonalds can chose not to sell you a burger, and there is nothing you can do about it.

All business's have to follow guidelines and regulations, and if they break these then they have to face the consequences.

Then what guidelines and regulations are the matrix sites following?

[cybertrax]

Concerned;

Oh dear oh dear oh dear. You have just admitted in your post that you are not prepared to act in a manner that befits your high-ranking role in this organisation. Matrix Watch may not be your 'profession' but you are still classed as an important part of the machine - you should act accordingly. if you act unprofessionally whilst on this site, you are showing your contempt for others views and opinions.

By your statement above, I see that you do not have respect for any members of this forum that appose your anti-matrix views. This goes directly against the forum rules, that state you must show respect to ALL members. This means that you are not prepared to follow the forum rules and regulations, which is a very serious offence. Perhaps you would like to rethink your statement?!

Regarding 'altering' posts - I apologise. I was referring to how the previous post was closed without warning - I did not state myself properly.

Your comment about the TOS seem to be selective. You have ignored my statement about the test category, so please answer - what is the test category in eBay for?

Your comment about keyword spamming is irrelevant to this topic - i did not quote any keywords such as brand names that were not true, and so my sales are not covered by keyword spamming rules. Having a title such as 'Samsung 21" TFT Flatscreen Monitor' is not keyword spamming. I did not actually state anywhere that that was what was for sale - the monitors were the free gifts, part of the sale. If you actually entered into the auction itself it was made quite clear about what was for sale.

Your comment about different countries TOS is also not valid. I did not use other eBay sites - if anybody from America viewed my auctions that were hosted on eBay UK then it was the potential bidders that had to note that the eBay laws compliable were from eBay UK. I myself never went onto any other eBay site apart from eBay UK. This is why I do not feel that eBay USA TOS should apply to me. When signing upto eBay you automatically have a user agreement come up which you have to agree to - I only ever agreed to the USA TOS. If I had known that the TOS included all the extras that eBay USA have, I would not have listed my adverts as I would have known that they were not allowed. Please remember that I actually had these auctions checked by eBay UK staff beforehand, and they were deemed at that point to be acceptable.

Paypal IS NOT the same as eBay. It may be ultimately owned by eBay Inc. but it is a totally separate legal entity, with a different organisation. In fact, alot of the Paypal staff I have spoken to have little respect for eBay, the two companies do not have a great working relationship - at least here in England.

The statement about registered notices is a requirement by law in case of legal notices needing to be sent. All business's should have an address posted on their website where legal notices can be sent. In most cases the trading address is the same as the legal notice address, but with big organisations they will have a separate legal team employed at a specific address. This address will be the one that my solicitors will write to if I do intend to start litigation.

Also, although this is the legal addres, eBay themselves have an enmail address for all correspondance. Like many companies, they welcome users to email them with any queries they might have, and indeed have an online form you can fill in to do so. They also have a process whereby they welcome correspondance from suspended members. They state on the website that all emails will be replied to within 2 working days - this is contrary to what they have told me. It seems that they are choosing which part of their website they feel like complying with. It is not good business practise to go against the claims made on part of the website - does not look good for eBay.

Regarding guidelines, eBay is a large company, and so has many regulations and guidelines they must follow. Matrix sites are much smaller, and are normally run by a few people. Although small, they must still trade according to the Trading Standards that are basic guidelines for all business's. The business's that do not comply with these guidelines will firstly be warned, and given time to comply. If they fail then ultimately they can be taken to court, and possibly shut down. eBay itself has had it's fair share of litigation for failing to follow the basic guidelines for business, as has Paypal. The difference is that they are multi-million dollar companies, and can afford lots of legal experts to help them.

You mentioned McDonalds as a comparison. However, it is hard to make such a comparison. When you walk into a McDonalds store, there is no contract for you to buy a burger, or for them to sell it to you. If there was, things may be different. However, eBay offer a contract to all potential customers wishing to sign up as a member. This contract is full of clauses and policiess designed to look after both you and eBay, and warns what will happen if you break these. However, the user agreement is actually a contract, and states what you can expect in return from eBay. Amongst other things, you can expect to receive quality service from them. This user agreement also states the possible compensation you are able to get if eBay themselves break the contract. As a company, eBay have issued me with this contract. They claim that I have broken this contract by breaching the TOS, and have suspended my account as punishment for a period of 60 days. I can prove the opposite by showing the actual seller policy, which does not include the matrix advertising clause that they have quoted as a reason for my suspension. As a result, it will be eBay themselves that have broken the contract by suspending my service without due cause.

This is my arguement, and is why I have called in legal experts.

[cybertrax]

Ammendment - I only agreed to the UK TOS

[MatrixWatch]

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

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


I think that you are hitting up against something that we have been trying to introduce you to for some time now. Cybertrax, meet Reality. Reality, meet Cybertrax.

Reality is what we buck up against when our beliefs are false.

You can even use the same arguments with them as you do with us. It won't work. Other matrix owners have tried this path in the U.S. and it went nowhere. Instead of learning lessons from the events of the past year here in the U.S., you raise your nose to the sky and try the whole thing over again in your country.

Let us know when things turn out the same way they did over here. We'll have some advice for you then.

[Dreamer]

your not violiting the keywords policy?

What about those questions if they are bidding on a monitor? Lets see if I can quote it again...

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..


Q: HI IS THIS £35 FOR THE MONITOR OR FOR THE LINK THEN WAIT FOR THE MONITOR CONTACT ME AT MABROWN65@NTLWORLD.COM answered on: 25-Aug-04
A: This is NOT for the link - this is for the monitor - YOU DO NOT PAY A PENNY MORE!! However, in order to get it at this cheap price there is a downside...

---

Q: where can i see this list you mention? do you have a website? answered on: 25-Aug-04
A: Yes, I have a website. But, there is no point in showing you the site BEFORE you bid - no incentive otherwise for you to buy at this auction!!

Ok, at least your honest. If I show you how you can get this monitor and your realize its a scam than its harder for me to scam you so I won't let you know where this site is. At least we know now that its your own scam matrix site.

So, if I'm buying signal boosters, why couldn't you tell me more about these, like who made them, pictures, etc.

As for the cd your so proud of. 12,900 files taking up 648megs? Thats on average of 50k/file. My text documents are typically larger than 50k. I'm not quite sure how any of it will be any good if they are a whole 50ik.

[cybertrax]

Watchdog;

Your latest comment was not productive in anyway. There was no factual information, nor was there any answer or question. The only reason you made your comment was to try and belittle me - this was not a very good idea. You state that I am using the same arguement with eBay as I am with you - you are incorrect. You would know this if you had read all the postings on this thread.

As my previous postings have stated, I am challenging eBay on the basis that the TOS they are claiming I have broken is actually the eBay USA TOS, which I have not agreed to. This is not an arguement about matrix sites per se, but about contractual law. This is why it is different to the arguements I use with this site's forum.


Dreamer;

You have taken all comments out of context. You have simply copied part of my past eBay advertising with questions/answers - however you have failed to paste the complete question in most cases. This is a fundemental mistake, and I am surprised at you.

The reason I did not give consumers the website is because if they bought direct from the matrix site they would not be using my referrer code, which was the main reason I placed the adverts originally. By placing an order through me, I was in control of the order and so made sure my referrer code was used. This is simple business sense, and again I am surprised at you for not realising so. In actual fact it was NOT my own site - I was acting as a 'middle-man' for another site. Your comments about signal boosters are irrelevant as nobody did ask about them. If they had then I could have answered them as I knew a fair bit about them.

The Java CD that you are poking fun at? If you had read the description you would note that there were over 1000 ringtones on the CD. As most ringtones are around 10k in size that would make just 10Mb of disk space. There is plenty of room on the CD for lots of other items too.

In future, please think before you type....you will save alot of time by doing so. There is a good saying.....think before you act.

[Dreamer]

1. I am not an ebay member so I cannot see the full responce.
2. Your answers were stated such that the scam continues on the 2 sentences that consumers can read without actually clicking on read more because you know most people won't click on read more if the first 2 sentences is to their liking.

how is my comment about signal boosters irrelevant? Because you dont' want to answer it? You are irrelevant.

How are they relevent? Umm...because that is what you were selling. there are lots of different signal boosters out there...why not tell the consumer which brand they are buying?

Why didn't anybody ask about the boosters? Well, from their questioning it looks like they thought they were buying a monitor. The monitor was irrelevant. The picture was irrelevant. The title was irrelevant.

cybertrax, your postings are pointless and irrelevant. All I can assume is that you are pointless and irrelevant.

[cybertrax]

I like this - if you cannot come up with a good comment....get personal.

Everyone please note that once again Dreamer is breaking the forum rules by attacking me personally. He has called me pointless and irrelevant, which is an attack on my nature and personality. If I do this then I get reprimanded by Watchdog, and threatened with suspension. Does this happen to Dreamer?! I guess not.

Trying to answer what point there was to the comments above.....
I did not state that signal boosters themselves were irrelevant, I stated that the comment about them was. This is because as nobody asked me about the make, I did not have to make any comment myself on the actual make. As it was, they were a generic brand, I cannot remember what as I no longer have any here in their original packing. The four that I own are sitting quite nicely in my mobiles, and so there is not any brand to look at. I do not think many people were interested in the brand, so much as what the signal booster was - what it did. This was adequately covered in the actual auction details, which is probably why there were no questions asked about them.

Your comments about irrelevancy are not helpful. You seem to ignore the actual text of the acution, which states clearly about the Java CD and Signal Booster. Did you read the auction itself, or just skim past that to the questions at the bottom of the advert page?!

All in all, I am disapointed in your last comment. It just shows to me that you have nothing useful to say.

[MatrixWatch]

I like this - if you cannot come up with a good comment....get personal.

Everyone please note that once again Dreamer is breaking the forum rules by attacking me personally. He has called me pointless and irrelevant, which is an attack on my nature and personality. If I do this then I get reprimanded by Watchdog, and threatened with suspension. Does this happen to Dreamer?! I guess not.

I like this - if you need a smoke screen to get out of a confrontational situation, then just twise someone's words to sound like a personal attack and then cry about it.

Nice try.

Actually, Dreamer said that YOUR POSTS were pointless and irrelevant. Dude, are you like 12 years old? Are you seriously tattle-tailing on Dreamer for calling you names? I can see if he started to erupt into a fountain of profanity and then curse the day you were born. He'd likely be kicked off for good in that case. However, even if he called you "pointless" and "irrelevant" it would make no sense, much less be an adequate insult.

But it isn't even THAT bad. He made a comment about your POSTS not YOU.

What is wrong with you?

[cybertrax]

Watchdog;

Once again you ignore half of the text being written, as it does not suit your statement. Please look at below:

how is my comment about signal boosters irrelevant? Because you dont' want to answer it? You are irrelevant.

All I can assume is that you are pointless and irrelevant.

This are factual statements made by Dreamer stating that I am pointless and irrelevant. It is quite clear - would you like to re-read the post that Dreamer made?!

It now appears as though it is OK to attack someones character in this forum, as you are supposed tro be able to take it. That is fine, except that the forum rules are designed specifically to protect people against personal attacks. These are YOUR rules Watchdog, so why do you fail to uphold them? Would it be because privately you agree with Dreamers comments?? I think that this is showing signs of hyprocrisy - if I did as Dreamer has done then I would be warned and threatened with member suspension, but if an anti-matrix supporter such as Dreamer does the same thing, they are allowed. Is this true?

By the way, please note that I didnt 'get out' of a situation. Read my post again and you will see that I answered Dreamers questions. I also note that YOU have not made any valid points to this thread, other than to attack my personal character. Would you care to make a statement regarding the thread topic, or just continue with your current personal attack?!

[concerned]

Your comment about keyword spamming is irrelevant to this topic - i did not quote any keywords such as brand names that were not true, and so my sales are not covered by keyword spamming rules. Having a title such as 'Samsung 21" TFT Flatscreen Monitor' is not keyword spamming. I did not actually state anywhere that that was what was for sale - the monitors were the free gifts, part of the sale. If you actually entered into the auction itself it was made quite clear about what was for sale.

Huh? Are you that stupid? Didn't you tell us that you actually sold Signal Boosters? You also state that you weren't selling the monitor. What do you think keyword spamming is? If you aren't selling the monitor, you can't use the brand name in your ad. I guess you were absent when brains were given out. Your complete and utter stupidity is shown in your response. With someone who constantly claims to do research, you probably don't even know what the word means. Read the policy again that I told you was violated. Here it is again.

Key word spamming

Inclusion of unrelated key word terms used in effort to gain unfair exposure for seller's auction. The seller will usually state in title; Beautiful Brand X boots - not Brand Z.

Policy: These types of auctions are not permitted and will be ended. The listing fee will be automatically credited for that auction.

Please tell me how Samsung Monitor is related to selling signal boosters? If you were indeed selling signal boosters, then why do you need that information about the monitor? So you could decieve the people into comming to your ad, and making the purchase, and then including them in a pyramid scheme that they never agreed to get involved in to begin with. That is deception in the worst way.

The statement about registered notices is a requirement by law in case of legal notices needing to be sent. All business's should have an address posted on their website where legal notices can be sent. In most cases the trading address is the same as the legal notice address, but with big organisations they will have a separate legal team employed at a specific address. This address will be the one that my solicitors will write to if I do intend to start litigation.

Really? If this is true, then why are there NEVER any addresses on matrix sites? If they are acting illegally with not providing an address, then why are you participating in them?

It seems that they are choosing which part of their website they feel like complying with. It is not good business practise to go against the claims made on part of the website - does not look good for eBay.

I actually think it is an even worse business practice for Ebay to associate with scammers like you. Because they allow scammers like you to operate, I have decided, as well as everyone that I have ever associated with to not use their services anymore. As all my friends and family tell all their other friends, more people will not use ebay anymore. Now, tell me this. Do you think ebay cares about losing the business from you the scammer, or me and my hundreds of people that are boycotting them?

[cybertrax]

Concerned;

I feel sorry for you - you obviously do not know as much as you think you do.
As you yourself stated, keyword spamming is when you mention keywords that are unrelated to the sale of your item. In my situation this was not applicable. Althogh the actual sale was for signal boosters and java CD's, there was the free gift - consisting of an entry into the matrix for the Samsung 21" monitor. As such, I was not keyword spamming - the Samsung monitor IS part of the deal.

As for mail addresses. I agree with you that some websites fail to provide mail addresses as required by law. However, I have also seen several sites that provide a mailing address, keeping within the law requirements. It is worth noting that this is UK law - I do not know if there is any similar law in America.

Your last comment about eBay was not very productive. You seem to think that eBay are within their rights to break contracts, just because you think that they should. No company is allowed to do so unless they have grounds for breaking the contract - that is what legal experts will decide.

I have contacted my solicitors today about the situation, but the person I needed was unavailable - they will be contacting me tomorrow. So hopefully in 24 hours time there will be an answer from a legal expert about this situation.

[jokach]

Take note to eBays opinion of what you are describing:


#
# Bonuses and Gifts - Conditional bonuses, free gifts and other items that do not significantly affect the value of the item for sale may not be listed in the title.


located at
http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/policies/listing-keywords.html

This is from the UK version of eBay.....

You specifically stated yourself that your giving a free gift of entry into the matrix for the samsung whatever, which in their eyes, is against the terms of service.

[cybertrax]

Jokach;

Thankyou for your post above. For some reason I hadnt noticed this guideline before, at leat, not the actual text as it is. It seems fairly clear, and so I agree that I was in the wrong with these adverts. Therefore I apologise about that.

However, my point about eBay still stands. The reason given for my suspension was not about keyword spamming, it was about the matrix advertising policy in the user agreement. This is the reason for my suspension, and as this policy does not exist in the UK user agreement, it is this that my arguement against eBay is based. If I had been suspended for keyword spamming I could understand, having now understood those rules. However, this was not the case. I also am upset that eBay staff stated that the advert was fine at the beginning of August, when clearly it contravened the guidelines. This will be something else I shall point out to my solicitor tomorrow.

Once again, thankyou Jokach for pointing the relevant guidelines out to me - in a polite manner.

[mercinary]

I agree that eBay shouldn't have given you the OK on your posting when it was clearly against at least one section of the AUP. I think that is a product of a large corporation giving you the shrug-off. I think anyone that has tried to deal with eBay has run into similar problems (including myself). eBay is all form-emails and political BS.

However, I don't think you have much of a case against them with this new information that Jokach has brought to light. If your listings were against their AUP, I don't think it matters what reason they gave you for shutting your auctions down....they will always be able to fall back on the fact that the listing was against the AUP and should have been removed regardless.

-Merc

[concerned]

Wow, you can thank Jokach, but not me, after I told you twice that you were in violation of keyword spamming, and then you flamed me that you never keyword spammed. I just want to point out how stupid you look when you were told 2 times that you keyword spammed, and you were very confrontational about it, and then the third time you were told you keyword spammed, you finally accepted it. I guess since you got the answer you were looking for after 3 attempts, this matter is closed. I will close this thread now.

[mercinary]

While we are on the topic, I dug up some more UK-ebay AUP rules that the typical matrix auction may violate. This is in no way a suggestion that Cybertrax's auctions violated these. Also note that I think I will add these to the Matrixwatch FAQ.

http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/policies/listing-titles.html

http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/policies/listing-circumventing.html

http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/policies/listing-giveaways.html

-Merc