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eBay Backtracks
You may recall that eBay Australia announced earlier this year that henceforth it was going to be a PayPal only site. And the concern was that this policy might well be spread about all eBay's country sites.
Well, eBay have been taken to task over their plans by the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC).
Now pending the outcome of the ACCC decision, PayPal only on eBay Australia has been postponed indefinitely by eBay.
eBay apologise to users for the change saying it “regrets any ongoing uncertainty that this further delay may cause” and that “eBay appreciates the feedback received from the Community and will use this input to consider where we can make improvements that benefit both buyers and sellers.”
Now That's What I Call A Coincidence!
A 45-year-old from Bochum, Germany, was preparing for a camping trip when he discovered his tent had been stolen.
He went onto eBay to look for a replacement. He found just the right one, perfect in fact - it matched his needs precisely.
No wonder, it was the very one that was stolen two weeks previously!
Using the information provided by the “seller,” he was able to alert police. Not only did he regain his own property, he retrieved items belonging to similar victims.
We're unsure if the culprit had earned enough from his ill-gotten gains to afford release on bail!
Fancy a buffet with Buffet? Update
You may recall in last month's newsletter, I mentioned an auction for charity. The winner would have the pleasure of dining with Warren Buffet, the billionaire.
The previous year, this auction fetched $700,000.
Well, the result is in for this year's auction which ended on 27th June.
The winning bid was $2.11 million! Now, that's what I call an expensive meal.
Well done to the winner, Zhao Danyang, a general manager at Pure Heart China Growth Investment Fund, to Mr Buffet and to eBay. And let's not forget the real winner - the Glide Foundation charity.
Gone in 60 Seconds - If You've The Money
Whilst we're on about the high end of the eBay market, you can bid now (until 4th July) on one of the original ‘Eleanor’ Mustangs from the movie Gone in 60 Seconds.
The car is one of three running examples of the 1967 Mustang Shelby GT500s created for the movie. There were eight other shell cars – and this is the only one that has been offered sale. The other two were destroyed in the bridge jump and junkyard crusher scenes.
This particular car has 38,614 miles on the clock and is currently stored in Houston, Texas.
If you want to make a bid, go ahead:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Shelby-1967-Mustang/
Keep Your Eyes on Paris Today
A Paris court is to decide on Monday whether to make eBay pay 51 million euros ($80 million) in damages to Louis Vuitton and other French luxury groups for letting fake copies of their goods be auctioned on its website.
Louis Vuitton say eBay knowingly let people use its site to sell fake bags, lipstick, perfumes and clothes from the famous brand names, and that even when authentic goods were on sale this was in violation of their authorised sales networks.
Earlier this month, eBay was convicted by a French court of selling counterfeit goods and ordered to pay 20,000 euros (30,000 dollars) in damages to French luxury group Hermes.
And last September, the cosmetics giant L'Oreal launched legal action against eBay in five European countries including France, over the sale of bottles of counterfeit perfume.
Watch this space....
Clever, Or Clumsy?
On eBay searches, auctions are returned in the default sequence of Best Match. In effect this is eBay's rating of the seller.
However, it seems eBay doesn't just list the best-rated sellers at the top of the search results. It also lists the newest sellers at the top (because they have perfect ratings). Specifically, it lists sellers who are so new that they don't have any feedback yet.
One angry seller at eBay Live!, after watching his listings disappear from eBay's search results because he didn't have perfect ratings, has taken action. He creates a new user ID, and his listings would appear at the top of the search results. When that ID has less than perfect rating he retires it, and starts again.
How much of a difference does this make? The seller says the products with new (perfectly-rated) IDs sell at a $10-$50 profit. The products sold with his old rating, lost $10-$20 per sale.
Go figure, eBay...
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