The latest random stupidity:

[InvisibleTouch]

Did you know you're not allowed to use the words "swine flu" in an eBay listing, even if it's relevant to the item you're selling? I found this out last night when I had a listing cancelled. According to the message I got:

"Any items advertised as preventing or protecting against the swine or bird flu (H1N1, avian flu, etc) are prohibited on eBay. This includes using key words such as swine flu to draw attention to your listing."

Now, the thing I was selling was a water storage container for travel or emergency rations - not a preventative or protective measure against a virus! In the description I did note that these things are great for natural disasters such as storms, earthquakes, or disease outbreaks such as swine flu (assuming it ever reaches a level where people stay home and store supplies run low). That's where the "key words" came in that caught the censors' attention, I guess. Beyond stupid. It's not as though I were selling an antique record player, for instance, and gratuitously inserted the words "swine flu" into the text to play to the search engine.

I re-listed the damn things and replaced "swine flu" with "illness of current global concern" or something similar.

There seriously has got to be a balance between the utter wild-west chaos of CraigsList, and the restrictive draconian regulations of eBay. Not sure we will ever see such a balance, though. :(

[Vinca]

1. I wonder why they cooked up that rule. Selling on ebay isn't fun anymore.

[InvisibleTouch]

2. It just seems like they're wanting to prevent sales, with that one.

While I can understand disallowing a true keyword spam (completely unrelated to the item sold), I don't see why one can't use appropriate key words to draw more traffic to a listing. I think eBay is paranoid about people selling unproven cures for swine flu, etc., maybe for liability reasons. Still doesn't help me out as a seller, though.

And quite a lot of things can't be sold anymore for liability reasons that really put a crimp in the collector's market. Recalled toys are the first to be sought by collectors, after all, and if one clearly marks them as collectibles for adult collectors and is upfront about any safety/recall issues, I just don't see the problem. Too much restriction.

[Vinca]

3. Meanwhile, speaking of scams, the "Hand of God" has surpassed $15,000.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Hand-of-God-Rock-Wall_W0QQitemZ150341780892QQihZ005QQcategoryZ13771QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

[yy4me]

4. Have you bid yet,? Not long to go. Speaking of e-bay, I just

got an item I bought today via the post office. I tried to leave feedback and could not find it. For all the world, it looked like I never bought the item. I did get the confirmation from e-bay when I purchased and one from PayPal. No place to leave feedback that I could find.

They are screwing up a good thing.

Meantime, back to HoG, Whoever buys this slab of rock has to pay a ton of money plus all the fees and shipping and reassembly. I'd really like to know where the title "Hand of God" comes from. Did he sign it?

[InvisibleTouch]

6. Possibly your seller is no longer registered.

If you buy or sell something to a person who has their account cancelled, you can't leave feedback for them anymore.

I've had a bunch of half.com buyers create a new account just to buy one book from me, and then when I go to leave them feedback, they're "not a registered user." I still got paid for the book, and I still sent it, but there was no feedback exchanged. Still not sure what's up with that, but it's been fairly common in the last few months.

[InvisibleTouch]

5. Oh, but THAT the eBay censors don't have a problem with!

Wild. I notice the current high bidder is a 0-feedback newbie. I'd be very surprised if they send payment, if they win.

Maybe I should look around my yard for "thumbprints of god" or some-such!