!!??**! eBay - Grrhhhh !

Believe it or not, I have just had a listing pulled and been banned for 30 days by eBay UK.

I am offering an ex-demo set of speakers and first listed this item on Wednesday evening. The listing included three links to the Seventh Veil web-site (one to the home page, one showing the design and one to the reviews section). This listing was pulled.

I studied the eBay 'links policy' page where it clearly states:

eBay allows sellers to place the following types of links in your item's description:

One link to a page that further describes the item being sold in that listing

I therefore re-designed the advert so that it contained just one link and re-listed it on Friday evening.

I've put the listing on line for those interested. It is text only and shows the single link at the bottom of the page.

The advert was pulled and I was given a 30 day ban.

I'm f**king fuming. :gatling:

Anyway, does anyone know another place to advertise these ex-demo speakers or, if anyone's interested, here's an opportunity to buy the review pair at a bargain price.

 

steve, you could try hififorsale (or audiophilecandy) I always forget which the website goes under, and PFM!

 

Thanks Chris.

Does anyone actually go there? I note that they have an Google page ranking of zero.

 

I've sold tons of stuff from hififorsale.com... I tend now only to use ebay as a last resort as its such a hassle and you have to pay for listing and selling!

 

personally, I find hifi4sale absolute shite for selling.

 

That's cos you charge too much

 

along with everyone else

I generally reckon on about 1/2 retail for good used stuff, perhaps a bit less, maybe 40%.

Ebay is dead easy to shift stuff, and mmmostly you get a good price, mmmostly.

Steve, if you have been banned, how come the spx. are now on?

 

steve,
why not set up another e-bay account? to be honest you've probably been banned automatically because of your viral marketing. any advert pointing to your web site is probably going to get flagged for a once over.

 

Mr Veil,
I'll agree with Julian, it is not surprising they pulled your listing as the link you had put in was a direct link to your company home page and not exactly 'One link to a page that further describes the item being sold in that listing'. If you had just left the link to the reviews page they might have viewed the link as useful rather than a direct advert and acted differently...?!
Though to ban you for 30 days is a little harsh, even if they had warned you before!

I've had eBay listings withdrawn because I used 'keywords', I was selling a Linn Ittok, so had included the words Sondeck, LP-12, LP 12, Basik, Ekos, etcetera but had put them all in a block on their own to keep the description short.
All I had to was to make the listing a bit wordier and put all the similar products and misspellings I'd thoughtfully ( ) had in the keywords into the description!
That seemed to keep them, me and the lucky punter happy!

 

They're not, Ian. If you can pick them up on your browser, could you post the URL?

I'm not sure I'd get away with setting up another account. They told me not to. It would also be a shame as I've got 100% positive feedback which helps selling.

I'm sure you're right that my stuff gets flagged. It shouldn't though. I did nothing wrong then and I've done nothing wrong this time. When I think of all the real scams out there...

Incidentally, strictly speaking my campaigns were guerilla marketing. Viral marketing is something that gets spread or copied. I stopped them in the end because of a few humourless dick-heads that were complaining. The vast majority of people 'got them' and feedback was generally positive. For instance, I was selling a 'crossover' with no components and no cabinet, without taking any money and some morons were complaining that I was ripping people off. One guy told me that it's people like me that give eBay a bad name.

I don't need that aggravation. I'd rather settle for the aggravation that I'm getting off eBay now.

 

lord,
not quite what i meant. if i was selling say my nac82 on e-bay (as if) i'd probably include a link to the manufacturers page. this was all steve was doing. i was just pointing out that e-bay probably has a list of 'abusers' which steve is on due to his previous advertising campaigns.

steve,
sorry gorilla marketing. you could try appealing to e-bay but from what i hear they are a bit crap in this regard. maybe you could ask about and see if you could 'borrow' someone else's e-bay account?
cheers


julian

 

Alas, looks like they have gone, they did come on for a bit, unless I am hallucinating.

Yes I bet they do flag you and police it, suppose its like the cops harrassing the known criminals.

Still I have seen other grossly blantant things saying, the item is not for sale, just we have all these things in our shop.

I do find keyword spamming highly irritating....not MF, kef, linn, all that.

 

Mr. Lord, how pleasant - and rare - to see you in this part of the jungle. You could well be right about the link.

Actually, I complained after the first 'pulling' and asked for guidance so I could re-post on Friday night. I received this reply but not until Saturday ...

Hi Steve,

Thank you for writing with your concern.

Basically you may not add any link to anywhere that enables users to buy
products off eBay. the link http://www.seventh-veil.com. I can see that
this is not "a click to buy" style site but, that is not imediatly
obvious and would be seen as an offence by some people due to the fact
that there is a number to call for direct sale.

You would be best advised to leave this link out of your listing and
simply write all the information you feel buyers will need in your own
words.

I do hope this helps you better understand ebay's links policy.

Please let me know if there is anything further I can do.

Best wishes,
Jane Oliver
eBay Trust and Safety

In other words, they don't know what the f*** they're doing.

Since the ban, I have put the ex-demo speakers up for sale on the web site but at the time of the listing I only sold new speakers on the site. There could be no confusion. Besides, how many people would shell out £3K+ for a relatively little known product, on the basis of an eBay advert, without checking the company's web site?

 

Good idea Julian. Maybe I should advertise for someone on eBay.

 

Julian,
I think we were on the same idea, I don't think eBay has a problem with anyone linking to a manufacturers non commercial site, but if the lister is the manufacturer, and had also previously written very humorous listings for the sole purpose of promoting the same website then I'm not surprised they acted!

Theakstone,
Keyword spamming as you describe is bad and is irritating me when buying vinyl off eBay, a few listers are using the phrase 'I will soon be listing...' followed by a list of hundreds of artistes' names!
My Ittok listing keywords were exactly the opposite! (i.e. IS Linn, LIKE Ekos, ON Sondek.)

S(t)even,
Nice to see you too! :MILD:

 

whhhhat did you call me??? says in his best gollum accent

I really ought to harmonise my 100 or so aliases

Matt, have you seen those valve preamps by Haden Boardmann on feebay? £170 inc. post and remote marantz model 7 circuit, got one to play with on the way.
Made a mistake got a passive for the diyhifisupplies, totally insensitive brute, needs active, so here it comes.
Sorry, thread back to normal.

 

eBay Seven Acquitted!

eBay Seven Acquitted!

Guys, you're going to find this difficult to believe but I've just received two emails from the guys down at eBay...

Dear stevemargolisweb ([email protected]),

We are happy to inform you that your registration has been reinstated.

Regards,
Customer Support
eBay, UK

and...

Dear Steve Margolis ([email protected]),

We have returned your listing(s):

5712648711 Superb - Seventh Veil Loudspeakers - Ex-Demo

to the site, where it now appears as an ended item. All you have to do is click on the relist link located in the listing itself and it will restart. Additionally, if there were any bidders for the item(s) listed above, we have emailed each of them a copy of the following letter:

"You recently had placed a bid on item number(s):

5712648711 Superb - Seventh Veil Loudspeakers - Ex-Demo

which had been removed by eBay. After review of this listing, we have found that it was removed in error... etc., etc.

A spokesman for the Seven has just issued this statement: "It's a great day for British justice and my client asks that he be left alone to relax, spend time with his family and piece together the remnants of his life."

 

Wonderful. Good to hear some of us have a nice day.

 

The saga continues...

Guys, you will recall that following my protestations to eBay about my suspension and listing withdrawal, they wrote to me reinstating my membership and suggesting that I re-listed the, now approved, advert.

This I did, re-listing the item with no changes whatsoever.

You can guess what comes next...

Dear Steve Margolis ([email protected]),

Your listing(s):
5713382222 Superb - Seventh Veil Loudspeakers - Ex-Demo

have been ended early and all fees credited to your account. Your listings were removed for the following reason:

* Account Suspension

You will be sent a separate notification regarding your account suspension.

and...

Dear stevemargolisweb ([email protected]),

We regret to inform you that your eBay registration has been temporarily suspended for a term of 30 days due to the violation of our site policy below:

<insert text here>

While this suspension is active, please be advised that you are prohibited from using our system in any way....

It seems that I'm guilty of "<insert text here>".

Might I humbly suggest to anyone planning to use eBay for anything that they should not, under any circumstances, insert any text into their advert.

unbe-****ing-lievable

 

Whaaaat? again? a case of they don't have a clue what they are doing.

I saw the spx reappear earlier this morn.