Ebay - No! Where Else Can I Sell Online?

"Cats in the Iris"

Once people find out I have been selling online for years they always ask me about Ebay. Upon hearing about the "new Ebay" they are generally turned off from trying to list and sell there. Then I tell them about other online sites - and to my amazement, they are completely oblivious to the fact that there ARE other online sites except Ebay, Amazon and Craigslist. Maybe its time to set the record straight here...and I'll attempt to do just that. I'll be honest and tell you what I know and perhaps you will begin to see the large world of online sites where you can list and sell your items.

Bonanzle.com: - you can set up a free store there. I like the fact they have a little chat box right in your store so that if you are there you can chat with others. Its free and easy to list your items and you pay a small commission for anything that sells. You need to do some socializing and networking to get traffic to your site. This is generally done by visiting other sites and leaving messages for the owners.

Online Auctions.com: - you pay by the month for a store. It was $8.95 the last time I tried it. For the monthly fee you can list and sell whatever you like and as many listings as you like. This was a great site for interacting with the community but I could not make many sales there. I'm sure it was the items I was offering but it seemed to me there simply was no traffic other than other sellers.

Etsy.com: - this is THE place for handmade items, vintage items and art and craft supplies. For 25 cents you can list an item for 4 months - your store is free and you pay a small commission on your sales. This is another site that depends on how well you can interact with the community and network.

Overstock.com: - this was the site I felt could have put a dent into Ebay in a big way. There are two parts to this site - one is retail and the other is auctions....yes!, auctions - they seem to want to keep that part a big secret. I have done pretty well with auctions on this site in the past. I sure wish they would advertise auctions and let people know they are there. They're missing out on a LOT of revenue. Prices for listing are a bit lower than Ebay and, of course, you can accept cash, checks and moneyorders or any variety of money movers such as Paypal.

eCrater.com: - far as I can see its free to list and free to sell! They give you a store and you can list as many items as you like. I have yet to make a sale on the site. Perhaps I'm just offering the wrong items.

eBid.net: - I hit a sale and paid them $49.95 to be able to list there free for life. I can have up to 5 different stores going. I have two right now - one for art and one for other things....neither has made a sale. They don't seem to have as much traffic as is needed to make good sales.

Boocoo.com: - chances are you haven't heard of them. They are brand new, still in beta I think and listing is free right now. This site is owned by a variety of newspapers across the country. Its easy to list there and they give you a free store. I believe there is a small fee if you sell an item.

These are just some of the online sales sites presently out there. There are many others (Atomic Mall, ePier, SpecialistAuctions, PlunderHere, Blujay, Ioffer to name a few) that I did not include here. Those above are sites I've actually listed on and still list on many of them. So, when you feel you're trapped by Ebay's high fees and draconian policies why not give one or more of these a try? On most of them you can't lose anything but your time.

A little watercolor painting today. 5 X 7" Cats in the Iris

Rakuten, Inc. - What is Next for Ebay?

"Spring Walk"

I posted this on a UK blog this morning and felt it was good enough to post here on its own. As sellers are hearing the news about the giant Japanese company Rakuten, Inc. buying up Buy.com - they can't help but wonder what this will do to Ebay and its three year destruction path called "disruptive innovation." I'm hoping something great will come of it. What is needed here is stiff competition and I'm hoping Rakuten will become just that. I'm sick to death of hearing the excuses about auctions not being popular or that the economy is to blame. Underneath it all perhaps bad management and the wrong business model are to blame?

My post: I think you’ll find that here in the States we are pretty much for the underdog…the downtrodden. The idea that Ebay was a place where the elderly, the disabled and the stay at home moms could earn some money was worth supporting, and make no mistake auctions are pretty much alive here. Ebay, in the last few years, has managed to kill the excitement of auctions and destroyed the feeling of community that was so alive on the site. They’ve pitted buyers against sellers and driven off some good decent small sellers at the whim of buyers having a bad hair day! Ebay’s reputation is mud here right now.

I feel Ebay would profit from splitting their site – much as Overstock has done. Retail on one side – auctions and fixed price listings on the other. Instead, they try to combine them as Amazon does and its not working. They simply have no skin in that game – they sell nothing but a service and right now they are doing that very badly!

I think Ebay may finally be realizing they can’t make it on retail alone. The competition is stiff, wiley and well-honed. Up against the likes of Amazon they look like what they are – shabby and disorganized. It will be interesting to see what Rakuten will add to this mix. If Ebay does not get back to their roots and their niche as a place where one can find the unique, the rare, the vintage, etc. I believe they will drag on like this for years or until the present management is finally ousted. That’s my take on it after selling on and observing this business for past 12 years.

My painting for today is a watercolor - "Spring Walk"

Getting Tired of Hearing This Particular Ebay Story

How many articles have you read where Ebay is pitted against Amazon and the reason Ebay is falling behind is that they kept their auction model too long when customers wanted a fixed price setting. Bull!! Ebay had Ebay Express and they have fixed price and also buy it now. None of those things excelled like auctions. Ebay began dumbing down its own site as far back as 2004 when it did away with the very popular Going, Going, Gone. Since then it has manipulated search, cluttered its site with ads that actually drive traffic OFF to other sites and strangled its sellers with rules, rules, rules and fees galore! The selling environment for many has become too stressful to bother with and the buying environment for buyers is not much better! Buyers can't seem to find what they want on the flawed Best Match search and often just give up! About the only thing that "progresses" are the fees and rules.

Well, I really would like to hear from people who actually SELL on Ebay and know the ins and outs of ebay... Fact Ebay is killing itself by its own greed. There have been heavy fee raises thru the years (two this year alone - they are NOT decreases as ebay states) that sellers can't offer much in the way of bargains and still make any kind of a profit. Ebay is strangling sellers with fees, with a terribly flawed search called Best Match and in tying their standing in the listings to an also flawed DSR rating system. Most sellers have thrown up their hands and they are leaving. So...what you will eventually have left is just another retailer site with fixed prices - not unlike Amazon but not nearly as well run - also not unlike Walmart, Sears, Target, Best Buy ad naseum...all of whom are online and becoming very active with shoppers who don't want to go to the mall.

The problem with Ebay is it lost its way and it lost its heart, which is the uniqueness and the rarity of items that made it what it is today. They've driven out small sellers in favor of diamond sellers who get free or reduced fees and have dismal sell-thru rates. Buyers are actually complaining that they can no longer find the small sellers they bought from in the past. Ebay needed tweaking - it needed some of the excitement back. Dropping Going, Going, Gone was a foolish move. Cluttering the site with ads that take customers off site is a trade off - they don't care if sellers lose out as long as Ebay gets the revenue THEY need from sellers fees and ads! There seems to be NO solid plan for the future for this company! If there is they sure are keeping it under their hats.

Best Match search was an even worse move since it hides sellers wares who are actually PAYING FEES for the exposure! All the crazy new policies brought down on sellers just this past year also keep driving off good, honest sellers...not the bad sellers - bad sellers will stay until they're physically ousted! Ebay didn't need this "disruptive innovation" that is killing and dumbing it down until nobody cares about it anymore. That's the truth - fewer and fewer buyers and sellers care about it these days. They've become "that crazy company". So...please all you writers who seem to be using the same copy, consult some long time small sellers before you write an article so the story can be told as it really is!

Sorry for the vent but I think I read one too many of those articles.

Ebay Small Sellers - Let's BONANZLE!!!

ACEO Halloween Cat

I know the feeling...you've been on Ebay for years and up till this year you've been doing okay. You're paying your fees and trying to keep up with the latest policy changes and requirements. Even with all that effort your sales are in the toilet and you watch your items roll off with few views and no bids because you find your items smothered under tons of other items from other sellers...what to do? Its time to get proactive (that means get a move on!). One day while reading Auctionbytes.com (which seems to be my morning paper) I saw an item about a place called Bonanzle. Funny name - gotta check it out. I was floored! Its bright and colorful, its clean and uncluttered - a shop there is free - listing is free!.....AND they will import your Ebay feedback and your Ebay items! I suggest everyone get there and set up shop - then go thru your list of past buyers and invite them over! Give them an incentive like free shipping or a free gift - you can do it because you're not weighed down with fees! Bonanzle is growing by leaps and bounds. I am amazed to check the stats there each morning and see that they are, indeed, gaining more sellers. I also love Bonanza Days there. That is a day you schedule with Bonanzle and on that day you offer sales galore and Bonanzle will direct traffic to your shop for a few hours. Its a plus you aren't going to get somewhere else...so give Bonanzle a look and I think you'll like what you see!

My painting for today: The witching hour is on its way...Halloween Cat

Ebay - Who knows What Tomorrow Will Bring?

"I Dream of Flying"

Yes, tomorrow starts the 30 day 35 cents fixed price listings that were obviously designed to get items out of Ebay stores and into core. I can't help but wonder why they're doing this? Are they desperate? maybe so.... It seems Meg Whitman put stores in search a couple of years ago and then quickly took them out again, complaining that the site was becoming cluttered with junk! So, what's new this time? What's new? Just about everything. Far as I can see, sellers (who are also buyers) are leaving in great numbers. Their listings are being replaced by the likes of buy.com. Its rumored buy.com gets free insertion - but with only a 3 percent sell-thru rate, who is Ebay kidding? Is THIS really where they want to go?

It is now rumored that 1500 Ebay employees will be laid off shortly. This can mean one of two things. Either they are hurting and have to lay off part of their workforce, OR this was a planned lay off because they could see the droves of small sellers leaving the site. This may yet all be planned in Mr. Donahoe's plan to turn the site retail like Amazon. If I were him with those plans in mind, I'd try to keep most of the sellers for as long as possible...let them pay the fees while Ebay tempts big box retailers with free listings. That would be how I would plan it...and perhaps that's the way Donahoe is planning it too. Whatever, we will know which path Ebay is taking by the end of this year. I suggest that it can't hurt to start listing on other sites - especially those free to list.....AND DON'T FORGET TO TELL YOUR BUYERS WHERE YOU CAN BE FOUND.

As for me? After 10 years, I have just a few (3 right now) small listings on Ebay. I've switched over to Bonanzle and love it there and I'm hoping everyone will come and take a peek and perhaps set up a shop there. Free shop and free listing. Its all good.

http://www.bonanzle.com/booths/misspatricia

Today's painting. Baby Pegasus "I Dream of Flying"

How About Overstock.com?

Birches in Autumn (ACEO

Years ago I had high hopes for Overstock as a viable auction venue in direct competition with Ebay. Their first TV ads mentioned "taking on the big boys" and I rubbed my hands together thinking "this is it...finally". I was vastly disappointed because although Overstock kept advertising its retail site it kept failing to mention it had auctions at all - and most people didn't even know auctions existed there. A succession of managers were brought in who were going to get the auction portion of the business off the ground...all to no avail. I've heard rumors on what held back auctions...I will not mention any of that here. Today, I heard a radiocast with an interview of Doug Minnick from Overstock.com who gave a glowing report on where the site wants to go. They WANT SELLERS and they want them now! They'd be foolish NOT to want sellers since Ebay has been disillusioning sellers both large and small and causing them to wander the internet in search of a good place to sell. Overstock, with its huge retail business already has an good influx of traffic - they just need to make the fact that they have auctions known! Well, I'm always willing to go back and give something another try...how about you? I'll be listing on Overstock.com today and have my fingers crossed. I'm hoping this time they mean it!

Ebay! Can This Be True???

I picked this up on one of Ebay's boards the other day. I offer it simply for your interest and for you to read it and notice whether or not this is the path Ebay eventually takes. I neither agree or disagree with this post. What's your opinion of it?

I've edited out names, URL's etc.:


FROM A FORMER EMPLOYEE OF EBAY:

I posted this at the feedback forum at eBay but it was killed by staff less than a minute later. I should have known. My ID will be toast soon anyway. This was the only other place I thought where my statement might have an impact. Do with it what you will. After Chicago, my only desire is to be heard.

There will be those who will not believe me and I sympathize. I wish the facts were fiction but to deny what I know would be to live in a fairyland of make-believe. I understand that the bulk of this “manifesto” reveals a plot so against the spirit of eBay that it will be dismissed as lie. So be it. I cannot force the world to accept it. All I can do is state the truth as I know it and leave it to you and to your common sense and experience to judge.

The deck is stacked against me. Aside from the natural resistance to believe I know that the boards are stocked with eBay’s tools. Their goal will be to discredit me. I will be accused of being a “disgruntled”, “paranoid”, and “emotional” seller. Their words will be specially chosen for effect. That is part of the function of the tools and I am not fazed by it. However, to protect my own identity within the corporation, I cannot be too specific lest the details single me out to the powers that be.

What I intend to reveal is common knowledge to many in the management division behind the scenes.

By the way, the tools are not only the mouthpieces that promote the policies. The psychological tactics employed by the powers that be are far deeper and grander than that. The subtlety of the method is remarkable. The tools come in a wide range of flavors with their own, individual “characteristic” rhetoric. From those who are “for” the policy - and spread various degrees of hostility toward the sellers - to those who are “against” the change - and spread panic and further the divide with the buyers. Both serve the same exact purpose: a manipulation designed to remove the more involved and savvy small to large sellers who will not fit into eBay’s future business plan.

First, let me correct the record regarding the concept of sellers extorting positive feedback. While the violation was known to happen, the activity amounted to less than a tenth of a percent of the yearly transactions. Further, it involved sellers whose feedback percentages were below 80%. The absolute majority of sellers did not engage in such practices. Nevertheless, the powers that be could not resist the fact that promoting this notion of feedback extortion as a wide-spread phenomenon would be the perfect cover with which to hide the true intentions of the policy.

The powers that be want to transform eBay into an overstock warehouse venue. A kind of outlet store for the internet much like a cheaper and streamlined version of Amazon. From a strictly business point of view, given the size of eBay and the growing costs of doing business, it makes a certain kind of sense to shift gears. Think about it: when eBay started, sellers were about rare and unique items but here and now the majority of items are common, used counterparts of what can be found new online at retail sites. Truly rare and unique items are sold at real auctions; the “stuff in your attic” isn’t glamorous enough and won’t keep eBay afloat any longer.

The trend away from the rare and unique to the big box retailer is not new. Several years ago the powers that be noticed that the big “powersellers” were simply listing items that existed in their retail stores or inventories. Thus the concept of “buy it now”, “best offer”, and “eBay stores” were created. It was the nascent stage of the plan yet to be. Little by little, without the population noticing, the mechanisms required to replicate the average retail storefront were already in place - and with its rise came the slow, steady downfall of the auction format.

Yet outright pursuit of a retail venue would have led to a major problem that at the time could not have been surmounted. The vast majority of people, on and off line, know eBay as precisely the place for auctions of rare and unique items. The sellers and buyers held onto that perception too but in truth their opinion even involvement in new and improved version of eBay is irrelevant by a certain Machiavellian calculation made by the powers that be. As part of the plan, eBay calculated thus: even if they lost the sellers as part of the change, the buyers will be coming back to buy regardless of who or what operated within the retail-outlet venue.

No, it was the stock holders who the powers that be feared.

Only the stockholders had the power to change the direction set forth by the CEO and the board. So it became imperative to change the equation. Part of the plan is to devalue the stock gradually so that investors merely dumped the stock as opposed to wanting managerial change ala Yahoo. Then to buy back the stock at lower cost and to such a volume that no rebellion against the powers that be were possible.

By the end of July that phase of the plan will be successful and there est of the plan will be revealed without fear of backlash from those who otherwise would have had the power to pull eBay back from the brink.
Indeed, if you believe the current changes are obvious signals that small sellers are not wanted - be prepared - you have seen nothing yet.

So far what have they done? All they have managed to do is silence a seller’s ability to warn others about buyers (half of the purpose behind the original idea of feedback), burden you with higher and higher fees, dangle “treats” like discounts while setting the bar of eligibility so high that the rewards cannot be reached. and, by the way PayPal deals with “complaints” leave you vulnerable to fraud. What if worse was yet to come?

They know if you do not feel safe that you will not use eBay. The changes that have been enacted only eliminates the small sellers. Meanwhile they want to eradicate the mid-sized seller too. And they want to ensure that both do not return.

For the mid-sized seller the DSR became the tool of choice. The powers that be raised the level of what is a good seller artificially high. No manipulation is required; they know exactly the effect of the policy. This is why buyers are told that 4 is a good score and sellers are told that 4.9 yields discounts and higher listing placements. As long as that fractured point of view exists, eBay does not need to interfere with the DSR as has been suggested, the buyers will be killing the sellers naturally.

By August there will be no pretense and the intentions of the new and improved eBay will be clear. The following is only a partial list of the rules that will be imposed. It comes from a memo that circulated within my corner of the managerial department the week before Chicago. I cannot be too specific about certain items and I cannot reveal details of the latest additions without endangering my anonymity.

1. Neutrals will be converted to negatives complete with red icons and reduced feedback scores. Afterward neutrals will not be offered as a choice of feedback.

2. The entire process of feedback will be automated. Buyers and sellers will chose standard feedback from a list. For sellers this operation will be performed automatically upon the buyer winning. For buyers there will be an extra free line with which to add a few comments about the seller without restriction to content. Replies will not be allowed.

3. The implementation of a stricter rules regarding shipping. From the boxes, packing, labels and tapes to where you can buy postage. Orders have been placed for prototypes of “eBay” boxes. UPS and FedEx will be instructed not to accept “eBay” merchandise if it’s not inside “eBay” boxing. They will know, of course, because when sellers buy the “eBay” postage from the “eBay” source, a detailed list of contents with item numbers will be available to the shippers upon scanning a bar code. As for those who continue to use USPS, another level of quality control will be implemented - buyers will be asked, upon confirmation of delivery, if the seller used “eBay” standard shipping items. Naturally, no verification of the buyer’s truthfulness will be attempted, and continued ‘infractions’ will result in suspension. eBay will have other ways to check if a seller is not using the “eBay” equipment - as they will be required to buy at cost the supplies immediately after items are listed. (This is such a large scale operation behind the scenes that I feel comfortable sharing as much of it as I know.)

4. Sales taxes will be included automatically; shipping cost and sales taxes will be used to determined FVF.

5. Item descriptions will be “standardized” with templates which include the posting of a new, universal return policy. Only yearly subscribers to the retail-outlet venue can opt out of these universal return policies but even they cannot alter the template structures being devised.

6. Strikes against buyers will be eliminated as the whole concept of a buyer and bidding will be altered. FVF will be calculated when payment is submitted.

7. Time to Close will be eliminated entirely. Best Match will be the non-alterable default. Best Match is a system that caters to the needs of shoppers not bidders.

8. Placement within Best Match will be determined by several factors, the most important of which will be the extra display features added onto the listing.

9. DSRs can be removed by retailers and powersellers who pay a certain yearly fee.

10. The end play itself which consists of four phases:
a) the main focus shifts to retail sellers whose fees are on a per listing basis
b) stores will be replaced by a classified section, fees will be based on yearly subscriptions and FVFs
c) occasional auctions will be conducted for unique items (celebrity auctions, items that have been featured on the news, etc.)
d) total elimination of auctions for regular sellers.

From the point of view of eBay’s agenda to change gears these alteration make sense. The powers that be want to turn eBay into a retail venue format. Therefore the “buyer” must be changed - bidding and commitments to buy are part of the past. In a retail venue, the item is either in your cart or not and you only commit to buy when you pay at checkout. The seller is also redefined in the way they will be required to do business. They will be forced to copy the methods of retail stores.

The goal is to become Amazon Lite. Unlike Amazon the merchandise will be stocked by the retailers in their warehouses, eBay will be just an electronic centralized venue for outlet sale - a “trusted” name with a wide customer base and popular name recognition.

That is the future and as I write this I know that it cannot be stopped. There are no investors with enough clout and will to challenge the CEO. Stock holders will simply walk away. eBay will not sink, however, it will be exactly in the position its rulers intend it to be at.

Sellers, my advice is simple. You are not wanted. Leave. If you stay, you will be crushed. Leave. Go away. You cannot win.

I am sorry because for too long I have been a complicit tool behind the scenes. I was part of those teams and think tanks that spearheaded many of the “innovations” you know very well and which will be used to destroy you. I know I will not be believed. I will be mocked and ridiculed by the tools and even those who are real, actual people will be hesitant to accept what I have to say. What has been done to this community, the plots and schemes hatched in meetings and across memos, is far, far worse to endure within my soul than any treatment I will receive at the hands of the tools by posting this. You do not know how much they hate you. It is my conscience that I want to clear going forward. Again I apologize. There should have been a better way for the powers that be to effect the change they wanted for eBay - instead they succumbed to cloak and dagger deception.

RIP eBay

Ebay Aside - Sellers - Look to the Future

Sellers made Ebay what they are today. For years it was a mutual business with much give and take (Ebay mostly taking while sellers gave). Still, thru all of that there was some respect for sellers - we weren't all just "noise". We're coming to a rude awakening now. Ebay is telling me in so many ways they aren't going to need me anymore. So I need to move on and build for my own future.

I go to Ebay less and less these days and mostly just to keep up with friendships formed with other sellers on their boards and in their groups though I still keep a few small listings up in order to drive some traffic to my website. Most of the ebay groups now seem to have a thread that focuses on other ways to market our items and other sites to sell them on. Its a perfect opportunity for sellers and they need to make the most out of it while they can - while the opportunity still exists. Auctionbytes.com too, has come out with a column on various "storefronts". I thank Ina Steiner. She seems to understand the plight of small sellers and wants to help.

Nothing stays the same and though last year was a banner year for me on Ebay - one in which I was able to pay some bills and put new windows in my home all on ebay earned money. Now, since January, the writing is on the wall loud and clear and so, in order to keep my business, my sanity and my self respect I am pulling away from Ebay. I hope to cut them off completely before its necessary for them to do it to me. ;-)

to all small sellers - you really must consider moving on. Sitting and waiting for things to change is simply spinning your wheels and making life more stressful than it needs to be. I wish you all great great good luck...go out and build more ebays - but not just one, build a bunch of them so that this kind of monopoly can never happen again!

Patricia013
www.ACEOart.net

Why Auctions Are Dying on Ebay

Auctions are NOT dying - Auctions on EBAY ARE dying because EBAY has slowly been killing them. Thru its own greed over the years it has milked sellers and ignored fraud and scamming and now thru its rigid, one-sided policies, it is driving small sellers away. Small sellers are what made Ebay and its auctions so exciting. Now, with fees sky high and small sellers' profits down to almost nothing there isn't much in the way of bargains that can be offered buyers. Instead of offering small sellers the same benefits offered to their powersellers, they have imposed even more rigid rules on them. For example, a buyer has to wait 7 days before he can give a powerseller a negative - small sellers can receive negatives immediately with no chance of trying to right whatever went wrong with the transaction. One negative can put a small seller so far back in the listings that he'll never be seen. I am a 10 year ebay seller with a perfect feedback record. I stopped listing on that site in an effort to keep my untarnished reputation in the hope that logic and sense might return to that site. Maybe some miracle that will sweep out a management who practices "disruptive innovation".

Back in 2004 Ebay actually started killing off the auction excitement when it ended the feature "Going, Going, Gone"...when did you ever hear of an auction that didn't use that wording. It was a listing of everything due to end so that bidders could jump in and grasp that item at the last minute. From then on it was all downhill on Ebay's site. The site became confusing, convoluted, full of ads and glitches due to constant changes. Those constant "improvements" turned into higher and higher fees for sellers while it turned off buyers and traffic fell off. Now, they are coddling mega sellers and powersellers and shoving small sellers to the back page in listings that are so manipulated that the buyers sees, basically, only what Ebay wants them to see....yet all sellers pay the SAME FEES. Buyers don't want to bid on items they can buy at Walmart! They want the unique rare, flea market finds that the small sellers offer. Ebay is responsible for shoving small sellers away and killing the excitement of an auction format...more than any other factor. Most sellers are leaving and starting elsewhere - trying to build new sites the same way they built Ebay. I only hope its not too late.

Ebay is turning into a retail site - much like a cheesy Amazon clone. I say cheesy because Ebay will try to do it without any real customer service - customer service costs them money that they never wanted to spend - they will be using bots instead of hands on manpower. It won't work and in the end I see them becoming a boring and untrustworthy online retailer in a lineup of very competitive and solid online retailers, in fact most of the major retailers are already online! So...as far as auctions are conserned - well run auctions on sites where sellers can still give buyers a bargain will be around for awhile - but don't think Ebay will...

www.ACEOart.net

Extortion on Ebay?

Can it be true? I sure hope not...but then Ebay left sellers kind of wide open for this kind of scam. You can stop by Auctionbytes.com and read all about it. A seller posted on ebay's Seller's Central that he received an email from the winner of one of his auctions. The email said he and five of his friends won auctions from this seller and they would each give the seller a negative if the seller didn't cough up 20.00 per auction for five auctions. Unreal! I don't think ebay saw something like this coming. Whether its true or not - it IS spreading because I hear there were similar letters posted on the Powerseller's Board but I can't check on that. I have checked the one on Seller Central and there were already almost 400 posts from worried sellers!

Ebay - what next? I expect perhaps the FBI might step into this one if there is any validity to it.

www.ACEOart.net