Pretty Good Week

Howdy Folks,
Well, the Big Bonanzle Block Party sale in Whiskey Jack's Bonanzle booth was a pretty good time. I had the pleasure of visiting with a lot of people, and I had a fun time. The day started out with yard sales! A nearby town had it's annual community wide yard sale event, and I managed to find some pretty good treasures, including a vintage 1940's era bakelite bankers lamp, some antique Noritake china (circa 1918 according to the backstamp), and other great items.

Perhaps my favorites were a set of 4 large ex-library books from Doane College. These books were from their college library and they each contain several issues of LIFE magazine as well as page upon page of newspaper articles. The books are from 1947 and 1948. The end of World War Two and the very beginning of the Cold War. The articles are amazing, covering everything from returning war vets to the "red scare". Although I did purchase them to resell, it just might be awhile before they are listed online. I am having far too much fun reading them! Each book contains hundreds of pages and thousands of articles, so it might take me a day or two.

It seems eBay has another new policy (at least new to me). Apparently they can (and do) restrict the amount of time an item can be relisted. Let me explain how I found this out. I listed four vintage Gillette safety razors. They did not sell. I relisted them. Again, they did not sell. When I relisted them a second time, I was allowed to relist three of them, but not the fourth. The razor that I was not able to relist was one of two 1959 Gillette safety razors. One was listed and one was not allowed be relisted.

According to the "error" message I received from eBay when I tried to relist the razor, eBay can restrict certain items from being relisted, when any of several situations occur (such as low DSR's, complaints, nonpayment of fees, etc.), none of which applied to me. My account is current and in good standing and I am a top rated seller and a power seller. Even more interesting is the fact that, according to the "error" message, there is no list of restrictable items. It is done on a capricious and arbitrary basis by eBay.

I have to wonder if this is another of eBay's methods of pushing out the small seller in favor of larger sellers that bring in more revenue for eBay through their fees. Although I have no proof of this, it does seem in line with eBay's apparent move to shed itself of smaller sellers that don't generate as much revenue for them.

I have asked them for an explanation for their decision, but as yet I have heard nothing back from them. They promise an answer within 24-48 hours, but that time limit has passed with no response from them, so I am not holding my breath. If, however, by some strange quirk of fate I do hear from them, I will post their answer here.

Has anyone else experienced this type of capricious and arbitrary action from eBay? If so, I would love to hear about.

Until next, take care, and as always, your comments, thoughts and suggestions are always welcome!