Do not get your rights on the ebay discussion boards mixed up with first amendment rights!

The first amendment doesn’t cover what a private enterprise does and doesn’t allow on their own web site.

You can share a lot of info on the ebay discussion boards except things like other places to sell on, this is called and pulled for: Advertising and Solicitation

Also the link to Power Sellers Unite is considered Advertising and Solicitation.

It would be nice if everyone could share and talk about other places to sell, but you aren’t going to be able to do it on the eBay discussion boards since they are not governed by the First Amendment.

Just an FYI, I got slapped around a couple of times over there myself.

This information is for all the people who have just found out about the changes on Ebay or do not know about the changes on Ebay. After all the changes have taken effect this will be your world of selling on Ebay:
A 4% to 67% increase on final fee’s. (varies depending on price structure, check charts.)http://www.powersellersunite.com/ebayfeechart.phphttp://www.hammertapresource.com/forum/index.php?topic=73.0.
All the years you have worked on keeping and growing a Positive Feedback percentage : GONE. It is now a 12 month rating period. (Although your entire feedback history will still be able to be seen when accessed.)

Unbalanced feedback: (Seller’s can only leave a positive. Buyers can give a positive, a neutral [neutrals will count towards your 5% dissatisfaction rate] and a negative)The potential of abused negative feedback by a competitor, unknowledgeable buyer or a retaliatory buyer will have an effect on your account in these ways:(Good Buyers do not be offended I am not referring to you. These other buyers do exist and must be acknowledged)

The Small seller who sells fewer items per year will be impacted on their percentage rating far greater compared to the much larger sellers who sell 1000’s of items per month.If your percentage drops below 5% due to neutral or negative feedback or a DSR (Detailed Seller Rating) of 4.5 this is what will be required of you:

What Pay Pal will require from you:
PayPal will require sellers to accept either PayPal or a merchant credit card and will have a 21 day hold on you account if you meet this criterion:
(21 day hold means shipping your product without the money from that purchase or risking receiving a negative due to poor shipping time.)

Seller’s Dissatisfied Buyers more than 5% in the last 30 days
Seller’s Detailed Seller Ratings in the last 30 days less than 4.5
Final price for the item (high ticket items, not based on feedback rating)
Shipping & handling fee (to much charged, not based on feedback rating)
Seller’s tenure as an Ebay member less than 6-months (not based on feedback rating)
Seller’s total number of Feedback less than 100 (not based on feedback rating)
Seller is listing items in higher risk categories (and sub categories) (not based on feedback rating)
(Pay Pal has reserved the right to make an exception per individual basis. For more info please use links provided)

What Ebay will require from you if you meet this criterion on your feedback rating:
Sellers will get a decreased exposure in Best Match. (Buyers will have a harder time finding your auctions because other sellers will be placed above yours first)
Your Auction page will have a note embedded by Ebay which will contain a red warning message in the Meet the Seller section indicating the Seller has a low Detailed Seller Rating (DSR rating.) This will happened when your DSR is a 4.1 or lower (4.1 is considered below the average and therefore not a good rating).http://www.ebaychatter.com/the_chatter/2008/02/a-test-of-a-new.html
Sellers will not be allowed to qualify to be a Power Seller and/or will lose their Power Seller status. (Below a 4.5 DSR [12 month average] or 98% feedback rating [30 day average])
Power sellers will lose all discounts if they do not maintain a rating of 4.5 or higher in all four DSRs within a 30 day period.
Power sellers are judged differently in many areas. For more info go to:http://pages.ebay.com/services/buyandsell/powerseller/criteria.html

Further information can be found at Ebay site:
http://pages.ebay.com/sell/update08/rewardsfaq/

Are you ready for these changes?

By the way, I ship for free and/or exact shipping amount charged by the post office which is printed on the label for the buyer to see. I do not charge for supplies or handling. I have not achieved a 5 on my DSR. I believe buyers are uninformed when it comes to the DSR system and do not understand anything below a 5 is detrimental to the seller on Ebay.

The time to make them listen is now.