MC018 eBay Listing Removed: Search and Browse Manipulation

That was the subject line of an email I received last night from eBay.

the email advised me that eBay had taken it upon itself to terminate one on my auctions because I used the two-word phrase “Like New” in my headline.

It went on to say…

“Sellers are not permitted to include any information that does not describe or is not directly relevant to the item being sold within a listing. Any information included within a listing that may misrepresent the terms of sale is also not permitted.“

Apparently I was foolish enough to think that the term “Like New” actually described, and was therefore relevant to, a set of books I was selling that appeared as though they had just come off the shelf at Barnes & Nobles.

eBay’s thinking in not allowing me to use the term “Like New” in my headline is that I am misleading buyers who are searching for a “New” set of these books. Their logic is that some poor sap will be drawn into my web of deceit and, realizing that I’m out to mislead and/or defraud them, never again return to eBay to make a purchase.

Realizing that trying to logically discuss something with an entity that more and more is demonstrating it has a collective IQ of somewhere in the 30 to 40 range, I simply removed the offensive two-word phrase from my headline and re-listed the item.

However, on the off chance that anyone from eBay might ever read this post I do have a few questions that I’d be interested in hearing eBay’s response to.

1. If eBay doesn’t believe the phrase “Like New” should be use to accurately describe, or is relevant to, a book or set of books, why is that the phrase “Like New” is now one of the terms eBay now insists sellers use to describe a books condition in their Item Specifics?

2. Is there an intelligent human being possessing a smattering of common sense that actually reviews offending listings, or are they just automatically terminated by minimum-wage drones?

3. If I chose to, I could list a Ford Mustang, a piece of Mustang survival gear, an aftermarket Mustang seat for a Harley Davidson, a piece of Mustang heavy construction equipment, a Mustang dynometer, or a Cessna Mustang aircraft on eBay. Maybe even a horse. Using eBay’s line of reasoning, which one of those is it okay to use the word “Mustang” in my headline for and which one’s would just send hoards of disillusioned buyers away from eBay forever? Don’t you think you should give buyers credit for having just a little bit of intelligence and common sense?

4. Can I get you to change my seller ID from “paperpleasures46″ to “thekeywordterrorist”?

Photograph by David Neubert.