ODAY, for the first time in about 8 years, I wanted to place a bid in eBay UK. I had already bought about 17 items there. To my surprise, my account there no longer exists. I spent a lot of time trying to figure out what’s going on and then struggled to find my way to a real human rep.

Finally, once I found a chat app of eBay, I was passed around between 3 different reps, none of whom could solve a simple problem caused by eBay. I know for a fact that I had a user account and I know its full credentials (I even have old cache pages to prove it). All I could get from eBay is an “account does not exist” response. Oh, really? I know that. This is why I contacted eBay’s reps. Rather than rectify their error they suggested that I create a new account, which defeats the purpose of me contacting them in the first place.

Mark Clarke
Welcome to eBay Live Help, my name is Mark Clarke. Please give me a
moment while I check your account details.
Mark Clarke
I have verified your account. How may I assist you?
Mark Clarke
May i have user id of your account?
roy@schestowitz.com
royss2000 is my account
roy@schestowitz.com
I have not logged in since around 2004
roy@schestowitz.com
And ebay US and UK both say it does not exist
roy@schestowitz.com
which is strange
roy@schestowitz.com
I have 100% positive feedback on it
roy@schestowitz.com
so I don’t want to start from scratch
Mark Clarke
What I can do is connect you with our concern department. Keep in mind
there may be a wait time once you get connected with this department. If
this chat disconnects please feel free to come back into eBay Live Chat
by clicking on our link on the eBay homepage.
May I go ahead and connect you now?
Mark Clarke
I’m just checking to see if you’re still with me.
roy@schestowitz.com
yes
Mark Clarke
Has transferred you to:Diana B.
roy@schestowitz.com
please connect me with whoever is suitable to restore this account, it
took me time to earn account reputation, I wish to keep that account; I
guess ebay purged accounts not logged into for a long time
roy@schestowitz.com
hi DIana
Diana B.
Thank you for contacting eBay live help my name is Diana. Please give me
a moment to review what you’ve discussed with the previous representative.
roy@schestowitz.com
My name is Dr. Roy Schestowitz
roy@schestowitz.com
I am rather upset that my account is treated as though it never existed
Isabelle Valentez
Welcome to Live Help, my name is Isabelle. How may I be of assistance?
roy@schestowitz.com
Hi
roy@schestowitz.com
“Chat Session Ended, Goodbye. (5009)”
roy@schestowitz.com
Not sure what happened there
roy@schestowitz.com
I suppose Diana didn’t hang up
Isabelle Valentez
Can you please tell me the matter so tha tI can help you?
Isabelle Valentez
the chat might be disconnected due to technical issues.
roy@schestowitz.com
ok, hang on
Isabelle Valentez
this User Id does not exist.
Isabelle Valentez
I ahev just checked.
Isabelle Valentez
*have
roy@schestowitz.com
I have web pages saved from many years ago where I can show it that it did exist at the time
Isabelle Valentez
You may register a new account with email address roy@schestowitz.com and User ID royss2000
roy@schestowitz.com
I don’t
roy@schestowitz.com
wish to
Isabelle Valentez
Any ways the feedback on eBay are now reset every 12 months, so they will be again 0 now.
roy@schestowitz.com
that’s why I contacted you
roy@schestowitz.com
I already had an account, but ebay seems to have just deleted accounts with good reputation
roy@schestowitz.com
ah, okay
roy@schestowitz.com
That’s a new rule
roy@schestowitz.com
So I shall registerfor a new account
roy@schestowitz.com
Thanks very much
roy@schestowitz.com
This still does not explain why ebay flushes old accounts
roy@schestowitz.com
without warning to the customer
roy@schestowitz.com
I will write an article about this
Isabelle Valentez
You are welcome. Is there anything else I can help you with today?
roy@schestowitz.com
No, but thanks for being patient. I am disappointed that ebay as a whole generally does not value customer accounts

That last point is not even true. As pages like this one show, the reviews go back 12 months, but not the overall ranking, which is aggregated for a lifetime of an account. The reputation in eBay does matter because it assures trust. It makes business easier.

Half an hour later eBay seemed to have realised that it hds a bit of a blunder in its hands and the advice given, again, is that I should start from scratch (beating the purpose). To quote the E-mail sent to me:

Hello,

This is in response to your Live Help Chat about the status of your account “royss2000″. I understand you’re concerned as you’ve been informed that this account is no longer registered.

I’ve looked through our database but haven’t been able to find an eBay account “royss2000″ linked to this email address “roy@schestowitz.com”.

What I suggest you to do now is to register a new eBay account. Here’s how:

1. Go to www.ebay.co.uk and click the “Register” link at the very top of the page.

2. Enter your contact & personal information. Click “Register.”

3. Enter your email address.

4. Read and accept the eBay User Agreement and Privacy Policy.

5. Choose a user ID, password, and a secret question and answer.

6. To verify your account, an email will automatically be sent to the address you registered.

7. Check your email. Click the “Activate Your eBay Membership” link in the email.

I trust this information is helpful and wish you all the best on eBay at the future.

Kind regards,

Diana Bell

eBay Trust & Safety

eBay let me down. It’s likely that I won’t use it again and I will never recommend it to anyone. This is unprofessional.

The programme is broken down into several episodes, each delivered in parts due to time limits in YouTube. Here is the first part of the four episodes.

• Happiness Machines
• The Engineering of Consent
• There is a Policeman Inside All Our Heads: He Must Be Destroyed
• Eight People Sipping Wine in Kettering

Part 1 of 24:

Back in April I wrote about Cramer playing with the market. Is Goldman Sachs essentially doing the same thing? Some people sure think so

Matt Taibbi on how Goldman Sachs has engineered every major market manipulation since the Great Depression

See the following video as well.

Direct link

Here is a link to the origin.

Have a look at this little gem.

The Alternet magazine claims that there is a conspiracy between the big media outfits to kill off or at least damage Google.

It thinks that Viacom’s $1 billion copyright infringement lawsuit against YouTube and the recent deal between NBC Universal and News Corp to establish a rival online video site is all part of a cunning plan.

This can’t be confirmed, but it’s probable given Viacom’s recent strike. It seems like Google has become the scapegoat of declining media companies, which increasingly suffer in an age of sharing. They just fear the idea of people generating and viewing their own content. People can legally collaborate on and extend music, video, literature and more. When will companies realise that rivers just run dry owing to disruptive technologies. They should seek alternative revenue streams instead of fighting reality.

CCORDING to various sources (including a seminal report from TechCrunch), Digg seeks to be acquired. The reactions are, as expected, largely rants that express dissatisfaction, particularly within the Digg community. I spotted this one comment the other day.

“If News Corp buys it, you can find me a Netscape.com or some other similar site.”

It is just one among many which speak of Slashdot, Netscape, or mention News Corp./Fox as the evil creature that could take over Digg. All in all, this is probably good news to all sites which compete with Digg. I don’t think that any company with the needed resources (and interests) is truly benevolent.

• Google – would pull “democracy” out of Digg, especially if you IP address is Chinese…
• Yahoo – would sell your Digg details…
• Microsoft – would eliminate the Apple and UNIX/Linux sections…