Lbforever, I have no idea why you keep refering to me as direct567 in your reply. I do once in a while buy hard to find items on e bay however do not sell items due to issues such as high commission for e bay, hastle of shipping items only to have buyer complain and perfer to sell items I may have at the annual neighborhood rummage sale. I noticed in your reply your demeanor comes across best described as, angry, paranoid, and defensive. With you be a seller of items as you indicated that would be a extreme concern for any customer raising red flags from here to the moon. Another concern reguarding your reply is your feeling about e bay members trying to compete to sell items, however if your a seller of older lawn boy mowers just as omcjunkie wouldn't that make you 2 compete with eachother and not act like your brothers or best friends the way you stand up for him, especially considering the 2 members apears to live hundreds of miles apart???? As for myself I worked in the field of insurance fraud investigation for years and far prior to use of gps devices or hidden cameras and honestly quite disapointing what i have come across incuding people making false claims of cars damaged by a huricane until I found out their credit card was used out of state durring the time proving they were on vacation with the vehicle in question and claim is canceled in no time. My point is people who try to come across as defensive for no reason, or paranoid or despratly trying to change the focus of the subject often indicate the inside of the book does not match the cover. I also have looked at the profile for direct567 and his feedback seems typical for the time hes has the account and apears honest dispite not seeing alot of items for sale recently. The profile for omcjunkie does raise a red flag being within the past few months hes feedbacks gone up like wildfire and nearly all private. As I mentioned before private on e bay creates a honesty concern for all since buyers feel the seller has issues to hide. Also I noticed omcjunkie has another lawn boy for sale however this one he mentioned has a green shroud repainted yellow with painted decals. I give him credit for cleaning up his act a little in the honesty department however I wonder how he could paint the inside of the tank and make is resistant to fuel? My overall intent of starting this message was concern of bidding prices and procedures. If someone wants to pay $500 for a lawn boy with repainted cover and not recomended to be used for intended purpose thats fine. I have absolutly no problem with direct567 or many other e bay members who do a general clean up, paint touch up and mechanicly service of a mower then sell also which seems to be more typcial on ebay or local ads. Honestly id rather spend $250 with shipping for a mower thats fully functional and serviced then spend $500 with shipping for one that looks great but paint bubbles and flakes when put into service. Again i understand everyone has their own point of views on everything in life and respect that. I personaly only drive american cars all my life going back to the AMC days, my son in law eat lives and breaths toyotas, while my neighbor uses his motorcycle as much as possible. 3 differnt point of views but none of us argue or insult who is better then who. As lbforever indicated there is competion in any item or service you may be intrested in so pays to shop around and if the seller comes across as less then friendly then look elsewhere. Best example is when I had the roof on my rental property replaced last year I had 4 estimates and timed them all the same evening half hour apart for each apointment that way when one contractor was finishing the estimate the next guy was pulling in my driveway. It crated alot of evil stares but trust me I got a steal of a deal for being informed and aggressive consumer.

Yes! Ol' soft heart here sometimes follows ebay sales merely in hopes that some items "find a nice home." I am so happy when they finally get a bid! Now, I'm an intelligent woman (or used to be), and I need to remind myself that a) these are *things* and are incapable of feeling rejected, and b) the seller is probably more business savvy than I am, as the seller is *marketing* his items for cold hard cash, whereas I give mine away to the local charity thrift shop in fervent hope that someone will be delighted with the good deal she got on my discard. Two years ago, in need of a new frying pan and not having $ to get a quality, new stainless steel one, I began researching old cast iron cookware and how to restore it. At that time, you could get rusty cast iron frying pans cheaply on ebay. I bought a couple, restored them, and have been very happy with them. Unfortunately, now I find it hard to resist "rescuing" rust-encrusted cast iron pieces offered on ebay. They seem to cry "Save me! Save me!" I just hate to see a piece of Americana lost to the dump. My BIL snickers at my cast iron folly, but I now have a nice assortment of cooking pieces, one a dutch oven dating to the mid to late 19th century.

Tally, your last sentence cracks me up! I've never sold anything on eBay, but I buy -- a lot. I just can't see that eBay will get away with changing the feedback so that buyers can only receive positive feedback. There's got to be more to it than that. Maybe there will be a "buyer did not pay" option, or something similar. And, I don't see how eBay can just wipe out sellers' feedback that is over 12 months old. The OP doesn't say that it will be wiped out, or removed -- it says it "won't count." I take that to mean that it won't be part of the equation when calculating a seller's percentage rating. "Positive repeat customer Feedback will count..." It would be nice if they would also make sellers' feedback for buyers count when there are repeat sales. I've been buying on eBay for 7 years. My feedback rating is 100%, but the "number that shows" is 369, when I actually have 593 total feedback. I've left 611 feedbacks for sellers and there are several sellers for whom I have never left feedback for various reasons. "Sellers will be held hostage with threat of a neg feedback from a buyer if positive feedback isn't left for the buyer." I don't agree with this statement. At least, the changes certainly wouldn't make me act this way. I used to have a hard and fast rule that I wouldn't leave feedback for a seller until after the seller had left feedback for me. When I first started buying on eBay, one of the eBay feedback guides even said that sellers should leave feedback as soon as the buyer has paid, because the buyer has then completed their obligation. I always e-mail the seller when I receive an item, to let them know that I have received it. If they leave feedback for me, I always leave feedback for them. If they don't leave feedback for me, I will almost always still leave feedback for them. And, a couple of years ago I dropped my hard-and-fast rule and started leaving feedback for sellers even if they haven't left me feedback. Some still don't leave any feedback (which I just don't understand), but most do. And, there are some sellers for whom I just won't leave feedback because the experience was less than stellar, but I don't want to leave a negative, so just don't leave any. What I wish for, as a buyer, would be for eBay to somehow monitor the shipping fees to weed out the ones who exhorbitantly jack up the price. I realize that sellers are allowed to add in "handling charges," but isn't it supposed to be REASONABLE handling charges? I can't tell ya how many times I've paid $8 or $9 for shipping, only to receive the item in an unpadded manilla envelope with less than $1.00 postage on it.

Geez, what a nightmare. Why can't people just be honest and treat others like they'd like to be treated? I just don't get it, it's not that hard. I really wanted to bid on some beautiful RL bedding, a rare style, but I really had to read between the lines and push to get info. Apparently with the shams the seller mentioned although never used, she did launder one "by mistake", but it went right back in the package. Saw no logic in that whatsoever... Since it was cotton and lace (delicate), I wondered if she dried it (which would ruin it). I emailed her asking if the washed sham had been distorted or shrank as a result. No reply. I wait a few days, auction is nearing and end, and basically email her a 'hey, I'd really like to bid, but have not received a reply to my question so I'm giving it one more try here.' That generated a response from her, she admitted that the laundered sham was 'snug' and corners 'curled', but suggested ironing would make it fit properly again. Good grief. (She failed to include that significant detail in her description, even after I asked, she didn't post my question and her answer.) Very cat and mouse. I'm glad I took time to push it, because although it was a beautiful set I might well be out the $, and it would be worthless with only one good sham (and it garnered pretty high $$). I'm watching to see what kind of feedback occurs once the buyer receives it. Anyway, back to valinsv's guy. Clearly there are major issues with some items he sells. Is he too ignorant to realize that having integrity would only bolster his business that much more? That's the part I just don't get. Treat people right, they'll keep coming back. Treat them badly as a habit and sooner or later he's going to lose. Seems to me with the type of volume he does he'd be a lot further ahead if he'd just be honest. Just curious mona if you might know: if he does get kicked off, is his IP address banned, or just his ebay ID? He seems to have such a huge system set up and selling high volume, can't see him just walking away. Could he just come back under a new ID? (Although given his business and volume and listing style, it would be easy to recognize it might be him.)