My eBay Story. I opened my first eBay Store back in 2004. I was a powerseller with over 3000 POSITIVE feedbacks. I was selling on average, $11,000.00 per month. I maintained at that time a decent feedback rating of 99.4%. Most negatives I received were the fault of vendors up until everything "hit the fan".

Everything was going well, right up until December 2, 2006. My sister was diagnosed with cancer and my computer crashed. Like so many people, who think it will never happen to them, I foolishly did not have my computer backed up. On my computer, I had all my tracking numbers, dates orders were shipped, etc. When my computer crashed during the busiest time of year, I lost all of this information. Since I was trying to do my part and not have everything on paper (trying to save some trees), I had none of my shipping and tracking information anywhere except on my computer.

I contacted customers who I was unsure if their order had yet shipped, asking them if they had received their order. I think that most were honest, but I am sure I got ripped off by several of those who took advantage of the situation.

So, even though I tried my best, the negatives started piling up. The PayPal complaints and disputes also started piling up. People were panicking about orders that were Christmas gifts and frankly that along with the stress of worrying about my sister, it got to be a little overwhelming for me.

To make a long story short, I did not cheat anyone, but I know I was cheated. Everyone that complained, either got a refund OR their merchandise (some ended up with both). I lost a LOT of money that Christmas season because I had no way to prove that merchandise was shipped and if someone argued about it, we know that PayPal takes the buyers side unless you have a tracking number.

When eBay bans you, it is forever. They do not forgive you. When I appealed, they said that they would "let me come back" IF I provided the tracking numbers (again, impossible), if I got all of my customers during that time to leave positive feedbacks (again impossible), and if I jumped through every hoop in the world, once they allowed me the honor of getting back on eBay, they said that they would watch me closely and if I even got one more negative, I would be booted off permanently. I, frankly, told them to shove it. I was not going to half kill myself and have to be worried day and night that some newbie was going to neg me because they did not get their order in 3 days from the time they paid for it.

I did start selling on eBay again, but under my brothers name. I am again a powerseller and doing quite well. I have learned from previous mistakes and I now have a backup of my computer.

I am joining my fellow eBayers during the boycott of eBay from February 18-25 and possibly beyond. The new CEO of eBay, John Donahoe, has made some major changes, most of them will affect Sellers negatively, and the higher costs will then affect Buyers negatively though higher prices. Mr. Donahoe, (whose salary is $900,000.00 per year) cares nothing for the smaller mom and pop sellers that made eBay what it is today. He is too busy courting huge corporations. He has made it impossible for so many small sellers to stay in business. Of course, that matters not to him as he makes nearly a million dollars a year. He has said that he does not like the "flea market look" of his (eBay's) home page. Well, excuse us, but these flea market finds and collectibles are what made eBay the huge corporation they are today. Small sellers in their huge numbers and buyers who love to find a great bargain or a hard to find collectible is why so many people shop on eBay. What he also seems to forget is that we sellers are also eBay buyers!

Mr. Donahoe has driven many of us to start moving our business elsewhere. You can find some of us on other auction sites, such as eBid.net, OLA.com, Amazon.com, eCrater.com, BluJay.com, Wagglepop.com, and many others. These other auctions sites are welcoming us with open arms. eBay is currently the largest of all the auction sites, but that is going to change. Buyers, join us in our eBay boycott and start shopping on some of the other auction sites. Let's show eBay, we don't need them, but they DO need us! These other sites have thousands of new sellers ever since eBay announced their new fee hikes and feedback policies.

I had been asked by several eBayers to design some eBay protest signs that they can use to post on their MySpace, FaceBook, and website pages. The eBay protest signs below are given freely to you to use.
The ONLY restrictions to the use of my free images are as follows:

• You may not alter the image or remove my website name from any image.
  
• You must not link to the image itself, you need to save the image to your own computer and host it with your own server, host, or any free image hosting service you desire, such as PhotoBucket.com
  
  This is how you save these images to your own computer:
  
  • Right Click the image(s) you want, then choose Save Picture As, then choose the file on your computer where you want to save it, then click on SAVE.
    
  • If you want to let people know where you got these free images, please provide them with a link to this page, which is http://www.videowebarts.com/ebayrefugees.html

eBay Refugees

If you want to move to your very own website, I can design one for you at a really good price. You may EMAIL ME HERE for further information. Let me know what type of site you want, what your budget is, and I'll send you a FREE QUOTE.

What We Can Do For You!

Video Web Arts is your complete source for website design. We produce video commercials with a much lower price than you will find anywhere else. Professional and courteous service are our top priorities. We never take our clients for granted. Your patronage is appreciated at Video Web Arts.

Below are just some of the services we offer. If not listed here, give us a call or shoot us an email and ask for it, we just may be able to help! EMAIL VIDEO WEB ARTS HERE

• Design Websites
• Design Logos
• Produce Video Commercials
• Custom Design eBay Auction Templates
• Design YouTube TV Channels to showcase your business
• Design MySpace Profiles which helps to get your business in front of your potential customers.
• Design Business Newsletters
• Advertising Banner Design

Have questions? Need help?

We would be glad to help you; simply contact us via email, EMAIL VIDEO WEB ARTS HERE. Be sure to visit our site often to see what's new.
You may also call us at 850-387-1099, leave a voicemail if we are unavailable when you call and we will call you back asap.