Posted on 02/19/2008 2:42:37 PM PST by TChris
By the time Bill (not his real name) left the Church of Scientology a few years ago, he had amassed quite a collection of Scientology material—mostly books, tapes, e-meters. But ex-members of Scientology (especially staff members) find themselves in a difficult spot in this regard when they leave Scientology: their books, tapes, and e-meters are only valued by Scientologists, who, quite inconveniently, are strongly discouraged (read: disallowed) from communicating with ex-members—as any ex-Scientologist will tell you.
Not surprisingly, he turned to eBay, where a Scientologist buyer can remain blissfully unaware that his seller is a declared suppressive person. But every time he attempts to sell his e-meter on eBay, the listing is removed within hours by the Church of Scientology, which claims that the listing violates their intellectual property rights. See screenshots of the auctions while they were up here and here, and respective "Invalid Item" eBay pages here and here. And it’s not just Bill—I’ve watched numerous e-meter listings from other sellers removed before they even receive a bid.
(Excerpt) Read more at realitybasedcommunity.net ...
Okay, I’ll ask... What’s an e-meter?
You should do some research on Scientology. It's quite an interesting (read: bizarre) religion.
The e-meter is a biofeedback machine.
You can learn more here.
A lie detector, silly. You get audited with one until you are “clear”. Everyone knows that.
L. Ron should have stuck to writing Science Fiction, but IMHO he wasn’t very good at that, either. I’m sure that Heinlein was thinking of his friend Hubbard when he wrote “One man’s religion is another man’s belly laugh.”
EvilBay has been batting 1.000 recently.
E-Bay: buy something you can’t see, hold or inspect from someone you’e never met. No worse than mail-order, I guess.
Unless the original material was sold with a limited license (like software) there is every right of a purchaser to resell goods. eBay is likely overreaching here, but that is their right.
eBay annoys me when it pulls an auction on the last day for a $1500 camera lens, because I mentioned that the $50 filter is available, too.
And when I tried to sell a legitimate Tiffany jewelry presentation box, they pulled the auction because it facilitated counterfeits (as if that would stop someone selling a counterfeit, or a buyer would assume legitimacy because of the box—it was valuable to help a buyer of used goods present them as a gift.)
But what really annoys me on eBay are the sellers that don’t give feedback when the buyer pays, withholding it until after the buyer gives feedback (keeping their unjustified retaliation open.)
That said, I love eBay, and use it plenty for buying and selling.
There is a boycott of ebay this week due to ebay changing feedback & listing increases. Many sellers are not listing & sellers who also buy refuse to buy this week also.
>> It’s a crude lie detector that the Scientologists hook their duped cult member up to for an exhorbanant fee while they “clear” you of thetans (disembodied spirits that were thrown into a volcano by the evil Lord Xenu). See?
Now, don’t make fun! There must be something to this... Tom Cruise went through it and HE seems pretty normal now.
;-)
Thanks for tipping me off. I see that the commissions are a little higher, but I like the feedback changes a lot.
http://pages.ebay.com/sell/update08/rewards/#4
AS a seller I find the feedback changes to be nothing short of blackmail. If we as sellers can not leave a buyer a neg feedback yet we can get them its not fair. I am not going to be blackmailed by a buyer & in my yrs on ebay I’ve been threatened with neg feedback by buyers. I go out of my way to please my buyers yet I wait weeks sometimes for payment. I am out of ebay. We sellers keep ebay going, not the buyers. Ebay has many sellers leaving & I am one of them. You wouldn’t believe the bs ebay is trying on us sellers. Holding our paypal accounts for 21 days???? I have had one neg in over 6 years on ebay. I sell antiques on there and now I will just use local auctions & flea markets. Its too bad ebay doesn’t value it’s sellers as much as it’s buyers. Both sellers & buyers have to know about each other & this change in feedback is not going to be a good thing IMHO. ~Pandora~
I think that buyer feedback (except for did-not pay) is almost irrelevant.
And sellers that did not leave positive feedback upon payment brought this on to themselves.
In reality, all it means is that sellers won’t be able to chase the 100.0% feedback, because there will be a noise level of problem buyers. 95% is good enough, and no one will care.
Maybe eBay values its buyers more because the buyer’s eyeballs are the key to success. Sellers must go there. I can buy an iPod or a memory card on any auction site, but the only place I can sell something and get the best price is eBay. Honestly, it is the buyers who made eBay. And I have bought and sold plenty.
I’m glad the feedback older than a year will not be counted. I’ll be back to 100% after a couple of retaliatory or unstable buyers and sellers.
You sellers will be just fine. You’ll all be equally affected, and no buyer cares about 100% feedback or selects auctions based on that.
In the real world, even the best retailer have disgruntled customers. Why worry?
“You should do some research on Scientology. It’s quite an interesting (read: bizarre) religion.”
Not religion, cult. In the most negative connotation of the word.
What else was I supposed to do?
L Ron Hubbard was heavy into drugs and black magic for a time. His cult is a bunch of no talent money grubbers who fall for that bs Xenu story
I didn’t deserve the neg I got but I learned a very good lesson. Never sell a Roseville vase on ebay. (A few sellers alerted me to the fact that there are fakes & a buyer will complain & then send you a fake back) I sent a perfect one & this scammer said it wasn’t. Said I sent him one dripping glue...He didn’t even try to email me 1st which I do as a buyer if I have a problem. Since I am also a buyer I try to treat sellers as I would like to be treated. As a seller I strive to make my buyers happy. But I am not going to be blackmailed into free shipping. I may still buy on ebay but I can easily sell antiques in other places thankfully.
(be sure to read the questions / comments)
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