Thank you for alerting me that this auction has ended. I have viewed the
pages mentioned in your mail, and my auction was not explicitly prohibited
by your regulations.

I do understand that Ebay retains the right to remove ANY auction you deem
objectionable, but I find it very odd that this particular auction has
struck a chord with you. I believe it does more help for you than harm. My
auction recieved an inordinate number of hits compared to average auctions
on the site... well over 1000, the last time I checked. A large number of
these were due to my own personal efforts of directing people towards the
auction, by advertising it on various chat channels and by plugging it in a
column read by an estimated 6,000 people a day. Perhaps these people
constitute a small amount compared to the masses that visit your site on a
regular basis, but again, compared to the average auction, this one drew
tons of publicity.

You might argue that "joke" auctions reduce the overall quality of your
site. There may be a very, very small bit of truth to this, but I think the
benefits gained by a couple hundred people going to Ebay who didn't know
about it before outweigh the downfalls of having a "joke" auction.. and if I
may be objectively frank, a pretty good "joke" auction... on the site.

Furthermore, if you are truly worried about quality, I suggest you attempt
to keep a better control on the actual text people use. For instance, the
one word I almost cannot stand to see (and yet appears in a HUGE number of
listings) is L@@K. First of all, do sellers think people are more likely to
look if directly told to? They ALREADY want to look, that's why they're
viewing listings! Secondly, the @ symbols replacing "o"s simply look stupid,
at least in my opinion. This isn't the only word like this, people tend to
use incorrect grammar, capitalization, and punctuation in a ridiculous
number of auction titles. I think concentrating your efforts on improving
these things would be much more beneficial than concentrating on so-called
"joke" auctions.

Of course, I agree with your policy of keeping out truly objectionable
things... such as things that cannot possibly be expected to be sold, such
as human body parts, spiritual concepts such as souls, boeing jets, and so
forth. But in the case of this... a G-rated auction in which the object "on
the block" is within the seller's power of giving to the buyer... I think
it's reasonable to leave it up.

Thank you for your time in reading this. If you don't agree with what I have
said, I will understand, and I hope to be able to continue buying things,
and eventually selling real things, on your site. I eagerly await your
response.

Rob "Chimerasame" Hamilton




----- Original Message -----
From: <ended@ebay.com>
To: <chime@prodigy.net>
Sent: Sunday, December 31, 2000 11:19 AM
Subject: WARNING: eBay Auction Cancelled by Customer Support


> Dear Robert W. Hamilton (chime@prodigy.net),
>
>
> eBay appreciates the fact that you chose to list your auction:
>
>
> 531821542 Nothing at all!
>
>
>
> eBay does not allow listings that are intended as jokes or items that are
not
> for sale.  Therefore, we have ended the auction early and credited all
fees to your account.
>
> For information on infringing, prohibited or questionable items, please
view:
> http://pages.ebay.com/help/community/png-items.html
>
>
> For more information on why eBay has ended an auction, please visit:
> http://pages.ebay.com/help/community/png-endauction.html
>
>
> IMPORTANT NOTICE: Please be aware future incidents  of this nature can
lead to
> the suspension of your account. We value you as a member of our community
and
> wish to continue this relationship, so we must ask you to refrain from any
> violations of the Listing Policies or User Agreement in the future.
>
>
> We thank you in advance for your cooperation.
>
>
> Please feel free to contact us with any questions or concerns you may have
> on our existing listing policies.
>
> Regards,
> Wynn Seira (ended@ebay.com)
> eBay Inc
>