Does eBay Search Engine Architect’s Ejection Confirm Cassini Castrophony?

Vice President of Buyer Experience, Search, and Platforms/ Chief Architect of Cassini Search Engine Hugh Williams has slipped the surly bonds of eBay to touch the face of  Bob.

I had a great time at eBay, and I decided to leave after the release of 3.0 and Cassini. …[snipped maudlin portion] …  I have nothing to say yet about what I am doing next. I am taking time off with my family for now, and enjoying some downtime.”

Comedic Mass Ejections

 

ebaY Employee Astroturfer Busted Badgering Bloggers

At EcommerceBytes blog, it appears that once again, ebaY is resorting to sleaze tactics in attempt to control the message.

An individual going under the name of birdieman chimes in with this:

 

We’re Sold! Why eBay Staffers Love to Sell

The ebaY laughs just keep coming!

I’m not really sure who they’re trying to reach? The general public? Other employees? And why don’t any of them have 4 colored hair?

Recently, in a seller recruitment effort, ebaY wanted it’s sellers to sell out their friends’ personal confidential info for a hefty sum of $10 per referral. How much do you think ebaY gave it’s employees for appearing  in the video?

Can’t they just beam some new sellers down from Planet Remulac or somewhere now that Paypal Intergalactic opened up?

 

 

Published on Jul 8, 2013

eBay staffers discuss their favorite selling experiences, as well as tips and advice for new sellers. Meet some of our very own staff that sell on eBay – and love it. Start selling today at http://ebay.com./startselling

But the real highlight is when you see…

 

ebay’s Erez Yereslove Violating Ebay Policies?

With the new 2013 spring seller update, a thread topic appeared on ebay’s seller central forum. Right away I noticed an odd comment:

Why doesn’t Erez’s post have a pink stripe?

Followed by a pink post:

Hi Everyone,

Sorry for the confusion in Erez’s post above.  His Pink ID is unfortunately malfunctioning!  We encourage you to join us in the special discussion board as we have a room full of staff here ready to answer any of your questions on our Spring 2013 Announcement (http://forums.ebay.com/db2/forum/March-2013-Seller/5200000027)

posted this morning.

Thank you,

Cheryl

Seller Marketing

Next, the comedy begins:

Must be a hacked account all employees of ebay when listing merchandise for sale most have a blurb in their listing saying they are a employee of ebay.. Unless they changed that rule and didn’t bother to mention it..

I’m sure anyone can make a mistake, and the mistake was quickly corrected by removing the post. We were able to dig that post from Google’s cache. You can plainly see the post had no pinkliner, yet the message was from an ebaY staffer:

Mar 19, 2013 08:16 AM

Hi paularose1952,

Thanks for your questions. We have a large staff here at eBay waiting to answer any questions you have in a special discussion board. Would love for you to join us there:

http://forums.ebay.com/db2/forum/March-2013-Seller/5200000027

See you there!

Erez

eBay Seller Team

And that’s where the real fun starts!

Tracking down the person’s  listings, we can see that this individual failed to post the obligatory link identifying themselves as an ebay employee in their listings. here’s a sample. Every last one I checked failed to have the link.

When eBay employees submit community content as members, not as employees, they need to identify themselves as eBay employees and state that the content reflects their personal views and isn’t written on behalf of eBay.

Also, I notice characteristics of the completed listings look like violations of duplicate listing policy,

Sellers can’t have more than one fixed price listing of an identical item at the same time.

and have a resemblance to feedback gaming or manipulation scheme, by listing several same items at 10 cents each with local pickup. Why, it’s just amazing how many of those things sold!  The practice/tactic is not unlike those of the “sleeper cells” fraudsters recently reported on.

So move over Lori Norrington!

In case you haven’t heard of Erez Yereslove, of the ebay seller team, he’s one of the people who ache when rank & file members get snubbed by not being invited to selling promos. He hates it when that happens!

I feel it’s very important for folks to realize the ebay management, who makes the rules and policies for ebay, don’t even follow those rules. That’s crooked, pure and simple.

If that sort of thing bothers you, close your accounts. Persuade others to do the same. It’s the only noise ebay understands.