[Sorry, typed this yesterday, but forgot to post it!]

I'm the very last person who could legitimately have an issue with a long post or a poster going off on tangents! I really appreciate the extra detail you've provided.

I'm still surprised by the candour displayed by the people you spoke to (well done for being able to bend Eve Williams' ear). While I'm sure they were somewhat measured in their concessions, that's still a very different 'face' of eBay to the one we're used to seeing (dictatorial, tight-lipped, unyielding, etc.). How did Eve react to some of the issues you told her about? Did she seem to be genuinely shocked at how out of hand things have got? I like to think that you gave her some serious food for thought, and that there might be a few 'little chats in the office' as a result. It's very hard to imagine a General Manager knowing/finding out that all this stuff is happening on their watch, and being fine with it all.

I agree that eBay don't do anywhere near enough to make a clear distinction between business and private sellers. I'm the latter, but I recently had a great big banner in Seller Hub saying "Grow your business" (or something like that - it used the word "business", anyway).

I'm glad you were able to put across a number of issues. Knowing me, I'd have gone into such granular detail that I wouldn't have even completed my first point by the time she had to be somewhere else!

I do, however, vehemently disagree that "anyone who sells unwanted clothing if they have an issue they have the best customer service you can ask for." Maybe I've misunderstood you, as your subsequent use of "they" appears to be referring to Eve or other eBay personnel (although I doubt Eve is trying to flog her last season's apparel). And I am assuming that, despite specifically mentioning sellers of unwanted clothing, you mean private sellers generally. I can only repeat what I've posted before: as a private seller, nine out of ten times I've, ahem 'reached out' to CS, the level of support in all areas - grasp of the English language, friendliness, knowledge, accuracy of information, willingness to 'own' an issue through to its resolution (or to ensure that the matter is passed on to someone with greater knowledge or authority) - has been shockingly poor (well, it becomes less shocking after a while, you come to expect it). I shan't repeat examples of my CS woes - I posted at length about them elsewhere - but I will reiterate my amazement that agents can get away with cutting you off on the phone (or prematurely ending a live chat) when it's all supposedly monitored.

When I mentioned "an estimate", I certainly didn't expect a specific day! Just a year would be good, maybe which quarter in that year. But I can understand Bay's reluctance to given even that rough an idea.

Yep, that scam is, in theory, so easy to carry out with SD, but it's hard to see how eBay will be able to deal with it in any way other than reactively (taking action once it has identified a pattern).

I came away from your post a little more heartened. It's encouraging to hear that eBay people with clout acknowledge that mistakes have been made, now let's hope that this all translates into some significant improvements.