Ebay confusion?

[Doug Waggonner]

I put up an auction on Ebay a few days ago for a diesel engine generator. Then the other day I got this email from an ebay member asking "why do you have Not a Hit Miss engine" in your description? and why do you start out the auction with "you are bidding on"... ..After reading this I honestly thought it was from a young kid just asking question. So, I replied that I put Not a Hit Miss engine in the description so people would know right off the bat that it wasnt. It was also listed under hit and miss engines for added search reasons. ...And I told him that I started the Auction with "you are bidding on" because thats what it is An Auction. OK, well I thought I has awnsered his questions as plainly as possiable. NOT!! Then He started sending rather hatefull emails direct to me, and I dont know what he told ebay but, they pulled the auction! I've emailed ebay to explain to me Why and How. I've never heard of anything like this, has anyone else?

They gave you a reason in the end of auction email notice, it would have been
one of these 3 reasons I would think...my guess,the third one.
* Prohibited by law
* Prohibited by eBay's policies
* Reported by a VeRO Program participant

This link should help...

http://pages.ebay.com/help/confidenc...g-ended.html#3

[Doug Waggonner]

What is a VeRo? I also did some searching and the guy that sent all the nasty emails is an engine collector. And when I mean nasty I mean NASTY. Which really shocked me coming from an engine collector. Of course I guess some people get off on having some authority

[Fred_M]

Originally Posted by Doug Waggonner

I put up an auction on Ebay a few days ago for a diesel engine generator. So, I replied that I put Not a Hit Miss engine in the description so people would know right off the bat that it wasnt. It was also listed under hit and miss engines for added search reasons. ...

That's a violation of ebay listing rules. You were attempting to drive traffic to an item by listing it in the wrong catagory. It wouldn't be a VeRO issue because they VeROs are owners of items they disallow to be sold on ebay, (example microsoft disallowing windows to be sold on ebay). The person prob turned you in saying you were trying to sell a "modern engine" engine as a antique hit-n-miss. From what you posted as your listing copy I bet it looked like that to some auction geek in California too; the one who worked for ebay and canned it. Fred

[John Newman, Jr.]

eBay sometimes gets 'funny' about putting "...not...." in a description.
Now, I completely understand that when you include the words "Hit & Miss" in your description, it allows more people to find your item when they search using the "Title & Description" function. There are ways around this. You need to work into the description something to the effect that "...I have been asked if this is a Hit & Miss engine...."
At the same time, in order to thoroughly confuse the masses, you can probably find several engines that will say in the title that someone might have, for example a " ...Briggs & Stratton - not Maytag... " and this item will run its course without getting pulled.
Usually it boils down to someone complaining, and in your case, you probably know who that was.
Just re-list it and watch your wording.
John Newman, Jr.
Saint Louis, MO
eBay user ID: dead-head