HI:
Ok, Heres my Story...
My Dad and I started on Ebay back in 1996, when they were Auction Bid.
We started buying Office Equip, Supplies, then Eventually over the years, cars for resale, then some Restaurant Equipment, and eventually
enough equipment, to open a Italian Catering Business.
We would have the cars either flat bedded up to us, or we would send one of my Dads
Carpenters and a helper to drive 1 down, and 2 back. We would make anywhere from
$1,000-$5,000 per car. We only did 1-2/month.
Once we got the Restaurant Opened, we had an immediate help problem.
No One wanted to work... So, Dad ended up having a heart attack mid summer,
right in the middel of a big Flyer Distribution.
I hired this Promo Company who mass mailed. They told me.. "Dont release these all
at once, as you wont be able to handle to business.."
I thought ot myself, "yea, right".. So, I took all 25,000 flyers to the Post Office, and
off they went.. I was thinking like we would seat maybe 40 people night instead of 20-25..
WRONG... the first day after the flyer hit, we had over 200 seated, the next day was over
300. and the 3rd day, close to 400 dinners... Thats what did Dad in, he was back there
Supervising the kitchen help, while I ran the front end..
So, After his heart attack, we thought we would do smaller itesm, and we just shut down the
Restaurant.. Good thing we had no note, or we would have been in BIG trouble.. I started
taking pictures, and listing the items on Ebay.. I ended up actually emptying the Restaurant..
I was offered $75,000 from a Realtor as a closed business, but I sold the Conveyor Pizza Ovens
for $15,000 alone. So, we did rather well.
We then were offered Power Seller status. So, after awhile, once I began to dilute the storage
trailers
out back of the Restaurant equipment, we felt we may as well get another Product line.
We ended getting into the Stationery Line. We had several items that my Dad and I had collected
over the years besides stamps and coins.. it happened to be one of our Favorite items to collect,.
We admired certain lines, certain vendors. The Old Playboy Casino that had closed, originally gave
out
Collectibles as Souveniers. We Started with them.
We noticed how much Competition we had. Another item we both liked were the Hallmark Collection
of Stationary itesm from the 1980's.. Dad said we've got to start buying for resale. So, we studied,
and
we started using
Powersnipe. Boy, that was worth its weight in GOLD! No More, staying up, watching the auctions!
BUT...
I got hooked on it!
I liked this Acution process so much, I couldnt stop! So, I started browsing more, and more, and more..
Before you knew it,
The local Post lady, had to send 2 Trucks a day to our house, the USPS Tubs were everywhere.. I had
trouble
figuring out who sent what??
So, after about 7-8 months of Strong buying, we had invested all of the Restaurant Sale proceeds,
and then some.
Our feedback was then over 2,000--just from buying and an ocassional sale!
We noticed something, that once our feedbcak gto up real high, that what we used to sit and
wait in
the sidelines
while the others Sellers sold fror $40-$50, and or item went un noticed, we WERE now getting
$60-$75
for those
exact same items.. We had many Sellers offer to sell us their entire Collection of Hallmark and
Playboy
lines.
So, we bought all of them we could find. We bought every Competitor;s item that was the same
as ours, for
2 straight years.
Eventually, we had and still do, The LARGEST Inventory of Playboy and Hallmark Memorobila in the
USA.
We then had become pretty good with our Ebay Store. Received our own Account Manager, and
everything
was going great!
One day, we received an email from a guy who said that "He" was the Original Creator of the Playboy
Merchandise, and that
we were NOT allowed to sell it anymore? I ignored him, as by now, we had wel over $250,000 in
merchandise at COST laying around..
He was very persistant. I eventually had my Dad call him.
Lets say this guys name was "Frank". So, Frank got us to Trust him over the months. He listed
several items, and everytime he did,
we of course bought them, as we wanted to remain exclusive. We cleaned up all the broken
merchandise that had been sold over the last few years, offering replacements to the Customers.
We contacted the Main Office of Playboy, and spoke with their Exec Counsel. Advised them of
"Frank", and they simply
said, they do not want to be involved..
Frank, apparently had cash flow problems. My Dad offered to buy him out, qas FRank boasted he
had a full Garage of Playboy Merchandise.
He also suggested that he was gonna start selling on Ebay, and that he would cut the prices to the
bone.. So, Dad and I decided, lets buy this guy
out. And we did. But, every 2-3 weeks, he'd find more, and then more. Eventually we had spent
over $140,000 with him.
When we finally started to notice, that he Merchandise line had changed, was discolored, being
sent without original boxes, we began to wonder??
Where was Frank coming up with this Merchandise? SO, after the last official "LOT", my Dad told
Frank, thats it, somethings wrong here, the goods
are falling apart. The boxes are different, and then we found a "made in Taiwan" label,, We knew then,
he was bluffing us, and just having this stuff made.
We asked him, and of ocurse he denied it.. We cut him off. Then, he started selling on Ebay, his ads
really destroyed the Credibilty of the Entire
Product line. He ran very Negative ads, like "I have the only REAL Playboy merchandise on Ebay"...
And , "coming direct from the Creators Vault:..
So, now, no more $75 for the items we had bought for $22-$33, now the bar was Lowered. The
Public now let the auctions go, or were offering $15-$20,,,way below our cost..After a month of this,
we decided to call Frank. Told him, as he had offered this in severla emails, to be a scout fro us,
and to
help us buy out more vendors, so long as they are LOCAL, and NOT Taiwan, and we would in turn
give him 5% of all our online sales, as well as
a 10% finders fee for the newly acquired lots..With teh stipualtion he NOT sell anymore on Ebay
at all.. Well, anytime you mentioned money to Frank, his ears perked up.
So, Frank agreed.
Ok, so now we were starting up again, now with alittle over $300.000 worth of this merchandise
in Trailers out back and all over the house, basement,
porch, dining room, etc.
One day, Frank said he had a Great deal on about $50,000 worth of PB mdse, for only $14,000.
He said he had to meet the guy, and for us to bank wire him the money asap. Well, weve done
this before, so we said o.k. Well, after 2 months, Frank never delivered. He had every excuse one
could think of.
So, we figured we'd cut the ties with him, and move on.
My dad had a big fight with Frank on the phone one day. Frank threatened to take down our Ebay
accts, (by this time, to spread all of this
merchandise out, we had 4 Business Power Seller acts, and several Personla accts). The 4 PS
accts, were all older, and high feedback.
WE began to feel that Frank must have a substance abuse problem.. he went through alot of
money in a very short period of time.
Anyhow, Frank kept leaving nasty phone messages, and nasty emails. I just ignored them.
***FRANK HAD EMAIL HEADERS FROM ALL MY EBAY ACCTS AS HE WOULD COMMENT ON MY LISTINGS..
I NEVER KNEW ONE COULD COPY/PASTE AN EMAIL HEADER--then CHANGE UP THE CONTENT/VERBAGE
tHEN FORWARD HAT "NEW" EAMIL TO TRUST AND SAFETY... SLICK TRICK!!!!
I had been to several Ebay Live Conferences, and I knew alot of the folks by name there. My acct
Manager and I were pretty close, as well, on a personal
level. We even met up in Times Square for Ny Eve one year.. Anyhow, I felt we were pretty well
grounded with Ebay, had 4 accts going, We were averaging
approx. 30-40 orders/day, each one from $18-$60.. So, about $1,000/day. It was easy , as we had
developed many systems, to streamline everything.
We even hired 3 Collecge girls, just to answer the emails on the nights/weekends, fro the 4 accts
. We were averaging over 400 emails/day. My dad was not
computer saavy, and I knew the girls from baby sitting. This REALLY boosted our sales, as while
our competition was getting around to answering customer inquiries about every 1-2 days, ours
were answered in minutes!
We then opened a 5th acct, and it went to Power Seller Status in a matter of weeks. We received
many Awards from Meg over the years, even severla phone calls, from many of the Regional VP's
congrats on our sales, and our reaching Platinum PS Status.. Titanium was NEXT!
So, one day i got a weird email from Trust and Safety, (supposedly)--it went on to say we were being
warned about "swearing at a buyer",, now i KNOW
I've never done that. And, I remember at the meetings about the ⊗⊗⊗⊗ emqails coming, so I ignored
them.
About a week later, another email, this time, with part of the verbage in tact, liek a partial sentence,
, like --Well, these were SUPPOSEDLY
Originating from the "ask the seller" a question emails?? This email was someting like this:
A.) The listing was for a GENTS BLACK LEATHER BELT SIZE 34 GUCCI
B.) The Buyer supposedly sends a question:
>> Dear Seller-What color is the item?
>> Our "SUPPPOSED" response: "listen hear you F*****, we are too DA** busy to answer your
F****** questions! IF you email, Im gonna
come to your house and F***** your Mother"..
>> I read it, deleted it! I also knew the College girls did not use that Language, as they were all
Christian girls.
I showed the email to the girls, and of course they also said it was SPAM..
Two days, later, 2 more Trust and safety letters, now to each of the other PS accts, same stuff,
"cuss words" to buyers.. I just deleted them.
Next day, 2 more T+S Warnings, I deleted them also.. They said I had had a total of 7 warnings..
Anyhow, then the weekend came, great weekend in sales.. over $6,000 just FRi/Sat/Sunday!
Monday Morning, I got another one of those emails, this time, the verbage was something like,
"Im gonna Bomb your house you
Mother F******! if you dont stop bothering me with Questions!
I also deleted it, began printing my shipping labels. About 2 hours later, I couldnt get into my
Ebay acct.. I thought, well the site is frozen..
I then logged out/into my other acct, no good either.. Then the 3rd, and finally the 4th acct,
all locked out..
What? Wheres my 2,500+ listings at?? All gone? No way... So, I call my Acct manager..
Kristy..
I say, Kris, whats up? Whats goign on, everyone frozen? She says NO... I'm sorry, they pulled
all your accts!
I asked..Why? She said, well, T+S said theyve been warning you for a month now... I told them
you had perfect feedback and all,
I even escalated your case a couple hours ago, all the WAY to the top.. and they are Sticking by
their guns..
My heart sank... I could feel that thick lumop in my throat.. My dad in the background asking
whats wrong?
Whats wrong? I know all the fees are paid..
I said, nothing Dad, dont worry, I wil get it straight..
LEGIT,
and they FEEL i must just have a SPLIT
Personality.. and that i just Ignored them.. I started to Cry... I knew then that Life, as it was was
Really
over!
I had Flashbacks, of the Restaurant, getting built up to More Volume than our Local Red Lobster,
now here, we have our Lifes Savings sitting in Trailers
out back, and now NO WAY to sell it... Oh, I was doomed. And my Ebay bills for that Big weekend,
even with all the fees credits, and multiply times 4
PS accts, for the week.. over $13,000 !!!...
SO, that day, I took Kristys advice, and I emailed
MEG@EBAY.COM... I di receive a response the
next day, but not from Meg, someone in
T+S.. they said that Everyones reviewed all my Accts, Ignorance is No excuse,,,as well as my 4
Paypal accts, and they have decided to Cancel everything!
It still never sank in,, who did this, I thought it was an Ebay fluke, or an Ebay employee, who
was pushed out, adn now wanted his position back in the
Sales of Playboy goods.. Low and behold, the next day,, who shows up with an Auctiva acct,
and over 29 listings... right, FRANK!
Ole Frank, moved right in.. So, I began by making an account in my MOMS name, address,
(of course same pc---I didnt know what a COOKIE was...)
--It lasted about 6 hours.. down.
--Then, I got one in my sisters name, lasted 2 days, down, then i got one in my sons name,,
,lasted 4 days, down.
--Then, in my friends name...2 days, down, another friends...1 hour, down.
--
I literally went through over 30 friends, and family names in a matter of 2 weeks,, all gone!
Then, my dad caught Pneumonia, he was very ill, and the stress of al this stuff didnt help matters.
Mom and I took him to the
Emergency room on a Monday, he was put on Life support Tuesday.. He passed on Thursday.
So, now, here i am with
"No SUPPORT"--NO accounts, and 2- Forty Foot Trailers full of merchandise out back...
What could i do?
Well, I started calling around, calling in favors.. hey, you remeber me, you cut my hair last year,
or you remember you detailed my truck, or
you remember me from College.. "YOU wouldnt have an ebay acct I could borrow, do you??
-- I even asked the local Lawyer who's a friend of ours for man years, hey, can i sue your name for
a Ebay acct, until I get mine straight?
--he said he preferred not, but if i did, he doesnt want to know about it...
Well, that was all I had to hear, so By this time, I had googled, suspensions, and I found an outfit,
that for $29.95, then another fee for a weird email address
that blocked these "cookies", I could get back on,,, so--YAH ME.. I figured it out!
-- WRONG.. His acct lasted 10 days, then taken down as well as the new paypal acct created..
So, back to square one again.
Right aboout hat time, I had found this forum,, I DIDNT have time to READ.."just tell me what the
secret was, I need to start selling".. So,
I skimped thorugh everything, " as I KNEW IT ALL'... (I thought)..
My mom said, why dont you use your fathers name? I thought, well, he is gone, no ones gonna know..
this time, we used an out of state po box..
This time, i got 3 weeks out of the acct, but this time, the acct went down, for not linking, as I had
bought a new pc by then, it was for the abusing, and those
darn "cusssing out buyer emails again"!!
--Well, I had let my staff go, so I was the ONLY one answering emails.. and i KNEW it was legit emails.
. received a sarcastic email from
"FRANK", saying that every acct I put up, he's taking down.. and he DID.. he followed me from one
state to another for many months..
BUT, after a few months here on the forum, while first coming here like a Puppy with my tail between
my legs, I now had self confidence,a nd my accts were
lasting longer and longer...I couldnt shake my Friend , Frank, though..Sometimes, he'd even let me
get through a Saturday, then BOOM.. Sunday, all accts down.
Sometimes, Frank woudl BOAST and once sent me an email, VERBATIM what I had posted
on the Rolex forum just 2 hours prior,,, Now, the ONLY way he could have known that, was to
have installed a keyLogger on my pc...
He had his Final Listing on Ebay back in November..
So-- what have I learned.. Ive learned that even after all the years with Ebay--that they will
"throw you to the dogs".. You folks i n this Forum, are more kind, and helpful to me, than Ebay ever was
...
So Goodluck to All !!!! 
) 
** Ebayhateluvs Story.. ** 
I would hope that frank got well and truly 'negged' acting like that.
