Today, however, the winning bidder’s ID is currently visible to everyone after the listing ends, and this continues to lead to fake checkout offers and other spam. Consequently, it also leads to unpaid items, as winning bidders who fall victim to these fake emails often send payment to someone other than the seller.

Based on the positive results we’ve seen by safeguarding bidder User IDs, as well as our commitment to protecting all bidders from becoming targets for fraudsters, we’ve decided to extend safeguarding member IDs to winning bidders, as well. This change will be implemented next week.

As always, the following information will still be accessible:

• Sellers will be able to view all bidder IDs on their listings.
• All members can click on the bidder ID and view the bidder’s Bid History page, which will detail the categories in which they’ve bid over the past 30 days.
• Feedback pages will show the same information as now – buyer and seller IDs, with comments visible to all.

For information on how to trade safely on eBay and ensure you are protected against online fraud visit the Security Centre.

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If you need to contact customer support during this maintenance period please do so via email - http://pages.ebay.com.au/help/contact_us/_base/index.html. Alternatively, you will be able to use Live Help once the scheduled maintenance is completed.

Regards,
The eBay team

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If you have any questions about an eCheque payment or any emails you received about an eCheque payment, please call PayPal Customer Service on 1800 073 263. Our customer service hours are 6am to 10pm, Monday to Saturday (AEDST).

What is an eCheque? An eCheque is a non-instant PayPal payment which usually happens when the PayPal payment is funded by a bank account and waits until the buyer’s bank has processed the payment before the Seller sees the eCheque status as cleared in their PayPal account. An eCheque is designed to minimise the risk of a payment to a Seller being reversed if the buyer does not have sufficient funds in their bank account to pay for their purchase. An eCheque usually takes 3 – 4 working days to clear, International eCheques may take longer.

PayPal apologise for any inconvenience.

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If you find yourself in this situation, please call PayPal Customer Support on 1800 073 263. PayPal customer support hours are 6am to 10pm Monday - Saturday(AEDST).

PayPal are working to resolve this issue and apologise for any inconvenience.

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Buyers want to know the exact postage price of an item before they place an order. This is very important to keeping your buyers happy and ensuring they keep coming back to purchase from you.

When sellers specify the postage price and service in the Postage Details section of their listing (not just in the listing description) this information shows up for buyers in key places during the purchasing process - on the Search Results page, at the top of the Item page, and in the Postage Details section at the bottom of the listing. Listings with postage specified in this way are more likely to sell and attract positive feedback.

If you’re already selling on eBay and not yet specifying postage in this way, we encourage you to adopt this important best practice.

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We thank you for your patience and apologize for any inconvenience.

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If you need to contact customer support during this maintenance period please do so via email - http://pages.ebay.com.au/help/contact_us/_base/index.html. Alternatively, you will be able to use Live Help once the scheduled maintenance is completed.

Regards,
The eBay team

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PayPal apologise for any inconvenience and appreciate your business. Once the maintenance has been completed the PayPal site will return to normal functionality.

We appreciate your understanding.

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If you’d like to switch from the new search back to the old search you can do so by using the following URL - http://shop.ebay.com.au/r2optout/___W0QQ_r2ooZ1?_trksid=p3286.l1278

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	***Original: New search to be default from Tuesday 21 October***
	16 October 2008 | 04:14PM EST After many months of development, testing and community consultation, the new search (formerly known as Playground) will become the default on eBay.com.au next week. Thanks to everyone who’s given us feedback in the process – we appreciate it. With the new search you can: Select multiple product options at once (such as more than one colour, plus different sizes, brands etc). Automatic inclusion of synonyms (e.g. ‘fridge’ = ‘refrigerator’), so there's no need for you to include alternate words or spellings in your search. Browse by pictures in Window Shopping view (saving you time). If you’d prefer to use the existing search, you can opt out of the new search by clicking the link at the foot of the search results page. Further improvements will be appearing over the coming weeks and months. Your suggestions are welcome and can be submitted by emailing aucategory@eBay.com. Regards The eBay team
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If you need to contact customer support during these maintenance periods please do so via email - http://pages.ebay.com.au/help/contact_us/_base/index.html. Alternatively, you will be able to use Live Help once the scheduled maintenance is completed.

Regards,
The eBay team

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To celebrate we're giving away the trip of a lifetime valued at $20,000! Each month from now until December, we'll post three questions per month relating to travel and hotels. All you have to do is find the answers by searching on the lotsofhotels site and enter the draw to win.

Every month you participate you gain one entry into the grand prize draw, so increase your chances by coming back every month to take the challenge!

As always terms and conditions do apply.

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If you need to contact customer support during this maintenance period please do so via email - http://pages.ebay.com.au/help/contact_us/_base/index.html. Alternatively, you will be able to use Live Help once the scheduled maintenance is completed after 4pm AEDST.

Regards,
The eBay team

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	***Original: Return policy required on international listings***
	05 September 2008 | 05:25PM EST From early October 2008, sellers listing items for sale directly on international eBay sites will need to specify a return policy. For many sellers, this can also include a ‘No Returns Accepted’ policy*. Items that are listed directly on eBay.com.au and offer either domestic or international postage will not be affected by these changes. When listing an item directly on an international eBay site, the following information will need to be included in your policy*: Whether you accept returns A specified time in which an item may be returned How a refund will be provided To avoid disappointment, make sure you update your listings with the relevant return policy details by early October. International listings that do not have a specified return policy will not be displayed on international eBay sites. Learn more about the changes to the international returns policy. As mentioned this policy does not apply to items listed directly on eBay.com.au *IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR SELLERS Some sellers must accept returns or refunds in certain circumstances under the Australian Trade Practices Act 1974 or relevant state fair trading legislation. Your return policy does not override the requirements of consumer protection law, which may give buyers greater return and refund rights than you state in your policy. In certain circumstances, sellers also cannot lawfully impose a specified time limit for returns or refunds. For more information about warranties and refunds contact the ACCC Infocentre on 1300 302 502 or visit the ACCC website. Regards, The eBay Team
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Unaffected by today’s announcement will be existing Customer Support and Account Managers who continue to be there to help you.

As part of the proposals, various teams are being streamlined across the globe. You can read more detail of the proposals by visiting the eBay Ink blog.

The local Australian team will be reduced by 18 positions. Our priority is to talk to our people to get through what is a difficult day.

eBay remains Australia’s leading online marketplace and the evolution of the internal organization will help create greater opportunities for the countless sellers who rely on eBay as a source of income along with the millions of buyers looking for deals.

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We want to help you keep up with the competition so we're offering 50% off final value fees on all auction and fixed price listings that offer free domestic postage from 8 to 14 October 2008.

There are lots of ways free postage can help boost your sales and with our exciting new free postage hub your free postage listings will benefit from even greater exposure to the many buyers who come to eBay everyday.

We know this may not work for everyone, but if you’ve never tried offering free postage before, this is the perfect opportunity to test it out on a few items and see how you go. Who knows, you could just boost your sales and soon be listing all your items with free postage!

As always terms and conditions do apply.

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PayPal apologise for any inconvenience and appreciate your business. Once the maintenance has been completed the PayPal site will return to normal functionality.

We appreciate your understanding.

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It is important to note that Western Australia will commence daylight saving on Sunday 26 October while Queensland and the Northern Territory do not observe daylight saving.

Sellers
The length of time you listed an item for will remain the same. One hour will effectively be added to the end time of your current listings. For example, a five day listing starting at 10am AEST on Thursday 2 October 2008 will end at 11am AEDST on Tuesday 7 October 2008.

Buyers
The 'End time' displayed within a listing will always show the time remaining on an item accurately (i.e. 4 days 23 hours).

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