To enter buy a car from an Auction or Buy It Now listing on eBay.com.au, where the listing ended between the 29th of January and the 31st March 2007. You will then be automatically entered into the draw if you are a valid member of eBay.com.au.

You can also qualify if you buy a car from an eBay Classified Ad listing on eBay.com.au, where the listing has been live at any time between the 29th of January and the 31st March 2007. You do not need to be a member in order to qualify but you must submit an entry form before the 15th of April 2007 on eBay.com.au.

You must be an Australian resident to qualify for entry into this promotion.

For full instructions and terms and conditions visit the 5 Grand in Dough promotion page.

Have fun and good luck!

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Soon we will begin experimenting with the display of these ads at the bottom of some search results pages to learn what works best for the eBay marketplace. These text ads will appear to only a small number of our Community.

As a result of the similar agreement between Yahoo! and eBay.com in the US, we will be leveraging what we’ve learned as we begin to test with Google ads. Our number one concern is ensuring that the changes we make are right for our sellers and buyers. As we test, we’ll be monitoring the impact of any changes carefully, as well as listening to your input.

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The old SYI form will be retired in early May 2007.

Anyone who would like to start using the new SYI form can do so by clicking the "Start selling with the new version of the Sell Your Item form" link at the top of the Sell page.

For those sellers who are not yet familiar with the new SYI, we will be hosting an online workshop where you can learn more. Please keep an eye on the Announcement Board for when this will be scheduled.

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All vehicles listed in the Cars, Motorcycles, Boats, and Other Vehicles categories between the hours of 00:00:01am AEDST, Monday 22 January 2007 and 23:59:59 pm AEDST, Sunday 28 January 2007 will be eligible to benefit from 50% reduction in the insertion fee. All other fees including feature fees, final value fees, reserve price fees and PayPal fees will still apply.

Please note that this promotion does not apply to Classified Ad format listings by motors dealers using the dealer subscription model.

For more information about this promotion see eBay’s price promotion page.

Have fun trading on eBay!

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Rob Chesnut

As internet usage continues to grow, so does the expectation from buyers for a safe and positive user experience. That’s why it’s more important than ever that we understand the risks of online shopping and exercise common sense when we’re online.

To keep pace with the changes in the online world, we’re evolving eBay’s Trust & Safety priorities. Historically we've emphasised transparency and free choice for buyers on eBay, but acknowledge that more actively protecting our buyers from fraud and other bad experiences on our site is equally important.

We have been working on solutions that address these two priorities worldwide:

• Take a new, more proactive approach towards Trust & Safety to protect our members from fraud.
  
• Improve the buyer experience on the site by holding sellers to higher standards.

We also believe the Safeguarding Member IDs project provides the Community with enough information about the bidders involved in an auction-style listing for them to feel confident in placing a bid – without revealing actual User IDs.

Another issue we continue to fight on eBay is counterfeit items – the sale of counterfeits is unethical and results in negative buying experiences. We cooperate with Rights Owners around the world through our VeRO program to remove counterfeit listings and recently we’ve started requiring additional seller verification, eliminated the ability to list these items with 1 or 3-day auction durations, and put in place additional restrictions for members selling these items cross-border.

We’re continuing to balance transparency and convenience with the need to keep our Community safe.

Holding sellers to higher standards
Many negative buyer experiences result from circumstances controlled by sellers. Buyers are less likely to return to the site after having a frustrating experience – like finding the postage and handling charges excessive, receiving an item that is not as described, or experiencing poor customer service during a transaction with a seller.

It’s clear we have a shared responsibility with our sellers to make sure our buyers have a satisfactory experience. Here are some ways we’re addressing the issues:

• Private Feedback – In October 2006 we eliminated the ability for sellers to make their feedback private. This was important, as buyers should have access to a sellers’ complete feedback record before trading so they can make more informed decisions about a seller’s history.

• Cross-Border Trade Requirements – We’ve also implemented new requirements for sellers who want to sell cross-border. To sell outside the eBay site you are registered on, new sellers must now establish their identity by becoming PayPal Verified.

• Feedback 2.0 – Our Feedback system enables trading partners to rate their experience with one another after each transaction – this helps provide a positive experience as members can feel more confident knowing who they're trading with. eBay members worldwide have left more than 5 billion feedback comments for one another regarding their eBay transactions.

  In addition to leaving an overall positive, neutral or negative Feedback, from next month buyers will have the option to leave Detailed Seller Ratings for the seller on four aspects of a transaction:

  • Item Description
  • Communication
  • Postage time
  • Postage & Handling charges

  The average score of the Detailed Seller Ratings received by a seller will be displayed on the seller’s Feedback Profile page. It’s a system that rewards sellers by recognising the things they do to ensure customer satisfaction.

  Next month, we’ll be launching Feedback 2.0 in pilot markets and we’ll share more about this soon, so stay tuned.

Finally, I want to thank our Community for your help and support in keeping the site safe. Each report we receive from our buyers and sellers helps us to investigate and take action to stop negative activity where appropriate. We appreciate everyone’s contribution in making eBay a great place to buy and sell.

Rob Chesnut
Senior Vice President, Global Trust & Safety

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There are some significant changes this month in the following Categories:

• Beauty & Health
• Mobiles & Phones

The latest changes are currently scheduled to go live early in the week beginning January 14, 2007

We strongly encourage members to pay careful attention to which categories have changed and to update Turbo Lister accordingly.

If you are currently using Turbo Lister you can now upgrade to the NEW Turbo Lister 2. The new version contains many enhancements and is completely FREE. Download Turbo Lister.

We are always keen to receive your suggestions on category structure. To submit your category suggestion, please click here.

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1. The promotion applies to ALL AU residents regardless of the eBay site they registered on
2. Pocket Bikes, for the purpose of this promotion, are considered Vehicles and the discount for Gallery will not apply
3. The Basic Upgrade Pack will also be reduced during the promotional period. Basic Upgrade Pack will be reduced to 49c so that members only pay for the Subtitle component of the pack
4. Turbo Lister (regardless of what version members are using) will NOT show the discount at the time of listing, however, as stated previously, all Turbo Lister listings will have the discounted rate applied to your account once you submit the listing. You can access your account from My eBay by clicking on Seller Account under the heading My Account.

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	***Original: FREE Gallery for PayPal listings***
	05 January 2007 | 09:27AM EST eBay Australia is pleased to offer eBay.com.au members a PayPal FREE Gallery Promotion! You will receive a free Gallery when you choose to accept PayPal as a payment option on your listings, starting 12:00:01am AEDST, Sunday 7th January and ending 11:59:59pm AEDST, Tuesday 9th January 2007. Adding your item’s photo to the gallery enables potential buyers to preview your item instantly in the search and browse view. Use a gallery photo to help attract more buyers and a higher price. On average, listings using Gallery attract 72% more bids than listings that use no listing upgrades.* If you're not already a member of PayPal it's quick and easy to sign up. Click here to register. Important Information: Currently there are two versions of the Sell Your Item (SYI) form and TurboLister operating on eBay.com.au. If you list using the new SYI 3.0 and TurboLister 2.0 you will see reference to the discounted Gallery. If you list with the original Sell Your Item form, SYI 2.0 and use Turbolister 1.0 you won't see the discount applied within the SYI form, however, once you submit the listing you will be able to see the discount rate within your eBay account. You can access this under My eBay, click on under My Account click on Seller Account. Within this page, you can click on Account Status and view all recent fees. Price promotions on eBay.com.au only happen every once in a while, so make sure you take advantage of this opportunity. For more information, see eBay’s price promotion page. Regards, The eBay & PayPal Team *This represents an average based on data from June 2004 transactions on eBay.com.au. No representation is made that a seller's final price, number of bids or conversion rate of a specific item will increase by the average percentages noted above.
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