As a result of your tremendous enthusiasm, we're expanding our lower insertion fees for vehicles to ALL Canadian residents who list on eBay.ca.

Last April, we lowered our insertion fees from C$50 to C$5 for vehicles on eBay.ca that were physically located in Canada at the time of their listing and sale. Starting November 15, our low $5 pricing will be available to all Canadians who list their vehicles on eBay.ca (regardless of where the vehicles are located). These reduced insertion fees will be immediately reflected on the site and will be effective for items in the Passenger Vehicles, Motorcycles, Powersports (excluding Pocket Bikes) and Other Vehicles categories.

Please note that users who are not Canadian residents will not be eligible for eBay.ca's reduced pricing, and will be charged an insertion fee of C$48 or US$40 for their vehicle listings.

For more information about fees associated with Vehicles, please see our Motors fee table.

Learn more about our reduced fees for Canadian Motors Vehicles.

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Hi... I'm Christine Hipwell, and I work on the Trust & Safety team. Last year, we launched several tutorials to help members learn more about understanding and complying with eBay's policies. I'm happy to announce the launch of three more tutorials, designed to increase your awareness about staying safe online:

• Buying Safely – This tutorial helps you learn the basics of buying safely. You can learn more about what to look for before you bid or buy, the safest ways to pay for your purchases, and how to avoid common buying mistakes that increase the risk of a bad buying experience.
• Account Protection – Learn how to protect yourself from fake or spoof emails and keep your account safe. You'll also get some common-sense tips on protecting your identity online.
• Marketplace Policy – This tutorial will help you better understand some of the reasons for eBay’s site policies, as well as our guidelines for applying consequences when they are violated. Learn more about eBay’s level playing field, the possible consequences of listing “fake” items, and why some listings are cancelled while other similar listings are not.

These tutorials use easy-to-understand explanations and examples to help you understand and apply safe behaviors while you are on eBay – and each tutorial takes only a few minutes to complete. As the holiday season approaches, I encourage you to complete these tutorials – whether you’re a new member looking for more information on eBay’s policies, or an experienced member looking to refresh your knowledge.

You may also want to take our other policy tutorials:

• Intellectual Property Rules and VeRO
• Shill Bidding
• Feedback
• Search and Browse Manipulation (also known as keyword spamming)
• Fee Circumvention

Have fun and stay safe on eBay!

Sincerely,

Christine Hipwell
eBay Trust & Safety

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Hi everyone, it’s Ira Grossman from eBay Canada’s Community Team. I wanted to let you know that representatives from eBay’s Board Policy and Moderation team will be here for an informal get together next week to chat and address any Discussion Board questions, suggestions and ideas you may have. Please save the date and time.

Date: Tuesday, October 31, 2006
Time: 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM ET (10:00 AM - 11:00 AM PT)
Location: Canada Town Square Board

You can submit your question here in advance of the session. We will also answer questions submitted to us live during the session.

Do not be afraid because it’s Halloween - I hope you'll join us next Tuesday, October 31.

Regards,

Ira

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Hello, I’m Esteban Kozak with eBay’s Finding team. I’m here to introduce a new, optional way that you can sort listings on search results pages called "Best Match".

How "Best Match" Sorting Works
"Best Match" lets you sort the listings you see based on a concept called relevance. A particular listing's relevance is based on past buyer behavior, as well as information like the listing title and description.

With Best Match, what buyers do on the site affects the order in which listings are displayed. In other words, if buyers running a particular search often end up viewing, bidding on, or buying, a certain type of item more often, this will be factored into our relevance calculations. These types of items might then display higher on the page in subsequent searches.

One very important note: using the Best Match sorting option won’t change which items you see when you search – only the order in which listings are displayed.

Where to find "Best Match" sort
"Best Match" is a completely optional way buyers can sort their search results. You'll be able to find this option in the next few weeks by clicking the drop-down menu next to "Sort by" at the top of the results list. If you’d like this to become your default sort view, use the “customize display” link right next to the drop-down.

We're also working on another sort option that will let you sort listings by category. We’re hoping to release this feature in the next few weeks, so stay tuned!

I've started a thread on the Search discussion board with a list of Frequently Asked Questions and a screenshot that show you where to find the relevance option. I invite you to leave your feedback on Best Match there, too.

Sincerely,

Esteban Kozak
Finding team

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When is it? It all starts Wednesday, October 25, 2006 at 00:00:01 ET (12:00 AM plus one second on October 25, 2006) and ends Thursday, October 26, 2006 2:59:59 ET (2:59 AM plus 59 seconds).

Who is included? All users who list in Auction Format & Fixed Price on the Canadian site (www.ebay.ca) will be eligible for the promotion. Please note the exclusions below. Items re-listed that match the above eligibility will qualify for the promotion. Items listed in two categories will receive the promotional fee for each category.

What is excluded? Motors, Real Estate, Business & Industrial Categories, Ad Format, and Store Inventory listings will not be included in this promotion. The promotional rate does not apply to listings revised during the promotional period. The promotional rate also does not apply to listings created during the promotion October 25, 2006, but scheduled to start after the promotion ends.

Learn more about the 20 cent listing day.

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Welcome to the brand new eBay.ca – in French!

There’s now a Français link at the top of every eBay.ca page. That’s right, eBay Canada is now available in French! French-speaking Canadians have made a wonderful contribution to the eBay Canada community, and we’re pleased to be able to offer a site that meets their needs directly.

Currently eBay Canada has more than 775,000 registered eBay users in Quebec, and we hope that being able to navigate the site in French will draw even more francophone Canadians to www.ebay.ca. More buyers and sellers is good news for all of us, and we know eBayers will welcome all our new users with their usual warmth and good humour.

Sellers on eBay.ca in French may now list items in French, English, or bilingually, and may add a free subtitle in a second language of their choice. Buyers can search in English, French or both languages at once. The French site will be immediately populated with all listings available to Canada and from eBay sites in the U.S, U.K., Australia, France, Belgium and English Canada.

If you’d like to start receiving your communications from eBay in French, go to “My eBay” and select “Preferences”. Once you are on the “Preferences” page, click on the “Edit” link to expand the “Notification Preferences” tab. Then simply select French as your language preference. You can also bookmark the French site, or select it as your Internet home page.

To celebrate the launch of our new site, eBay made its first official play in French Canada with Montreal’s star goaltender Cristobal Huet, who posted a ceremonial first listing today on the new French site. Up for auction is a “meet and greet” with the young hockey star, including airfare and accommodation in Montreal, tickets for two to a Montreal vs. Toronto game, and signed memorabilia.

I’m very pleased to say that eBay will match the final selling price of the auction, with all proceeds going to the Sainte-Justine Hospital in Montreal. The auction is available at www.ebay.ca/huet, and closes on November 2, 2006. Bid now, and help us raise money for the children of Sainte-Justine Hospital.

So please join us in celebrating the launch of eBay.ca in French!

Jordan Banks
Managing Director
eBay Canada

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Announcing the eBay Fantasy Hockey Challenge. Pick your team and you could win fantastic prizes, including:

• Grand Prizes of $5,000, $2,000, $1,250 and $750 CDN to spend on eBay
• Sharp 32” Widescreen LCD HDTVs for the winners of each round
• Nikon D50 SLR Digital Cameras + Rocketfish 512 MB SD Cards for round runners-up
• SIRIUS Sportster Replays + Car Kits and Boomboxes for the round random winners

Plus if you’re one of our top 3 Grand Prize winners, eBay will make a donation on your behalf to minor league hockey in your home town.

Best of all, it’s FREE!

Enter before October 28, 2006 at 6:00 PM ET for the best chance to win.

Play now at www.ebay.ca/hockeypool

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Hi everyone...this is Bill Cobb, President of eBay North America. I'm here to invite you to our next Town Hall event on Thursday, October 26, 2006 from 2:00 PM to 3:00 PM ET.

As we get into the heart of the holiday buying and selling season, I wanted to make this an open-topic Town Hall. I’ve asked other leaders at eBay to join me on the 26th, and I invite you to submit your questions in advance through our Town Hall page at www.ebay.com/townhall. We'll also take questions submitted to us by listeners live during the event.

You can listen to the audio of this Town Hall through Windows Media Player or through Real Player. Details on how to download and install the latest versions of both of these are available on our Town Hall page.

I hope you can join us on Thursday, October 26th at 2:00 PM ET.

Sincerely,

Bill Cobb
President, eBay North America

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Who is eligible? Any Canadian resident eBay member who has never listed any item for sale as well as those who have tried selling on eBay and never been successful. Only your first five listings will be eligible.

What is excluded? Motors Vehicles, Stores Inventory Listings, Business and Industrial Capital Equipment, Real Estate Auction Format listings and Real Estate Ad Format listings will not be included in this promotion. The feature fee for the Value Pack feature bundle (which includes Gallery) will remain unchanged. The promotional rate does not apply to listings that start before the promotional period, but are then revised between October 15-22, 2006. The promotional rate also does not apply to listings created during the promotion October 15-22, 2006, but scheduled to start after the promotion ends.

Click here to learn more

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Hi, this is Matt Halprin again, and I manage the Global Trust and Safety Policy team at eBay. One of my team's core responsibilities is to help you better understand how to stay safe when buying and selling online. With the busy holiday season upon us, we think it’s an important time to remind everyone of the safe practices and good judgment that you should use all year round.

All of us at eBay are committed to preserving the safety of our marketplace and rely on you, the community, to help in this regard. As the internet has evolved and grown so have the trading opportunities for all of us. Unfortunately, this success has also attracted a number of bad players who prey on unsuspecting internet users. We don’t want that to happen to you.

Below are important safety tips that can help keep your accounts and personal information more secure and help guard against fraud, including spoof (also called phishing) emails and websites, and fake second chance offers.

• Never pay with Western Union or Money Gram. - eBay strongly encourages its members to avoid using instant cash wire transfer services such as Western Union or MoneyGram. It's against eBay’s Accepted Payments Policy for a seller to request payment via these methods as they've proven to be unsafe when paying someone the buyer doesn't know.
• Check My Messages to verify the authenticity of eBay emails. - Any email eBay sends you about your account or requesting personal information will also be in My Messages. Before responding to an eBay email asking for information about your account or requesting personal information, verify it's authentic by checking My Messages. If it's not in My Messages, it's a fake email. If you receive a suspicious email that looks like it's from eBay or PayPal, please forward it to spoof@ebay.com or spoof@paypal.com. We will respond (usually within minutes) to tell you whether or not the email is authentic.
• Always Verify Second Chance Offers. - Sending fake Second Chance Offers is a common trick used by fraudsters. If you receive an email with a Second Chance Offer for an item you recently bid on, please check your My Messages inbox (located in My eBay) on the eBay site to make sure the offer is authentic. If it appears in My Messages with the title 'eBay Second Chance Offer for Item...', it's authentic. If the Second Chance Offer does not appear in My Messages, or appears with a different title, it is not legitimate and should be ignored. Help us fight this, by reporting these fakes to spoof@ebay.com
.
• Download the eBay Toolbar and the PayPal SafetyBar. - The eBay Toolbar includes Account Guard which indicates when you are on a legitimate eBay or PayPal site, and alerts you when you are on a known fraudulent site. PayPal's SafetyBar detects fraudulent emails in your email program and puts them in the spam folder.
• Monitor your account regularly for suspicious activity. - Prevent problems by staying alert and catching any suspicious activity early. We recommend that you log into your eBay and PayPal accounts frequently to ensure that all the transactions listed are legitimate.
• Be suspicious of any email that requests personal information. - Be cautious of other emails that request you to click a link and submit your financial or personal information. If in doubt, call or contact the institution first to verify the authenticity of the email. Do not click on any links in this type of email if you can not verify it is authentic. Only enter your financial information on secure websites. Check that a website is secure by looking for the closed lock symbol near the bottom of your browser window. And, of course, use a payment method such as PayPal, which lets you pay without sharing your financial information with the person receiving your money. PayPal also covers you 100% against unauthorized money sent from your account.

You can find out the latest information on safety, security and identity theft protection by visiting the PayPal Identity Protection pages and the eBay Security & Resolution Centre.

We are always available for you if you have any questions or suggestions on how to make eBay safer.

Sincerely,
Matt Halprin
Vice President, eBay Global Trust & Safety Policy

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Hi everyone, it’s Ira Grossman from eBay Canada’s Community Team. I would like to invite you to attend the following workshop with eBay.ca’s Natural Search team next week:

Natural Search Workshop – Improving Your Search Engine Rankings & Traffic!

Interested in improving your rankings in search engines like Google, Yahoo and MSN? Looking to drive additional traffic to your eBay listings, Store, or About Me page? If YES, then you'll want to optimize your pages for search engines.

eBay Staff will be on hand to discuss how to improve your Search Engine rankings and traffic, as well as natural search best practices– so bring your questions!

Date:Wednesday, October 11, 2006
Time: 1:00 - 2:00 PM ET (10:00 AM - 11:00 AM PT)
Location: Canada Town Square Board

You can submit your question here in advance of the session. We will also answer questions submitted to us live during the session.

I hope you'll join us next Wednesday, October 11.

Regards,
Ira

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Hi everyone. Halloween starts a bit early this year on eBay with a little help from Hershey's!

I'm excited to kick off the eBay Trick or Treat and Win it Sweepstakes, running October 3-9. Enter and you could win a Grand Prize trip to spend Halloween at HERSHEYPARK in Hershey, PA or Hershey's candy treats for a year, or one of 700 First Prize $25 eBay Gift Certificates. There'll be one Grand Prize winner and 100 First Prize winners every day!

To automatically get an entry into our daily prize drawing, make a purchase on www.ebay.com or www.ebay.ca using Buy It Now or by winning an auction-style listing.

Now here's something else that's sweet - for one more entry into each day's prize drawing, put on your Halloween thinking cap and solve our Boo!Doku puzzle. Every day we'll feature a new puzzle you need to solve by placing Halloween-themed pictures in a grid so each row, column, and 3x3 square contains just one of each image. Logic is the trick to figuring out these puzzles, and you might just win a Grand Prize or First Prize treat!

Trick or Treat and Win it starts today, so get in the Halloween spirit — shop, buy and you could win!

Sincerely,

Bryan Ward
eBay Marketing

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This is now the final reminder that you will have until November 30, 2006 to redeem your eBay Anything Points toward your eBay purchases and seller fees. All Points that have not been used by November 30, 2006 will be forfeited.

If you encounter any difficulties in redeeming up your Points, please contact eBay Customer Support. For more information regarding the phase-out of the eBay Anything Points program, please see the Anything Points home page at http://pages.ebay.ca/anythingpoints/index.html.

eBay Anything Points must be used in conjunction with a valid PayPal account and in accordance with the eBay Anything Points Loyalty Program Terms and Conditions available at http://pages.ebay.ca/anythingpoints/terms/index.html.

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