My in-laws are back from a trip overseas, and it seem that my father-in-law's eBay account is suspended as well as my buying account and my brother-in-law's account (see: this entry about why eBay are morons and then the entry with more about why eBay are morons and then this entry about what I wrote to the morons at eBay if you want/need to know more about this sickening ongoing saga). It turns out that my father-in-law's account is suspended, too. Apparently, he posted to the eBay boards, protesting the "required to use PayPal" thing and eBay decided that he was my brother-in-law and my brother-in-law was me or whatever it is that they decided. My father-in-law is not impressed, to say the least.

My mother-in-law's account is intact. Apparently, she didn't post to the boards, so that was okay. You can use the same IP address (and even the same computer) but you can't post to eBay's boards from any IP address that I've used. Whatever.

I haven't heard back from eBay regarding my suspension, but I only posted the letter yesterday. The probably got it today (generally, Melbourne to Sydney is an overnight delivery). They'll almost certainly drag their feet on it. I may hear back eventually. Who knows. I don't really care that much, and that's the truth. If they want to lose a customer, it's fine with me.

I did, however, receive an unpaid item strike on account of all this bullsh*t. As it happens, I know the seller quite well and I was in contact with her as soon as my account was suspended. I asked her to invoice me. She was very sympathetic, having had her own account suspended for stupid stuff in the past. However, she's currently on vacation, and I think she must have an automated thing to file a non-paying bidder dispute after seven days. Since I am currently suspended, she automatically "won" the dispute. She can (and I'm sure she will) reverse the strike against me when she gets back from her vacation and realises what happened. In the meantime, I'm wearing a strike because eBay thinks I'm my brother-in-law.

EBay deserves every bit of bad corporate karma they're reaping in the courts these days. Until and unless they do right by their customers, they're going to fail. I don't post much about their corporate bullsh*t here, but trust me, I keep an eye on what they're up to (because I follow e-commerce trends in general, and I used to be an eBay PowersSeller until I figured out how unreliable they are as a business platform... and said so on the eBay boards back in 2006... and got suspended from them...)