Note: This is a Rant at . Please stop reading now if you don't want to listen to me vent my spleen. My anger towards for their negligence in policing their site is equivelent to the anger I usually reserve for Dick Cheny and his toady GW in the conduct of a war where America's finest are dying uselessly in droves, or my anger towards drivers in the passing lane that are driving at 10 mph lower than the speed limit side-by-side with an equally slow driver in the right lane.

This morning I looked at my search results e-mail for all new additions to "Collectibles> Casino> Chips> Individual Casino Chips" as I do every day, since my searches don't always pick up everything for which I am looking. The results really pissed me off, to an extent logorithmeticly greater than I feel every morning with this search.

As you know if you use searches, the search result e-mail only shows the first 12 new items. You have to push the "see all results" to bring up the whole category. In this morning's search there were 1024 new items added to the casino chips category, which is fairly typical. The e-mail from revealed, once again, that does not enforce it's own rules to protect its buyers, sellers, or itself.

1. has a rule that it is a listing violation to miscategorize auctions.

2. The rule, copied from 's extensive list of rules is, verbatim:

"Items must be listed in the appropriate category. Violations of this policy may result in a range of actions, including:

Listing cancellation
Limits on account privileges
Account suspension
Forfeit of eBay fees on cancelled listings
Loss of PowerSeller status"

The rule is located at http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/listing-categorization.html

3. Recognizing there was a certain ambiguity in the "Collectibles> Casino> Chips> Individual Casino Chips" added two categories as it pertained to card guards and and non-casino collectible chips; "Collectibles> Casino> Chips> Poker Card Guards" and "Collectibles> Casino> Chips> Poker Chips", in addition to the existing "Collectibles> Casino> Chips> Storage, Supplies" and "Collectibles> Casino> Chips> Sets".

4. Over the course of one week I reported to each auction that was in the Individual Casino Chip category that was obviously, just by reading the title and looking at the picture, not a casino chip. Primarily I found non-casino fantasy chips, sold individually or in sets, made specifically for collectors, items self-described as card-guards, and sets chips advertised as poker chips.

5. I used 's rule violation reporting system and chose, from the 3 stage drop-down menu "Listing Policy Violations" > "Other Listing Policy Violations" > "Miscategorized Items".

6. I received the following reply from with each complaint of 10 auctions (10 is the maximum number of auctions that can be reported in a single e-mail).

"We will thoroughly review the listing(s) or Want It Now post(s) you have reported for violations of our Categorization Policy. We often rely on
members like you to bring these violations to our attention. Because many buyers use the category structure to more efficiently locate items,
maintaining the integrity of the categories improves the buyer's experience and results in increased sales. In light of our privacy policy, we cannot share any action taken by eBay with respect to this listing or post. If we determine that the listing
or post violates eBay policy, we may:

1. Send the seller an informational alert;
2. Move the listing to a more appropriate category;
3. Remove the listing or post; or
4. Suspend the seller.

Account suspensions are usually reserved for those sellers that continuously disregard policy."

7. I interpreted this that has promised to investigate the violations and take the appropriate action from the four listed possible consequences.

8. Based upon my experience since then, it appears there is no significant reduction in miscategorized auctions in "Collectibles> Casino> Chips> Individual Casino Chips" which I check in its entirety each day.

9. A question that comes to mind is, "since has a rule and has promised to enforce it, do I have any legal recourse?"

10. In any case, here are the results of the of the search e-mail received by me this morning listing the first 12 new additions to "Collectibles> Casino> Chips> Individual Casino Chips" for today:

Card Guards/Protectors 8 auctions Perhaps these should be in "Collectibles> Casino> Chips> Poker Card Guards"
Display Stands for Chips/Tokens 3 auctions Perhaps these should be in "Collectibles> Casino> Chips> Storage, Supplies"
Stardust $1 Casino Chip 1 auction Correctly Categorized

11. Now, I know this percentage isn't likely to be representative of the entire 1024 new auctions, but it is indicative of a serious problem in that sellers continue to violate listing rules and has not taken effective action to ameliorate the problem. In addition, there are several points I'd like to make on it is in 'ss best interest to enforce this rule.

a. Miscategorized items are detrimental to sellers, buyers, and for a number of reasons. Buyers tend to look for items in the appropriate category and will not find them if the item is in a different, incorrect category. This should concern because it results in a potentially lost sale which negatively impacts the final value fee will collect on that item.

b. Miscategorized items are detrimental to sellers because it can easily reduce the final price, or result in a lost sale by limiting the ability of a seeker of that item to find the auction.

c. Miscategorized items negatively impact buyers because their searches contain many items for which they are not searching, leading to frustration, distraction, and wasted time, resulting in negative feelings towards both and the sellers of the miscategorized items.

d. Miscategorized items demonstrate to both buyers and sellers that is not serious or sincere about enforcing its own rules and promises of enforcement. This leads to customer dissatisfaction and further encourages sellers to violate rules and also leads to serious frustration in buyers who my leave althogether, or curtail the their buying habits, which will result in lost revenues for both sellers and .
Please note that the only item with a bid in today's first 12 items is the casino chip. DUH!! After all, I would think most of the people looking in "Collectibles> Casino> Chips> Individual Casino Chips" are looking, strangly enough, for CASINO CHIPS!

For informational purposes, here are the 12 items that appeared on my "Collectibles> Casino> Chips> Individual Casino Chips" overnight search this morning:

Ducks Champ Champion Casino Poker Chip Card Guard Cover, Current bid: $5.99 (0 Bids), Shipping: +$2.50, End time: Jun-08-07 15:22 PDT

Set of 6 Star Wars Coin Poker Chip Card Cover Guard, Current bid: $4.99 (0 Bids), Shipping: +$4.00, End time: Jun-09-07 19:30 PDT

$1 Stardust Casino Poker Chip (Closed Nov 1) OBSOLETE!!,Current bid: $0.99 (1 Bid), Shipping: +$2.00, End time: Jun-09-07 19:30 PDT

Cleveland Cavs Cavaliers Poker Holdem Card guard #372, Current bid: $3.99 (0 Bids), Shipping: +$1.79, End time: Jun-09-07 19:34 PDT

4 Boston Sox Bruins Celtics Pats Poker Card Guards p370, Current bid: $6.99 (0 Bids),$24.95, Shipping: +$2.79, End time: Jun-09-07 19:38 PDT

Battlestar Galactica - Poker Chip - Card Guard, Buy it Now: $6.99, Shipping: +$2.25, End time: Jun-09-07 19:41 PDT

Boston Red Sox Baseball Poker Card Guard Cover 369, Current bid: $3.99 (0 Bids), Shipping: +$1.79, End time: Jun-09-07 20:34 PDT

Lucky Poker Card Guard/Protector, Feng Shui Coin, Current bid: $3.99 (0 Bids), Buy It Now: $7.99, Shipping: +$2.49, End time: Jun-09-07 20:43 PDT

COWBOYS Texas Hold'em Poker Chip Card Guard Protector, Current bid: $0.99 (0 Bids), Shipping: +$6.99, End time: Jun-09-07 21:11 PDT

15 BLACK DISPLAY STANDS FOR CASINO CHIP & TOKEN, Current bid: $6.00 (0 Bids), Shipping: +$2.80, End time: Jun-09-07 21:30 PDT

25 BLACK DISPLAY STANDS FOR CASINO CHIP & TOKEN, Current bid: $9.99 (0 Bids), Shipping: +$3.50, End time: Jun-09-07 21:32 PDT

25 DISPLAY STANDS FOR CASINO CHIP & TOKEN, Current bid: $9.99 (0 Bids), Shipping: +$3.50, End time: Jun-09-07 21:33 PDT

I know there are some out there in chipper-land who may disagree with me and my analysis. That's OK. Everyone has their opinions, and this one is mine.[/big