~~~ were like that back then.

I also would call eBay six or seven times a week asking for their advice and permission to do what some customers requested (end auction and sell privately) and they never objected. I even offered to pay eBay for their services of me listing and they refuse to take any money from me... and I sold a ton of chips that way for many years. The only thing they used to tell me was that I would not be able to leave feedback and I documented all that here and it's archived.