Sunday, May 18, 2008

Changing Your IP Address

Once they shut down your account, you need to do the obvious, like empty out all your cookies, maybe even changing browsers. With IE 7, you can restore to factory defaults, and clear all private data in one shot. The big way they get you is your IP Address. So, you will need to forcibly change your IP Address through your Modem and/or Router.

Direct To Modem


1) Go to the start menu, click on run and type CMD
2) Type in IPCONFIG
3) That is the current IP address (assuming you dont have a routed hooked up)
4) Now you are going to type IPCONFIG/RELEASE
5) You will be disconnected from the internet --- Go to Start menu, My Network Places, Click on Network Connections in the left menu, Right click on your internet connection (It may be Local Area Connection, something to that affect)...anyways, right click and select properties
6) Now select Internet Protocal (TCP/IP) and select properties
7) Choose Use the following IP address and type in the following:
IP ADDRESS: 192.168.11.100
Then just click on the Subnet Mask and it will fill it in
8) Next Click OK to close that window and then OK on the other window
9) It will take a couple seconds and then once you are able to, click back on properties for the Internet Protocal (TCP/IP) and select Obtain An IP Address Automatically
10) Click OK and OK to close those windows and now go back to the CMD prompt and type in ipconfig/all
11) As you will see, the IP has changed!!!
12) Now this is the COOL part, you can copy that information (you will need IP Address, Subnet Mask, Default Gateway, and the DNS Servers) and mark it down for one of your eBay accounts.....When you want to go back to that IP, you just go back to the properties section of the Internet Protocal (TCP/IP) and type in all of that information that you wrote down...BOOM....you are at that IP again (dont believe me, then go to Find My IP Address - Lookup)
13)You can easliy switch between IPs this way and you dont even have to unplug the modem.

Through a Router


What you need to do is change the MAC ID for the ROUTER ONLY. The reason why people still get the same IP is because of this. The original MAC ID is located on the bottom of the router so there is no need to copy or write it down if you ever want to revert back to it later.

The first step is to connect your Ethernet cable from your computer to the router so they can communicate and adjust settings. You do not need to do anything with the cable modem at this time. It will be towards the end.

Open up IE (internet explorer) or Firefox and type in your router address, mine is 192.168.0.1 if you don't know it then look in your router manual or cd that came with your router. Or goto the Run command and type in "cmd" and the ipconfig/all and you will see you router address.

Enter your login name/password if you have it set, mine is "admin" which is default. Now the menus is different for each router company. Just find the option that says MAC ADDRESS and click on it or click on manual settings and you should see your MAC ADDRESS. It looks like 6 boxes with 12 numbers and letters in sets. For example 01-5d-b2-42-f1-65

Now you want to change the MAC ADDRESS by doing the following.
Leave the first box the same. You only have to change the other boxes with numbers from 0-9 and letters from a-f but keeping the letters and numbers in the same position and only changing the value for example 01-4b-c5-31-a3-45

After you have replace them click on save settings or apply settings.
You will lose internet connection at this time. Now the final step is to unplug your router and your cable modem for about a minute or so and plug it back in. give it couple minutes to initialize and check your ip at ipchicken.com

You now have a new IP address. Repeat the process to get a new IP address through your router.

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

How I Became Fucked

I really should change the name of this site "How I Became Fucked". Amazon shut down my first account last week, so I started using a Random Proxy to Mask my IP Address. Well, yesterday a program I was using stopped working, and while I was on Amazon, they got my real address, and shut down my money making account. They are now holding over $2500 for *90* days. This is outright theft in my opinion, and why I never wanted to sell on there in the first place. I have since figured out how to do it manually myself, but what the hell?

This whole online selling has been a miserable experience. Now, I simply can not pay my bills because they are holding money that is rightfully mine, and now I can't even unload the inventory I have here. Sure, I have an eBay account, but with that mess over there, it's only a matter of time before that gets shut down as well.

Saturday, May 10, 2008

eBay Alternatives

Here is a list of FeeBay alternatives for all your buying and selling needs.

http://www.UseBid.com
http://www.eCrater.com
http://www.HiBidder.com
http://www.OldandSold.com
http://www.PlunderHere.com
http://www.Bidville.com
http://www.iOffer.com
http://www.fididel.com
http://www.blujay.com
http://www.tazbar.com
http://www.overstock.com
http://www.Amazon.com
http://www.mildbid.com
http://www.mommyacutions.com
http://www.specialistauctions.com
http://www.payifsell.com/
http://www.wagglepop.com/
http://www.onlineauction.com/
http://www.etsy.com/
http://www.flugpo.com/
http://www.kananabid.com/
http://www.zlio.com/
http://www.auctionquests.com/
http://www.neoloch.com
http://www.zipidee.com
http://www.tias.com
http://www.ziing.com
http://www.yourhighbid.com
http://www.yardsalepirate.com
http://www.wensy.com
http://www.usiff.com
http://www.ubid.com
http://www.ubidright.com
http://www.specialistauctions.com
http://www.qxl.com
http://www.quty.com
http://www.payifsell.com
http://www.overnightauctions.com
http://www.oldandsold.com
http://www.northwestblvd.com
http://www.loudfrog.com
http://www.bestbay4u.com
http://www.jaxbids.com
http://www.biddersnsellers.com
http://www.kagoo.com
http://www.miniaturesonly.com
http://www.sellmylens.com
http://www.usold.net

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Repatoo

Oh... I really like this site. Genius. Pure, Genius. http://beta.repatoo.com/

Search Engine Code to Text Ratio

This was interesting:

http://www.seochat.com/seo-tools/code-to-text-ratio/

To anyone who Cares

I had sent the following email, of sorts, to Amazon after I was kicked off for being the worst seller EVER! Of course, all I got back was a canned response about how I will never be allowed back on, even if I try to sneak in. It's just wrong. Seriously.

To Amazon:
I was really hoping that Amazon would care more for the sellers than eBay. I guess not. I say this because all you did was look at some blanket numbers, and not a situation. I am an excellent seller. You could easily see that my Positive Feedback isn't just 5 stars each, it is people actually thanking me for the good solid customer service I provide. If this email is not read, and my case is not reviewed by someone who is willing to look at my sales as a whole, then your entire system is flawed, and you are doing your sellers, and customers, an injustice.

I just logged in and saw two more people left bad feedback without contacting me first! While I can clearly see why you needed to do something, this just shows several flaws with the system.

1) Being permanently banned without ever having a chance to rectify the situation with my customer. As I am selling the same exact item as other vendors, it was just luck of the draw I got sellers who did not like the product.

2) I was selling almost two thousand different items. All I had to do was stop selling the items in question. Ban the item, not the seller.

3) My competition has over 1000 feedback. He can afford bad feedback all day long. I have no idea why I could only get 10% of my customers to rate me. I tried with every sale.

4) To add insult to injury, today was my payday, and you are holding all my money. This, of course, means I can't pay any of my bills. But hey, you know, whatever.

Yeah, I know. I'm just wasting my time. Your policies are law, and no one is going to help me. I don't know why I ever thought I could do this as a full time job. This was worse than a day job. One day i wake up, and three people I've never spoken to before just say whatever they want, and I'm out of business.

----

Hello from Amazon.com.

Thank you for writing. We have considered your request for
reinstatement. Upon careful consideration, we have decided your
account will remain blocked.

While we appreciate your interest, please understand that the
closure of an account is a permanent action. Any subsequent accounts
that are opened will be closed as well. Thank you for your
understanding with our decision.


Best regards,

Seller Performance Team

Kicked off Amazon

After 3 months of selling on Amazon, yesterday one person did an A-Z claim, one gave a neutral feedback, and another gave negative. By 7pm I was kick off their system and told I could never sell on there again. Before I went to bed, I sold another 5 MP3 players. Even though it seemed silly at the time, I have been running two Amazon accounts for about a month with different names, banks, and addresses. So, it doesn't seem so silly now, does it?

I needed to flush all cookies and stuff from both my computers. I downloaded an IP Address anonymizer so that Amazon would now see me as from a different address. I also used a completely different web browser. I needed to do all this because they can track my IP address and shut down this second account as "Guilt by Association". I have been going on Amazon as the second account a few times now, and so far so good.

But now i am living my life paranoid again, just waiting for Amazon or eBay to kick me off again for no good reason. They kill your business, ask questions later, then expect you to be nice and honorable to the customers that just screwed you over. I genuinely feel this is a stupid way to make a living. I don't have one stupid boss, now every single customer becomes a problem. They don't bother to leave positive feedback, but they go out of their way to leave negative before contacting me first.

Saturday, May 3, 2008

No more Selling on Ebay

Previously, I knew the changes sucked, and I knew that sellers were leaving eBay because of it. I, too, have decided that selling on eBay is more trouble than it is worth. It is clear their intention is to remove all the small sellers, and keep only the biggest sellers. I am letting my listings expire, then calling it quits.

If you read back, or have followed this blog, you would know that as of February 5th, I have had nothing but problems and run ins with eBay and Paypal. I am an AWESOME seller. I totally, and completely RESENT how they are treating me as a seller. Amazon may not be perfect, but after several months, they have kept their nose out of my business.

www.HotAndVintage.blogspot.com wrote a condensed version of the new eBay policies that have started May 1st, 2008. Below is a copy of it:

1. Feedback Changes
A. Buyers will only be able to receive positive feedback effective May 2008.
B. Feedback older than 12 months will no longer be applied towards your
feedback percentage.
C. Neutral Feedback will now be considered as negative to determine buyer
dissatisfaction rate and seller account restrictions
2. DSR'S (Detailed Seller Ratings)
A. eBay allows buyers to think that a 4.0 (on a scale of 1-5) denotes good
business practices by the seller regarding item as described, communication,
shipping time and shipping and handling charges, while sellers are subjected to
various penalties for that same score.
B. DSR's are rated on a curve. Results of this curve may make even a rating of a 4.8
the median in a given rating category.
C. DSR'S will now be intertwined with "Best Match" search positioning.
D. eBay is unjustly red-flagging "good" sellers as well as "bad" sellers by stating
sellers with a 4.5 rating (On a scale of 1-5) now have a "low" rating, thereby
implying they are in the category of "bad sellers".
E. "Bad" Sellers will be kept because of their monetary value.
3. Minimum 21 Day PayPal Hold For Risky Sellers And Risky Categories
A. Sellers whose total feedback score is not more than 100 will have payments held
for up to 21 days.
B. Risky category sellers will be subjected to a 21 day hold, even well established
sellers.
C. Sellers with 5% or greater negatives in a 30 day period will be subject to the 21
day hold regardless of the circumstances.
4. Unreasonable Fee Increases
A. Promoted to the Ebay community as decreases, only the insertion fees were
decreased. Insertion fees decreased by $.05 with the gallery picture given free
($.35 savings) yet FVF (final value fees) raised by as much as 66%
B. Reserve fees increased from $1.00 to $2.00 and will no longer be refunded if
the item sells.
C. Store FVF's (final value fees) increased to 12% above and beyond monthly and
listing fees.
5. Miscellaneous
A. The universal anonymous bidder policy promotes additional
unsafe buyer practices and has led to buyers losing trust in the system.
B. The majority of Power Sellers will not qualify for newly stated discounts
C. The note "This item is not covered by buyer protection on eBay," which is
placed in two areas of the listings of sellers who do not offer PayPal, causes
harm to the good sellers' reputations and intimidates buyers.
D. eBay sellers are red-flagged on their listing page if their rating is 4.2 and below.(per the beta test)
E. When sellers are red-flagged, eBay also lists other sellers' items on said sellers' listings. (per the Beta Test for eBay Express items)
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