Recently I have been reading some guides posted here which have caused me to wonder, "Just what are some people thinking?"  I certainly am not in any way an expert on all things eBay - but some people seem to think they are.  In addition, others seem to have ideas that make me wonder how they got them in the first place.  So I decided to openly discuss some of them here.  Whether you agree or not - I think you'll find some valid points here.

#1 - Feedback.  I believe that everyone should leave feedback that is fair - on both sides of the transaction. If there is a problem - try to work it out first.  If you choose not to leave feedback - that is your choice - but don't complain when others won't leave it for you.  In addition, I have read guides here in which people complain about other eBayers by name - and how they did not like the feedback left by them.  That is something between you, them and eBay Inc.- it does not belong posted in a guide.  And you could be held legally responsible for any comments you make to the detriment of someone else - especially if it affects their online business.

#2 - Auctions/Stores.  Your auctions and/or stores are the place to hawk your wares - it is where you go all out to entice the buyer into making the purchase.  An eBay guide is not meant to soley introduce people to your listed auctions or stores.  If people choose to take a link to your sales- then so be it.  But you should not be pumping up your auctions or store in an eBay guide. 

#3 - Guide Title / Tags.  The title and tags to your guide should refer to what's actually "in" your guide.  But I have seen guides with titles about one subject and lo and behold, inside the guide is a completely different subject.  Most of the time the subjects of these misrepresented guides seem to be complaining about other eBayers, asking people to help find something the writer is looking for or pumping up the writer's own eBay store.

#4 - Shipping Costs.  This one really gets to me.  Anyone who's been around eBay even a short time knows that some people charge ridiculous prices for shipping. I will discuss two points here: Ridiculous shipping costs and Appropriate shipping costs.  A). Ridiculous costs:  When you see, for example, a $9.50 shipping cost for a 10 cent postcard - Don't bid on it - unless you are happy paying that inflated shipping price.  In some instances you may want to pay that ridiculous price (even though eBay frowns on inflated shipping).  For example.  You want to buy a Star Wars DVD that on average is going for between $5 and $9 plus $4 shipping - totaling between $9 - $13.  You find an auction where someone is selling the same DVD at a Buy it Now price of 99 cents plus $10 shipping.  you think - "Hey that guys a rip off on shipping!" And basically you are right - and he's not on the eBay best priced shippers list - That's for sure. :-)  But then you check through his feedback rating and see he has a rating of 99.3 % with 456 transactions.  Ok - so what's going on here?  First - it's obvious the seller is trying to avoid eBay fees by listing a low Buy it Now Price - and making up profit on the shipping.  No surprise there.  However, if you were to buy the item - you would pay a total price of $10.99 which is in the middle of the range of $9 - 13 that all the other DVD's were going for.  So you might think that the price is a pretty good one - and you'd be right.  Now- I am not advocating that you buy or not buy the item - I'm just stating that sometimes not all high shipping charges are the same. Is a price of $25 shipping on a pack of 70 cent gum ridiculous ? Of course it is.  Should you report it to eBay? You probably should.  But you should also ask yourself - how much do you want that pack of gum?  B).  Appropriate cost:  Anyone can go to the USPS web site and see the list of how much it costs to ship pretty much anything.  If you are going to ship a lot of items  - get yourself a postal scale and list in your auction what the price is going to be for each type of shipping service you offer.  Recently I read a guide which stated how your shipping cost should be the exact price as shown on the USPS web site - with maybe a dollar for handling added - but the person thought that was too much to add to the cost.  Well, everyone is entitled to their own opinion, and mine is to disagree with that.  Unless you are shipping in a flat rate USPS priority box - which the post office provides - then your shipping cost need not be the exact quote from the USPS web site.  Why you ask?  Because shipping and packing materials are not free all the time.  If I buy a DVD and the bubble mailer it comes in is in good shape - I will recycle it when I sell an item - and thereby save my buyer some shipping costs. (Some people will charge a small fee for the free mailer anyway - to average the cost for the times they have to buy materials)  However, sometimes a new envelope, a box, paper or packing peanuts are needed.  If I am out of free supplies - I have to purchase them to use.  That money comes out of my pocket.  And in that case it is only fair to pass along at least some of that cost to the buyer.  I do not have the time some others do to haunt the local supermarket or go dumpster diving for boxes.  If you do - then that's great.  But most of my auction activity whether it be listing sales or preparing items for shipment take place at night.  I am in fact typing this guide at 10:18 pm E.S.T. in the USA.  I will not go hunting for boxes in the dark.  I can say that 9 times out of 10 I am able to provide shipping supplies at little or no cost to me - and that is passed along to the buyer. But there is nothing wrong with charging 50 cents or 1 dollar or so in addition to the postal cost. There is an old saying around eBay that has been repeated in different forms, but it goes something like this.  ..It seems that most people want to buy a $50 item for $10 and then they want it expertly packaged and shipped priority with insurance and confirmation for $2....  Give an honest seller a break if they add a little to the shipping cost- after all - most people who buy from big online stores don't bat an eye to pay the $4 - 5 shipping they charge for a DVD, so if you are paying $3.50 here - and it included 50 cents for the envelope - get over it !

#5 - The $100,000 Guide/Review/Blog contest.  So, eBay is running this nice contest to give some $$.  It seems like they like guides with pictures added - there will be none of that here :-)  This guide is not written for that reason, although I certainly won't turn down the cash if offered.  Anyway - my point is, there is now a rash of people submitting guides or blogs just to win the contest.  Nothing wrong with that - and I have seen some really good guides by people who have not been posting them before.  However, there seems to be some people posting short guides - or rather - one paragraph opinions on some topic.  Most of them contain little value and are very short -  for example, "Save your buyers $$ on shipping cost and combine items like I do!  Thanks, Dude!"  I cannot see how these individuals think they have a shot at a prize.  If they took the time to read the contest rules, the guides are judged on different criteria - it's not "pick a guide out of a hat and win day".  What these individuals are doing is making it more time consuming to separate the good guides from the bad.

Finally, there are other topics to consider on this issue - but frankly I'm getting tired of typing.  Feel free to agree or disagree with me - it's your right (in most countries anyway), but I believe if you really listened to what I had to say here, you will see that I did make some valid points. 

Vote for this guide any way you like - or don't vote for it at all - but most importantly remember this.....Whether in the real world or in the online world - treat others the way that you would like to be treated in return.  ....99 times out of 100 you will be pleased with the results - the other 1 time ?.......Take the sour lemons and make some lemonade and then move on with your life..........