Two of my music tracks have become quite popular in China, but I was informed that it's difficult for Chinese to buy from I-Tunes. I listed these tracks as MP3s on ebay.com and over the last few days they have sold quite fast, mainly to people from Hong Kong.

Ebay picked up on the increase in activity on my account and today sent me an email saying that I was suspended for "feedback manipulation". It seems they assume that I have been buying my own tracks and leaving myself feedback. This is not just nonsense but highly implausable. I would have to have several ebay accounts with several different credit cards issued in different nations, plus several different paypal accounts.

I have checked my paypal account which confirms the names and addresses of the buyers. Most have verified paypal accounts. I've asked Paypal to support me in my dispute with Ebay, and have informed Ebay that I will be pursuing this matter through legal channels if necessary.

I expect to receive several automated responses before I get through to a real person.

I had just begun to relist my music on bay after my two month boycot of them from when they accused me of being in violation of my own copyright. On that occasion they backed down only as far as claiming that they acted correctly since I had not informed them that I owned the copyright. However, they make it clear that we can only list items we have the right to sell, so by listing items we are informing them that we have that right. It is then up to ebay to prove otherwise.

So, for now, I'm suspended for a minimum of 30 days, and they say they will not review my position until that time is up.

It's a sad reflection of the general 'assumption of guilt' attitude which has infected modern society. Or the big company kicking the little guy in the balls because they think they can get away with it.

We have not the same problem but an annoying one PBS.
I Tunes have not paid us this month.
How many more are there with this problem and how many funds are being held?

We've not tried listing music on ebay. Maybe we shouldn't now. We went "LIVE" via Tunecore last summer but received no stats for any month until March 2008. Still waiting to see if we get any stats for April. When I asked about the preceding months I got an email saying we won't receive data until we go "live", but we'd already been "live" for five months by then.

Maybe it's lengthy teething problems. Other Tunecore clients might be able to sged some light on their prectices.

eBay are about to stop people from auctioning electronic downloads soon as well, it's another thing that they are paranoid about. Ah well, at least via eBay I got hold of an Entertainment USA vid!

I think the way to use Ebay, is stick a few copies on and see if a distributor buys them, well worth a go in this climate. It hardly matters about sales sadly at the moment, but appearance is vital.

For those interested in such matters. The legal statement re. this case can be found here.

http://paulboonstewart.tripod.com/id2.html

I think that statement covers just about everything. The big question is whether Ebay will take any notice. These large corporations tend to have so much money and legal muscle that they feel safe from any actions taken by an individual. I'll be surprised if they don't just ignore it and possibly suspend you for life for having the audacity to challenge them.

That said, I hope you're succesful.

It does look as though ebay are about to cancel all their listings for digital downloads. It's a pity, as this will be a major form of future trading and they may be cutting themselves out of a mass market. Of course, anybody can copy and sell digital music illegally, but anyone can steal a CD or necklace and sell it illegally. I think ebay is showing signs of new technology phobia.

Tunecore tend to not update account info unless the various stores send them data. It would be less frustrating for some artists if they at least put a message saying that "no sales have been recorded for this month" rather than just putting nothing. However, that is the way Tunecore operate at the moment. I think they have plans to alter things in the future, once they've worked out the best way.