The following is eBay’s final email to me. I’m not going to respond, as the point is fair enough. I wasn’t really trying to circumvent fees, however it’s easy to see how it’d be interpreted in that manner.

Here’s the email:

Hello Jeremy,

Thank you for taking the time to write eBay with your concerns. I’m happy to help you further.

With regard to your request for a telephone call, please understand that since eBay is an online company, our focus is to provide support to our community through the use of email. Therefore, at this time we are unable to offer the option of phone support.

I have reviewed your account history and the action taken with regard to the auction listing in question. I have determined that while your auction was in violation, you were provided with the incorrect violation notice. Please accept our apologies for this mistake.

Your listing for “Blogger for Hire – Start or Improve Your Blog”, item number 5142129647, was actually in violation of our Circumventing Fees policy because of the following information in your listing:

“If it is a fit, the blogger is happy to negotiate a deal to make the position a more permanent contract position for a reasonable fee”

This information indicates that you are willing to offer additional services outside of the auction to interested buyers. This is not permitted and a violation of our Circumventing Fees policies. For more information on our Circumventing Fees policy, please visit the following
URL:

http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/listing-circumventing.html

I have made an amendment to your account to remove the ‘No Item’ (User Agreement Section 5.1) violation from your account history and have replaced it with a Circumventing Fees violation.

For a better understanding of our listing guidelines and how they affect the way you list your items, please visit the following URL:

http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/listing-ov.html

It is my pleasure to assist you. Thank you for choosing eBay.

Regards,

eBay Community Watch