> the billing address on the cc you had registered didn’t change?

All my contact info was still accurate – I’ve had the same USPS Post Office box for many years and I use it for almost everything that’s important (such as bank statements, bills, all purchases, other financial things, etc). The reason I do that, is because at least in this town, the PO Box is safer and more secure than delivery to the street address. I usually only use the street address when absolutely necessary such as for FedEx or UPS.

As I recall, the item I bought on eBay back in the 1990s, was shipped by postal mail to my PO Box – it was just a small old used memory-card which fit nicely in a padded envelope.

Some time later, I began to have some doubts about eBay when eBay first started using PayPal, after reading of PayPal horror stories.

And then a few years later when I got that notice from eBay I figured, well, it’s probably just as well because that way I won’t be tempted to buy anything from eBay again, because – given some of the problems that other people have had with eBay – it’s probably a blessing in disguise.

I got lucky with my first purchase – great seller, product arrived in good condition and worked fine (still using it, in fact) and was exactly what I’d ordered, etc. – but *now* I would not want to use eBay even if they hadn’t excommunicated me. No point in pushing my luck

Thanks for stopping by, and for the nice words about the post.  Yeah, your story about eBay’s ‘concern’ is something else — the billing address on the cc you had registered didn’t change?  Weird.

But in the many years since that lone purchase, I had moved across town. I updated my driver’s license info, and advised all other important agencies etc that need to know stuff about me. But I hadn’t used eBay in years and I had no reason to even remember that eBay existed.

I’m not sure which is more worrisome, the fact that eBay somehow figured out I’d moved (even though I still had the exact same PO Box and email addy that I’d always had there) *or* that eBay must be like the government (driver’s licenses, IRS, etc) where they get ‘concerned’ if you move and don’t tell them – EVEN IF you haven’t bought anything from eBay in many years!

Anyway I like your eBay/cult comparison. Certainly seems like that, alright.