I have spent a lot of time reading the eBay boards and have learned quite a bit about some of the people there. (yes, I bore easily!
)dandaman - I don't know if you ever found out why you were banned from a particular sellers' auctions but I have come across reasons that it MIGHT be - and I stress 'might.'
1. If you have ever posted anything on the eBay boards about a problem and the board determined that you were at fault - sellers will add you to their blocked list.
2. If you've ever sent a seller a derogatory email - they'll block you.
3. If you weren't very nice in a feedback you left.
4. If you've ever been slow at paying or not paid at all.
5. If you've ever questioned a seller's auction or their integrity - spelling, graphics, something of the sort.
6. If you have a 'habit' of leaving mainly 'neutral' or 'negative' feedback.
7. If you have less than 'x' amount of feedback and you bid on an item and the seller thinks that you may be an NPB.
These are just a few of the reasons that I've found that sellers will block a bidder. It seems that if one seller complains and other sellers agree - you can hit the BBL and never know it.
Some of the reasons that I have discovered are NUTS! One seller blocked a guy because his English was so bad that she couldn't understand a question that he asked! Another blocked a bidder because he/she felt that the bidder was stupid! (This was based on an email that the seller had received.)
I don't know if you fit any of these things - you don't sound like you do - but some of the sellers are so totally paranoid, that a person can get blocked for the littlest things!
Again, my apologies to all for resurrecting this.
Crafty