Hello J

Please forgive me for the not so personal note below, I hope this provides an explanation for the recent ebay & paypal events and please always know my doors are open and the light is burning should you ever have a concern, thought or wish.

For eBay, I am trying my best at working this out and writing this note for all of my customers to provide an explanation of these events. I know because this is an extremely emotional & financial issue for me that this may not be the most professional letter I have written. I am beside myself with grief & confusion to put it mildly. Forgive me for the impersonal nature of this as well, I have typed for hours with eBay chat since there is no telephone support available for this issue, my fingers are barely cooperating these days and the mountain of emails has been overwhelming, I am thankful for the many notes of encouragement and this is what is keeping myself from escaping to a hole in the ground.

I have never known the expression of when it rains it pours to be so true as it has been for me this past few weeks. It began with eBay activity that was unauthorized and brought to my attention as well as paypal purchases I did not make. In a nutshell it has been a snowball accumulating down the hill of problems and eBay has made the latest decision to suspend me and contact each of my customers that I have dealt with this past year. Their explanation to me on the first light there was an issue is to not be concerned as it was an ebay mistake or in their words a 'spoof' and will be taken care of. I have not heard any answer on why emails were sent as they were and why it seems my reputation is being wrapped up in the snowball that is getting covered in mud. I am struggling with how I could do more than just chat with ebay tech & safety support yet am not given the opportunity and am still waiting for a telephone call or email with explanations & solutions.

For the past few years I have maintained a 100% positive feedback rating, recently made it to #500 and have enjoyed repeat visits from wonderful folks that have found me through eBay. The cost of doing business is quite high and often I do not make a profit other than building a new relationship - which is priceless. With these thoughts I have continued with my listings and auctions and have praised eBay highly to other businesses and friends. To say this is a disaster of events is easy for me to do right now. I am disappointed that ebay could not contact me to discuss once the first sight of trouble appeared and has taken it upon themselves to make me feel as though I have done something wrong. With these happenings on top of my unexpected move this past season I have made some mistakes yet have been trying to fully amend while dealing with this. An example of the size is that on a typical day last year I would receive perhaps 100 emails that needed to be sorted as they were inquiries, sales and comments. With these events it is safe to say I am receiving nearly 300 per day if not more. I personally read & answer each one the best I can. Production is an 8-12 hour day in itself so when ebay & paypal purchases started appearing the days grew in length considerably. Paypal had my my account name changed for a short time (unknown to me until after it was done) and I spent days with paypal trying to sort out the real purchases from the false and correcting my personal information. During this I am sure mistakes were made yet felt I could stay on top of it. Apparently I needed more help than I realized. And since a few days prior to Christmas paypal decided to freeze my account and encourage claims to be made from every customer I have had with them, as it seems, I am still running a checklist of folks who received notes. I have had some file a claim and then write me for help, as they received their items months ago and are simply confused...as I would be if the tables were turned! So, now for 2007 I am faced with the reality that the internet may be good yet cannot be depended on and resolute to go back to my pre-eBay days of business. This seems to suit me fine as I have been living with no electricity since last summer and am getting along quite well. The only need I have for power is this computer. Thankfully I have had the opportunity to set my office elsewhere and only need to drive a bit over 20 minutes to enter the world of electricity :)  I still have inventory and am still taking orders as I am able, with funds seized and ebay canceling nearly $200 worth of auctions & listings twice now I am at a sad place to begin 2007 yet know with my good actions that have been made all will come together soon enough and have faith my business will grow and produce a brighter flame than ever before.

Feel free to communicate with me anytime, you may always leave a message for me by calling 207-754-6001, I am able to check messages at least once a day if not more (I must drive to reach a cell phone signal). Email seems to have had problems so if you feel I did not receive a note please do resend to mail 'at' naturesflame.com or/and naturesflame 'at' adelphia.net.

I have received many emails regarding items purchased and not having the opportunity to leave feedback. Should you like to send your thoughts to ebay, please do. Perhaps it may help me, perhaps not J however at this point anything is worth a try.

I have placed a bulletin board on my website, please use this in any way you like, I will be able to check this once a day as well to respond to posts.

Thank you for allowing me the chance to explain, I greatly appreciate the patience & kind notes of encouragement sent from so many!

A faithful Candlemaker in Maine,

Bethany

January 17, 2007 - A quick note that I am working to remove paypal from my website. Should you like to place an order please email me with your request. I will be working to place a simple online order form and will continue to only take payments sent by check or money order to:

Nature's Flame Candles

PO Box 337

Temple, ME 04984

You are welcome to email or telephone me with any questions or thoughts!

Thank you, Bethany