A brief update:

I've been able to get a response from eBay from a *named* person. The contents didn't amount to much but the personal response is a bit more positive.

I did pay via PayPal, who have now told me they won't pay my money back, for reasons they won't specify. That's no surprise.

Like I said right at the beginning, the loss of a CD isn't a big deal, but the whole process is quite interesting: finding your way around a massive corporation and trying to find pathways through it. People have worse problems when they buy new computers, for example, so I know I don't have much to complain about in comparison.

I can only assume that eBay makes its contact process so obscure in order to discourage communication / complaints - there can't be any other reason. It makes bad business sense, but they're obviously doing so well they don't need to worry, and any competition is really insignificant.

Norman

PS The CD I lost was an album of new Woody Guthrie songs by The Klezmatics, similar to Billy Bragg's. I'll just go back to Amazon, or see if they're selling it themselves.