Wheels,
I don't border so much about whether it is ebay's or seller's customer. As a buyer I see no difference here, hence my comment in the earlier post.
Some sellers always insisted deal within ebay, and no outside ebay transaction. So in this case am I the seller's customer? Or am I ebay's customer.
I am not a seller, so I can't speak from a seller's point of view.
As a buyer, I have no problem where the ads location or how distractive it is. I want to know where the good coin hides, and if ebay can point me to the right location (or perhaps wrong location to the seller) I am happy.
At the end of the day that is what matters to me.
Definitely not fair to the seller. But since when ebay has been fair to seller? Probably long, long time ago.