So why not just add live.com to your google queries to get the ad impression. Google to live to cash back some day.

" In some cases, users also complained that Redmond wasn't returning as much as it said it would.

In the early days of the bribery machine, eBayers noticed they could game the system by selling $630 in cash for $714. But Microsoft says it has ways of stopping this."

These are directly related. Microsoft's "ways of stopping this" amount to reducing the % payback on high-dollar transactions. Originally they paid back 35%, so the seller gets $84 straight off (714-630). The buyer gets 35% of 714 back, that's like $250 (so the buyer would clear $166 more or less.) Well, the simple way of stopping this was to reduce the paybacks.... they're more like 10% now, it's not so enticing to try this for a $35 apiece or so take. (There's also a clause about not allowing "sham" transactions that I'm sure is meant to cover this as well.)

But, of course, that leads to people not looking at updated terms and conditions or whatever, and going "Microsoft isn't paying what they said they would."

But the monkeys working on Live Search ain't the same monkeys pounding away at the keyboard and writing Hamlet, er Windows.

Microsoft, Ebay and PayPal in the same room. RUN FOR YOUR LIVES !

Talk about a congregation of criminals.