RE: E Bay Id's
Yep, Ebay (US) tries all the dodgy stuff on the other ebays (UK, Aus) first, never implementing it on eBay US (most of the ideas suck) but once "we" have the changes made, they never revert if the changes are considered a failure aka not good enough for eBay US.
Stupid changes like non-transparent bidding, the new "PayPal-only" payment scheme (they say its for safety, when its really just guaranteeing more cash to them, PayPal being owned by eBay)