At 22:24 10 April 2013, wrote:

As to W&W's exclusivity policy, I don't know how long it's been in effect
o=
r how it's been communicated in every case. Is it =93secretive=94? I
agree
=
it's not disclosed on the site. Several references now have mentioned
that
=
it's been communicated via email, at least sometimes. Horrors!! When's
the
=
last time you clicked on "free offer" on a Web site and only then learned
y=
ou had to register and provide personal information to get it? Annoying?
Ma=
ybe, depending on how much you really wanted that free offer (nothing is
fr=
ee, guys). But deceptive or unethical? Some obviously think so; others
disa=
gree.=20

Whatever your opinion about whether this make sense for W&W or how
sellers
=
react to it, I can't see how anyone is harmed.

I have been waiting for sometime for someone else to deduce why an
exclusive policy is not only bad but can never ever work on the internet.
Let us assume that there is some rsole who decides that he wants a real pop
at a site that has an exclusive policy.
He sets up a new "free ad" site. He then cuts and pastes all the ads from
the exclusive site onto his own site, which being in Cuba is not accessible
to US Law. The ads are now posted on two sites. The eclusive site contacts
the owners of the ads instructing them to remove the ad from the other
site, which of course they cannot do as they do not control the site. All
the ads are removed from the exclusive site which now has no ads. Any new
ad is cut and pasted and gets removed.
A site with free ads is not going to get many visitors if it has no ads.
QED you have to think these things through.