Hi All,

Firstly I'd like to say a BIG THANK YOU to you all for your comments, suggestions and opinions.  It was very helpful hearing everyone's opinions and suggestions, and knowing I wasn't being unjustifiably frustrated!

The advice about getting eBay to call back - rather than calling eBay - was especially good advice, as I shall explain below.

So, to follow up:

I eventually decided to stop replying to the messages, calling eBay, and posted what I described to you guys to eBay's Australian and US Facebook Messenger (not posted to wall, but eBay's Facebook instant Messenger).

The VERY NEXT MORNING, I got a reply FB message from eBay USA, apologising for the frustration caused.  I was online, and the eBay FB representative said that the manager of the relevant department handling my case would be talking with his team to make sure this sort of situation wouldn't happen again ... (hopefully)

An hour later, I got a typical cut and paste message from eBay USA (still haven't heard anything from eBay Australia) saying "We understand that this process may have been somewhat inconvenient" (just a tad...lol) and "To help ensure your future trading success, we strongly encourage you to ship items in a timely manner. We would also like to take this opportunity to encourage you to take extra care in accurately and thoroughly describing the value and condition of the items you sell on eBay."

Given that I posted the items and tracking details THE VERY NEXT DAY, and used eBay's "sell similar item" templates, I still have no idea which item I sold/was selling was in question or why, and why they needed so much documentation.  Thank goodness I wasn't selling any unwanted Xmas presents or similar!

WHAT I WOULD DO IN FUTURE:

The advice about NOT calling eBay is accurate.  It seems when you call up customer care directly, the eBay CC staff don't have chance and usually don't read the case history notes or any of the correspondence relating to the case.  You basically have to describe what happend from beginning each time, upon which they tell you they'll write up some notes and pass your concerns onto the relevant department.  I think those extra notes they've been writing ... ad-hoc and on-the-fly over the phone ... just confused the situation.  Without reading the notes and messages beforehand, they didn't really understand the situation I believe, and it just got complicated. 

Better to get a call back, as it forces the CC staff to actually go through the case notes and message history, BEFORE they call you.

Also, I used the eBay Australia (Sydney) number everytime.  I never did contact eBay USA or International.  My calls were always re-directed either to Phillipines (during business hours) or USA (after hours) and I never spoke to anyone from Australia.  I think that also caused some communication breakdown, given that my Australia call went to Phillipines, who then had to write notes to Accounts Team in USA.

I HIGHLY recommend the social network path I eventually took, if all else fails.  The eBay FB response was very quick and responsive, and the person who replied me had read my case and message history, and new exactly what had happened.  My situation was resolved barely an hour after they messaged me back and told me my account was getting fixed.  Seems the social media team at eBay are more on the ball and responsive than the normal Customer Care ... no cut and paste replies at least!

Thanks again guys for all your kind comments, advice, opinions and suggestions.  It was very helpful ... I thought I was being unjustifiably frustrated and paranoid, so it was also good to know you guys shared the same opinion of the situation also.

Hopefully no one need go through similar in future ... (?)