Novelty bank notes, Ivory, laser pointers: Banned on eBay

October 21, 2008

eBay have announced this morning three new sets of products which are banned on eBay. In truth these products are not able to be sold legally in the UK so it’s not great loss.

It’s a criminal offence to produce novelty bank notes resembling British currency and from the 27th October these will be covered under the eBay Counterfeit Currency and Stamps policy. Ivory is a contentious issue as there are a few exceptions where it can be legally sold but eBay are prohibiting all sales of Ivory to prevent unscrupulous dealers from falsely claiming their items were legal antiques. There are already guidelines in force for the sale of laser pointers and eBay are merely mirroring these guideline on the site and they’ll now be covered by the Hazardous Materials policy

For most sellers it’s business as usual, for those whose products are affected it’s worth checking 30 day and Good-til-canceled listings to ensure they’re ended prior to the bans being enforced.

Written by Chris Dawson · Filed Under Site Changes, eBay.co.uk | 10 Comments 

Chip shop raffle taken away?

April 9, 2008

This post was written in April 2008; specific information contained within it may be out of date.

Creative Commons License photo credit: _JohnMuir

If your listings are breaking eBay’s rules, it’s probably not a good idea to advertise that fact on the BBC. Their website this morning carries the story of a Belfast chip shop being raffled off, with the £100 tickets being sold on eBay. The owner apparently told reporters, “I decided to just take the chance of raffling the business in the hope I’ll get 1,000 people willing to try their luck at winning.”

It’s a shame he didn’t read eBay’s listing rules first: raffles are not allowed on eBay UK. As the listing seems to have disappeared now, I suspect the seller found this out the hard way.

Written by Sue Bailey · Filed Under Featured | 1 Comment 

Samurai swords banned on eBay UK

April 2, 2008

This post was written in April 2008; specific information contained within it may be out of date.

eBay UK have announced that they are to ban the sale of samurai swords and imitation samurai swords from 6th April.

The sale, import and hire of replica samurai swords are to be outlawed in England and Wales. In a consultation paper published last year, Home Office Minister Vernon Coaker said, “We recognise it is the cheap, easily available samurai swords which are being used in crime and not the genuine, more expensive samurai swords which are of interest to collectors and martial art enthusiasts. As such as we are putting forward exemptions for these groups.”

However, no such exemption is being offered to eBay sellers. As the announcement goes on, “While there are some exceptions to this general ban, we don’t think it’s practical to enforce a policy based on these. The sale of samurai swords on eBay.co.uk will therefore be completely prohibited when the new law comes into effect on 6th April.”

In many ways, this is an understandable reaction from eBay. They have neither the staff, the expertise nor the opportunity to judge whether a sword put up for auction is genuine or imitation, and the last thing they want to do is to encourage those selling replica weapons to label them as the real thing, just to get around this ban.

But no doubt genuine martial arts enthusiasts will feel hard done by with this latest ban, just as those who sell worthwhile material in a downloadable form are protesting against the ban on their goods, and just as sellers of genuine designer gear got caught in the anti-fakes crossfire last year. As eBay work to clean up the site, I don’t suppose these sellers will be the last victims of tightened-up policies on what can and cannot be sold on eBay.

Written by Sue Bailey · Filed Under Featured | 7 Comments 

Digital goods banned on eBay UK & Ireland

April 1, 2008

This post was written in April 2008; specific information contained within it may be out of date.

Creative Commons License photo credit: Rainan117

As expected after last week’s ban from .com, digital goods are to be banned from eBay UK. From April 29th, “all goods that can be digitally downloaded or transferred electronically” are banned from being listed in *any* format on eBay UK or eBay Ireland. Sellers thus do not have the option to list in the Classified format that US sellers were offered. Anyone who thinks they may be affected should consult the downloadable media policy for further information.

While I don’t have much sympathy for the people who sell feedback under the guise of endlessly replicated spammy ebooks, there are some genuine sellers who list digital items on eBay: not only ebooks with useful content, but auction listing templates, for example. The best advice I’ve seen anyone come up with for these people is to start producing CD copies of your work which can be mailed to buyers: it’s not an ideal solution, but it should at least keep you in business. But as Brian Burke has made clear, saying “free shipping” when you mean “email delivery” is not permitted.

Written by Sue Bailey · Filed Under Featured | 2 Comments 

Iraqi relic auction pulled from eBay.ch

December 18, 2007

This post was written in December 2007; specific information contained within it may be out of date.

A 4,000 year old archaeological treasure thought to have been smuggled from Iraq was pulled from eBay Switzerland last week. Zurich police have confiscated the item and have launched criminal proceedings against the seller.

The auction was for a “business-card sized” clay tablet bearing cuneiform script - the wedge-shaped writing of the Sumerians - though its message has yet to be deciphered. It was spotted by a German archaeologist, who alerted the police. eBay stopped the sale just minutes before it was due to end.

Yves Fischer, the director of the Swiss federal office of culture’s department on commerce in cultural objects, said that the actual origin of the tablet was not yet known, but “if it’s a tainted object, then the goal will be to return it to Iraq.” If the seller is found guilty of trading in illegal cultural objects, they face a fine of up to half a million Swiss france (around £215,000).

Written by Sue Bailey · Filed Under Uncategorized | Comments Off 

Ecstasy oil eBay buyer pleads guilty

November 29, 2007

This post was written in November 2007; specific information contained within it may be out of date.

An Australian man bought enough sassafras oil to make 1900 ecstasy tablets on eBay, an Adelaide court has heard. Wayne Peter Bahnisch bought the oil from a Canadian eBay seller: it has a number of legitimate uses, and Bahnisch claimed he wanted to use it as massage oil. His lawyer said that “he thought, wrongly, that because you could purchase it on eBay it was legal to do so.” He did, nevertheless, as the seller to label the package just “massage oil”, not “sassafras oil”.

When questioned by customs officers, the unfortunate Bahnisch made a full confession but was unable to hand over the oil as it was among items stolen from his flat during two robberies. He pleaded guilty to two counts of intentionally attempting to import a prohibited item, and will be sentenced next month.

It’s salutory reminder that eBay is a bad place to buy anything illegal: the records are there for the world to see.

Written by Sue Bailey · Filed Under Uncategorized | Comments Off 

Illegal botox parties sold on eBay

November 22, 2007

This post was written in November 2007; specific information contained within it may be out of date.

Consumer magazine Which? says it has found an ex-nurse illegally selling botox parties on eBay. A researcher posing as a potential customer was told how the seller had injected drunken customers with the anti-wrinkle treatment. The researcher was told the treatment had no possible side effects “apart from drooping”, although in fact bruising, bleeding and infection can all follow, and the procedure should only be undertaken under medical supervision.

An eBay spokesperson said that “eBay does not permit the listing of any controlled drug or item that requires a prescription from, or the supervision of, a licensed practitioner (such as a doctor, dentist, optician or vet) to dispense.” The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency has said it will investigate the matter.

Written by Sue Bailey · Filed Under Uncategorized | Comments Off 

Get a hit on eBay

November 14, 2007

This post was written in November 2007; specific information contained within it may be out of date.
Weed Seeds on eBay
click for bigger version

You can buy practically anything on eBay, including, it seems, cannabis seeds. The only “weed seeds” available on eBay itself are the kind that tortoises like to eat, so eBay have helpfully improved the buyer experience by including some off-site links to places you can buy seeds and equipment to grow your own.

Selling the seeds might not be illegal in the UK, but listings would certainly be pulled under eBay’s own Drugs and Drug Paraphernalia Policy. Just like off-site links, it seems what’s okay for eBay is not necessarily okay for sellers.

Many thanks to Steve for the screen shot.

Written by Sue Bailey · Filed Under Uncategorized | 1 Comment 

UK buyers warned on US toy recalls

October 26, 2007

This post was written in October 2007; specific information contained within it may be out of date.

eBay UK has warned buyers to be on the alert for toys recalled by manufacturers due to safety concerns. The US Consumer Product Safety Commission has issued recalls of a number of children’s toys and other items in recent weeks. These include:

Sellers are advised to check model numbers of the items they stock and to withdraw any of the affected lots from sale. Buyers are advised to check model numbers with sellers before purchase: full details of all recalled products can be found on the CSPC website.

Written by Sue Bailey · Filed Under Uncategorized | Comments Off 

Call for protest over “offensive” relic sales

April 5, 2007

This post was written in April 2007; specific information contained within it may be out of date.

Catholic organisation the International Crusade for Holy Relics has called for a protest this Good Friday against “e-Judases who sell Christ’s relics to the highest bidder”. ICHR’s long-running campaign against eBay objects to the selling of relics, which is against the law of the Catholic Church; it also objects that some of the objects sold are fake. Though the sale of relics has been going on for centuries (St. Augustine complained about it in the fourth century), ICHR President Tom Seraphim has called on eBay members to send protest email tomorrow in an attempt to get eBay to ban the sale of sacred items.

There are currently a number of relics for sale on eBay, though whether any of them contains any actual saint is not something upon which I would like to comment.

Written by Sue Bailey · Filed Under Uncategorized | 1 Comment 

eBay & FACT to stamp out counterfiet DVDs

March 7, 2007

This post was written in March 2007; specific information contained within it may be out of date.

eBay today released the following announcement, stepping up a gear in the fight against fake merchandise being sold on their site.

eBay.co.uk and The Federation Against Copyright Theft (FACT), have today launched a campaign to educate consumers on how to buy and sell DVDs safely on eBay.

eBay and FACT want to remind eBay sellers that listing pirated DVDs is illegal and ensure that buyers know they are bidding on legitimate products from reputable sellers.

The campaign includes a buying and selling guide which is now available on eBay.co.uk. The guide is written by FACT, the audio-visual industry’s trade organisation dedicated to fighting piracy. The guide warns eBay users of the dangers of – and penalties for – selling pirated DVDs, which include up to ten years imprisonment and/or an unlimited fine, and provides buyers with specific advice on how to avoid buying a pirated DVD.

Read more

Written by Chris Dawson · Filed Under Uncategorized | 2 Comments 

Virtual property banned from eBay

January 27, 2007

This post was written in January 2007; specific information contained within it may be out of date.

Gamers, beware: eBay is now delisting all auctions for ‘virtual artifacts’ from the site. This includes currency, items, and accounts/characters used in MMORPGs, as well as Neopoints used in Neopets.

This isn’t a new policy by eBay: such items are very likely to fall foul of the rules on digitally delivered goods, particularly as ownership of such items is questionable at best. “For the overall health of the marketplace”, said an eBay spokesman, it was felt best to ban such items altogether, though once more, this policy has not been highlighted by any announcement from the company.

Written by Sue Bailey · Filed Under Uncategorized | 1 Comment 

Things that make you go “eww”

January 25, 2007

This post was written in January 2007; specific information contained within it may be out of date.

Actress Lindsay Lohan was so worried that her removed appendix would be sold on eBay that she’s kept it in her freezer. Now apparently Kimberly Stewart, daughter of singer Rod and a close friend of Lohan’s, is trying to persuade her to auction it for charity herself.

Obviously Ms. Stewart isn’t familiar with eBay’s ban on the sale of human body parts, nor with any kind of good taste.

Written by Sue Bailey · Filed Under Uncategorized | Comments Off 

Catholic group calls for boycott of eBay

November 20, 2006

This post was written in November 2006; specific information contained within it may be out of date.

The International Crusade for Holy Relics, a Catholic organisation, is calling for a boycott of eBay until the site bans the sale of saints’ relics. “Because the relics sold on eBay reminded me of a giant, Middle-Ages marketplace. . . . A relic is a sacramental — not a holy rabbit’s foot or good luck charm.” said Catholic author Ann Ball.

A search on eBay today turned up several pieces of the True Cross, numerous Crowns of Thorns (including one complete one labelled “authentic”!) and some reliquaries containing relics.

There is no doubt that those reliquaries which contain human relics do contravene eBay’s policy on the sale of human body parts. But I can’t help thinking that, when the Church itself teaches the veneration of these objects, who can blame anyone for wanting to own a piece of the holy and powerful for themself. It has, after all, been going on for centuries.

Written by Sue Bailey · Filed Under Uncategorized | 1 Comment