On 2/17/2012 9:23 PM, schmoo wrote:
>
>> Hey, if a guy walks in& says "I want to look at that Elvira sitting
>> there," I don't ask, hey did you see it on eBay?? No "against policy"
>> happenings here.
>
> Maybe it doesn't sound realistic, and maybe lots of people do it, but
> you are wrong in what you say about eBay policy. Check out this
> quoted text that was taken directly from your eBay listing :
>
> Per eBay policy:
> "Please be advised that we do not allow members to sell directly to
> buyers through eBay. Our listing page is used to sell items through
> the eBay site. Sellers are not permitted to advertise their own off-
> eBay businesses in their listings, nor are they permitted to list an
> item on the site and seek to sell it, or more quantities of it, off
> eBay." In addition to that, we only allow placing of personal contact
> information provided that it is only for "Question& Answer " purposes
> only.
>
>
> If the machine was listed on eBay but is also sitting in your store
> with a price on it and is available for sale, that is a violation,
> even though it is commonly done. eBay was intended for non-retail
> sellers, but has long since morphed into something else.
Interesting choice of words by their legal team. I'll put our legal team
on defining their use of the word "seek" & the context of its use within
that paragraph. It's a fine line they've drawn for sure. I think, just
my opinion, that they "seek" to avoid the buyers (& it's only them that
want to save the fees) trying to bypass their system while keeping
outfits like ours around. If we can't use them for the mass exposure
exactly as we have been, we won't use them at all. With our store
membership fees, listing fees, & "power seller" level worth of final
value fees, we pay them a healthy amount every month. Do they know
exactly what we're doing by baiting (yet not encouraging) folks to walk
in & pretend that they didn't see the machines on eBay? Sure. Do they
like the monthly wad of money we consistently give them? Apparently
enough. Do they want us to go find a better venue for a cheaper
billboard? Probably not. You're absolutely right that eBay was designed
for non-retail sellers but I trust they like our consistent income
source. eBay is greedy, believe that. Even beyond that, a few months
ago, they tried to tighten these anti-outside-eBay policies but backed
off when retail sellers like us threatened to go elsewhere. Why do you
suppose they continue to allow "personal contact information for
question & answer purposes"? They have an established eBay mail system
that negates the need to allow otherwise. As with most things, follow
the money.