Become a
Member of Mommy Empire and view our
library of video tutorials, downloadable tutorials, free
guides and more! Best of all it's FREE to become a member.
Taking one stop shopping to a new level,
eBay has established itself as the most
expansive and largest virtual marketplace in
the world. You can buy everything from
your next car, to baseball cards, to a plate
that matches the one you broke in your
grandmother’s antique set. The possibilities
are nearly limitless. Of course, there are a
few exceptions. The sale of any illegal item
is obviously forbidden and there are of
course international trade laws that have to
be obeyed when the buying and selling are
taking place in two different countries.
There are a number of “eBay forbidden lists”
floating around on the internet, but the
truth is that the list is liquid. As members
of the community work to maintain the
integrity of the site more items are added.
Some are added for legal reasons (things
like drugs and weapons) while others are not
necessarily illegal but are added to protect
the security and safety of the community at
large.
Other items, like fine art, are encourage
for sale but must be done so within a
certain set of guidelines. This is done to
protect the integrity of the market as well
as the investment of the buyer. Some items
are flat out forbidden. It is against the
rules to sell any kind of tickets on eBay.
The law varies from state to state on
selling tickets to things like sporting
events and concerts for over face value.
Instead of trying to monitor these kinds of
laws, eBay simply won’t list tickets for
sale. Things like lottery tickets are also
banned on eBay. Since they are legal in some
states but not others, it would create an
administrative nightmare to monitor these
sales, so they simply forbid it.
One other area that eBay and its community
watches closely is the sale of replicated or
bootlegged merchandise. Illegally recorded
concert footage and movie footage is a huge
industry in Asia, but in America is against
the law to buy or sell it. Other replicated
items like knock offs of famous designers
are also discouraged. While it is difficult
to monitor, eBay and its community work hard
to eliminate these listings because they
want to protect the investments of their
buyers. Rip off artists are not welcome at
eBay.
Some other categories of restricted or
banned items have to do with eBay’s stance
on environmental or health issues. For
example, cigarettes cannot be sold on eBay.
Animal products that may be made from rare
or endangered animals are not allowed to be
sold on eBay. Things like ivory, and
tortoise shell jewelry are just a few
examples. Additionally, you cannot sell live
animals on eBay. This may sound like an odd
restriction, but the sale of exotic wild
animals is a huge black market industry and
the eBay community frowns heavily upon such
practices.
When it comes down to it, use common sense
when listing. If it seems like someone may
have a problem with something that you want
to sell, than take the time to look it up.
There are a number of discussion boards on
the eBay site itself where you can ask.
Additionally, eBay makes available the
current list of items that are forbidden or
restricted. Remember, just because something
is on this list doesn’t necessarily mean you
can’t sell it. In some cases it just means
that you need to jump through some extra
hoops before you can legally list it.
View more information about starting an
eBay auctions home business:
