Question about Ebay principles
July 5, 2009 | 25,00 EUR | answered by Dr. Dr. Danjel-Philippe Newerla
Hello,
I have been a seller on eBay for several years. After the default sorting on eBay was changed to "Most Popular Items," I noticed that items with a lower quantity (preferably quantity 1) are being promoted better than items with higher quantities.
I have observed that my competitors have also lowered their quantities to 1 and re-listed the items after a successful sale.
I have recently started using this strategy as well. However, I am now concerned about the legal implications if, for example, I sell a candle on eBay and the customer wants an additional 10 candles, which I manually enter into my inventory system.
This means that commission was paid for one candle, but not for the remaining 10. Is this a violation of eBay's principles? I came across the following article on their website:
http://pages.ebay.de/help/policies/rfe-spam-non-ebay-sale.html
****** It is prohibited to offer items listed on eBay for purchase or sale outside of eBay.****
However, in this case, the 10 candles are not listed on eBay, so manual sales should not be a problem, right?
Dear seeker,
Thank you for your inquiry!
Legally speaking, your planned project is not objectionable as it does not violate mandatory civil law or any other laws, at least according to general legal principles.
The only question at hand is whether your proposed project violates the eBay sales guidelines you have already mentioned, which could result in an unfortunate exclusion from eBay.
I have taken a closer look at the link you provided.
Based on these guidelines, I cannot see any violation of the principles.
For example, if you were to sell a candle and the customer then asks you to sell 10 more candles, I do not consider this a violation, as the other 10 candles are not simultaneously listed or were listed on eBay and are therefore being traded outside of eBay.
The guidelines clearly state "Listings" and not "Products." Since the 10 candles from your example were never Listings in this sense, I see no problems.
If this were to actually constitute a violation, then many of the large powersellers who have an online shop and offer the identical products as in their eBay shop would also be in violation of these guidelines.
Even if this behavior were to constitute a violation, eBay is unlikely to approach you if you communicate with the customer, for example, via email or phone.
Based on experience, a first-time violation rarely results in exclusion, so in my opinion, you can proceed with your project as planned.
I would like to point out the following to you:
The legal advice I have provided is based solely on the facts you have provided. My response is only an initial legal assessment of the situation and cannot replace a comprehensive evaluation of the facts. Adding or omitting relevant information can result in a completely different legal assessment.
I hope my explanations have been helpful. Feel free to contact me for further questions through this platform's follow-up option or via my email address.
I wish you a pleasant Sunday evening and a good start to the week!
Sincerely,
Dipl.-Jur. Danjel-Philippe Newerla, Attorney at Law
Heilsbergerstr. 16
27580 Bremerhaven
kanzlei.newerla@web.de
Tel. 0471/3088132
Fax: 0471/3088316
