Selling cards on ebay: A few questions

detroitfan2

Hi Everyone,

Back in 2001, I was listing auctions such as this one with my Heritage doubles:

Finish your set

I received an email from ebay stating that this violated their "choice" listing policy (see choice policy).

I always thought this was pretty stupid on their part, as buyers typically pay more to buy only the cards they need, thus it's a win - win - win situation (buyer wins, seller wins, ebay wins). I cannot see anything in the ebay policy which now allows this type of auction for cards, yet I see these type of auctions all the time. Anyone know any different.

Also, on these phoney Mantle rookie auctions, I keep seeing statements which say "Because of ebay's listing policies, I must list this as a reprint since it's not graded by a 3rd party". Does anyone know where it says this in ebay's selling policies, because I can't find it.

Thanks everyone.

dallasactuary

I got a stern e-mail about violating their "choice" policy, too. Sent a long e-mail pointing out the win-win nature of the auctions, etc. Other than a poorly written non-responsive response from some bottom-rung service rep, I never heard back.

ebay does not have a policy about listing ungraded cards as reprints. Some scammer decided that made it sound more legit and (incorrectly) thought it covered his ass at the same time and now most of the scammers use the same line.

Mac53

Detroit, I had brought up the "ebay policy" issue a few weeks ago, and all of the members agreed that there is no such policy and any statement to that effect is bullsh it. Now, whenever I see those words, I read "I am a big scammer. Stay away."

justanoldtimer

they may have taken from the stamp policy
here
But I didn't find anything for cards

helionaut

I've run one auction like that, and got that message. It is dumb, but ebay's just trying to CYA. Ebay sends you a warning so they can say they did. It's funny that these things they can spot, but the sucker "grab-bag" auctions (which are closer to lotteries than auctions) and obvious fake cards they can't. The rules are there, though. When you sell something, you have to be specific about what you are getting. I suppose if someone was dumb enough to think they'd get all the cards on the list instead of X, they'd be able to blame ebay.

AkbarClone

I personally like those types of auctions! It is definately a win-win situation for everyone.
Since eBay did not close your auction (only sent a warning), it seems they aren't too concerned about it.

As helionaut said, they send the warning just so they can say they did. If they wanted to, they have the power to end the auction themselves, but since they don't--good luck and keep those types of auctions coming!

jskirwin

I've been noticing a proliferation of the "Choose (x number of) cards" and am planning to give it a shot with some of my extras from my 70s set building efforts this weekend. My guess is that this "bloom" of activity will force Ebay to either crackdown on us or change the policy.

Guess I'll find out soon.

detroitfan2

Thanks everyone.

I agree 100% with helionaut. I will NEVER EVER understand why ebay allows this heart attack but you can't have "choose 10 card" auctions.

Personally, I think the choice auctions show creativity.

-detroitfan2