But the eBay policy doesn’t say you can’t use the USPS off eBay. It says the USPS can’t tell you, the eBay customer, about how to buy off eBay. No reason you, the customer, can’t think how great your experience with stamps was and then search for the USPS and find their website or that you can buy stamps at a local post office.
Relevant eBay policy:
-Use contact information obtained through an eBay transaction to offer to buy or sell an item outside of eBay
I guess it's a matter of interpretation.
I see or buy a pretty stamp on ebay and use the seller's details to identify the seller and go to the physical or online USPS "store" for future purchases.
I had worried about my banknote transaction at an ebay seller's physical store after seeing the item on ebay might be skirting the rules, but it is exactly the same as seeing stamps being sold by the USPS on ebay but going to a physical post office to buy them.
And I expect that the invoice the USPS sends with ebay sales includes mention of it's own website.
You're conflating two situations. In the example that was presented for the USPS (as far as I understand it) you buy some stamps from the USPS on eBay, and at some point in the future realize you need more stamps. So instead of going to eBay, you search for "USPS" and discover the Post Office or USPS.com exists, and buy stamps there. You've completed a transaction on eBay, and now, in the future, have searched for the seller without using eBay at all. Theoretically, if the stamps you bought on eBay came with a card saying "visit us at usps.com for cheaper stamps in the future" then that would violated the rules.
Similarly, if you see an item listed on eBay, and then contact the seller (through eBay messaging or based on info you got from a previous sale) that would be violating the rules. How that gets enforced would be difficult. What if you see an item listed and then start searching for a way to contact the seller? That contact information isn't technically obtained through an eBay transaction. Or as has happened to me, I see an item listed on eBay, but it's from a seller whose website I also check routinely, so I see the coin on their website, as well, without even trying. Am I beholden to eBay because I saw it there first?
As far as ethics goes, I think the intent of eBay's policy is clear, even if enforcement is murky. In the course of an eBay-based transaction, their policy prohibits the exchange of information being passed along with the intent of conducting future business off eBay.
Comments
Good for you buddy. I wish that kinda stuff would happen to me but I don’t have the good luck you do.
You're conflating two situations. In the example that was presented for the USPS (as far as I understand it) you buy some stamps from the USPS on eBay, and at some point in the future realize you need more stamps. So instead of going to eBay, you search for "USPS" and discover the Post Office or USPS.com exists, and buy stamps there. You've completed a transaction on eBay, and now, in the future, have searched for the seller without using eBay at all. Theoretically, if the stamps you bought on eBay came with a card saying "visit us at usps.com for cheaper stamps in the future" then that would violated the rules.
Similarly, if you see an item listed on eBay, and then contact the seller (through eBay messaging or based on info you got from a previous sale) that would be violating the rules. How that gets enforced would be difficult. What if you see an item listed and then start searching for a way to contact the seller? That contact information isn't technically obtained through an eBay transaction. Or as has happened to me, I see an item listed on eBay, but it's from a seller whose website I also check routinely, so I see the coin on their website, as well, without even trying. Am I beholden to eBay because I saw it there first?
As far as ethics goes, I think the intent of eBay's policy is clear, even if enforcement is murky. In the course of an eBay-based transaction, their policy prohibits the exchange of information being passed along with the intent of conducting future business off eBay.
This is not correct. The USPS does sell stamps on ebay (or at least they did), and I am not referring to sellers printing shipping labels.
I guess this assumption explains the earlier disconnect.