Wholesale Lists against eBay policy?

[andheresjohnny]

I'm confused about these auctions on eBay. I believe I've read on eBay that it's against policy to auction information on where/how to purchase items outside of the eBay site.

Wholesale lists would appear to me to fall into this prohibited category. However these auctions appear to florish on eBay. In fact I've seen where many sellers have been doing this for a very long time.

One such example is auction number 5526647671 - "PENTIUM 4 LAPTOPS NOTEBOOKS Wholesale List - 1 DAY ONLY".

There are thousands of these type auctions currently active. I don't think these are matrices as defined elsewhere on this site, but they certainly seem to violate eBay policies.

Can anybody explain how these are eBay-legal?

Thank you.

[cybertrax]

I will try to explain, this is what I believe to be the case.

It is against the seller listing policy to list items that lead to sales outside of eBay. This I think means an individual sale that would lead to a specific sale outside of eBay.

Wholesale lists are basically pages of names and addresses of companies that sell products at a cheap price, normally based on a quantity sale. These eBay sales do not lead directly to specific sales outside of eBay - the sale is of the list, not of any other product. eBay wish to ban the sale of products that WILL lead to sales outside of eBay - an example would be of a sale of a link, that leads to a website offering cheap goods.

This is just how I see it, perhaps others have different views.

[andheresjohnny]

That may be it ... but it sure seems like a pretty fine line. In fact I see no real distinction. People are buying the list to make purchases outside of eBay. But your explanation is better than anything I could come up with.

I've noticed that in some cases the buyers left nasty negative feedback. But it looked to me like they just might not have looked at the auction description very carefully. It didn't appear to me that they were being deceived, or that they purchased a matrix or anything like that.

[jokach]

I agree that more than likely the people aren't being 'deceived' per se, but it is still a violation of the listing policy, because you are correct that it does lead to a sale outside of ebay. I've seen specific conversation in the past in the eBay community forums about people asking on the legitimacy of these 'wholesale' lists, and from what most users (users, not ebay itself), most of them agree that its a violation.

It would appear more that the intent is just for the seller to want to make quick, easy cash off something that a regular user might not ever use. I couldn't imagine that the wholesale provider is giving kickbacks or anything for referring customers ... they probably don't even know its being listed this way on eBay.

[cybertrax]

The way I understand it, it cannot be against the selling policy as it does not neccersarily mean that a sale WILL be conducted outside of eBay. For instance, I have bought several wholesale lists in the past, but to date have not used any of the information contained to make a purchase outside of eBay. Although it is likely, the list does not mean people HAVE to buy outside of eBay, and so it does not break the rules.

An example would be in England of possessing a 'bong'. For those of you who do not know, a 'bong' is a piece of smoking equipment often used by those smoking cannabis. It is perfectly legal to own these, but it is illegal to use them to smoke cannabis. It is also perfectly legal to own cannabis seeds, as long as they are not cultivated, or grown. Another example would be of radio transmitters (to be used for your own pirate radio station). It is perfectly legal to own a transmitter (I know as I have one!) but is illegal to use it.

My point here (as I may have gone off the beaten track) is that I think it is OK to sell, buy and possess these lists, as it does not mean that HAVE TO use the information contained within, and so you will not neccersarily make purchases outside of eBay.

[jokach]

I think that whether the buyer actually uses the wholesale list or not is really irrelevant since they have the ability to when they purchase the auction, here is eBay's rule:


Catalog Sales - listings of catalogs from which buyers may directly order items are prohibited. In these situations, the seller will typically offer the catalog for low bid prices and complete sales outside of eBay for items found in the catalog. Old (those that you cannot order from any longer) or collectible catalogs are permissible. Please see the complete catalog policy.

(posted from http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/listing-circumventing.html )

That falls right into what a wholesale list is, because you are getting basically a catalog (definition of catalog is a list of items arranged in a defined order) containing places where you can get 'high-end' electronics, or widgets or whatever.

They provide a more in-depth explanation of catalog sales in this policy at http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/listing-catalog.html:


Listings of catalogs from which buyers may directly order items are prohibited.

In these situations, the seller will typically offer the catalog for low bid prices and complete sales outside of eBay for items found in the catalog.

Old and collectible catalogs (those that you cannot order from any longer) are permissible; however the title or description may not contain extensive lists of specific items included in the catalog.

Requirements for selling catalogs


Old and collectible catalog listings must abide by the following guidelines:

* The seller of old and collectible catalogs may not benefit from any subsequent sales from the listed suppliers.
* No extensive lists of specific brand names, items, categories or prices may be used in the title or description of the item listing (e.g. Sony, Prada, Gucci, Schwinn Bicycle, Handbags for $29.95, etc.). Any additional information or categories should be provided via the further information link allowed on all listings. Before adding a link off your item listings page, please review the eBay links policy. Old and collectible catalogs may not be combined as a bonus item with any other listing



I guess our interpretations don't really matter, its up to eBay to decide once an auction gets reported.

just my thoughts ..........

jokach