Ebay question: Your speculation wanted.

[SpyderEdgeForever]

Here is a question I have for you all about Ebay, because ebay sales for knives have been discussed here before. I was reading Ebay's buying and selling rules, and one issue they seem to be very strict against, are buyers and sellers on ebay contacting each other outside of ebay to agree to purchases of goods, such as knives and other items, outside of the ebay framework. My question is: Why do you think this is? Why are they so "tense" about such actions?

For example: Let's say "Jim" happens to see "Jack" (made up names for the hypothetical situation) post a Spyderco Military for sale or auction bid on his ebay page. Jim likes that and he contacts Jack on Ebay, and asks him "I see you have a Spyderco Military for sale. Do you have other Spyderco knives that are not listed there and would you be interested in selling me one?" Jack replies with "Yes, I have a Spyderco Paramilitary", are you interested?" Jim replies, "Yes", and the two then decide to negotiate a price for it and sell it "behind the scenes" without Jack actually posting pictures of it and offering it for sale on Ebay as he did the Military he posted for sale.

Is Ebay against this because of potential dangers that their buyers and sellers could experience, or is it that they don't want their auction system becoming a general online market place?

One possible danger I could see: If Ebay allowed such a transaction to take place, there is no recorded evidence of the item and the price, and if the buyer or seller decided to be unethical and dishonest, and one either failed to send the knife/item, or, the buyer failed to send payment for the item/knife, then there would be no way for the person to get a refund or anything like that. That makes sense, if it is done for protection of the buyers and sellers.

What are your thoughts on this?

Here is what ebay states:

" Some examples of activities that aren't allowed include:

Using member contact information obtained from eBay or using any eBay system to offer to sell any listed item outside of eBay
Posting or displaying contact information in a listing, including email, phone number, and mailing address, without the permission of eBay or except as required by law
Canceling a listing to sell to a buyer who found the item on eBay
Ending an auction-style listing early to sell the item to the winning bidder a price higher than the current bid
Including, requesting, offering, or referencing contact information or an offer to buy or sell an item outside of eBay within a Best Offer, email message, or other communication with an eBay user
Offering to sell an item to a non-winning bidder without using Second Chance Offer
In your listing page or in communications with another eBay member you can't refer to or promote your personal website (including links to home page web addresses that promote websites outside of eBay), sales outside of eBay, or other businesses.
"

[rangefinder]

My question is: Why do you think this is? Why are they so "tense" about such actions?

They don't want people doing sales outside their system because eBay doesn't get their cut (commission) from those sales.

[The Deacon]

My question is: Why do you think this is? Why are they so "tense" about such actions?

They don't want people doing sales outside their system because eBay doesn't get their cut (commission) from those sales.

Exactly. Ebay only makes money on sales that take place within its system. Some of the other reasons they give, like claiming eBay transactions are safer for the buyer (and to a lesser extent, the seller), are true but are not their primary reason.

[TkoK83Spy]

Their absolute hawks at catching you if you try to sell outside of them too. I decided to part with my 4V Para 3 last month. I started the bid at $165 that morning and later that day I had a buyer send me a message that he would give me $220 on the spot if I would close the auction. I didn't have the "buy now" option available. He saw my feedback and trusted me to send it to him, which I did but we did so outside of ebay because he didn't want to miss out on it and wanted it for his brothers birthday, which would have passed before the auction ended. Everything went smoothly between us and I cancelled the auction.

A few days later I get an email from Ebay stating I broke their rules and sold outside of Ebay (pretty creepy they can apparently read your messages??) I was assessed a week long suspension from buying or selling and was still charged the fees of the $220 sale.

In other words...don't mess with Ebay! Haha

[The Mastiff]

They have a lot of money invested into Ebay so it's to be expected. Saving money where possible is so ingrained into some/most people that it would cost them a lot of money if it wasn't watched closely. People are constantly trying to get over on pay pal also. I see it pretty often over on Bladeforums.

Joe

[MichaelScott]

If one does not want to follow ebay’s rules, don’t sign up.

[demoncase]

The rules are there for a number of quite sensible reasons:

1. To prevent shill bidding agreements ("Hey buddy, My thing isn't getting bid on and I know it's worth $XXX- bid up to 10 bucks less than that for me to make the other guy pay what I want....If you win I'll send him a second chance offer saying you pulled out)

2. To prevent people using the 'good' eBay profile as a source of credibility to scam people via PM or to sell stuff that breaks their rules and/or local laws

3. To get the revenue by people following their process because- gosh darn it- they are a business not a charity and this ain't Soviet Russia, ya dig?

4. To prevent well/ill meaning people from redirecting people away from (ostensibly protected) E-Bay to (ostensibly unprotected) individually hosted sites which may be used (at the least malicious) to circumvent E-bay's seller fees or (at the most malicious) ram your hard-drive so full of malware you'll need to disinfect by dropping it in a bucket of burning petrol

Ebay is an auction site.
Auctions always carry an element of 'caveat emptor'

[Doc Dan]

Yep, no Ebay sales, no Ebay money.