eBay are being utterly ridiculous on their "Safety Policy"

[dirkplank]

I posted a listing for a well known and widely available Baby Cot Bed this morning. It is sold on Amazon and John Lewis. It's a British company. I have described the product as "used" which it was briefly. eBay immediately removed the listing as it did not meet their safety policy claiming either that it had been recalled or was generally unsafe. Both of these allegations are complete nonsense. And, this does not explain why the product, both new and used, already has over 20 listing by others on eBay - exact same product.

So, I appealed. As is typical of eBay they came back to me and said nothing more than "you violated our safety policy. Matter is closed". There is no route to take this further.

This is disgraceful behaviour. I have contacted the product's head office for advice on this but is there anywhere else I can go within eBay? If not, I'll take it up with the press.

[dancewithadingo]

Good Afternoon Dirk

Very galling and frustrating for you but there is nothing more you can do. I would imagine that one of  'your competitors' ie other sellers has reported the sale and thus the removal of the bed.  The reason that they are still selling the item is that no one has reported their listing to eBay.

Do not under any circumstances be tempted to re-list.  Use Gumtree or say Facebook to try and sell it.

While I have your attention I would like to commend you for the pictures on the other items that you have for sale. Excellent, clear, sharp and professional.  The one thing that I would do is on the  42 piece china set  have the main photo showing more than one plate. Use one of the other pics that show multiple items as your main photo.  I say this as otherwise people may just see it and think blimey he is asking one hundred quid for one plate.  No thank you and not look any further.

In the meantime keep up the good work but don't be tempred to re-list.

Good luck.

[plpmr]

used cots are not allowed to be sold on eBay.

[rare_treat]

eBay's listing restrictions (and the reporting system), I'm sure, is fully automated. If it did remove it immediately, it is probably because it found certain keywords in the listing that it didn't like. I'm guessing the others have managed to avoid triggering that detection. If it was up a little while, then it was probably reported by a rival. Again, the reporting system is automated as well, so as long as they know how to report the item correctly, they can have it removed without any human interaction from eBay.

That system, I know, is fatally flawed.

I reported a listing a few months ago as the seller had done it as a pre-order deposit scheme. You can only do pre-order if you take the full amount up front, and deliver within 30 days. This was 9 months ahead, and said they would send you instructions how to pay the rest outside eBay later! This was a clear violation of eBay's policies. Yet, within 2 minutes, I got an automated response saying the listing hadn't breached rules!

I also found it funny, and a bit annoying, that in order to buy some butter knives on eBay, I had to register a credit card with them. I don’t own (or want) a credit card. But that is the only way, apparently, of confirming you are old enough!

[*vyolla*]

It's a health and safety issue - cots/cribs can only be sold by eligible sellers and must meet UK safety standards.

Used cots can't be sold on eBay.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/help/policies/prohibited-restricted-items/product-safety-policy?id=4300

[rare_treat]

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@dirkplank wrote:

So, I appealed. As is typical of eBay they came back to me and said nothing more than "you violated our safety policy. Matter is closed". There is no route to take this further.

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If they had just sent you a link to the policy violation like @*vyolla* did, then you wouldn't have had to come on here and waste more time.
I just don't understand why they can't be just a little more helpful in their "help" system!

[roger_roger_over_and_nowt]

"yelp system" 😃

[dirkplank]

Many thanks for all your helpful comments. Much appreciated.

I was not aware that used cots cannot be sold on eBay and it would have helped greatly if eBay told me this outright rather than being so vague about it. Never mind, I'll just have to sell elsewhere.

Once again, many thanks.

[rare_treat]

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@dirkplank wrote:

I was not aware that used cots cannot be sold on eBay and it would have helped greatly if eBay told me this outright rather than being so vague about it. Never mind, I'll just have to sell elsewhere.

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I could understand that with car seats, and safety helmets, for example, where visual inspection alone cannot tell you if it is safe. But I’m pretty sure I would know if a cot seemed safe enough for my child to sleep in. I guess the 1/10,000 people who wouldn’t, and would then try and sue, are why the policies are written.

I sold a portable gas heater (with a full gas bottle) via eBay for my mum last year. That to me is potentially way more dangerous than a cot!

Well I’ve just decided a new policy for me – never buy anything on eBay that you couldn’t resell on eBay!