Approved seller

[Anonymous]

It is not clear what the process was to become an Authorised, Approved or even an Authorized Seller, as there is no apparent documented reference and it appears to be a recent invention by eBay management, in an attempt to control sellers who are exploiting the present situation.

As a business seller with fifteen years activity on eBay, the Face visors I have been offering for 99p have been removed for ‘Price Gouging’ which is ridiculous, in the light of significant positive feedback for the product.

The unlawful anti-competitive and abuse of dominant position behaviour exhibited by eBay has been reported to the Competition and Markets Authority, who should take them to task for illegal activity.

[Anonymous]

If I list under as 'Face Mask Surgical Style' it get taken down. The eBay approval of the selected few who are allowed to exploit the present situation appears somewhat random, based on the history of what they have sold previously. The Competition and Markets Authority will hopefully conduct a full investigation and will get to the truth of the situation.

[papso22]

You only started selling these when the crisis started. That is why they won't approve you, it's not the price, that's just a generic, badly worded email. All the CMA would be interested in are eBay's own practises as an online advertising site in competition with similar sites, not their rules for sellers who use them.

[tressygirl]

Are you sure they have been removed?  I can see them clearly for sale on your listings.

eBay are only allowing registered businesses with previous history of selling masks and other Covid related items,  e.g. sanitisers,  gloves to be able to sell them now,  no matter at what price. 

[*vyolla*]

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@Anonymous wrote:

 it appears to be a recent invention by eBay management, in an attempt to control sellers who are exploiting the present situation.

As a business seller with fifteen years activity on eBay, the Face visors I have been offering for 99p have been removed for ‘Price Gouging’ which is ridiculous, in the light of significant positive feedback for the product.

The unlawful anti-competitive and abuse of dominant position behaviour exhibited by eBay has been reported to the Competition and Markets Authority, who should take them to task for illegal activity.

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eBay are indeed trying to control the sale of PPE equipment by limiting it to pre-approved sellers. 

It's unlikely that your 99p visors would get the go ahead. 

Reporting eBay to the Competition and Markets Authority is just a pointless exercise, there's nothing to report them for. It's their site and they can make whatever decisions they see fit.

[Anonymous]

Thank you for your unqualified opinion!

[papso22]

Flooding the boards with the same issue is irritating, just stick to one of the main discussion boards,  since this is not actually a question that we can answer.  EBay's rules are not clear here but you were not selling these prior to the crisis,  which we know is one of them. Their emails are generic and lack relevant information,  no change there.

The CMA will not be remotely interested but please let us know what their response is.