People flogging alcohol in direct contravention of eBay's rules must be tempted to drink a toast to the online auction site's apparent willingness to turn a blind eye to their activities.
eBay says, very clearly, that alcohol must not be sold through its site because it's a prohibited item.
Yet bottles of Champagne, for instance, are frequently listed on eBay with apparent impunity.
The sellers know they mustn't do it, so they pretend that it's actually the bottle the Champagne's in that makes it valuable and the fact it happens to contain alcohol is merely coincidental.
Nudge, nudge, wink, wink... and eBay says no more.
Here's an extract from eBay's rules:
eBay does not permit the sale of alcoholic beverages, except for certain sales of collectable containers. Further, non-UK members may not conduct alcohol sales with any eBay member residing in the United Kingdom.Breaches of this policy may result in a range of actions, including:
Listing cancellation
Limits on account privileges
Account suspension
Forfeit of eBay fees on cancelled listings
Loss of PowerSeller statusWhy does eBay have this policy?
eBay wants to ensure its sellers and buyers comply with their legal obligations. Since the sale of certain alcoholic products is prohibited by law, regulated, or may cause harm to eBay or its members, sellers may not list the specified alcoholic products on eBay.
Look, then, at an item being listed at time of writing - item number 16016424161.
It's described, somewhat semi-literately, thus:
3 litre bottle Moet Et Chandon Jereboam Champagne full. This auction is for a Jereboam bottle of Moet Et Chandon. Its 3 litres and is the equivalent of 4 regular bottles of Moet. It has been stored correctly in my cellar for the past 18 months so should be in A1 condition. To not breach eBay rules the value is in the collectable bottle, not its contents as I cannot list alcohol on eBay.
This is nonsense. The seller knows it, prospective buyers know it and eBay knows it. Or at least, eBay should know it, because I've reported it to them as a prohibited item.
But that was more than 48 hours ago. And the item's still there, gathering bids.
Are the bidders offering so much money for an empty bottle? Unlikely, because display bottles (sealed but empty bottles of Champagne) do not fetch anything like the money being offered for this item.
Could it be that they're bidding so much because the bottle is, as admitted by the vendor, full of Champagne?
And if, as the vendor says, the value is "in the collectable bottle, not its contents", why does he tell us that it's been stored correctly in his cellar for 18 months. If the alcohol inside was so unimportant and not a factor in the sale, its condition would be irrelevant.
So what became of the report I made to eBay through the proper channel?
Not a lot, it seems. The automated replies reporters receive includes the following get-out clause: "Please be aware that, as it's important that eBay maintains member privacy, we can't share details of the action we take."
So that's all right then...
Jon McKnight
Author of Sort The Bastards!
