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125 About Finding Items to Sell

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124 About Selling on eBay

eBay is a wide- open market that connects buyers and sellers. But that doesn't mean you can sell anything you want. Normal laws applyfor example, you can't sell illegal drugs on eBay, or any other item banned by law.

In addition, eBay bans a variety of items and restricts some items from being sold. The consequences for violating this policy can result in disciplinary action taken by eBay. You might simply get a warning and have violating items taken off the site. But you can also be temporarily or indefinitely suspended from the site as well. So it's worth your while to ensure that you don't sell any banned or prohibited items.

eBay has three categories of potentially problematic items:

• Prohibited These items cannot be sold on eBay.

• Questionable These items can be sold only under certain specific conditionsfor example, eBay bans the sale of batteries with mercury in them but allows other kinds of batteries to be sold.

• Potentially infringing These items might violate copyrights, trademarks, or other legal rights. For example, academic versions of software, such as Microsoft Office, can be sold only by an authorized educational reseller, an educational institution, a student, or a faculty member but by no one else.

eBay has some very complicated regulations covering questionable and potentially infringing items, so the best way to know whether any items on those lists might be prohibited is to check eBay's rules online. Head to http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/items-ov.html for the complete list and details.

Here's the list of problematic items, by category.

Prohibited Items

KEY TERM

Prohibited item An item that cannot be sold on eBay for any of a variety of reasons, such as that it violates state or federal laws.

• Alcohol

• Animals and wildlife products

• Catalog and URL sales

• Counterfeit currency and stamps

• Counterfeit items

• Credit cards

• Drugs and drug paraphernalia

• Embargoed goods and goods from prohibited countries

• Firearms

• Fireworks

• Government IDs and licenses

• Human parts and remains

• Links

• Lock-picking devices

• Lottery tickets

• Mailing lists and personal information

• Plants and seeds

• Postage meters

• Prescription drugs and devices

• Recalled items

• Satellite and cable TV descramblers

• Stocks and other securities

• Stolen property

• Surveillance equipment

• Tobacco

• Travel

Questionable Items

KEY TERM

Questionable item An item that can be sold only under certain specific conditionsfor example, eBay bans the sale of batteries with mercury in them but allows other types of batteries to be sold.

• Artifacts (from archeological digs, graves, and historical locations)

• Autographed items

• Batteries

• Catalytic converters and test pipes

• Compilation and information media

• Contracts and tickets

• Electronics equipment

• Event tickets

• Food

• Freon and other refrigerants

• Hazardous materials

• Imported and emission-noncompliant vehicles

• International tradingbuyers

• International tradingsellers

• Items intended for mature audiences

• Medical devices (for example, those that require prescriptions, among others)

• Offensive material

• Pesticides

• Police- related items

• Presale listings

• Slot machines

• Used airbags

• Used clothing

• Warranties

• Weapons and knives

• Wine

Potentially Infringing Items

KEY TERM

Potentially infringing item An item that might violate copyrights, trademarks, or other legal rights. For example, academic versions of software, such as Microsoft Office, can be sold only by an authorized educational reseller, an educational institution, a student, or a faculty member, but by no one else.

• Academic software

• Anticircumvention policy

• Authenticity disclaimers

• Beta software

• Bootleg recordings

• Brand- name misuse

• Comparison policy

• Contracts and tickets

• Downloadable media

• Encouraging policy

• Faces, names , and signatures

• Item description and picture theft

• Importation of goods into the United States

• Misleading titles

• Mod chips, game enhancers , and boot discs

• Movie prints

• OEM software

• Recordable media

• Replica and counterfeit items

• Promotional items

• Unauthorized copies

WEB RESOURCE

http://pages.ebay.com/help/community/png-items.html

For details about eBay's banned items, visit this website.