eBay

Anonymous · ‎10-19-2015

I've just about had it with eBay.

I've had digital photo files that are emailed on ebay.com for about 5 months now and they are making my ends meet.

Lately i've been posting new ones and they keep pulling them and telling me that i violated .ca policy and i have to put it under classified section.

They put my account on a 3 day hold which i had removed immediately this morning after being told that theirs a glitch and it showing as posted on .ca

I just went and looked again and theirs hundreds of Canadians posting under .com art direct from the artist and they have been for a while.

Am i loosing my mind or is ebay really screwed up because of this removed my files that have been active for 5 monthes and sell 5 or more a day because they threatened to permanently close my account through a message.

How do i sell digital photos? anyone ?

tobyshitzu · ‎10-19-2015

No digital items have been allowed on ebay in years. There use dto be 1000s of listings for .01 pictures or recipes just for the purpose of leaving feedback. So ebay disallowed all digital items with email delivery. Some with items of value burned them to cds to mail. Of course lots still list items like that and take their chances they won't be reported. If you've had them removed, you don't want to keep listing them

femmefan1946 · ‎10-19-2015

art direct from the artist

I'm assuming that you are the photographer. This should be made clear in the listing.

You can sell the actual printed out prints, but then you would have mailing costs (about $3 as lettermail with a stiffener and a poly envelope) . I think the term for these would be glicee prints.

But, yeah, the digital downloads were a feedback scam mostly run by sketchey asian sellers. They would trade FB to build up a 'trustworthy' number then start selling whatever phoney items they originally planned.

Those would be penny auctions.

So eBay went to the 'classified only' category for downloads.

If you believe that your buyers like your art, put the pictures up as prints with Free Shipping. In the long run it would cost the appreciative customer about the same.

Otherwise you would have to live with the queasy feeling that you might be enabling a scammer down the line.

rose-dee · ‎10-20-2015

I'm surprised you have been able to sell these items for 5 months. Digitally delivered items have been heavily restricted (and relegated to Classifieds, or the obscure "everything else" category) for a long time -- at least 3 years -- on eBay now.

A big part of the reason for the virtual ban, besides the feedback padding (which I think was a side issue) were the egregious copyright violations that were going on, and the impossibility of confirming receipt of such an item by the buyer or dealing with refunds. Ebay couldn't let it continue without serious control.

Which isn't to say that some sellers don't still sell such products on eBay "illegally". It's probably just that they haven't been caught yet.

Don't bother trying to fight this battle. You'll lose, and may ultimately find yourself kicked off eBay. Read carefully through the policy, especially the guidelines on what is permitted in which categories, what is restricted, and what is a violation.

http://pages.ebay.ca/help/policies/downloadable.html

If you do decide to continue to list digitally-delivered items (in compliance with eBay's policy), make certain you understand the copyright laws that relate to what you are selling, and that you are legally able to claim you own the rights. If not, your listings may be taken down again. CDs burned with the files are fine, but of course you must legally own the rights to the content.