How do you deal with an illegal item for sale?

[falover571957]

How do you deal with a totally unlawful sale on ebay? Criminal in Canada and the USA, it could have serious ramifications to an entire group of sellers here.

[momcqueen]

There is a Report link halfway down the page on every listing when you view it on a  desktop computer. 

Various drop-down menus will display your choices and then you submit.

But if it's really, really illegal, you need to call ebay Customer Service and speak to someone about it.

What is this about?

[cumos55]

eBay has rules about illegal and restricted items... that cannot,  or more appropriately,  should not be sold on eBay.

One has to look at what it is...

Is it original  or modified.

What country is it from.... and to which countries  can it not be sold....

Many countries  have specific rules  that must be followed... and yet the item can be sold elsewhere...

There are a lot of things to consider

Start at the restricted page... and then look at whether the item should be reported.

Most importantly... What is it??  Maybe we can help  as long as the seller is not identified here.

Each postal system also has rules with respect to what can be sent in the mail....

[i.am.vivian]

http://pages.ebay.ca/help/policies/items-ov.html#prohibited

[femmefan1946]

Most illegal items (like ivory and human parts) cannot be listed. Meaning the AI sees the keywords and rejects the listing completely.

And there are "eBay illegal" items like tobacco and passports where the same thing will happen.

Then there are the legal but often incorrectly described (to be polite about it) items like postage stamps and First Nations collectibles that have a Warning box pop up before the seller can list having, in theory, considered whether the listed product meets to appropriate criteria.

But if you find something that is wildly illegal, rather than contacting eBay, or perhaps as well as contacting eBay you should be contacting the local authorities in the seller's area or the Canadian Aniti-Fraud Centre

http://www.antifraudcentre-centreantifraude.ca/index-eng.htm

Which in spite of the name works closely with all North American police forces.

If the problem is a seller apparently offering counterfeit goods the appropriate contacts would probably be the manufacturer or Canadian distributor, who have more clout (and by clout I mean lawyers) than you or eBay.

[cumos55]

That list of prohibited and restricted items  is constantly changing... or more specifically evolving.

Much of what we  see applies both to eBay Canada and eBay.com.

Something such as firearms  is very much more prohibited in Canada because of the difference in gun control regulations between Canada and the US.

Sometimes  there are things you can sell in Canada, but not the US....such as Cuban propaganda that cannot be sold on eBay.com, although I suspect that will  change in time, now that Fidel Castro is dead..

Nazi memorabilia  is much more critical  in some countries..... and if I remember...  it is more regulated in France than any other country.....  as indicated several years ago, as opposed to today perhaps.

One should also understand that postal services also have rules  as to what can be mailed.....

There are also specific laws governing the sale of certain items......such as Louis Vuitton purses... and other such items.  An example is that someone in a country can buy such a purse...and once it enters that country  it can only be sold within that country.  This is also based on a court case filed by that company.

[cumos55]

eBay has the rules... but a major part with respect to enforcement of those rule  is whether a listing gets reported.by other sellers...

There is also the VeRO program... The Verified Rights Owner program....  where a company has the right to have eBay enforce the company's rules...

There are copyright rules.... Countries  can differ  as to what the actual rule is....Books  fall into this copyright rule.

[cumos55]

As sellers on eBay  we must follow the rules as set by eBay..... and others in many cases.... such as the VeRO program...

Enforcement of those rules  is very much dependent on whether a listing gets reported to eBay... and only then  does eBay determine if a listing should be removed from eBay.

Therefore it is very important for sellers to report a situation to eBay, and only then will eBay determine  what the problem is.

It has also been noted  that certain words will trigger whether a listing could be uploaded to eBay......I once had a listing , many years ago....about cookies... the edible kind... but could not list it because of the association with the use of "cookies "  as a software not allowed  in listings on eBay.