Lynn’s eBay Ezine Volume III, Issue Number 12

‘eBay’s Link Policy‘

by Lynn A. Dralle, ‘The Queen of Auctions’

On March 8th, I got an email that eBay had shut down one of my auctions for inappropriate links. It always freaks me out when something like this happens! I go into panic mode.

I read the email over and figured that it must have been a really old store item that was still directing customers to my family and friends’ auctions. You see, in the old days, we could put links to our friends and family’s eBay auctions.

I used to put this text in all of my listings with no clickable links: “Please check out my mom’s auctions at TheXstyles, my sister’s auctions at CaesarPalace, my brother’s auctions at LDralle, and my assistant’s auctions at Mosthisnthat.” I have included links here so that you can check out their auctions but in my actual listings–NO LINKS, text only.

I went about my normal eBaying life until I got another email on March 22nd that another one of my eBay items had been shut down for illegal links. Now, I was getting worried. I had visions of my 5,000 auction and store items all being shut down overnight. What a nightmare!

If you have never had an eBay auction shut down, just know that everything will disappear. Your item number will pull up nothing–nada. You will have lost all your hard work–unless of course, you use my I Sell system or another system that will store your data. It is not a good thing.

I immediately called the eBay Gold Power Seller’s hotline and was redirected to the Trust and Safety department. They reviewed my account and some of my auctions and phoned me back.

I was told that even though it is not posted on the eBay site, they do have an internal policy now that states you can NOT mention anyone else’s user id. How would I possibly know about that? How would anyone? They explained to me that if it is not clearly stated as an allowable link–then I must (and everyone else must) assume that it is not allowed. Yikes!

I explained to Trust and Safety that it would take at least 80 man-hours to take that sentence out of all of my 5,000 listings. Figuring 1 minute per auction multiplied by 5,000 auctions would be 83.3 hours. I didn’t understand why it was against policy because I was driving traffic to other eBay sellers. I also asked for at least 60 days to accomplish this and to please not shut down any more of my auctions.

Trust and Safety said that their hands were tied and there was nothing they could do. I asked to speak to a supervisor and that was not an option either. I was freaking out. Please finish reading this article to find out what happened to me!

In the meantime, Here is a link to eBay’s published Links policy.

I highly recommend that you check out the above link. But, here is a quick list of what IS allowed:

The short list of what IS NOT allowed:

• Links to websites or pages that offer to trade, sell or purchase goods or services outside of eBay. This applies whether it is a static URL or an active link.
• Links to sites that solicit eBay User IDs, passwords or email addresses from buyers
• Links that encourage buyers to place their eBay bids through a site other than eBay
• Links or other connections to live chat systems
• Links to subscribe to newsletters or mailing lists hosted outside-of-eBay

So, it was never clearly stated why I couldn’t recommend my family’s auctions. I was really worried. I was finally able to get a supervisor on the phone. George was awesome! He explained to me that although I was referring people to my family’s auctions, some people would use that same option to refer their customers to a competitor’s auctions with malicious intent. Now, that made sense.

Unscrupulous eBayers could say, “Check out these eBay stores to see what a great deal my item is.” And eBay would not be able to police every auction fairly because how would they know who was referring to good stores vs. bad stores.

Now I understood! I told George I had no problem taking out that sentence, but I would need time. They gave me some extra time and I am so relieved! Thank you, eBay. We have already taken it out of about 200 auctions/store items and will be diligently working on this in the next while.

Be very careful about what you say or link to in your eBay auctions. Your business depends upon it.

WANT TO SEE MORE ARTICLES LIKE THIS ONE?

See Lynn’s past ezines here.

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE OR ON YOUR WEBSITE? Yes, you may – just as long as you include this complete blurb with it: The Queen of Auctions and eBay Power Seller, Lynn Dralle, publishes ‘eBay Tips & Tricks’ a weekly ezine with 9000+ subscribers. If you’re ready to jump-start your eBay business, make more money and have more free time, get your FREE tips now at www.thequeenofauctions.com

I am happy to present our seventh story for The 100 Best Things You’ve Bought or Sold on eBay! This week’s story is from Annette–Elmwood Cottage Collectibles. This is an amazing story of a garage sale find that sells for 225 times what Annette’s dad paid for it. I couldn’t bear to edit out any of the stories, so the photo Annette talks about can be found in the link below. Click below to read…