eBay cancelled my purchase!

[gatorlope]

Their policy does not allow tobacco sales.

Not that I haven’t bought tobacco products before or since, but I guess that was allowed because they were considered collections or collectibles

I wondered what was going on when a recent search for “sealed tins” gave me several hits with the disclaimer that they were sold for the tin only and that the contents were “unfit for human consumption!” But then I thought it might have something to do with state laws in whatever state they were in.

I did find someone offering Bengal slices that was accepting offers and dickered with him a bit, finally making him an offer that he accepted and made my payment, but when I went back to the listing it had disappeared!

PayPal had made the payment and notified me, so I had his company name, so after a few days and no delivery, I reached out to him directly to ask what’s up?

He apologized and said that eBay never notified him of the payment and he sent me my tobacco, but it didn’t end there.

 

[ben88]

So, why would you buy Bengals on Ebay?

 

[alaskanpiper]

Hahaha, I was wondering the same thing. Must have been quite a deal or something...

 

[prairiedruid]

Maybe it is the special "fuzzy" edition of Bengal Slices.

 

[alaskanpiper]

Maybe it is the special "fuzzy" edition of Bengal Slices.

This has been dubbed "Fungal Slices"

 

[pepesdad1]

"This has been dubbed "Fungal Slices" GAK!!!

 

[gatorlope]

Actually, I popped one of the tins and it is excellent. It was one of those “or best offer” deals, so we negotiated and struck a deal. I made my PayPal payment and eBay.blanked the ad..

After a few days and no delivery, I got his business name from my PayPal receipt and contacted him directly. He told me that eBay never notified him of the payment and sent me the tobacco, so now eBay has the money & I have the product, but I’m wondering if he’s actually been paid.

 

[sablebrush52]

He told me that eBay never notified him of the payment and sent me the tobacco, so now eBay has the money & I have the product, but I’m wondering if he’s actually been paid.

Probably not, since eBay considers these transactions a violation of their clearly stated, if clearly unenforced rules. On another forum, a member bemoaned the confiscation by eBay of a vintage tin from the 1930's that was being shipped via eBay Global shipping. eBay refunded his money. Chances are the tin was destroyed. It's the risk you take buying and selling banned items on eBay.

 

[logs]

Never realized ebay offered shipping. How would that even work given they don't have the product at hand?

 

[peregrinus]

Last month I sold several vintage tins on eBay. A few weeks after the transactions eBay sent me a notification that they were removing my recent tobacco listings, this came after the afore auctions were completed: paid for, shipped and feedback was exchanged between the buyers and myself.

Here is a part of the notice I received from eBay:

After reviewing your account, we've had to take the following action:

- Some or all of your listings may have been removed. A list of any removed items will be listed further down in this email.

- We have credited all associated fees except for the final value fee for your listing(s).

Your listing included tobacco, which is not permitted on eBay, regardless of collectability or age of the product. We appreciate that you chose to utilize our site, but we must ask that you please not relist any tobacco or tobacco products. Collectible tobacco containers or packaging may still be listed on eBay, but only if they do not contain any actual tobacco, and the images in your listing clearly show this.
And so it goes...

Cheers,

Ray

 

[disinformatique]

ebay can suck it !!

 

[jaytex1969]

 

[gatorlope]

For clarification:

July 21- negotiated a price, made payment w/ PayPal & eBay sent me an “order confirmed” notice and the ad page went blank except for the price and “removed item” in parentheses.
Okay, ordered, paid for & confirmed - and no longer able to communicate w/ seller through his ad... so I waited a week+ and no delivery
July 30- left a message for the seller w/ eBay plus searched the sellers business name and was able to reach out to him directly via email. He told me that eBay had not notified him of the payment & asked if I’d prefer the tins or a refund. I chose the tins.
August 5- received tins
August 6- received notice from eBay that my order was being shipped.

 

[gatorlope]

After that, I had a conversation with an eBay rep and she told me that the policies had changed, so I need to purchase tobacco elsewhere.
Peregrinus’ excerpt from his eBay letter further clarified that age or collectibility of the tobacco product was irrelevant, which they did not tell me, so I’m just happy that I got what I did when I did! ::

 

[logs]

What's puzzling is that there are still plenty of sealed tins currently being offered on Ebay. If they're committed to ending tobacco sales they're not doing a very thorough job of it. Why end some auctions and not others?
My guess is that they want to make a show of it to some regulating authority. They want to be able to show some numbers and say "look at all these auctions we ended." At the same time allowing plenty of sellers to slip through the cracks and still make money.

 

[mothernaturewilleatusallforbreakfast]

I had one once where I won the auction and got a great deal. The seller decided to simply refund my money and say the item was not for sale any longer. eBay backed the seller and the seller put the item up as a 'buy it now' auction at twice what I had won the item for. eBay, schmeeBay. I don't do it any longer.

 

[ssjones]

Their enforcement of this "policy" seems utterly random and inconsistent. I just gave up and only list pipes, very occasionally.

 

[peregrinus]

ebay's policy enforcement certainly appears to be random and inconsistent, kinda like life itself sometimes.
I am not going to gamble again with tobacco listings on eBay.
Interestingly, as has been pointed out, there is indeed still a good number of tins and bags of current and vintage tobacco available on eBay. And it is also interesting what results you get by adjusting the search parameters. The results can vary quite a bit and in addition there are quite a few listings that seem to appear only when you scroll down to the bottom of a listing to the "More Like This" of many current auctions.
Cheers,

Ray