Comment From the seller's point of view (Score 1) 324
I am currently a PowerSeller on eBay, selling virtual items (not currency) for a game called Guild Wars. I was (until last week) the second biggest item seller on eBay for this game, and have been for over a year. Although it is just me and my partner operating this business, while still holding full-time jobs, the business is Incorporated in Canada, and a LLC in the US. We pay taxes in both countries on the income generated, and pay a LOT of fees to eBay and Paypal.
Last week, I saw several sellers of Guild Wars items and currency get their items de-listed, and even getting their accounts suspended, for selling these items. Although at this time THERE IS NO PUBLISHED POLICY AGAINST SELLING VIRTUAL IN-GAME ITEMS ON EBAY, I pulled down all my listings until I could get a better idea of what was going on. A few of my items got de-listed after I had pulled them down (??) with a notation that my listing infringed eBay's Copyright Policies, but no further information was provided at the time.
On Saturday night (10pm), another of my self-removed listings was pulled, again with a Copyright Violation notation, and a second notice that they tried to call me and were unable to reach me - which was untrue, as I was home all day and the phone never rang. So I responded and asked what was up, and the responded Sunday midafternoon, stating that they did not try to call me, but quoting from a Policy that I had yet to hear of. Here is what they wrote me:
My name is Mario, and I want to thank you for taking the time to write
to eBay. I will be happy to assist you with your concern about ended
auction.
In review of your account, I can confirm we did not attempt to call
regarding the removal of one of your listings due to the time. We only
contact members by phone between 9am - 9pm local time, and your listing
was removed after 9pm, which meant no call was attempted. This notice
you received was to inform you of the intention. I apologize for any
confusion or inconvenience this may have caused.
WHY YOUR LISTING WAS ENDED:
After careful review of the information you have provided and that of
your account details, your listings were removed because they were found
to be in violation of our Virtual Items policy. Please note that all
associated fees have been credited to your account.
eBay doesn't allow the sale of on-line virtual gaming items, including
game accounts, game characters, game currency, game points or other
similar game items. Although you may have sold similar items in the
past, future listings of such items will not be permitted.
As always, our goal is to keep the eBay marketplace a safe place to buy
and sell. Please understand that continued violations of eBay policies
may result in a range of actions, including listing cancellation, limits
on account privileges, account suspension, forfeit of eBay fees on
cancelled listings, and loss of PowerSeller status.
I encourage you to read the information available on our Help pages
about why we may restrict items from the eBay site. Please visit:
http://pages.ebay.ca/help/policies/downloadable.ht ml
Now this is all well and good, but after 2 full hours of searching, I could not find a "Virtual Items Policy" listed anywhere on the eBay website, nor could I find anything in the announcements board or eBay news items regarding this policy. So this (Monday) morning, I called eBay, and was told that there is in fact a Virtual Items policy, although they have yet to publish it.
Now, every listing I have ever placed on eBay carried a disclaimer, which states that I do not sell items, but rather the time required to acquire them. This is my disclaimer:
"All items in "Guild Wars" are the property of NCsoft Entertainment Inc. This auction is not for the ownership of intellectual property owned by NCsoft Entertainment Inc. but for the time and effort that was spent in providing this gaming service. All items are and will remain the property of NCsoft Entertainment Inc. By bidding on this auction you are stating that you are in no way affiliated with NCsoft Entertainment Inc. "Guild Wars" is a trade mark of NCsoft Entertainment Inc. All registered names and trademarks are properties of their respective owners."
From my disclaimer, I am not breaching their policies (even this new, unpublished one).
So, putting aside personal feeling of what Item Sellers do or don't do to in-game economies and the like - is it right of eBay to simply create a policy and, without publishing it, start punishing honest sellers for breaching this unpublished policy that they had no way of knowing existed?
Last week, I saw several sellers of Guild Wars items and currency get their items de-listed, and even getting their accounts suspended, for selling these items. Although at this time THERE IS NO PUBLISHED POLICY AGAINST SELLING VIRTUAL IN-GAME ITEMS ON EBAY, I pulled down all my listings until I could get a better idea of what was going on. A few of my items got de-listed after I had pulled them down (??) with a notation that my listing infringed eBay's Copyright Policies, but no further information was provided at the time.
On Saturday night (10pm), another of my self-removed listings was pulled, again with a Copyright Violation notation, and a second notice that they tried to call me and were unable to reach me - which was untrue, as I was home all day and the phone never rang. So I responded and asked what was up, and the responded Sunday midafternoon, stating that they did not try to call me, but quoting from a Policy that I had yet to hear of. Here is what they wrote me:
My name is Mario, and I want to thank you for taking the time to write
to eBay. I will be happy to assist you with your concern about ended
auction.
In review of your account, I can confirm we did not attempt to call
regarding the removal of one of your listings due to the time. We only
contact members by phone between 9am - 9pm local time, and your listing
was removed after 9pm, which meant no call was attempted. This notice
you received was to inform you of the intention. I apologize for any
confusion or inconvenience this may have caused.
WHY YOUR LISTING WAS ENDED:
After careful review of the information you have provided and that of
your account details, your listings were removed because they were found
to be in violation of our Virtual Items policy. Please note that all
associated fees have been credited to your account.
eBay doesn't allow the sale of on-line virtual gaming items, including
game accounts, game characters, game currency, game points or other
similar game items. Although you may have sold similar items in the
past, future listings of such items will not be permitted.
As always, our goal is to keep the eBay marketplace a safe place to buy
and sell. Please understand that continued violations of eBay policies
may result in a range of actions, including listing cancellation, limits
on account privileges, account suspension, forfeit of eBay fees on
cancelled listings, and loss of PowerSeller status.
I encourage you to read the information available on our Help pages
about why we may restrict items from the eBay site. Please visit:
http://pages.ebay.ca/help/policies/downloadable.h
Now this is all well and good, but after 2 full hours of searching, I could not find a "Virtual Items Policy" listed anywhere on the eBay website, nor could I find anything in the announcements board or eBay news items regarding this policy. So this (Monday) morning, I called eBay, and was told that there is in fact a Virtual Items policy, although they have yet to publish it.
Now, every listing I have ever placed on eBay carried a disclaimer, which states that I do not sell items, but rather the time required to acquire them. This is my disclaimer:
"All items in "Guild Wars" are the property of NCsoft Entertainment Inc. This auction is not for the ownership of intellectual property owned by NCsoft Entertainment Inc. but for the time and effort that was spent in providing this gaming service. All items are and will remain the property of NCsoft Entertainment Inc. By bidding on this auction you are stating that you are in no way affiliated with NCsoft Entertainment Inc. "Guild Wars" is a trade mark of NCsoft Entertainment Inc. All registered names and trademarks are properties of their respective owners."
From my disclaimer, I am not breaching their policies (even this new, unpublished one).
So, putting aside personal feeling of what Item Sellers do or don't do to in-game economies and the like - is it right of eBay to simply create a policy and, without publishing it, start punishing honest sellers for breaching this unpublished policy that they had no way of knowing existed?
