Sometimes it's possible for a seller to do things that help them to avoid paying fees, whether deliberately or by mistake.
It's important to remember that if you don't pay your fees, your listings may be ended, and your buying and selling privileges could be limited.
Make sure you follow these guidelines. If you don't, you may be subject to a range of actions. We may limit, restrict, or suspend you from buying, selling, or using site features. All of your listings may be removed, displayed lower or not shown in search results, without refunding any or all applicable fees. You may also forfeit special account status and any discounts. You may be subject to the application of fees and recovery of our expenses in policy monitoring and enforcement.
What are the guidelines?
Not allowed
Listing an item and then being paid outside of eBay.
Listing an item and then offering additional identical items for sale outside of eBay
You can include links to eBay Stores and listings, as long as they're not URL redirects.
Not allowed
You can't refer to or promote your personal website (including links to home page web addresses that promote websites outside of eBay), sales outside of eBay, or other businesses.
Specify shipping costs in your listings. It's against our rules to provide unclear or misleading shipping information, or to have unreasonable shipping charges.
Allowed
Charging actual shipping costs
Including the cost of packaging materials, insurance costs, and delivery
Including delivery confirmation or similar extra services in the handling cost
Not allowed
Excessive shipping and handling charges
Charging more than the maximum shipping costs in categories with shipping caps
Charging a separate fee for insurance
Charging for business-related fees such as employee wages or gas mileage
Including contradictory or confusing shipping terms in your listing
Not allowed
You can't offer or require the buyer to:
Make an additional purchase
Purchase additional items or quantities from a listing
Pay an amount beyond the final price and a reasonable shipping charge
Sign up for a service with the purchase
Take any unrelated action (such as pay for a hotel room) as a condition for receiving the item or its benefit (such as free or discounted airfare)
By using listings with variations, sellers can offer variations of the same product in a single listing.
Allowed
Listings with variations can offer a choice of size, color, scent, quantity, or material as long as the items are otherwise the same.
Restricted
If all of the items in your listing have the same Item Condition, you can have variations for minor condition differences like the same book in Acceptable condition where one has a torn cover and one is an old library copy.
You can offer parts of a set if all of the individual components are correctly categorized, and your title applies to all of the variations.
You can offer minor variations to customize an item, like a computer with different memory options.
Not allowed
Selling different brands or models of an item in a single listing
Offering a choice between two different items, such as a watch or pair of shoes
Selling items that would have different item conditions, such as a new and a refurbished laptop, in the same listing
Restricted
Listing contact information (including home page web addresses that promote websites outside of eBay) in the title, subtitle, item location, or images is only allowed when the item for sale is a domain name.
Allowed
Selling old or collectible catalogs from which you can no longer place an order (such as a Sears catalog from 1931)
Not allowed
Listing catalogs or other items from which buyers can currently order directly, which could result in sales being completed outside of eBay
Listings that try to avoid fees can make for a poor buying experience and put sellers who pay their fees at a disadvantage. Also, even though offers to buy or sell outside of eBay aren't always made with the intent to commit fraud, there's always some risk involved.
Items purchased through an offer made outside of eBay aren't eligible for eBay services, including:
Feedback
Requests for contact information
Problem resolution
eBay Buyer Protection
Contact Customer Service
Report listing violations or problems with another eBay member.
Contact us
Have a question? We can help.
Ask eBay members
Get help from other eBay members. Visit the Answer Centre to post a question.