posted on October 27, 2000 11:19:08 AM newThen if a seller tacks a $5 "handling fee" onto his shipping charges, ebay won't mind?
Precisely.
We might contrive a grey answer, where the items end up being sold for $.01, with a $8.20 priority mail shipping/handling, but I predict that eBay would not disallow even that.
eBay has no beef whatsoever with a $5 handling fee in any normal circumstance.
posted on October 27, 2000 11:24:15 AM newunless, of course, the seller's intent is to weed out "undesirable" bidders (- those who differ philosophially.
posted on October 27, 2000 11:48:08 AM newNo blackmail was intended as part of the suggestion. Simply, "this is a term of completing the transaction", along with the implied, "if you don't want to do this, don't bid". As much as I tend to avoid auctions which have any such terms in them, I don't find any hint of blackmail.
I concur entirely. Blackmail is "extortion or coercion by threats especially of public exposure or criminal prosecution". I see no threats whatsoever. Nor is this purely extortion - obtaining "by force, intimidation, or undue or illegal power". Force? Who's forced to bid? Intimidation? Surely you jest. No "power," neither "illegal" nor "undue", since the bidder can simply hit the "back" button and be done with this seller.
This sort of policy isn't blackmail. It's just DUMB - unless your reason for selling is not to make money, but to prove some political point. I can see a whole lot of more cost-efficient ways to do that.
And no, I don't see anything in ebay rules barring sellers from refusing to sell to any bidders they consider "undesirable".
