I feel that it is my duty to inform you that eBay are deliberately suppressing some of your intended sales to the UK.
I recently tried to purchase on eBay (listed as eBay Item No. 310218729963) a replacement Chipper Blade for my Troy-Bilt Chipper/Vac (kit listed in the Troy-Bilt
Parts Catalog as Part No. 1901303), but when I clicked on the final button to purchase it, a screen refusing to process the item was displayed (see the attachment
below for a photocopy) reading "Dear Buyer", "To prevent the circumvention of the the ebay.co.uk and ebay.ie weapons and knives policy, it is not possible to bid
on, or buy this item." "Thank you for your understanding." "eBay Trust & Safety".
Perhaps I should explain that in the UK a few years ago, following a couple of murders by teen-agers using long pointed knives to stab their victims to death,
legislation was passed prohibiting the sale of such knifes to persons under the age of 18. Seemingly eBay reacted to that by banning completely their sale of
certain types of knife, but some moron on their staff (attitude: "It's more than my job is worth ! "), seems to have decided to vastly extend that ban by banning
all sales if the generic term "KNIFE" appears anywhere in the main item description (but probably not in the more detailed description following in the main body
of text.
Doubtless the aforementioned idiot would be unable to appreciate that the item you were offering for sale is not only a routinely replaced spare part, buried in
the heart of a power-driven garden machine, but is also NOT something which by any stretch of the imagination is a long pointed & handled instrument that could
be used to stab someone to death.
I would respectfully suggest that in future you avoid using the term "Blade/Knife" in the your main description, and instead use "Chipper Blade".
In conclusion, I still need that spare part and feel that I should order it direct from yourselves over your website at the price of US $29.99 plus postage.
The figure quoted on eBay for UPS First Class Mail International to the UK was US $6.95. If you will kindly confirm the figure to me accordingly by eMail,
I will then proceed accordingly.
Yours sincerely,
Peter Turnbull
Follow up email: July 9, 2010
Hello again,
I think that I should leave you to follow whatever course you feel to
be in the public interest. I did consider a supplementary direct
protest from myself to eBay, but came to the conclusion that it would
be a sheer waste of time since their corporate PR reaction would
simply follow the lines of the maxim "any excuse is better than none",
and to turn a blind eye on the real essence. One of the problems with
going direct to the vendor is of course that often it is not possible
to contact the seller except via eBay.
By the way, I am 79 years old now and nothing surprises me any more.
For example some 30 years ago I once spent, as part of my own private
civic education, a whole day listening to every case that came up in
the local Magistrates Court and it was an eye opener in more ways than
one.
In those days here in the UK a Police Inspector acted as Public
Prosecutor, and as I sat in the "Public Gallery" (simply the back two
rows of seats in the Court), waiting for proceedings to start, the
Police Inspector came in and started a conversation with a uniformed
Police Constable who was sitting a few feet away from me and I could
hear every word spoken between them. The gist was an arrangement
between them that the Constable would comit perjury to "ensure the
conviction of the defendant, and the case was otherwise too weak", and
I was appalled. My immediate reaction was to make a formal complaint,
but later in the day when I had thought the matter over I realised
that the sole outcome would simply be that both the Police Officers
would then commit perjury to cover their own actions (two 'witnesses'
against one) and I would simply be labelled a "trouble-maker". After
all those years the experience still rankles.
In conclusion, I ordered the Chipper Blade from your business and have
since received the notification of despatch.
Best regards,
Peter Turnbull
Related links:
eBay bans trade in knives in UK
eBay UK weapons policy
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