eBay and blades

[Pete W]

Anyone else fallen foul of eBay's new policy regarding 'knives and similar items'?

I was watching a nice saw at the weekend, but when I tried to make a bid I got an eBay screen asking for my credit card details. I've never seen that before, and don't have a card registered with eBay so was somewhat suspicious. Emailed eBay support to query it.

That was Sunday evening; just got a reply (nothing like a timely response, eh?) New policy requires you to lodge credit card details (as a form of age verification I imagine) and to re-post them if you want to buy any form of knife. I suppose that's fair enough under the current circumstances, but this was a 22-inch panel saw (handsome Spear & Jackson!) Not exactly the weapon of choice for feral youths. I'm wondering what else will be covered - axes, marking knives, chisels, awls?

But that isn't the worst of it. eBay will only accept Visa and Mastercard credit cards as proof of identify. I don't have credit cards, and my bank debit card is not acceptable either (although it's perfectly acceptable at PayPal).

I know some here sell on eBay; did you see a policy announcement on this? Have you seen an impact on bids for some kinds of tools?

 

[DaveL]

I fell foul of this when trying to bid on some carbide tips for a replaceable tip router cutter, never got the bid in.

 

[pobo]

I think they automatically pick up on words like "blade". I tried to bid on a table saw blade a while ago, and had to do the credit card thing, with time it tuck i ended up missing out on the item.

pain but guess once your done it once it done for good. but guess its a problem if you don't have credit card

pete

 

[tnimble]

It is a pretty poor new policy.

Not only doesn't it help much to fight knife crime (since the sale of credit card details (and paypal accounts) is quite established) but it seems to be an automated feature flagging objects based on keywords.

On the other side handsaws (especially rip saws) and table saw blades are quite manageable and very lethal weapons of combat.

 

[PaulO]

I'm wondering what else will be covered - axes, marking knives, chisels, awls?

I noticed that in the latest Axminster catalogue they have a note under each axe saying that they can't be sold to under eighteens. But an adze doesn't have the note.

So a note to the hoodies, shop around and you can get a horizontal axe without id.

 

[Walter Hall]

eBay got a lot of flak recently for the ease with which it was possible to buy illegal items such as flick knives through their site. No doubt this new policy is an over reaction to that.

 

[Mikey R]

If the ebay software flags items by a keyword search, then I wonder if the seller can get around it by choosing different names. Like discribing a plane as having a 50mm iron rather than blade.

 

[AndyT]

I hit this one when trying to buy a t&g plane with "double blade" - it's still letting ordinary single-bladed planes through! Pretty simplistic and useless keyword matching.
There was a general announcement about this on Feb 23rd which showed up in my "My eBay" summary but I agree with the OP that it's a bit clumsy and unproductive.

Andy

 

[wizer]

If the ebay software flags items by a keyword search, then I wonder if the seller can get around it by choosing different names. Like discribing a plane as having a 50mm iron rather than blade.

Why would anyone want to get around it? (other than th 16yr old whos trying to buy a blade to slay his 'enemies')

 

[Pete W]

Why would anyone want to get around it?

Because sellers of planes and other woodworking tools are going to lose potential buyers, and buyers like me are going to be banned from buying legitimate woodworking tools.

Under this new eBay policy you can only bid on items that fall foul of eBay's new keyword restrictions if you register a Visa or Mastercard credit card. I don't have one - I got rid of all my credit cards some years ago. I carry a debit card for my bank account, and an Amex card for business. They're good enough for PayPal, Amazon and every other Internet business I've bought from, but not acceptable to eBay.

 

[wizer]

Debit cards are accepted. I don't own credit cards either.

eBay won't loose trade over this

 

[Pete W]

Debit cards are accepted.

Visa or Mastercard?

This is clipped from eBay's email reply to my query:
"Buyers must have a credit card on file with us in order to purchase a knife on eBay.co.uk. If you don't have a credit card on file then we'll ask you to enter your card details when you place your bid or use Buy It Now. This is for verification only and you won't be charged. Also, we only require credit cards with Mastercard or Visa logos."

 

[neilyweely]

eBay won't loose trade over this

Well, they will certainly lose some; me!

I am on a self imposed credit card ban, and whilst I do have one the conspiracy theorist in me will not allow me to do this sort of thing!!

Truth is I do know a fair few people who this will also affect. It certainly will not get them more business. TBH I think they should use a bit of common and distinguish between knives and tools that by necessity have a blade component. It seems a bit daft in this day and age to need confirmation of age to purchase a router bit! Can't technology be 'applied' here to 'sort it aht'?

Just my 2p

Neil

 

[tnimble]

You're absolutely right Neil! And besides that fact (which could also be solved by having the seller flag the items that are a weapon, along with some regulation and checks by ebay personal who can easily do random keywordchecks manually) they should accept other kind of age verification such as debit card information. Especially since credit cards are notoriously bad at providing age verification. (of which some is tackled by accepting only visa and master cards)

 

[matthewwh]

It is a bit of a pain, we were among the hundreds of responsible sellers offering knives both on ebay and our website. We always ID'd customers who didn't have a verified paypal account (and by implication a credit card) and never had any complaints about it - indeed most of them were chuffed to bits that we took our legal obligations seriously. We have had a few questions from our ebay customers about how they can buy our knives now and we just refer them to the website.

The sad fact is that watchdog have gone off at half cock and found an easily hyped up target instead of getting to the root of the problem. Anyone buying a knife with the intention of committing a crime will go for a £4.99 plastc handled one from Tesco and pay cash for it as there are millions of them in circulation and it's completely untraceable.

In the face of such public criticism about a sensitive topic I don't think eBay were left with any other option than to take swift and decisive action. If I was in their shoes I'd have done the same thing.

 

[zeb]

Tbh the our country had gone crazy im 17 and am required to carry 3 chisel and a 2inc plane iron to college 3 days a week, only cus i need my tools thou, i can get away with that lol i got searched by the police after telling them i got them :roll: and they said fair enough and let me go lol, now at the time on the way my blade was blunt but on the way to college i can easily shave with them lol (yes im 17 and have ot shave evry other day lol before i get told off lol)seems silly to me tbh

back to the original post if i really wanted to i easily get hold of knifes etc quiet easily so it all a point less

 

[hog&bodge]

Wonder if the restrictions apply to knives like
Opinel.
Bought one a few years ago after losing my original.
To think we are all criminals for wanting to buy a utility knife..
So according to the new rules we would not be able to buy one today
yet there are on sale on ebay :shock:
yet again more media hype and lame info programs..To report on a
subject say how the gov are...Well you get the message.
Have a paypal account aleays leaves a bitter taste in my mouth when
I have to use it. Pure extortion, no other way of describing PayPal
charges..

 

[katellwood]

This may be of interest, I was caught by the creditcard stop whilst trying to buy a crown marking knife. At the time I was unaware of this issue and thought I may be linked to some sort of scam so I declined. Went to buy the same knife this week on BIN, the transaction went through without an hitch and I had not changed any settings with paypal

Has this issue been addressed?

 

[Peter T]

Surely it's very simple.

If any shop or on-line store that myself or my wife uses wants to mess about with ID for some item, we simply decline the whole purchase and go somewhere else.

We also make sure that the establishment involved is fully aware of why we have done what we have done, either by telling them in person or by e mail.

If everyone did this, the loss of trade would be huge and the policy would simply disappear.

 

[dunbarhamlin]

Already done exactly that with the drinkshop.com who expected me to cheerily hand over passport and driving licence details so I could buy a case of aquavit.