Monday, 1 February 2010

E-bay Bans E-cigarette Sales

Ebay has banned the sale of the e-cigarette.The e-Cigarette, also know as an electronic cigarette, or e-cig, is a new type of smoking device that is becoming more and more popular by the day. E-cigarettes are an effective method to enjoy nicotine/and smoking without the harmful toxins and chemicals associated with traditional cigarettes.
Because this e cigarette isn't really a cigarette... one would expect that the usual "smoking rules" just dont apply here. But... Ebay claims it violates their alcohol and tobacco policy.

eBay does not permit listings for most alcoholic beverages and tobacco products on their U.S. Web site. This includes cigarettes, cigars, and smokeless tobacco. In addition, non-U.S. members are not allowed to sell alcohol to an eBay member who is located in the United States.

Ebay States:

"Because of various regulatory issues, cigarettes, cigars, and smokeless tobacco products are not allowed on eBay. Please note that these items are not allowed whether or not they contain actual tobacco."

Sounds silly...If it doesn't contain actual tobacco it isn't a cigarette... right?

Dictionary.com

Definition of cigarette:
a cylindrical roll of finely cut tobacco cured for smoking, considerably smaller than most cigars and usually wrapped in thin white paper.

And...

Wikipedia. com it says

An electronic cigarette (or "e-cigarette") is an alternative to smoked tobacco products, such as cigarettes, cigars, or pipes.

Hmmm....

Wonder if I could request my fees back on my cancelled auctions and use this as an argument.

So... in a desperate attempt to beat the system and utilize e-bays advertising power many e-bayers are trying different ways to trick the system, unsuccessfully, I might add. I have been following the different ways ebayers are attempting to list the infamous e-cigarette, so to save you a bit of time and money here are some ways that won't work if you are trying to list e-cigarettes on ebay;

Listing them as the "no nicotine version of the e-cigarette" won't work...

Listing a e-cigarette accessory and trying to sneak in your website address to the actual e-cigarette. Ebay does not allow links to websites that contain e-cigarettes.

Selling "information only" on how to obtain e- cigarettes "not the actual e-cigarette" doesn't work either, even though the e-cigarette is not offered in the auction.

It's really too bad because the e-cigarette offers alot of health benefits to those who smoke traditional cigarettes as it is a healthier way to smoke and though it is not designed as a smoking cessation device it certainly could be used as one, as the e-cigarette offers different levels of nicotine cartridges; high, medium, low and none. This could certainly be used to "ween" one from the smoking habit in my opinion.

So, there you have it, ebay is a dead end when it comes to selling e-cigarettes.

Fortunately all is not lost... If you are interested in more information about the e-cigarette visit:
http://www.ecigmate.com

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