How can eBay penalize me for following State Agriculture laws? Plant restrictions shipping to Calif

[fishgeekut9]

Plants are heavily restricted in Calfornia by State agricultural laws.  eBay currently penalizes sellers with transaction defect rates for cancelling orders placed by buyers who refused to read the ad description and terms.  

eBay can not legally force a seller to send plants which violate state agriculture laws of California to California.

eBay cannot legally force sellers to send restricted plant, animal, bio hazard,  live aquatic items to Hawaii if restricted by State or Federal law. 

I have requested assistance with the sales of plants that are prohibited to California residents.

There are also items such as crayfish which are prohibited in many states for a different discussion.

It is currently impossible to block by state to prevent items being sold being shipped to states where they are considered illegal.  

eBay needs to take proper care of sellers and customers and also follow state and federal laws.

[whattheactualfox]

@fishgeekut9 were you canceling under the reason "Problem With Buyer's Address" ?

Because that reason (and I can confirm a ebay rep told me) will not ding your account

[evry1nositswindy]

Are you talking about feedback or actual defects on your account?

[na_833338]

Hmmm... interesting problem.  I get it that buyers are great at NOT reading the exclusions that you list in the descriptions. 

This might be kind of a convoluted way to try to solve the problem, but have you looked at the shipping rate tables you can set up?  I see that you offer free shipping for a lot of stuff, but it might be possible to add a rate table with a high shipping rate to specific states (like California) that you know you can't ship your plants to.

With a shipping rate table in place (if it would work), anyone from California would not see the free shipping - they would only see the really high shipping quote for them.

I've included a photo with an example of a high rate to CA.  Can it work?  Who knows?  This a link to the page to start if you want to experiment.  https://www.ebay.com/ship/rt

[fishgeekut9]

Well, as of last week I notified California Department of Agriculture of the ongoing listings issue with eBay. eBay dings my seller defect rate when I cancel the order based upon sellers zipcode.  eBay is violating California State laws and other State laws restricting plants, aquatic plants, crayfish, invertebrates etc. Minnesota is also having an issue with Crayfish sold on eBay for example.  I can document multiple times I have reached out as a seller to eBay to ask for assistance in blocking. A simple IT fix just like when someone in Puerto Rico, Hawaii, Alaska is blocked from purchasing. 

I am going to see if in the next few days this is fixed by eBay sitewide. If not I will pursue legal counsel.  Customer service on recorded calls was rude when I told them that. I said how can you get me to violate state laws, eBay is not that powerful.  

I will give eBay 30 days to solve this. It can't be that possibly complex to do so. 

[fishgeekut9]

Right now it is seller defect rate, which penalizes me. It could easily be Feedback as well. As many CA customers obviously do not read the ad with at least one very direct I do not ship to CALIFORNIA.   eBay can resolve or I will pursue legal counsel. I know I am not the only seller being penalized. 

[fishgeekut9]

This solution is not an easy solution. It is about a five minute permanent fix as a clicking of a tab for an IT person to resolve.  Sellers should not be penalized for adhering to laws of all States of The United States of America and its territories.  In 30 days I will pursue legal counsel. I am sure more sellers than myself are penalized with transaction defect rates, the total **bleep** level of current seller support on the site, and possible feedback by buyers who wanted to violate a State Law.  eBay customer support manager should go to Oregon purchase an apple and drive to California with it. If caught it can be a fine, and can also risk the integrity of the Agriculture in California.  PERIOD! 

[fishgeekut9]

As of right now, I have yet another California customer who attempted to violate State laws of California by purchasing agriculturally restricted items.   

[fishgeekut9]

This is an additional burden to sellers on eBay who are staying within the laws of the United States of America and its Territories. By penalizing sellers who clearly state in their ads that an item is restricted to a specific State. By causing additional burdens on sellers.   THIS IS NOT A NEW issue on the site. It is very well established as a legal compliance problem. eBay is a California based company.  It should more than all other online marketplaces be aware of California laws. 

[wesk_36]

As Panda said, you can cancel as a problem with buyers address.

I have done this with buyers from other countries trying to buy through

re-shippers as some of the coins I sell are restricted or banned from import into certain countries.

Ebay has never penalized me for cancelling a sale for a problem with buyers address.

A buyer ordering something that is banned in their address location is a problem with their address, imo.

[whattheactualfox]

Seconding this. If a buyer got mad bc their item got canceled and they live in a state where you cannot legally sell the plants just say this @fishgeekut9 

"Hello Buyer, I am writing to inform you your order was canceled. The reason I did this is because this item is prohibited to sell/import in the state of [Insert State Here.] For your convenience, my listings state what states I cannot ship to for legal reasons. I do have other plants for sale (and at this point you could recommend one similar to upsell) and I am more then welcome to answer any questions you may have about my listings. Thank you!"

And let's say they give negative feedback because of that. This is what you can say:

"This item cannot be imported/sold in the buyer's state, for compliance and legal reasons, the order was canceled and the buyer was refunded."

You got to keep it short and sweet, and professional as well. And worst case, if ebay will not remove the feedback, you have your good response to back you up.

[stephenmorgan]

Defect can be removed.  You need to call eBay and insist on talking to the Defect Monitor/Office.  Once you explain the Law they should remove the Defects.

What was the reason you selected for canceling the orders or how did you handle it?

[na_833338 · Accepted solution]

I agree with your position on this issue.  From an IT viewpoint this is really no different from how eBay determines what states are going to include a tax if you purchase any item on eBay.  It's a law for those particular states and eBay has to follow the laws. 

I like some of the other suggestions that have been given concerning a 'problem with address' to cancel the transaction, but it certainly doesn't seem like it's your job to continue to be the 'long-arm-of-the-law' for eBay.  

A lawsuit may be the only way to get their attention.   I'm sure you could find an attorney that would be willing to draft a letter knowing that there's a possibility of a major lawsuit against eBay.  There is a tiny chance that  a letter from an attorney could possibly do the trick but it would certainly be to your advantage to know an attorney that can draft a letter for you at a small fee or for free.

I would guess that someone threatening legal action with the letter from an attorney would get their attention at the very least.  Who knows, it might get the ball rolling.  In the meantime, I would make calls to your congressman, or senator.  A call from one of their aids to eBay might get them more motivated to resolve the issue.

Heck, it might be worth your time to contact some sort of TV news department for a small story about the issue.  Big companies hate 'bad press' more than anything else.

I wish you good luck with whatever happens.

[hapi_9080]

If pants are restricted in California according to their agricultural laws. We should have to obey their agricultural laws. 

[kh-cathy]

Hi everyone,

Due to the age of this thread, it has been closed to further replies. Please feel free to start a new thread if you wish to continue to discuss this topic.

Thank you for understanding.