eBay for Education
Hi,
I'm a Digital Technologies teacher in an Australian Primary school and I'd like to give my students the opportunity to design and create their own 3D printed items and then auction them on eBay to our school community. But I can't figure out a secure way to have the students draft their own ads (using an approved school account?) whilst denying them the ability to post their own ads. Once their drafts are ready, I / someone from the Finance would check them then post them.
I've checked out the Seller Hub but I can't find any information about restricting the rights of other users / linking/creating other members who have restricted rights / access to the school's bank account.
Has anyone successfully done this before?
TIA,
Simon.
28 comments
mtgraves7984
·2 years ago"I can't believe nobody has already thought of this"
@siash-61
I'm with @nobody*s_perfect on this one. I'm sure it's been dreamed, but found not to be doable. Good luck, though...
toysaver
·2 years ago"But I can't figure out a secure way to have the students draft their own ads"
Ever hear of pencil and paper? You're so stuck in your digital world you can't see the forest through the trees. Set up your own website for selling. Keep it local. Even better make things the kids can donate to others in need.
EBay is a legitimate business involved in international commerce and not meant to be a tool used in classrooms by children. Not as farfetched as letting kids run a nuclear reactor for the day or perform surgery in a hospital but could have just as catastrophic results.
ckimodog
·2 years ago@siash-61
You are posting on a US community discussion forum. What applies in our country concerning your question, may not apply in yours. You want want to log into your discussion forum (ebay.com/au) to get more hands on advice from your seller piers in your country. Just a suggestion.
Good luck getting the help & advice you need.
dhbookds
·2 years agoI think it's an idea worth exploring more.........
First thing I'd do is ask the question on the Australian Board ........ https://community.ebay.com.au/t5/Buying-Selling/ct-p/1500000003
Here in the States, many schools have Parent Teachers Associations........you might find an ebayer in that group (if one exists) that is an ebayer and could help in that aspect.......they might also have a "charitable"/ school funding raising entity set up that avoids the individual tax problem.
I'm all for educating kids in real world projects......and I can see alot of peripherals to making the item......learning to write the descriptions/photoing/record keeping/profit loss could involve many more kids that just the 3 D kids........
a_c_green
·2 years agoI've read the whole discussion up to this point, but my thoughts are that designing and creating their own 3D-printed items is probably a much more important and valuable skill than subsequently trying to auction them on eBay, which seems to bring in more complication than it's worth.
I would focus a lot more on the 3D learning (and they can certainly design their own items without fear of IP violations risked by copying commercial products), and forget the eBay auctioning. A local silent auction can function just as well, especially as you said you expect the buyers to be local anyway (and probably related to the students, too 😉). Good luck.
caldreamer
·2 years agoThis whole thing could get rather messy from a "financial standpoint". One person would have to register as an EBAY seller and provide their checking account# and social security# (for tax purposes). Person who is the account holder will have "tax liability" for all sales.
Also bear in mind that EBAY will charge "selling fees" on (purchase price + tax). So you will lose 15-20% right off the top.
Wouldn't it be easier just to feature 3D items on social media page and allow parents to bid on items by sending a text message with their pledge?
siash-61
OP2 years agoI’m sure there is an easy way around this but from an educational perspective, I need to teach my students how to use digital systems. Selling something they have imagined and created, using an international standard really motivates them. That’s what I’m doing this for - student engagement and empowering people to make a positive difference in this world 😊
broto_64
·2 years agoI like your enthusiasm, have you tried asking them on Facebook Ebay for Business?
If you're only selling the top 3 or so...
That shouldn't be so bad, might take a little more time for you to do all the work of listing etc...
Or...
To preserve security have your student draft 1 item as you supervise.
Next comes the second student, and then the third...
Another possibility, is to set up 3 different ebay accounts all under the same roof.
More than a few sellers have more than one account.
You could name yours "3d creations student 1" and "3d creations student 2" and of course "3d creations student 3" ?
You'd still have to deal with the funds going to a bank account, and I'm not sure how taxes work in Australia, I thought you were in the USA so all that FEIN has to do with USA tax.
reallynicestamps
·2 years ago@siash-61
I need to teach my students how to use digital systems.
Forget using eBay at all.
Set up a website of your own. OzBAY perhaps. Or eSchool.
Use the Sell Your Item form as a template.
You might try using Shopify or GoDaddy to host, since both are designed to be shopping sites.
dryophelia
·2 years agoOP is located in Australia.
@siash-61
“…then auction them on eBay to our school community.â€
If you’re just offering them locally, wouldn’t a table or two in the gymnasium be less hassle?
siash-61
OP2 years agoIt sure would be less hassle lol.
But you know what they say… give a man a fish and feed him for a day. Or teach a man to fish and feed him for a lifetime.
downunder-61
·2 years agoTotally agree, for a few items eBay is a hassle and you would do better locally, advertise on Marketplace.
Ask question on https://www.ebay.com.au/ and if you do decide to go the eBay way, make sure you list on the Au site.
tobaccocardyahoo
·2 years agoThe school administration or school committee needs to be involved.
Selling the student's work may require parental permission.
The account owner will be responsible for any Intellectual Property Violations implemented by the students.
I have seen many 3D printed objects which are IP violations.
Legal advice is appropriate.
siash-61
OP2 years agoThanks for the tip.
Just for the record, I have already told them that there will be a limit to the profits they can make and they are good kids in my school. Anything excessive will be donated to charity - this is an educational venture after all 🙂
tobaccocardyahoo
·2 years agoLimits to the profits are a small issue.
The children are minors and cannot give you their work product to sell without being certain that now laws are being broken.
And an IP infringement can be a large expense for the school system, and place your job in peril when the school is served with a notice of a lawsuit. Certainly, someone other than a teacher should be making a decision to take that risk.
reallynicestamps
·2 years ago@tobaccocardyahoo
@broto_64
Australian law is different than American law.
And Australians are not a suit-happy as Americans.
This question should be posted on the Australian site.
broto_64
·2 years agoYeah thanks, some of us don't check underwear labels to authenticate posts.
nobody*s_perfect
·2 years agoWell, the very first line of the post mentions their location: "I'm a Digital Technologies teacher in an Australian Primary school and I'd like to give my students the opportunity to design and create their own 3D printed items and then auction them on eBay to our school community."
I have been a very active member of this discussion board for many years and have never heard of a proposal like this. As you commented above, "I can't believe nobody has already thought of this." Well, IMHO that's because you are overlooking a host of challenges and potential complications, not the least of which is that you yourself apparently have no experience as an eBay seller. How are you going to teach them to fish when you have no fishing experience, yourself? In addition to tax advice you need an advisor who understands how eBay works.
Access to the students' auctions can't be limited to their own community. The items would be available for anyone to bid on. In addition to the above-mentioned concerns about tax liabilities and parental consent, are you prepared to also walk the students through the realities of ecommerce including finance, shipping, and potentially dealing with shipping damage or unhappy customers, returns and claims? You apparently have no experience as an eBay seller, yourself. My understanding of Australian schools is that "primary" is for kids up to 12 years old. As you can see, here is an entire discussion community dedicated to dealing with the complications and details of how to sell on eBay. I think you are underestimating the complications of your proposed auction approach.
wastingtime101
·2 years agoeBay's terms state children under the age of 18 cannot use the website.
You would be better off having them draft their listings in a Word document. Create a form for them to fill out. Assuming they will be using the same product category you can put a list of item specifics on the form relevant to that category.
Kids should write:
Listing Title
Item Specifics
Item Description
You should determine price and shipping yourself.
siash-61
OP2 years agoThanks for your feedback but looking at the policy more closely will reveal that a minor can use eBay with an adult's permission.
"A person under 18 can use an adult's account with the permission of the account holder. However, the account holder is responsible for everything done with that account."
wastingtime101
·2 years agoThat's correct, but may be a situation where you need signed consent from parents.
eBay has something called Multi User Account Access (MUAA), but that's probably not going to help your situation. It's intended for businesses to allow employees limited access. Each authorized user has to have their own eBay account, which your students cannot have since they are under age. You'd have to get every single student's parent/guardian to create their own eBay accounts then let their kids use them with supervision. eBay may put each of those accounts through verification processes requiring copies of ID, social security number, etc and that seems pretty excessive for this school project.
This is why I suggested having the kids fill out a form or template you create would be much easier. Then you can transfer that data into eBay listings yourself.
That's assuming you have covered all the legal issues @tobaccocardyahoo brought up.
siash-61
OP2 years agoThanks for your thoughts @wastingtime101 and @tobaccocardyahoo .
In regards to the IP issue, I will be keeping a very close on all projects and I'm not actually planning on selling all the items - just the top 3 from each class (12 in total).
As for the MUAA, this is an interesting idea. I could setup 2 accounts: 1 for the teacher, 1 for Finance. I could share my account with the students with severely limited restrictions and then Finance and I manage them all 🙂 Can you see any issues with this?
Thanks again for your time fleshing this out... I can't believe nobody has already thought of this
lacemaker3
·2 years agoIn order to make use of MUAA (multi-user account access), each of your students would need to have their own eBay account, which you would then give limited access to the selling account.
The students would need to have their parents' and/or guardians' permission to have eBay accounts. In the USA, this generally means that the accounts should be set up in the parents' or guardians' names, with their financial and tax information, and then at their discretion, the parents/guardians can give their children permission to use their account under their supervision. When the children set up the accounts with their own names, those accounts are generally shut down once eBay becomes aware of the situation, because children cannot enter into contracts in their own right. I expect that this is similar in Australia.
I don't know whether the law (and eBay policy) in the USA or Australia would permit under-age minors to use a teacher's account under the teacher's supervision, since the teacher would not have the same rights/authority over the children as their parents/guardians would, to be able to enter into contracts on the children's behalf. I don't think this would be acceptable in the USA, and I don't know how it would be regarded in Australia either.
MUAA is generally used to give a seller's employees access to the seller's account, to allow them to perform their job duties. I'm not sure how (or if) that would apply to a student/teacher relationship.
siash-61
OP2 years agoUnder Australian law, teachers are employed "in loco parentis", meaning they are the location of parents / legal guardians once they are signed in during school hours/events.
mtgraves7984
·2 years ago@siash-61
Wow. What a burden. That's something that I also thought would be "found not to be doable". Hats off to you! 🙌
lacemaker3
·2 years agoOK ... well ... we have the same concept here, but ... that's not what it means ... "in loco" does not mean "the location of" ...
https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/in_loco_parentis
I doubt that this concept would be extended to the point of you creating an eBay account for each of your students, in your name, with your financial information (and tax information if applicable), and allowing your students to operate the account (and purchase or sell whatever they wish to) without your supervision outside of the few hours per week that you supervise them during school hours.
I could be wrong, but I would be surprised if eBay Australia would agree to that interpretation, in regards to the eBay underage user policy and MUAA. [For which you should be massively grateful because this is a stellarly bad idea.]
Please let us know how this works, if you try it.
https://www.ebay.com.au/help/policies/identity-policies/underage-user-policy?id=4233
https://www.ebay.com.au/help/account/multiuser-account-access/multiuser-account-access?id=5197
slippinjimmy
·2 years agoHave a look at the Multi-User Access function.
It appears you could restrict users to working on drafts but they would be blocked from actual listing. There are a whole bunch of permissions you can select to allow or not.
https://www.ebay.com/help/account/multiuser-account-access/multiuser-account-access?id=5197
No personal experience with it.
broto_64
·2 years agoNo, there is no secure method to have a multitude of students draft up listings and then have you submit them... For one there is no precedent, but the real issue as has already been mentioned is ebay considers selling here a business.
I'm not sure we're connecting so let me repeat that:
Ebay considers selling here a business.
Do you have a FEIN?
Might need one for your state as well, you may be able to use the school's tax ID number but then your school has to deal with it on their taxes (which that actually might be the best way) here's the thing you need to talk to a CPA or someone qualified at your school because this is above my pay grade.
But you would be responsible for declaring taxes on your sales, expenses, income, the whole bit.
The IRS will come after the account holder if they don't.
It is serious, you need to have a bank account linked to ebay so you can withdraw the funds (fact is ebay will allow you to sell without that, but then you'll be unable to access your funds).
Sales on ebay are not considered final until the buyer has had the item for a good 30 days, meaning the buyer can return it any time and you'll have to pay the shipping back plus issue a full refund (or you can save yourself the shipping fee, let the buyer keep the item and issue them a refund).
See it's that kind of party, I would want to imagine that your customers would be nice peachy people but...
It might be a better idea to sell your 3D creations locally, perhaps through another venue such as Marketplace... In some cases items can perhaps be sold at a school function.