What's the deal with these mystery boxes? If they're not allowed, why are there 11k active listings?

[laurak858]

Hello fellow eBayers!

I am pondering the reasons for why eBay doesn't just shut down every listing that comes up when searching for "mystery boxes" since they are clearly not allowed yet there are 11,000+ active listings (at least as of a few minutes ago). I would think that sure they cause some headaches but they have also certainly brought revenue and attention to eBay seeing how many YouTube unboxing eBay Mystery Box videos there are. I really am ignoring the obvious issues with customer satisfaction by assuming (and by assume I mean that there is no proof to substantiate that this is really what it is like) that people are sending boxes that contain new (unused) items that meet or exceed the selling price.

It then leads me to wonder how they determine which listings to end versus others, etc. I pose this question purely out of curiosity because this matter although not one of them, but rather other things that I am experiencing or reading about has led me to believe that eBay does seem to do some pretty questionable stuff (for example, a review requested by eBay from a buyer must be rated 5/5 stars in order for it to be published. I do not wish to discuss that matter here; I am merely providing an example from first hand experience). 

Finally, if one wants to sell a variety of well defined, pictured items, what would be the most appropriate listing title for something of that nature? Obviously one would not use the word mystery or can one even sell well defined but different items all at one time? Perhaps not as the sale may result in lower final value fees? I really do not know and I do not wish to argue w/ people as I've also noticed that many posts on here are pretty crabby.  My question comes from a place of wishing to gather knowledge from experienced sellers in a positive manner. I love a good joke or sarcasm but man, some of the replies in posts seem awfully nasty for being a "community" format. My mother always reminded me that it was generally best to not say anything if nothing that was going to be expressed was courteous/civil. 

So, please should you have any information about this subject, I would love to read about your opinions. If you know a fact, that is even better but opinions or conjectures are totally cool too as once again, I am interested in how others view this matter (and if you don't care, I'm sorry if I wasted your time but I don't think that you would have read this far if it was a topic of no interest to you).

Thanks again and my best to all!