eBay for Education

[siash-61]

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.

[wastingtime101]

eBay'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.

[tobaccocardyahoo]

The 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]

Thanks 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."

[siash-61]

Thanks 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]

Limits 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.

[wastingtime101]

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@siash-61 wrote:

Thanks 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."

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That'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.

[slippinjimmy]

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@siash-61 wrote:

Thanks 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."

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Have 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]

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No, 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.

[siash-61]

Thanks 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

[dryophelia]

OP is located in Australia. 

@siash-61 

“…then auction them on eBay to our school community.”

If you’re just offering them locally, wouldn’t a table or two in the gymnasium be less hassle?

[caldreamer]

This 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]

It 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.

[siash-61]

I’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]

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@siash-61 wrote:

I’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 😊 

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I 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.