USPS ending listings for lithium ion power tool batteries

[bigmatt45]

Has anyone had this happen to them?  This has happened to me several times now and it makes no sense to me.  The first time it was a drill battery and the shipping method was selected as UPS GROUND but the USPS was the agency that had it pulled from ebay.  This time today the item was listed with USPS ground advantage.  I have sold several hundred power tool batteries on ebay and always ship ground with hazardous materials stickers on the packages.  Last time this happened i called ebay and the agent was as perplexed as me. 

Hello bigmatt45,

We had to remove your listing because it didn’t follow our Hazardous materials policy. Most hazardous materials are prohibited on eBay

What activity didn't follow the policy

United States Postal Inspection Service has reported your item 394961342242. They asked us to transmit the following message to you: This item listed is prohibited in USPS networks and the USPS shipping specified in this listing is in violation of USPS regulations. Before attempting to mail any hazardous materials (HAZMAT), please review and ensure compliance with the mailing standards in Publication 52 and the International Mail Manual; available at http://pe.usps.com. Please be warned, proper HAZMAT shipping is the mailer's responsibility. Noncompliant shipments may result in fines a Contact Details: lrsuarez@uspis.gov

What you need to do next

The easiest way to avoid this in the future is to ensure that your current and future listings follow this policy.

What is the policy

To sell hazardous materials on eBay, you must comply with local laws and regulations. 

To find out whether a substance or material has been classified as hazardous, go to:
https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-40/chapter-I/subchapter-J/part-302/section-302.4

Most hazardous materials are not allowed on eBay, including: 
- Carbon tetrachloride and any product or item that contains it, such as fire extinguishers
- Carcinogens
- Combustibles
- Dinitrophenol (DNP) and any products that contain it
- Explosive precursors
- Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs)
- Methylene chloride and paint or coating-removal products that contain it
- Non-government-approved refrigerants
- Ozone-depleting substances
- Poisons
- Radioactive materials

Sellers must ensure that their hazardous materials:
- Are legal to ship through standard shipping providers
- Include any applicable shipping restrictions in the item description

How this affects your account

Because you may not have been aware of this policy, we're letting you know about it and ask that you follow this policy in the future.

- Listings that didn't follow this policy have been ended. 
- We have credited any associated fees except for any final value fee for your listing(s). 
 
Listings that don't follow this policy in the future will be ended. This determination was made using automation or artificial intelligence.

Why we have this policy

This policy helps sellers follow important government regulations.

More information and help

https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/prohibited-restricted-items/hazardous-materials-policy?id=4335

[simba6]

It's bots that go for key words.    " This determination was made using automation or artificial intelligence. "

I will say the porn industry has had much better success with AI.

[bigmatt45]

They just took down 3 more of my listings and all three were using UPS as a shipping service.  I dont understand how USPS is removing items that are 100% legal to mail and also not even using their shipping services 

[klhmdg]

USPS is not removing them....

eBay bots are removing them.

[bigmatt45]

Its usps removing them.......

United States Postal Inspection Service has reported your item 394961342242

[deserdog]

I mailed a laptop that had a lithium battery. Sent it ground, USPS, labeled ground only with a sticker on it. No problem.

[devon@ebay]

---

@bigmatt45 wrote:

Has anyone had this happen to them?  This has happened to me several times now and it makes no sense to me.  The first time it was a drill battery and the shipping method was selected as UPS GROUND but the USPS was the agency that had it pulled from ebay.  This time today the item was listed with USPS ground advantage.  I have sold several hundred power tool batteries on ebay and always ship ground with hazardous materials stickers on the packages.  Last time this happened i called ebay and the agent was as perplexed as me. 

Hello bigmatt45,

We had to remove your listing because it didn’t follow our Hazardous materials policy. Most hazardous materials are prohibited on eBay

What activity didn't follow the policy

United States Postal Inspection Service has reported your item 394961342242. They asked us to transmit the following message to you: This item listed is prohibited in USPS networks and the USPS shipping specified in this listing is in violation of USPS regulations. Before attempting to mail any hazardous materials (HAZMAT), please review and ensure compliance with the mailing standards in Publication 52 and the International Mail Manual; available at http://pe.usps.com. Please be warned, proper HAZMAT shipping is the mailer's responsibility. Noncompliant shipments may result in fines a Contact Details: lrsuarez@uspis.gov

What you need to do next

The easiest way to avoid this in the future is to ensure that your current and future listings follow this policy.

What is the policy

To sell hazardous materials on eBay, you must comply with local laws and regulations. 

To find out whether a substance or material has been classified as hazardous, go to:
https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-40/chapter-I/subchapter-J/part-302/section-302.4

Most hazardous materials are not allowed on eBay, including: 
- Carbon tetrachloride and any product or item that contains it, such as fire extinguishers
- Carcinogens
- Combustibles
- Dinitrophenol (DNP) and any products that contain it
- Explosive precursors
- Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs)
- Methylene chloride and paint or coating-removal products that contain it
- Non-government-approved refrigerants
- Ozone-depleting substances
- Poisons
- Radioactive materials

Sellers must ensure that their hazardous materials:
- Are legal to ship through standard shipping providers
- Include any applicable shipping restrictions in the item description

How this affects your account

Because you may not have been aware of this policy, we're letting you know about it and ask that you follow this policy in the future.

- Listings that didn't follow this policy have been ended. 
- We have credited any associated fees except for any final value fee for your listing(s). 
 
Listings that don't follow this policy in the future will be ended. This determination was made using automation or artificial intelligence.

Why we have this policy

This policy helps sellers follow important government regulations.

More information and help

https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/prohibited-restricted-items/hazardous-materials-policy?id=4335

---

Hey @bigmatt45! Please learn more about properly shipping hazmat items on eBay here:

 https://www.ebay.com/sellercenter/shipping/preparing-your-shipment/know-what-qualifies-as-hazmat

[wastingtime101]

---

@bigmatt45 wrote:

Its usps removing them.......

United States Postal Inspection Service has reported your item 394961342242

---

I've never heard of USPIS reporting listings for takedown, but USPS has been cracking down on hazmat. They implemented changes this past July and more changes are coming in January.

https://pe.usps.com/DMMAdvisory/Show?dmmAdvisory=DMMAdvisory042423.html&year=2023

The message you received includes an email address for someone at the USPIS so you can always contact them for more information if you can't find the answers on the linked policy pages or the hazmat page Devon provided.

On the eBay policy page it says this:

Some products are prohibited by the shipping carrier or have restrictions on which type of shipping method may be used. For example, some types of batteries cannot be shipped through airmail.

To sell restricted items, the seller must follow all shipping carrier guidelines and specify applicable shipping restrictions in the item description

Did your descriptions comply before takedown @bigmatt45 ?

[wastingtime101]

---

@deserdog wrote:

I mailed a laptop that had a lithium battery. Sent it ground, USPS, labeled ground only with a sticker on it. No problem.

---

Li-Ion batteries contained in equipment have a different set of regulations than stand alone li-ion batteries that the OP is/was selling. Things like size/power of battery also play a significant factor.

Hazmat is highly regulated.

[bigmatt45]

i understand the rules, what i dont understand is USPS removing items from ebay that have nothing to do with USPS.  how is the USPS allowed to remove lawn mower batteries that are advertised to ship with UPS or FEDEX?  besides the fact that there is nothing in USPS regulations that say you cant ship lawn mower or power tool batteries.  this has now happened to me on two separate occasions this year and both times it was the USPS removing power tool batteries.   

[bigmatt45]

now imagine USPS ended your listing before you even had a chance to sell it and you will see my frustration.  there is nothing wrong with selling power tool or laptop batteries on ebay as long as you label them correctly when shipping and ship them surface transport only.

[bigmatt45]

they were advertised with UPS or USPS ground shipping, that complies with shipping regulations.  i also have HAZMAT stickers to put on the boxes and my local usps clerk also adds a no air transport sticker.  

[fixtronicsnc]

The same thing just happened to me! I can't sell any power tool batteries now, they keep getting randomly removed. This is so annoying!!! Do you have any updates/fixes?

[simba6]

Will that ban apply to electric cars in time?

[kalyoth]

Just an observation: you are not specifying shipping restrictions upon those battery listings I checked, within the Item Description. In terms of policy violations, it may be as simple as that. Putting it in the Title of Auction doesn't meet that requirement.

"Some products are prohibited by the shipping carrier or have restrictions on which type of shipping method may be used. For example, some types of batteries cannot be shipped through airmail.

• To sell restricted items, the seller must follow all shipping carrier guidelines and specify applicable shipping restrictions in the item description"

from Haz Materials Policy