Tuesday, July 31, 2007

eBay punks out.

"After learning that some items purchased on eBay may have been used in the tragedy at Virginia Tech in April 2007, we felt that revisiting our policies was not only necessary, but the right thing to do."

Translation: "How many victims? And their families each have a lawyer. F&*#, that's a lotta lawsuits! We'd better be seen doing something proactive before they get the idea to come after us, too." The only "right thing" they are concerned with here is the kind that can be deposited in the bank.

Trust me, they've already crunched the numbers and have determined that firearms parts and reloading supplies net them only a tiny fraction of the revenue of, say, counterfeit Hello Kitty merchandise...

Who this is really going to affect is folks with old guns looking for repair parts. Maybe even more than Numrich, eBay was the place to go to look for that hand you needed for an Iver Johnson revolver or an extractor for a Frommer Stop.

10 comments:

Todd said...

Sounds like a perfect opportunity for someone with a lot of gun knowledge and technical savvy! ;)

Divemedic said...

Now if Ebay would just do something about all of the scam artists on there that keep ripping people off.

Buffboy said...

Nuts, I don't use fleabay as much as I used to because their fees are getting ridiculous but it was a place to get obscure parts or used brass that nobody would bother to list on gunbroker. I'll admit to selling more than a few gun parts there too. Well, maybe it will move the parts sellers to one of our friends (IE Gunbroker or Auction Arms) instead of our one of our enemies. I run the same part searches on GB & AA as on fleabay but never get hits.

Anonymous said...

Todd has the right idea. I don't grudge eBay for their choice because, well, it opens up avenues for the rest of us.

I'm tech savvy. I'm just broke. Anyone want to pony up some venture capital? Besides, I'd rather go to auction sites that are specialized because it's easier to find things.

Anonymous said...

I've been quasi-boycotting eBay for years now.

Ever since they first stopped carrying gun auctions (Because OMG! Someone might not have a background check!)

Except in that case, you of course had to have anything shipped through an FFL, just as always, with the requisite background check. There wasn't a single case of anybody buying a gun through eBay in violation of the applicable laws. But it came to the attention of the mostly-D/leftist eBay honchos.... and guns are bad, mmmmkay? (I can't find the breakout of campaign donations right now, but I did find the evidence of what I remembered: Blue Investment Management of New York, is in the process of registering a mutual fund with the S.E.C. for Democrats who wish to invest only in “Blue Companies. They define this primarily as companies that “Give Blue”, meaning that most or nearly all of that company's political contributions are made to Democratic candidates for office and to Democratic Political Action Committees. ... According to the article, EBay is one of their top core holdings.

I've been trying to get people to stop using eBay especially for gun stuff, (like, oh, say, pdb, I'm looking at you...) It's been a utterly forlorn hope.

I wondered how much longer it was til eBay totally did away with those icky, icky gun parts...

The only good news was that it did allow the other gun auctions to survive... Now they should start doing a lot better.

NotClauswitz said...

I still see parts I want, like a NPM trigger housing...

Anonymous said...

"This new update continues to encourage safety among our community members and brings our policies in the U.S. and Canada in closer alignment with our existing policies in other markets around the globe."

They say that like its a good thing.

AE

Anonymous said...

Todd already said it.

Opportunity.

Oh and just for the record, I hate the "add 15 minutes" to the clock over at Gunbroker. I snipe to avoid confederates, not to steal that bargain from under your nose for five cents more at the last minute.

http://standardmischief.com/blog/2006/12/25/tis-the-sniping-season/

Anonymous said...

Sometimes, a company will set in place a rule they never intend to enforce.

Just a thought, as I continue to see all sorts of eeeevil black gun parts on eBay.

Zendo Deb said...

won't this just move to gunbroker or somewhere similar?