eBay won't allow VINTAGE rotating lights - W T F ?

FedSigFan

FedSigFan

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Member
May 21, 2010
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I just had a Federal 184 Beacon reported/pulled and am in awe. Here's what eBay's live chat had to say:


Thank you for contacting eBay Live Help!





You are successfully connected to eBay Live help. Please hold for the next available Trust and Safety Expert.





Hello, thank you for waiting and welcome to eBay’s Customer Service. My name is Jenkins. How may I help you today?





Hi Jenkins. I'm rather frustrated. Please bare with me and don't take it personally...





I do understand. I will gladly address your concerns today.





eBay has a category specifically for Historical Memorabilia > Firefighting & Rescue > Lights. I posted an antique, 30+ year old beacon for sale in this category and it was removed.


Any idea why there would be a category specifically for collectable lights, yet when I put one up for auction it's removed? This is an antique!





I do understand your concern about having your beacon removed. I will gladly review your account to see the exact issue we had with the item. While I am reviewing your account were there any other concerns I needed to address for you today?





No, i'm just so frustrated that it was removed. I had a lot of bids and watchers and was counting on that money.





Thank you for waiting. We do allow some collectable lights to be sold on eBay. However, we will not allow theses type of lights that rotate. You can list other collectible lights on eBay as long as they do not rotate.





Wow. Again nothing personal, but why have a firefighting lights category if you can't sell firefighting lights on it?





There are other lights on fire trucks that do not rotate and that is why we do have that category in place.





Well, not sure what else to say. Thanks anyway.





I do understand it may not make sense but because those lights rotate we will not allow them. You may list any other lights from a fire truck that do not rotate. Was there anything else I needed to address for you about your removed item?





If I take the red bulbs out and just sell it with clear rotating bulbs, is that legit?





We would still not allow it since them to be sold because they are rotating lights.





Okay. Still, not making sense. There are literally dozens and dozens of rotating beacons for sale right now on eBay.





I do understand you see similar item. You can report them directly to us by using the "report item" link on the right side of the listings. We will review them and take appropriate action.





As somebody did to me, correct?





Your auction was either found by us or reported by a member. We do not actually keep records of which one it is. However, we do highly rely on member reports about items that are in violation of one of our policies.





Guess I'm out of luck and once again disappointed with eBay. You've been very patient, thank you.





You are welcome. Thank you for contacting eBay Customer Service. Have a good day!
 
possible someone wanted it without going thru the bid probably hoping they can get it for nothing :( . Or someone did not like to compete with your item .I do not even go to e-bay anymore since they only let you do paypal
 
So according to that eBay customer service fool you can not sell a rotating light? So does that include the thousands of amber rotating lights? :roll:


Tip, NEVER EVER post a link to an eBay auction here unless it is absolutely 100% allowed in the policies.
 
Ebay is weird. They allow mechanical sirens but electronic sirens are prohibited.
 
A direct link to their policy whic cays different...


http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/police.html


"allowed-Antique emergency lighting or sirens"


This BS and the "new" inability for sellers to leave neg feedback has me no longer selling on ebay.
 
No rotating lights, but I guess strobes are ok? Stupid... just plain stupid. :roll:
 
Its' fucking ebay....


The person you talked to doesn't know what they're talking about. Few of the customer service reps on there actually do.


I ran into shit with them a few years ago - I asked if I could sell some old red lights (Twinsonic & Visibars) & they said "as long as it does not resemble anything currently in use" that it was OK. So I sell some bars for 2-3 weeks then they start getting pulled. Contacted ebay & said wtf? You said it was ok to list these? & they pretty much told me that they changed their minds & I can't do that anymore :evil:


Really though, why can't vintage lights be able to rotate & newer ones can? Like it makes any damn difference :roll:


Hell I would just list it under traffic control & road safety & post NOTHING about it being vintage. & how would they know the light rotates unless you specify it?
 
When organizations get too big and powerful they become top heavy with management personnel who think they know what's best. As a result, they impose stupid rules and regulations and resort to lies and secrecy to justify their policies. :twisted:
 
So why then when I type in beacon ray I see 10 different rotating lights as of right now ? Why aren't they pulling these lights ? You can't tell me they haven't ran across them by now. ebay is stupid.!! I don't collect anything but rotating lights. Guess they won't have my business in that dept. Corporate stupidity is what I call it. SUM DUM college intern prolly made this rotating light thing up.
 
I can relate to this frustration as well. I listed my CJ184 to see what I might get on there. Well about 4 hours later it was pulled. Yet a blue dome'd CJ184 sold for $313 and was up for its duration. Just for shits I put a couple other CJ's on my watch list to see what would happen. So far, as I was told my a member here, one of them is at least still up.


Hell, I have purchased a few "rotating" lights on flea bay before.


Oh and I guess according to their policies a Whelen Liberty SL8RRBB is ok or any strobe bar for that matter. They don't rotate.


I have gotten more fed up with ebay lately, mainly because it seems like a big junk heap of knockoff garbage and overpriced overstocks. They hey day of finding a treasured diecast truck for my collection or a rare part for a light are gone.


When their profits start plummeting, maybe they'll realize they screwed up.
 
You probably got reported by a competitor with a similar item. Happens all the time. Between that and the excessive fees, I've about had it with eBay.
 
maybe we as a hole should just start reporting any and all rotating lights.. ebays profits will drop.. and maybe just maybe they will revamp their policy... :roll:
 
WPD8908 said:
maybe we as a hole should just start reporting any and all rotating lights.. ebays profits will drop.. and maybe just maybe they will revamp their policy... :roll:
Click to expand...

Ya think? I can't imagine all the zeros right of the decimal point that emergency lights of any sort generate in profit for EBay. I'm not defending them, but they have literally nothing to loose by banning any and all emergency equipment, they will more than make up for it in Thomas Kinkade prints and Mars Attacks nightlights. They probably figure that from a liability standpoint that they are better off not putting themselves between an unknown seller and and unknown buyer. Given all the overblown concern here about whackers and impersonators and people with lights they aren't "entitled" to, why the uproar when they do the same. Don't we have a couple people here who will only sell to credentialed customers?


Yeah, it's stupid, but it's their business. Someone start their own service, call it BeaconBay
 
Stendec said:
Ya think? I can't imagine all the zeros right of the decimal point that emergency lights of any sort generate in profit for EBay. I'm not defending them, but they have literally nothing to loose by banning any and all emergency equipment, they will more than make up for it in Thomas Kinkade prints and Mars Attacks nightlights. They probably figure that from a liability standpoint that they are better off not putting themselves between an unknown seller and and unknown buyer. Given all the overblown concern here about whackers and impersonators and people with lights they aren't "entitled" to, why the uproar when they do the same. Don't we have a couple people here who will only sell to credentialed customers?


Yeah, it's stupid, but it's their business. Someone start their own service, call it BeaconBay
Click to expand...


I just wish they would uniformly flat out ban all warning lights if that's what they want. That way it's fair, no warning equipment allowed.
 
The thing that has never made sense to me is that if someone wants to buy lights, they can find them anywhere on the internet. EBAY acts like they are doing us a favor by banning certain emergency items. If someone wants to be a whacker, EBAY is not going to stop them. I agree with John, ban it all, or allow it all. This BS of being able to sell a particualr light one day and not the next is getting old. I have had the same problems many of you have had.
 
Wailer said:
When organizations get too big and powerful they become top heavy with management personnel who think they know what's best. As a result, they impose stupid rules and regulations and resort to lies and secrecy to justify their policies. :twisted:
Click to expand...
Sounds like the U.S. Government! :shock: :lol:
 
Lightbarnut said:
Sounds like the U.S. Government! :shock: :lol:
Click to expand...

Governments, corporations, media, religious organizations... they're all guilty when they try and piss on the rest of us. :evil:
 
I would try to list again and change the wording that you use. eBay is incredibly odd. Some seller posted dozens upon dozens of items in a category I frequent that absolutely nothing to do with the category. Instead of just doing to same search I did see dozens of same item from same seller that I reported they wanted for me to send them the item number for each of the dozens of stupid items listed. Instead of just doing the right thing for the good people who use eBay they just want to be difficult. Again I bet if you try again and get creative it will go through...like you said plenty of other rotating items out there now so those obviously got through. :roll:
 
I was told by Ebay that any rotating light that was red, blue, or green are subject to removal. Clear and amber are OK. The only exception is antique lighting that has no similarity to current lighting. They consider rotating as similar. I was also told that anything with LED in the title is suspect, no matter the color. Go figure!


Dan
 
dmathieu said:
I was told by Ebay that any rotating light that was red, blue, or green are subject to removal. Clear and amber are OK. The only exception is antique lighting that has no similarity to current lighting. They consider rotating as similar. I was also told that anything with LED in the title is suspect, no matter the color. Go figure!
Dan
Click to expand...


So a 174 is ok cause it oscilates?
 
I think one of the keys is to keep the word rotating out of the title and description, and another is don't show or write the colors red, blue, or green. Unfortunately, there is no consistancy with there people. They all seem to have different interpretations of the rules. One kicks it off, the other says it's OK. I've gone to a supervisor and had some reinstated, and some not. It's a crap shoot!


Also, why would somebody report someone elses light. It's bad enough now, with the tough rules, the inconsistancy, and the jerks that are already reporting. Talk about shooting yourself in the foot.


Dan
 
Here's a message of clarification from the eBay rep:


"I reviewed your item further with my supervisor and there was a little


bit of miscommunication. You are able to list emergency vehicle


rotating beacons on eBay. However, you cannot include red, blue, or


green lights with it or mention anything about having them..."
 
FedSigFan said:
Here's a message of clarification from the eBay rep:

"I reviewed your item further with my supervisor and there was a little


bit of miscommunication. You are able to list emergency vehicle


rotating beacons on eBay. However, you cannot include red, blue, or


green lights with it or mention anything about having them..."
Click to expand...


Unless they are vintage but then not always, sometimes if they rotate...
 
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