eBay's policies help to create a safe, fair, and enjoyable trading environment for our eBay Community. As a buyer, you're responsible for reviewing and understanding eBay’s policies, including the eBay User Agreement.
eBay’s policies are intended to:
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Support government laws and regulations
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Minimize risks to buyers and sellers
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Provide equal opportunity to all buyers
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Provide an enjoyable buying experience
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Support eBay Community values
Buyer Guidelines
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As a buyer, you must:
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Commit to paying for the item you win in a bid or through Buy It Now. Most of the items on eBay are auction-like listings and each bid is a binding contract to buy if you win. To understand the penalties for not paying, see the Unpaid Item Policy.
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Bid with serious intention to buy the item, including when placing a non-binding bid (for qualifying items such as real estate and vehicles). Non-binding bids still signify your serious intent in buying the item, and insincere bidding isn't permitted.
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Only use the bid retraction option for qualifying circumstances (for example, you entered too many zeroes in your bid amount). Never use this option to manipulate the bidding process.
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Bid on or buy an item only when you meet the seller’s buyer terms as described in the item listing. (For example, the seller might specify that the buyer must live in a certain country or use a specified payment method.) Only bid or buy with the intention of buying the item, never to disrupt a listing. Violation of these policies is considered unwelcome and malicious buying.
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Use Buy It Now rather than bidding if you're connected to the seller in any way, because people like the seller's family members, coworkers, friends, and roommates can have knowledge of the item not available to other bidders. Sellers can't bid on their own item. Engaging in shill bidding to artificially increase an item’s price or apparent desirability violates eBay policies and is against the law in many places.
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Both buyers and sellers may not interfere with a transaction or offer to buy or sell listed items outside of the eBay site (see Rules for Everyone – Overview).
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Posts made in eBay’s Want It Now must also comply with eBay policies. For more information, see the Want It Now Policy page.
Violation of these policies may result in a range of actions, including:
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Listing cancellation
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Limits on account privileges
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Account suspension
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Forfeit of eBay fees on canceled listings
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Loss of PowerSeller status
To understand eBay’s selling rules, see Rules for Sellers – Overview.
To learn more about eBay’s rules, you can take the Marketplace Policy Tutorial and other Trust and Safety tutorials.
To report a policy violation:
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Read the policy page that deals with the violation (see Rules and Policies – Overview).
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Click the “Report” link at the bottom of the policy page.
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Enter the item number(s) of the listing(s) to report.
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Click the Send button to send your message to eBay Customer Support.
You can also report a violation by clicking the “Contact Us” link on the left side of any Help page, clicking "Report an Item," and selecting the topic.
Note: Only report a case once. Multiple emails about the same case can slow investigation.
When we receive your report:
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eBay considers the circumstances of an alleged offense and the members' trading records before taking action.
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If a complaint can't be proven with certainty, eBay may take no action.
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For reasons of privacy, eBay can't discuss investigation results.
