Reply To: Siyum Hashas on eBay controversy….

First off ZD, respect where it’s due. If you have sold millions of dollars on eBay you have a lot of practical experience that I do not. However, what’s key here is to have a clear understanding of terms.

You can always make your own terms, However those terms cannot be against ebay rules

for example you cannot say, I only accept cash (ebay rules only allow paypal for shipped items)

The word cannot is true in the sense that as eBay write:

Make sure your listing follows these guidelines. If it doesn’t, it may be removed, and you may be subject to a range of other actions, including limits of your buying and selling privileges and suspension of your account.

So, your cash example is a very useful one. Contractually if an auction concludes with a commitment to pay Cash only then legally that’s binding. However, if the parties actually complete the transaction that way they are subject to eBay countermeasures as described.

Obviously, your point about following rules is well made. Even if something’s legally binding as far as Contract law that won’t automatically protect the user from eBay sanctions for breaking policy. So, it’s clearly necessary to know eBay rules.

And you cannot say JEWS ONLY, discrimnation is against ebay rules

By the sound of it your experience is entirely with secular transactions and so you automatically assume that any differentiation would be discriminatory.

You have never for example sold the bentsching for the Daf Hayomi siyum Hashas at Atime’s Shas-a-thon (auctioned off on ebay). Refusing that to a non-Jew is not discrimination at all, even though it was not mentioned in any Terms and Conditions – it’s obviously a religious observance and obviously governed by religious rules that’s basic common sense and it’s the law too.

Dispute resolution , eBay is very specific about dispute resolutions, you have to accept their eBay resolution service.

Ebay’s dispute resolution has an option of professional arbitration. Professional arbitrators honor civil law which requires honoring all legally binding Contractual Terms. When those terms include arbitration clauses the professional arbitrator will honor them as will all Civil Courts by ruling that the parties to the contract have to get arbitration per their contract – in this case with a Beis Din.