Prohibited items
eBay in its earliest days was essentially unregulated, but as eBay grew, it found it necessary to restrict or forbid auctions for various items. Note that some of the restrictions relate to eBay.com (the US site), while other restrictions apply to specific European sites (such as Nazi paraphernalia). Regional laws and regulations may apply to the seller or the buyer. Among the hundred or so banned or restricted categories:
Tobacco (tobacco-related items and collectibles are allowed)
Alcohol (alcohol-related collectibles, including sealed containers, as well as wine sales by licensed sellers are allowed)
Drugs and drug paraphernalia
Nazi paraphernalia
Bootleg recordings
Firearms and ammunition
Used underwear and dirty used clothing
Teacher's editions of textbooks including homeschool teacher's editions.
Human parts and remains
Live animals (with certain exceptions
Certain copyrighted works or trademarked items.
Lottery tickets, sweepstakes tickets, or any other gambling items.
Military hardware such as working weapons or explosives.
Virtual items from massively multiplayer online games.
Many other items are either wholly prohibited or restricted in some manner.
Unusual sale items
In June 2005, the wife of Tim Shaw, a British radio DJ on Kerrang! 105.2, sold Tim's Lotus Esprit sports car with a Buy It Now price of 50 pence after she heard him flirting with model Jodie Marsh on air. The car was sold within 5 minutes, and it was requested that the buyer pick it up the same day.
In May 2005, a Volkswagen Golf that had previously been registered to Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger (who had been elected Pope Benedict XVI) was sold on eBay's German site for €188,938.88. The winning bid was made by the GoldenPalace.com online casino, known for their outrageous eBay purchases.
In September 2004, the owner of MagicGoat.com sold the contents of his trash can to a middle school language arts teacher, who intended to have her students write essays about the trash before it was cleared away by a well-meaning janitor.
Water that was said to have been left in a cup Elvis Presley once drank from was sold for $455. The few tablespoons came from a plastic cup Presley sipped at a concert in North Carolina in 1977.
A Coventry University student got £1.20 for a single cornflake.
A man from Brisbane, Australia attempted to sell New Zealand at a starting price of $.01AUD. The price had risen to $3,000 before eBay closed the auction.
One of the tunnel boring machines involved in the construction of the Channel Tunnel was auctioned on eBay in 2004.
A man from Arizona sold an air guitar on eBay for $5.50.
A group of four men from Australia auctioned themselves to spend the weekend with the promise of "beers, snags, good conversation and a hell of a lot of laughs" for AU$1,300
Disney sold a retired Monorail Red (Mark IV Monorail) for $20,000
The German Language Association sold the German language to call attention for the growing influence of Pidgin-English in modern German
In late November 2005, the original Hollywood sign was sold on eBay for $450,400.
In February 2007, after Britney Spears shaved all of her hair off in a Los Angeles salon, it was listed on EBay for $1million USD before it was taken down after some considerable controversy.
Charity auctions
Using MissionFish as an arbiter, eBay allows sellers to donate a portion of their auction proceeds to a charity of the seller's choice. Some high profile charity auctions have been advertised on the eBay home page, and have raised large amounts of money in a short time. For example, a furniture manufacturer raised over $35,000 for Ronald McDonald House by auctioning off beds that had been signed by celebrities
eBay in its earliest days was essentially unregulated, but as eBay grew, it found it necessary to restrict or forbid auctions for various items. Note that some of the restrictions relate to eBay.com (the US site), while other restrictions apply to specific European sites (such as Nazi paraphernalia). Regional laws and regulations may apply to the seller or the buyer. Among the hundred or so banned or restricted categories:
Tobacco (tobacco-related items and collectibles are allowed)
Alcohol (alcohol-related collectibles, including sealed containers, as well as wine sales by licensed sellers are allowed)
Drugs and drug paraphernalia
Nazi paraphernalia
Bootleg recordings
Firearms and ammunition
Used underwear and dirty used clothing
Teacher's editions of textbooks including homeschool teacher's editions.
Human parts and remains
Live animals (with certain exceptions
Certain copyrighted works or trademarked items.
Lottery tickets, sweepstakes tickets, or any other gambling items.
Military hardware such as working weapons or explosives.
Virtual items from massively multiplayer online games.
Many other items are either wholly prohibited or restricted in some manner.
Unusual sale items
In June 2005, the wife of Tim Shaw, a British radio DJ on Kerrang! 105.2, sold Tim's Lotus Esprit sports car with a Buy It Now price of 50 pence after she heard him flirting with model Jodie Marsh on air. The car was sold within 5 minutes, and it was requested that the buyer pick it up the same day.
In May 2005, a Volkswagen Golf that had previously been registered to Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger (who had been elected Pope Benedict XVI) was sold on eBay's German site for €188,938.88. The winning bid was made by the GoldenPalace.com online casino, known for their outrageous eBay purchases.
In September 2004, the owner of MagicGoat.com sold the contents of his trash can to a middle school language arts teacher, who intended to have her students write essays about the trash before it was cleared away by a well-meaning janitor.
Water that was said to have been left in a cup Elvis Presley once drank from was sold for $455. The few tablespoons came from a plastic cup Presley sipped at a concert in North Carolina in 1977.
A Coventry University student got £1.20 for a single cornflake.
A man from Brisbane, Australia attempted to sell New Zealand at a starting price of $.01AUD. The price had risen to $3,000 before eBay closed the auction.
One of the tunnel boring machines involved in the construction of the Channel Tunnel was auctioned on eBay in 2004.
A man from Arizona sold an air guitar on eBay for $5.50.
A group of four men from Australia auctioned themselves to spend the weekend with the promise of "beers, snags, good conversation and a hell of a lot of laughs" for AU$1,300
Disney sold a retired Monorail Red (Mark IV Monorail) for $20,000
The German Language Association sold the German language to call attention for the growing influence of Pidgin-English in modern German
In late November 2005, the original Hollywood sign was sold on eBay for $450,400.
In February 2007, after Britney Spears shaved all of her hair off in a Los Angeles salon, it was listed on EBay for $1million USD before it was taken down after some considerable controversy.
Charity auctions
Using MissionFish as an arbiter, eBay allows sellers to donate a portion of their auction proceeds to a charity of the seller's choice. Some high profile charity auctions have been advertised on the eBay home page, and have raised large amounts of money in a short time. For example, a furniture manufacturer raised over $35,000 for Ronald McDonald House by auctioning off beds that had been signed by celebrities
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