I've been teaching my long-distance daughter how to eBay using AW. Tonight, she called to say one of her recently-submitted auctions had disappeared. Turns out eBay pulled it because her Terms said payments could include cash..........and I'm the one who told her to say that. Bad parenting! Apparently, allowing cash payments is eBayillegal.

Here's exactly what her Terms (part of her descriptions; not her Seller's Payment Instructions) said (still say for the two of her auctions that have bids):

Payment due 14 days after auction ends.
PAYPAL, CASH, CHECKS, MONEY ORDERS ACCEPTED.

She's revised all her no-bid auctions, and is wondering if they'll also pull the ones with bids.

This is part of the eBay message to her:
.................................
The violation occurred when you included the following information in your listing:

CASH

Our goal is to ensure safe online shopping and to encourage members to use online payment methods that are secure, easy to use, and reliable. They should also offer high levels of protection for both buyers and sellers. Because cash payments do not offer the same level of protection and convenience as online payment methods [oh, and by the way, we make money when they use those "online payment methods", but wink, wink, no need to mention that here], members are generally not permitted to accept cash as a payment method on eBay. Sellers are permitted to accept cash on delivery (COD) but only for in-person transactions. Personal checks, money orders, cashier's checks, certified checks, and bank-to-bank transfers are also permitted.
.................................

I've been selling for eight years, and I had no idea about this restriction (my auction terms used to include cash; I can't remember when I changed them...or why; I like cash payments! never had a problem).

And I don't understand how eBay can prohibit independent businesses from taking good 'ol legal tender. There's something very un-American about that. And it's such a blatant ploy to add to their coffers! What's next? All payments must be via Paypal?

So did you guys know about this eBay rule? Do you think they have people prowling auctions looking for the word CASH?

I ran a quick search for the word CASH in Collectibles (with lots of exclusion phrases to narrow it down), and in five minutes I found six that mention cash as a payment option, and some of the sellers have well over 1000 FB ratings (one has 7200). I'd sure like to know why they zeroed in on my daughter's auctions.

Sue