Auctioning your values

[stanleyann]

Big difference. It is a show for professionals. True as long as everyone comes bringing friends and parents etc the odd one or two might slip through, but most I feel wouldn't pay the price or have the inclination. YOu can only control things so far at shows .. give 'em a break for goodness sake!! The queues are bad enough as it is .... without checking ID's, BUT it is coming that soon we will be computerized at shows and be asking for customer ids. At least we are trying ... there are dozens of other companies there in the same predicament ... why pick on CND to complain about?

you have hit the nail on the head there geeg....why pick on cnd?.....alright i know it is one of the most respected companies out there but they are trying their best to combat a lot of issues right now .... but what about the other professional nail products on ebay......isnt ez flow or millennium nails or star nails items or even the x brands that no one has ever heard of before regarded as professional? couldnt it do just as much damage if used by someone who is untrained?....isnt their monomer just as hazardous to send through the post?.......i would say it is but then why have i not seen one single person on this site complain about those companies products being sold on ebay, its just seems to be cnd thats being aimed at all the time.

stanleyann

 

[The Geek]

Well, I finally got a response from ebay in what appears to be a form letter.

Here was the letter I sent them:

Message: Finally! I get a chance to write something

There has been a massive upsurge in the industry regarding your members selling professional only hazardous and potentially highly dangerous products through ebay. These are products where in the US, you must be a licensed professional to purchase as they can cause serious harm through their use by an untrained person.

Many of these goods are also being shipped via first class post and transatlantic even!

I recently published an article in a trade magazine regarding this issue and it is an issue that is appearing on my site regularly (mine is primarily UK centric though saying that, we have users from all over the world and it is the largest online community for the industry. It is also coming up just as frequently on other industry sites).

Can you please investigate this issue and let me know your thoughts. The industry as a whole would celebrate any positive action from yourselves.

As an FYI, here is the article I am referring to: http://www.thenailgeek.com/showthread.php?t=8801

Thanks for reading this. I will keep the community up to date with any progress with yourselves.

Samuel Sweet

www.thenailgeek.com

Here was their response:

Hello Samuel,

Thank you for taking the time to write eBay with your concerns. I'm happy to help you further.

With over one million listings on the site at any given time, the Community Watch team realizes there may be some auctions currently running or that have already ended that may violate eBay policy.

eBay prides itself on being a safe and fair place to trade and the sense of community is very strong. eBay will always investigate any reports made by community members concerning auctions that may violate policy.

There are strict guidelines in place in regards to shipping practices and sellers are encouraged and required to familiarize themselves with any guidelines that should be followed when shipping potentially hazardous materials.

http://www.usps.com/cpim/ftp/pubs/pub52.pdf

http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/hazardous-materials.html

If you happen to see auctions on the site that may violate any eBay policy, I urge you to report them to the Community Watch team.

http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/items-ov.html

It is my pleasure to assist you. Thank you for choosing eBay.

Regards,

Fitch
eBay Community Watch

So I fired this one back:

Thank you for you response however I do not feel that it addressed my legitimate concerns.

You may have strict policies regarding shipping hazardous goods but I would love to know how this is enforced without purchasing the goods in question.

Your response did not address my concerns regarding hazardous and potentially very dangerous professional only goods being sold to an unsuspecting public. Your knowledge of these goods being distributed in this way (in fact, encouraged!) is highly unethical and negligent.

What does it take eBay to provide a safe community to trade in? How soon until an eBay customer is taken to the hospital from using professional only systems incorrectly? Will eBay listen then or simply send out a form letter quoting how important it is for their sellers to ship items correctly!?!?

I will make eBay a deal, I will get a group of members from my site to start purchasing all professional only hazardous products from your site as long as eBay will agree to reimburse the group for all illegally shipped merchandise bought from your site. This includes international shipments that are not accompanied with the correct documentation and customs forms.

Deal?

Regards,

Samuel Sweet
www.thenailgeek.com

 

[Tickled Pink!]

well.....
I bombarded them with complaints and sent them listing numbers of ALL retention+ and other monomers being sold and posted ROYAL MAIL 1ST CLASS - all the items remained on auction and sold. So much for their 'community watch' - just that, watched but did b****r all about it! :evil:

 

[Sarah Lou]

Hi Sam the reply you got is exactly the same as the reply I get when I report to them.

 

[Cathie!]

Maybe we should have a cohesive strategy to take forward the 'deal' that Sam put to Ebay...I for one (admitting to being an ex ebay trader of said goods) would be willing to assist.

 

[naturalnails]

I have set up an e-mail "favourites" so that anytime anything from Creative comes on to ebay I get an e-mail and I report every single item that is hazardous and being sent my normal post - I have only ever received the "standard" letter.

 

[Sarah Lou]

Everything should be reported not just creative items. Star nails even the dodgy ones without labels. I try to do this as often as possible but it is getting so time consuming with the ammount of professional products for sale on there. i was thinking of setting up a secondary account to the one I allready have on ebay just for bidding on all the items for sale, Dont know how long this would last until i got kicked off ebay but it might make ebay be more vigilant and I know it would p*** off all the sellers lol

 

[naturalnails]

Everything should be reported not just creative items. Star nails even the dodgy ones without labels. I try to do this as often as possible but it is getting so time consuming with the ammount of professional products for sale on there. i was thinking of setting up a secondary account to the one I allready have on ebay just for bidding on all the items for sale, Dont know how long this would last until i got kicked off ebay but it might make ebay be more vigilant and I know it would p*** off all the sellers lol

I appreciate that it should be all products but like you have found it is very time consuming to report all. I am a CND user so that is the product line I concentrate on. For those who use other products then they can concentrate on them. Maybe we should set up a consortium and allocate people to product lines and really bombard Ebay with hazardous reports.

 

[Sarah Lou]

Talking of hazardous, I just sent an ebay seller a question about the moxie liquid he/she was selling. Here is the reply:

You asked:
"How will this be posted as I know there are a few regulations when sending hazardous goods through the post."

THERE IS NO REGULATIONS AS FAR AS THIS LIQUID IS CONCERNED, BUT I DO ENDEVOUR TO SELLOTAPE THE LID TO THE CONTAINER, WHICH IS SEALED, TO ENSURE THERE WILL BE NO LEAKAGE,WRAPPED IN PAPER AND SENT IN A BUBBLEWRAPPED ENVELOPE. THANKS

 

[naturalnails]

You are lucky to get any reply - I regularly send questions to these sellers and have yet to get a response from any of them.

 

[Bryony]

From responses it would seem that complaining to Ebay or reporting to the 'community Watch' doesn't make any difference.

So isn't there some kind of industry watchdog or trading standards type people that they ((E-Bay) can be reported to?

B

 

[arhnails]

I agree with The Nail Geeks article.
Professional products should not be sold on Ebay.

 

[NAIL FRENZY]

I totally agree that professional products should not be sold on ebay. Firstly there is the issue of putting hazardous chemicals through the post. Secondly, we have untrained people using the same hazardous products that can obviously do some damage if not used correctly.


I have brought many items from Ebay (non professional products) that I have been very pleased with and think it is a fantastic site. However, the sale of products for professional use, should only be available through the correct channels.

 

[nail_affair]

Personally I don't think anyone is going to stop this sort of behaviour by some ebay sellers. I have bought a hell of a lot of professional products through ebay such as polishes, nail art etc. The only thing I will not buy is the powders and liquids mainly because you don't know what has happened to it in the past.

Here in Aus we are not allowed to send anything flammable through normal post we have to go the extra mile and pay for couriers to deliver. I feel with the right education the general public will hopefully leave the powders and liquids alone!!!

Maybe if all nail techs worldwide kicked up enough fuss over this very touchy subject maybe then Ebay will try to do something about it, maybe it can be pointed out to them that they in essence are condoning the possible selling of products which contain that horrible MMA in it. If we as professionals forwarded the information regarding this chemical maybe then someone will sit up and take notice.

Nerida
NSI Nail Tech

 

[Sassy Hassy]

Could you take the mountain to Mohammed and take it up with Royal Mail (or whatever they call themselves these days!), stating that their posties are being put at risk everyday with hazardous materials and Ebay don't seem to give a stuff? Just a thought.

 

[The Geek]

Royal Mail are useless. Actually, they take the cake as the biggest morons I have professionally dealt with on this issue. Happily though, I'm forcing the issue

 

[scattyfox]

Maybe we should get a petition up Sam and all sign it and it could be sent, nearly 7000 geeks cant be ignored.

 

[joanna118]

not everyone is a scammer on ebay i paid 319.95 for some gems in a reel at nsi and just £6 inc postage on ebay fantastic will do it again!

 

[Susie H]

the problem as I have said before goes deeper than just what should be shiped to an unsepecting public, reasently I was sent an email from a beauty sight, I had a look and found lots of creative stuff, one item was single bottles of sola oil, I got my cataloge out and looked at the price of the multi pack sold by creative, this company were selling this item singulay for a hefty 80p per bottle profit. Unless as Sam said they bought at a trade show in which case the profet margin is higher. This is clearly not fare on creative who have done all the R&D to give us such a fantastic product. Long term who loses out? We do when there are no more good quality companys out there.
Final point, when some idiot does them selves harm because they have used a profesional product with out training who are they going to sue? Who's name are they going to drag through the mud when they sell their story? The greedy git who sold them the stuff or the company who's name appears on the product packaging?

 

[littlegrohl]

not everyone is a scammer on ebay i paid 319.95 for some gems in a reel at nsi and just £6 inc postage on ebay fantastic will do it again!

agreed.. i have had some fantastic ebay buys!! as far as buying monomer from Ebay i will admit i havnt seen any worth getting.. but gems and rhinestones, implements.. hell i can get some stuff i need at 1/4 of the price.. as a single mum with a business i need all the help i can get thankyou very much!
While i agree in theory with whats said here, i cant honestly say that i am against the selling of nail art supplies through Ebay.. I'm sure there are sharks out there.. and im sure they rip people off.. but personal experience has taught me this is rare! If someone was to buy a "system" from ebay and do it at home .. good luck to them.. without training they will never get anywhere and anyone who is satisfied with untrained work deserves the nails they get as far as im concerned!
I just recieved my new vented nail desk, frieghted to me today.. proudly bought on Ebay for a fraction of the price it retails for in shops.. Honestly its just about saving money on what you CAN, not substituting cheap stuff over good. ((I would hope))