One Item Got Me BANNED From eBay!
Let me tell you a(nother) tale of government screwing the general populace in the name of safety.
This past weekend I was at an estate sale and came across a box of assorted sealed CPAP and nebulizer items. Some were good sellers on eBay, so I picked them up to resell. This one, in particular, was a nice item.
You see, I spend my time finding desirable and needed items to list online for people to buy. If/when one of my finds sells it's because the buyer found my item to be the most convenient or the best value. This item was more than twice my listed price on any other website, including Amazon (which doesn't have the exact item, but one that was close).
I make some profit, the buyer saves a ton of cash. Win-win if I ever heard of one before.
But not this one.
Because my listing was removed and my account was banned for 3 days.
Why?
Because you need a prescription to buy your own mask, according to the FDA.
The mask sizes are small, medium, and large. But the government has decided that you need to have a piece of paper from a doctor to get one.
You know, I get it. You might want to have an actual medical professional fit you for your CPAP items - the first time.
But after that? Did your medium size face change so drastically that you have to go back to get your prescription updated?
No, of course not. You know if you are still a size medium or not. You don't need permission to buy another. It's not a pill. You can't overdose on your CPAP masks.
It's just ridiculous. It reminds me of when my wife wanted to buy some more contacts. She had her eyes checked out and got her vision corrective numbers. She knows if they are still providing clear vision. Yet, because of this FDA ruling, she needed to send her prescription to this website to buy her contacts.
What's next? A prescription to buy shoes? You know you could hurt yourself if you wear ones that are not correct for you.
A prescription to buy food? You know how damaging those salty potato chips are. You could shorten your lifespan!
But maybe I am wrong. Is there a person in the medical field that can tell me how dangerous it is to let people buy their own CPAP masks or machines?
Or is it just the government catering to big medicine again, at the cost to the regular persons wallet?
Bliss is just a few more rules away.
@getonthetrain I feel you right now, between what eBay has just done to you and me arguing with the Post Office over an Item they said had postage due, the little guy just can't catch a break........
Think like a bureaucrat. How will an average citizen react when a purchase item results in harm, regardless of whether the item was misused? Virtually all of US citizenry will resort to contacting some scum lawyer who will extort money from manufacturers, distributors, government regulators, and anyone with "deep pockets."
Shunting responsibility and accountability has become a human right in the West, especially the US. Recently, due to the muck demanding the government to enact measures to curb the "opioid epidemic" by punishing pharmaceutical manufacturers for drug addicts misusing their product, local governments have pursued legal action against major pharmaceutical industry. Somehow, dissolutes wasting their life away by misusing medication has become the fault, not of the addicts, but of the manufacturers and distributors. It is quite similar to how obesity is not the fault of the fat slobs that can't stop shoving food into their fat mouths, but obesity is the fault of fast food restaurants for not having "healthy options."
Those bureaucrats in position of regulatory commission will be the first to be prosecutes, if some fool offs himself misuing a medical devise. Next the distributor, ebay, will be sued. Then the manufacturers will be held accountable. The mob may even come after you for selling the devise "irresponsibly." The government regulation protects you, the seller, from the muck.
Wow, that is so crazy. Yeah, if you're a medium size mask to start, you'll probably be the same thing next time. Interesting that you have to have a prescription. I'm sure there's a logical (ha ha ha) reason for this lovely rule. ;) I'd list it on craigslist.
It is a shame online merchants need to suffer these bans because of government bureaucracy.
But since it is only for 3 days at least you can keep selling your products soon enough.
Cheers mate.
Prescription to buy mask sounds strange. We have them in the supermart though they are probably not the same but you can the them N95 ones from the shelves.
Hmmmm, sorry to say but I just ironically sold a CPAP machine I found in the recycling with the mask and headband for $150, to a happy customer without issue. I'd never seen one of them before, but enjoyed learning about the niche after I brought it home to clean and test.
Perhaps I had it classified in a different category, or they'll hit me on it later. I've had warnings before on things I didn't know were restricted (i.e., contact lenses, etc.), but never a ban.
Well, now you can focus on shopping or trying out another site.
It is amazing how petty some people can be about certain things when there are much worse things out there that can be looked into
From my article "How to Avoid Funding the American Deep State":
'In addition to all the closed-source alternatives there are to Amazon, eBay, Alibaba, etc., there's OpenBazaar. It's open source and peer-to-peer, and there are no fees. You can only pay with cryptocurrencies though.
There's also BriskSale.
"We have been considering making BriskSale open-source. There’s a chance we will in the future, but for now it’s private." - Ryan Speier, founder of BriskSale
BriskSale doesn't charge sellers listing or sales fees. You can offer a commission though, in which case BriskSale and BriskSellers will race to find a buyer. But, at the moment, there's a catch:
"To ensure maximum visibility, every item listed on BriskSale is automatically uploaded to the Google Shopping network."
BriskSale pays Google for that, so: https://www.brisksale.com/contact-us
In addition to all the closed-source alternatives there are to Craigslist and eBay's classified-ads platforms:'
Pharmaceuticals are protected in the USA by their outstanding lobbying. But real pills should be going via the doctor I agree.
Yes, this is nuts. Just as crazy as some doctors whipping out their prescription books after only hearing a patient say: 'I feel a bit down lately', without hearing any more. But then, when this person is looking for alternatives (natural) remedies, they can't get it because it has been removed by FDA and the likes in other countries... Or when you go to a shop to get a utp cable, and the guy tells you he can't sell it to you because the government decided that everyone should just use wifi, even if they just want to connect the pc to the internet the 'old fashioned way'...with a damn cable to the router... The people who make these decisions, don't have a clue how the real world works.
**I have QUITE the eBay story for you. You won't believe it. Let me know if you use discord.
I am on there. Same name, #4940
A samurai should've hand delivered you an invite on discord.
One did