Since eBay is a place where people buy all sorts of items, it's important that sellers create listings that offer physical items or services. We don't allow listings that aren't offering anything for sale or those that have intangible items (generally things don't physically exist).
Listings also shouldn't include personal opinions, political views, or offensive comments about eBay members. See the guidelines below for more details on our policy.
Make sure your listing follows our guidelines. If it doesn't, it may be removed, and your buying and selling privileges could be restricted.
What are the guidelines?
Not allowed
Listings that contain:
Inappropriate or offensive opinions or comments about other eBay members
Political views
Public service announcements
If you have one item to sell, you should create only one listing for it. We don't allow duplicate listings for the same single item because sellers may have trouble fulfilling all sales.
Allowed
One listing if you have only one item (quantity of 1) to sell
Two or more listings if you have multiple items (quantity of 2 or more) to sell. For example, if you want to sell 2 Beatles vinyl LPs, you can create 2 separate listings—one for each album.
Not allowed
Two or more listings for the same single item (the seller has only a quantity of 1). For example, if you only have 1 Beatles vinyl LP to sell, you shouldn't have 2 listings for that single item.
Allowed
Listings that offer physical items, downloadable items, or services (such as home improvement services)
Not allowed
Intangible items—things that people won't be able to use or be able to confirm whether they've received the items
Items where the value is placed on an intangible factor. For example, listings that offer someone's "soul" or a container that claims to have someone's "soul" are not allowed.
Listings that have no item or service for sale
Listings that tell people to contact the seller for info, including buying the item outside of eBay (see also our policy about avoiding eBay fees)
When you create a listing on eBay, you have to complete the form, providing all the details about what you're selling. Blank or placeholder listings aren't allowed.
Not allowed
Blank or placeholder listings, including:
Listings that a seller intends to fill in at a later time
Listings that are created to take advantage of temporary discount on eBay listing fees
A test listing can come in handy if you want to check your listing before posting it for everyone to see. However, to make sure people don't confuse them with actual listings, certain conditions need to be met (see below). Also, standard listing fees apply for test listings.
Restricted
For test listings, be sure to follow all of these guidelines:
Use the Everything Else > Test Auctions category only.
The word "test" has to appear in both the listing title and the listing description.
Have only 10 test listings at a time.
For test Feedback left or received for a test listing, follow all of these guidelines:
Create an account that you can use to leave or receive Feedback for a test listing. Don't use the account you have for buying or selling. If we see an account that breaks this rule, that account may be subject to suspension.
Make sure the test Feedback is used for testing purposes only. (If something looks amiss, we may remove test Feedback to avoid problems.)
The word "test" has to appear in the listing title and the description.
Not allowed
Listings that function as ads where people ask if you have what they're looking for.
Trades – listings that tell people you'll accept a trade or a partial trade as payment
Why does eBay have this policy?
This policy help us make sure that eBay continues to be a place where anyone can buy and sell items and services. Listings that are blank, aren't offering any items or services, or include personal opinions and comments defeat this purpose so they're not allowed on eBay. Be sure to follow our guidelines above.
Contact Customer Support
You can contact Customer Support to report a listing you think violates this policy. Go to that listing, and then click the Report item link on the right side of the page.
We'll review your report and take appropriate action.
Contact us
Have a question? We can help.
Ask eBay members
Get help from other eBay members. Visit the Answer Center to post a question.
