Is ebay's BLOCK BIDDER option illegal discrimination?

The SS Marriage plebiscite has highlighted the fact that it can be illegal for businesses to refuse to sell porducts to customers based on various criteria. 

 

ebay allows sellers to block up to 5000 users and there is no need to provide a reason.

 

Curious as to whether that might be illegal.

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Is ebay's BLOCK BIDDER option illegal discrimination?

So the politicians are only speaking hypothetically....no-one has yet been discriminated against.

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Is ebay's BLOCK BIDDER option illegal discrimination?


@lyndal1838 wrote:

@moviemem wrote:

I think sellers should be able to block some bidders but I am simply curious as to whether it is legal or not.


It has been ebay policy for so long that if it were illegal someone would have been screaming long before now.

There are enough members who make it their business to challenge every policy that ebay implements....they would not have let this go under the radar if it was illegal.


Yes, that seems logical but if it is OK then why would there be so much fuss about it in the media at the moment?

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Is ebay's BLOCK BIDDER option illegal discrimination?

I have not seen any hype in the media about the ebay blocked bidders list....and that is what you asked about.

 

What is being discussed in the media is any potential discrimination that may arise in relation to the changing of the Marriage Law.

 

They are two very different things.

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Is ebay's BLOCK BIDDER option illegal discrimination?


@lyndal1838 wrote:

I have not seen any hype in the media about the ebay blocked bidders list....and that is what you asked about.

 

What is being discussed in the media is any potential discrimination that may arise in relation to the changing of the Marriage Law.

 

They are two very different things.


They are actually not so different. There are many reasons why some sellers block bidders. Some of those reasons could well be discriminatory - ie someone who refuses to sell to a person with a particular ethnic background. For all we know, some sellers may well be blocking bidders on that basis.

 

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Is ebay's BLOCK BIDDER option illegal discrimination?


@moviemem wrote:

@lyndal1838 wrote:

@moviemem wrote:

I think sellers should be able to block some bidders but I am simply curious as to whether it is legal or not.


It has been ebay policy for so long that if it were illegal someone would have been screaming long before now.

There are enough members who make it their business to challenge every policy that ebay implements....they would not have let this go under the radar if it was illegal.


Yes, that seems logical but if it is OK then why would there be so much fuss about it in the media at the moment?


Because the chronically outraged now have something else to be outraged about.

 

As for the legalities of blocking buyers on eBay, it's like this. You are a username on a screen. I have no idea whether you are gay, straight or otherwise. I have no idea where you were born, or what the colour skin you have, or what colour hair or eyes you have. I have no idea what you do for a living, or how much you earn per year. I have no idea if you have children and whether any of them are autistic. I have no idea what food you like or what restaurants you eat at. I have no idea whether you live near the beach or on a mountain.

 

If you are a gay black man with green hair, born in Uganda with an autistic child, who works as a stripper, who earns $5,000 a week, who lives on a mountain and whose favourite food is eggs on toast, prove to anyone that's why I have refused to sell to you. My refusal to sell to you could be because I find the word "movie" offensive. 

 

As sellers have no idea who has bought from them apart from a username on a screen, no one anywhere can prove any type of discrimination. There is not a lawyer in the world who would take that to court.

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Is ebay's BLOCK BIDDER option illegal discrimination?


@moviemem wrote:

Well, it looks like the government will need to pass new laws to allow marriage celebrants to refuse service based on religious beliefs so you cant just arbitrarily refuse to sell to someone.


this is just so ridiculous that it doesn’t warrant a response.

 

Spoiler
It is a wonder that eBay blocked bidder list wasn’t a part of the “No” advertising. I’m sure Pansy Lai is kicking herself for not thinking of including it in the ads. I’m sure that had they done so the “Yes” campaign would have failed dismally.
Spoiler
Still two weeks left in November, plenty of time for you-know-what
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Is ebay's BLOCK BIDDER option illegal discrimination?


@*tippy*toes* wrote:

@moviemem wrote:

@lyndal1838 wrote:

@moviemem wrote:

I think sellers should be able to block some bidders but I am simply curious as to whether it is legal or not.


It has been ebay policy for so long that if it were illegal someone would have been screaming long before now.

There are enough members who make it their business to challenge every policy that ebay implements....they would not have let this go under the radar if it was illegal.


Yes, that seems logical but if it is OK then why would there be so much fuss about it in the media at the moment?


Because the chronically outraged now have something else to be outraged about.

 

As for the legalities of blocking buyers on eBay, it's like this. You are a username on a screen. I have no idea whether you are gay, straight or otherwise. I have no idea where you were born, or what the colour skin you have, or what colour hair or eyes you have. I have no idea what you do for a living, or how much you earn per year. I have no idea if you have children and whether any of them are autistic. I have no idea what food you like or what restaurants you eat at. I have no idea whether you live near the beach or on a mountain.

 

If you are a gay black man with green hair, born in Uganda with an autistic child, who works as a stripper, who earns $5,000 a week, who lives on a mountain and whose favourite food is eggs on toast, prove to anyone that's why I have refused to sell to you. My refusal to sell to you could be because I find the word "movie" offensive. 

 

As sellers have no idea who has bought from them apart from a username on a screen, no one anywhere can prove any type of discrimination. There is not a lawyer in the world who would take that to court.


I think generally sellers block bidders after they have had a previous transaction with them. So it is quite possible that they could block them puerly based on discrimination.

 

 

 

 

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Is ebay's BLOCK BIDDER option illegal discrimination?


@k1ooo-slr-sales wrote:

@moviemem wrote:

Well, it looks like the government will need to pass new laws to allow marriage celebrants to refuse service based on religious beliefs so you cant just arbitrarily refuse to sell to someone.


this is just so ridiculous that it doesn’t warrant a response.

 

Spoiler
It is a wonder that eBay blocked bidder list wasn’t a part of the “No” advertising. I’m sure Pansy Lai is kicking herself for not thinking of including it in the ads. I’m sure that had they done so the “Yes” campaign would have failed dismally.

It may sound ridiculous but that is what they are currently debating in the Senate.

Message 18 of 62
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Is ebay's BLOCK BIDDER option illegal discrimination?


@moviemem wrote:

@k1ooo-slr-sales wrote:

@moviemem wrote:

Well, it looks like the government will need to pass new laws to allow marriage celebrants to refuse service based on religious beliefs so you cant just arbitrarily refuse to sell to someone.


this is just so ridiculous that it doesn’t warrant a response.

 

Spoiler
It is a wonder that eBay blocked bidder list wasn’t a part of the “No” advertising. I’m sure Pansy Lai is kicking herself for not thinking of including it in the ads. I’m sure that had they done so the “Yes” campaign would have failed dismally.

It may sound ridiculous but that is what they are currently debating in the Senate.


they are not debating arbitrarily refusing to sell to someone, they are debating refusing to sell based on sexual orientation.  There is a vast difference between the two.

 

Spoiler
the scaremongering continues.
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Is ebay's BLOCK BIDDER option illegal discrimination?

I think you're clutching at straws now. Majority of sellers would only block a previous buyer because they had bad dealings. I have blocked buyers before they have bought because I have looked at their feedback left for others and seeing how atrocious it was, didn't want them buying off me. 

 

You can't always tell much about a buyer by their name anyway. A kid I went to school with was named Bruce Harvey. He was Chinese. Another girl was named Jing Lee. She was 4th generation white Australian. Her father worked with someone named Jing and liked the name. As for knowing their sexual preferences, good luck with that one.

 

Plus, even if you did block someone because you didn't like Asians and Jing Lee sounded like she could have been Asian, unless you told her that's why you blocked her, how is she ever going to know? How is she ever going to prove that was the reason she was blocked?

 

I can appreciate that you voted no. That was your choice. Most people aren't going to change their practices. Today is only the day after yesterday. Nothing has changed because it was revealed that majority voted yes. The sun rose this morning. It will set tonight. My practicing Catholic gay cousin, who is a teacher in an all boys high school (oh the horror!!!) is still going to go to work today. The kids and parents are still going to worship the ground he walks on. He is still going to go to the same shops to buy his groceries and the same servo to buy his fuel. 

 

The only difference today is, if he chooses to marry is partner of 20 years, he can. Granted, they don't want to get married, but they now have that choice if they do decide to do so. That has nothing to do with what and when he buys off eBay, which he does quite often. If I told you his name, you would never pick him as being gay, so you wouldn't be able to block him on those grounds.....because you wouldn't know.

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