Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Cassie LaBelle: "eBay completely destroyed my life"

twitter.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

71–80 of 81 posts

Re: Cassie LaBelle: "eBay completely destroyed my life"

#71

Post by pas »

cladari wrote: post #70
pas wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is it any good for eBay? They lost someone who made a lot of money for them. These crazy human hostile implementations of various regulations are a net loss for big businesses. eBay is doing what nowadays all big fucking corps do, shit on UX and gut punch actual users in the name of compliance. You got a few hundred dollars from your friend on your Venmo/Revolut/Wise/whatever app and our AML/KYC/CYA/compliance de…

The R in ALARA is reasonably.

unfortunately it seems NRC commissioners have a very unreasonable view on what's reasonable, because in effect they neutered the whole nuclear power industry.

Re: Cassie LaBelle: "eBay completely destroyed my life"

#72

Post by vandyswa »

Animats wrote: post #44
yenwodyah wrote: post #31

So this is basically a result of the DEA forcing eBay to enforce a ban on pill presses for them? I hate how the government has basically been deputizing internet companies to enforce laws and regulations for them. If the DEA had done this themselves you could appeal it, ask your congressperson for help, or take them to court, but as long as their actions get laundered through a private company, the rights of the affe…

> So this is basically a result of the DEA forcing eBay to enforce a ban on pill presses for them? Yes. See [1]. Owning a pill press is not currently illegal under Federal law, although some states restrict ownership. Selling one, though, requires registration with the DEA and reporting to whom it was sold. It's kind of like being a gun dealer. [1] https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/ebay-pay-59-million-settle-co...

I got the DEA call/email--I let our family lawyer deal with it, and it came to nothing. The crazy thing is that these pill presses, from a 3D printing perspective, are an absolutely trivial object. I'm glad that the drug war is going so well that there only remains the persection of certain shapes of plastic. (irony)

Re: Cassie LaBelle: "eBay completely destroyed my life"

#74

Post by gbraad »

xtiansimon wrote: post #68
gbraad wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

pill press is a pill press... antique and broken does not mean it can not still be fixed. So, yes. I see the point of eBay too. But reading the messages, I am confused it the listing got removed or not. She got several temporary bans for the same listing, and never listed it again; so I can only assume it was closed (not removed?).

> “pill press is a pill press... antique and broken does not mean it can not still be fixed.” This is valid reason for enforcement of the rule. What’s at issue, in all of these cases, is the lack of reasonable judgement of the case (appeal). eBay’s place in the market (different from, say, Amazon or Walmart) is private sellers selling used items, vintage, collectible, rare, antique. This is exactly what this item is.…

the device is unlikely to also provide at scale if restored, which probably would also be a consideration. if you are serious to use it as a pill press, you would not go for this inconvenient option.

I wish her luck in getting it sorted, ...

Re: Cassie LaBelle: "eBay completely destroyed my life"

#75

Post by JohnBooty »

cperciva wrote: post #26
klyrs wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Looks like an antique pill press. Feels innocent enough, but it's probably still illegal. Seems like a zero-tolerance policy (ban for life for a single mistake) might not be the right balance, though.

I'm not a lawyer, but I can't imagine any judge ruling that it is illegal. A sword which has been beaten into a plowshare is no longer a sword, and an inoperative 140 year old pill press is no longer a pill press.

As others have noted it's illegal to sell pill presses unless you're registered with the DEA, and eBay has gotten slammed for millions of dollars over this.

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/ebay-pay-59-million-settle-co...

Their treatment of this seller sucks, but they are also forced to cover their asses by the government on this. So they are in a somewhat difficult position.

I'm not defending eBay, mind you. As the seller notes on their Twitter thread... eBay should and could easily detect this kind of illegal item AHEAD OF TIME when the seller enters the item description. Just block the seller from listing the item, rather than letting them list it... and then banning them later.

It is possible (don't know how likely) that maybe eBay is being total overkill on this stuff as a sign of good faith to the government to avoid future fines. A lot of those fines can be based on the perceived level of willful noncompliance. Not excusing them. Just thinking thru what might be happening.

Re: Cassie LaBelle: "eBay completely destroyed my life"

#76

Post by cperciva »

JohnBooty wrote: post #75
cperciva wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not a lawyer, but I can't imagine any judge ruling that it is illegal. A sword which has been beaten into a plowshare is no longer a sword, and an inoperative 140 year old pill press is no longer a pill press.

As others have noted it's illegal to sell pill presses unless you're registered with the DEA, and eBay has gotten slammed for millions of dollars over this. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/ebay-pay-59-million-settle-co... Their treatment of this seller sucks, but they are also forced to cover their asses by the government on this. So they are in a somewhat difficult position. I'm not defending eBay, mind you. As the s…

The regulations concern any manual, semi-automatic, or fully automatic equipment which may be used for the compaction or molding of powdered or granular solids, or semi-solid material, to produce coherent solid tablets.

If the device in question is non-functional, I would dispute the "may be used for" requirement of the definition.

Re: Cassie LaBelle: "eBay completely destroyed my life"

#77

Post by tucnak »

navjack27 wrote: post #67
metalman wrote: post #58

Had my listing for a copy of "The Anarchists Cookbook" flaged,and it was persistant,and could not completely remove my offence. And the pill press thing is stupid,vile,virtue signalling,when you factor in "purdue pharmasutical" oxycontin (ongoing fer phucks sake) debackle,blarg Another thing with ebay is that for a new seller they hide the process to get paid,untill you make a sale,and then demand that you sign into…

I'm sorry, but your post is so hard to read with this formatting where you seem to refuse to put spaces after commas. I'm sure you are saying something mostly relevant here but please; for people's perception of your intelligence sake and the accessibility of people trying to understand you, format better.

My perception of his intelligence is that he's based and doesn't care what you think.

Re: Cassie LaBelle: "eBay completely destroyed my life"

#78

Post by bobthepanda »

acje wrote: post #43
vintagedave wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That flag three times is also after it was delisted. So flagged once, and then flagged twice more after it was gone. Must have been enormously frustrating to remove a listing and keep getting warnings about the same, removed item. I can’t understand this from a data processing point of view. Surely the flag database tracks that an item was already flagged and removed, in order to avoid duplicates.

So it is just buggy cache invalidation? I guess eBay will eventually fix it. Also the seller is perhaps at fault for not naming it wisely? Cache invalidation and naming stuff..

On a platform like eBay i would hope listings are keyed by UUID or some other id and not title string.

And “I guess, eventually” is generally not good enough for a court, which is really where this person should be able to send a dispute like this.

Re: Cassie LaBelle: "eBay completely destroyed my life"

#79

Post by xtiansimon »

gbraad wrote: post #74
xtiansimon wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> “pill press is a pill press... antique and broken does not mean it can not still be fixed.” This is valid reason for enforcement of the rule. What’s at issue, in all of these cases, is the lack of reasonable judgement of the case (appeal). eBay’s place in the market (different from, say, Amazon or Walmart) is private sellers selling used items, vintage, collectible, rare, antique. This is exactly what this item is.…

the device is unlikely to also provide at scale if restored, which probably would also be a consideration. if you are serious to use it as a pill press, you would not go for this inconvenient option. I wish her luck in getting it sorted, ...

"at scale"

That doesn't seem to be a then and now part of this. I looked on Amazon and you can find a pill machine for ~$400 pressing single pills with identical design.

Re: Cassie LaBelle: "eBay completely destroyed my life"

#80

Post by gbraad »

xtiansimon wrote: post #79
gbraad wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

the device is unlikely to also provide at scale if restored, which probably would also be a consideration. if you are serious to use it as a pill press, you would not go for this inconvenient option. I wish her luck in getting it sorted, ...

"at scale" That doesn't seem to be a then and now part of this. I looked on Amazon and you can find a pill machine for ~$400 pressing single pills with identical design.

... which justifies a possible argument that the device can be restored in working order/cause issues for eBay. Doesn't look good for her.
Post reply on HN