eBay over policing Queensland knife laws

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Petros

Joined
Feb 12, 2009
Messages
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There has been a lot of youth crime involving knives in recent years, so all states in Ausralia have adopted laws prohibiting sales to minors (under the age of 18). I thought that such a measure was already in place.
eBay in its genius has decided to ban ALL knife sales to residents of Queensland regardless of age. When asked to justify that course of action, the reponse is that they have no way of verifying the age of online buyers.
I have no trouble selling knives on eBay to residents of other Australian states, so why eBay is targeting Queensland is beyond me.
 
sounds like it's your govts laws more than ebay.....

your energy is better spent on complaining to your govt on their laws, than some foreign company following them.
 
Maximumbob54 said:

Knives policy

Only knives that follow our rules can be listed on eBay. No other knives are allowed.
www.ebay.com.au www.ebay.com.au

Sounds like it's a local law ebay is having to follow.
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This has nothing to do with the kinds of knives that are permissible. It's purely an age issue. I'm 69 years old but cannot purchase a knife because eBay can't (or won't) allow for verification of age.
 
jbmonkey said:
sounds like it's your govts laws more than ebay.....

your energy is better spent on complaining to your govt on their laws, than some foreign company following them.
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eBay is NOT following the law. They are imposing a policy that goes WAY beyond what the law requires.
 
Look on the bright side, Ebay is teeming with counterfeit knives, Pakistani crap advertised as "hand-made customs", and scammers who show a picture of a real custom knife they lifted off the internet, but they don't actually have that knife to sell (who knows what junk they actually send buyers, if they send anything at all).

In other words, Ebay is not a great place to buy knives.

If your knife sources are limited, I guess I can see how losing Ebay might hurt. But heck, you and I are both old enough to remember a time when there was no internet, much less Ebay, and yet like myself I imagine you were able to get your hands on some knives. If I were you I'd look for local sources.

But I agree that any so-called laws (or company policies) that deny law-abiding citizens the ability to buy the knives they want are stupid and really suck. So you have my agreement on that.
 
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Petros said:
eBay is NOT following the law. They are imposing a policy that goes WAY beyond what the law requires.
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that's their choice. your countries and regions laws are overbearing and they don't want to deal with it. your energy is still better focused on working on changing your countries and regions laws and not focused on a foreign company who believes they are following the laws.
 
Has nothing to do with eBay.
Qld introduced Jack's law on 1 September 2024 that requires 18+, which has been in most states for years. However what Qld has done different is requires Id verification even on internet sales. Knife sites in Australia such as mymultitool. Have pop ups no photo id no sale
EBay happens to be the biggest site impacted.
 
Yes, and they have an 18+ ID system they currently use all the time. I can buy a case of wine or get a deal on a bottle of whiskey, and those come to me just fine. Ebay just cannot be bothered to follow the law, so they pulled the lazy move. It'll cost them very little overall.
It'll hammer the used market some, but that might also give the guys who carry used stock reason to come up to some of the fairs and set up a table.
 
I find it a little humorous, in a country where just about everything that walks, crawls, slithers, and flies can kill you, that the Pols are so worried about pocket knives.
 
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SharpBits said:
I find it a little humorous that in a country where just about everything that walks, crawls, slithers, and flies can kill you, that the Pols are so worried about pocket knives.
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Now I have to remember this afternoon to look up swooping videos again. Someone said they were there during swooping season and I thought he was joking. I can't imagine walking down the street having to wear a decent hat or helmet.
 
Maximumbob54 said:
Now I have to remember this afternoon to look up swooping videos again. Someone said they were there during swooping season and I thought he was joking. I can't imagine walking down the street having to wear a decent hat or helmet.
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We have a bird that still has a claw on it's wing. They are stupid, will lay an egg in the middle of a sidewalk, but then, once they have, they will take blood to keep that sidewalk.
 
Petros said:
There has been a lot of youth crime involving knives in recent years, so all states in Ausralia have adopted laws prohibiting sales to minors (under the age of 18). I thought that such a measure was already in place.
eBay in its genius has decided to ban ALL knife sales to residents of Queensland regardless of age. When asked to justify that course of action, the reponse is that they have no way of verifying the age of online buyers.
I have no trouble selling knives on eBay to residents of other Australian states, so why eBay is targeting Queensland is beyond me.
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Ebay's policies are to cover themselves legally. I'm sure there are many knife owners in Australia who are under the age of 18. Many of them likely live on farms or in rural areas where pocketknives are accepted as vital everday tools and not weapons. Someone's older brother or friend can simply walk into a store, purchase a pocket knife and gift it to someone else, regardless of age. I live in the United States and got my first pocketknife, a two-blade Barlow, as gift for my eighth birthday. Dad was proud to present it to me. Perfectly legal back then (1968). Times have changed.
 
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