Issues

Trust and Safety in the Internet
The foundation of e-Commerce is trust. Trust can only exist where safety exists. Trust and safety in e-Commerce are, therefore, top priorities for eBay. Trust and safety is the task of all relevant players. The German Government Relations Team works actively to build consensus and to advocate for a legal framework which enables and secures safety on the Internet.

Threat Letter Abuse
Competition needs to be fair. eBay supports a level-playing field for all sellers, as well as total compliance with competition law. On the other hand, we cannot tolerate threat letter abuse. That is, that lawyers or companies without a real interest other than making money, send out massive threat letters to other companies with costs in some cases of more than 1000 Euros. For many small or medium-sized enterprises, this can have a destructive effect.

Free Trade
Of course, there are items which cannot be traded - either in the offline world or on eBay - due to well-justified legal restrictions. However, most legally acquired items should be able to be resold. Therefore, we are clearly against any restriction of free trade. Any new regulation should be scrutinized to determine whether it is really necessary.

Complicated Distance Selling Regulation
Many rules governing e-Commerce are too complex and therefore hard to follow. That can lead even to problems like threat letter abuse. Many rules no longer serve the aim once intended: consumer protection. By being too complicated, they lead to a flood of information that swamps rather than helps the consumer. We want to help by advocating the common interests of traders and consumers: transparency and simplicity.