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eBay Rx hearing aid ban Collect ideas for our classifieds section

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Hello:

I’m not sure this is the best category to post this.

I created another post to discuss the ban of Rx on eBay.

Hearing aids on eBay dissapeared?
I was searching for HAs for a friend on eBay and noticed that almost all Rx HAs are no longer available for purchase. This includes those from a seller named genesis healthcare, which someone mentioned in a previous post. Accessories and parts are still available. Has anyone seen this happen before? Hopefully it is not a permanent ban, I have found some excellent deals (including my current SmartRIC 440s for less than $500).

Since the ban, I’ve noticed a surge in new users joining the forum solely to post ads in the classifieds. I don’t like the idea that our forum could become the craigslist of HAs.

I believe it would be beneficial for the forum to gather suggestions for any improvements that could be made to the classifieds section.

Ideas? Thoughts?

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Personally I don’t see any problem with people doing this, it’s what the classified section is for, to buy and sell, how best to “control” it is another matter, obviously all sorts of “offer’s” to sell will be listed, how to sort the genuine from the scams tho, yeah I’ve always used PayPal/credit card to buy on eBay so you get a bit of protection there, otherwise it’s “buyer beware” and common sense or another outright ban….

I agree that it’s buyer beware, but the first time some elderly person gets scammed out of his last few hundred dollars, I’m afraid that the forum will take big reputational hit.

Maybe the forum could require payment via PayPal or some other service that has some sort of guarantee. On other forums, a constant issue is that sellers will ask buyers to use an app that doesn’t offer a refund policy, or ask buyers to use the “friends and family” option rather than the “payment for goods and services” option because the fees are lower, and then there’s no protection for the buyer. One gaming site I know of has a forum rule that sellers can only accept payment via PayPal “payment for goods and services,” and asking a buyer to send payment in any other manner is a banworthy offense. It seems to work out well, because disputes can be handled through PayPal without dragging the forum into it.

I’ve suggested to Abrahm that they establish a proper marketplace. I don’t think the forum format will be adequate for the selling of hearing aids.

The problem is that the ban on ebay is from the government. It applies to all places selling hearing aids, not just ebay. Apparently only Audologists or other medical professionals can legally sell used items through ads or on Ebay. Individials cannot resell medical appliances.

The loophole I can see for hearingtracker is that we could send our hearing aids tothem and they can legally resell them for us since they are audiologists (and take a percentage for themselves). I cant think of any other way around it.

Not sure of that - Ebay asked for my UK registration number, so it’s possibly universal to stop people looping outside the rules by using a different shipping location.

Weirdly enough the isn’t triggered by calling your devices ‘Hearing Aids’ ve ‘Amplifiers’ so I’ve reverted the title on ours. It’s the prescriptive aspect. So, you can sell a device that ‘can’ be programmed, but you can’t sell a ‘pre-programmed’ device - without a professional status.

I’m guessing this is all to mitigate against potential liability: Where does Ebay stand if you sell something that somebody says ‘has caused’ further hearing damage? They’ll say they aren’t the Merchant, but as they’re providing the promotion, means, method of delivery and refund/guarantee for the transaction, I’m not entirely sure that works.

I have encountered the same issue on selling unused CPAP machines that my wife and I accumulated. If I understand the groundrules, they can only be sold by a provider who has been given a prescription by a medical professional. You can, apparently, sell them to an authorized store that will then mark them up and resell them under the federal requirements for regulated medical devices, or donate them to some sleep clinics.

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