Selling Gold on eBay

Selling gold on eBay is now subject to some new rules and it is wise to take note of them, especially for a power seller.

Nothing can be more devastating to a power seller than to have your products removed or, worse, be removed yourself, from selling on eBay for violating eBay's rules.

The new rules cover the terms "gold-plated," "gold-filled," "gold-electroplated," "gold overlay," and "rolled-gold". These may be used provided the alloy used for the plating is greater than or equal to 10kt gold.

From now on sellers must spell out the qualifier - such as "plated" -- throughout the body of the description wherever the word "gold" is used.

According to eBay, "The term "gold vermeil" may be used as long as the item consists of a base of sterling silver coated or plated on all significant surfaces with gold, or a gold alloy of at least 10kt fineness, and substantial thickness and minimum thickness throughout equivalent to two and one half (2 ½) microns (or approx. 100/1,000,000ths of an inch) of fine gold. Sellers must spell out the qualifier "vermeil" throughout the body of the description wherever the word "gold" is used."

Sellers are still permitted to describe an item that is gold or silver in color as “gold-tone” or “silver-tone” in the item title (with or without hyphen is permitted) and throughout the description but sellers may not use the word “golden”.

Items that are not solid gold must not be listed in categories for solid gold, but should be listed in the "Gold, Plate/Fill" categories. This was actually effective from January the 4, 2005.

In addition all sellers are required to use industry-standard abbreviations in the item title, such as "gf", "gp", or "gep," when listing these items.

So when selling gold on eBay it pays to take note of these new changes and ensure that descriptions of gold products and gold related products have a proper and accurate description for buyers.