Ebay & Homeschoolers: The Teacher Guide Policy Debate

Ebay, the gigantic fleamarket in the proverbial sky, has a plethora of policies. Among them, is one little such rule that has a potentially large effect on homeschoolers across the globe. Due to what ebay has stated as a request from "certain organizations" (which they do not name), they have banned the sale of any teacher's items that include answer keys, solutions, etc.

Now many sellers have tried to out-trick the system. They list parent guides, helpers, etc, and even these listings are subject to be removed under ebay's automated system.

Homeschooling isn't always a cheap proposition. The money saved by purchasing used or left over books, study guides, etc often allow families to buy more items, expand their children's learning opportunities, and offer additional learning projects or books than they would be able to if they had to purchase every item brand new. The money gained by being able to sell their left over items is often enough to either purchase the next grade or at least take a large chunck out of the cost.

One homeschooler out of Texas often was able to sell their finished year-end items for enough money to purchase the next year's books.

Ebay's policy, while still allowing the workbooks, force the homeschooling parent to buy new teaching books instead of being able to get them in the bundles often available.

While many buyers have not stopped listing, the automated removals occasionally occur even after the sale has completed. I have had several such incidents within the past month.

Letters protesting this policy to ebay are answered with generalized commentary with the statements that they appreciate our concerns and will forward the letter on, but that doesn't mean they will make any changes to the policy.

It is due to this that the HSLDA (Home School Legal Defense Association) - hslda.org - started their own auction on their site to allow the selling of the teacher's editions. You do not need to be a member to sell items but do need to belong to the group to bid. The caveat -- you can contact the seller and often arrange to purchase the item anyway. Unfortunately, they do not yet have a lot of traffic to their auction site. On the positive side, they don't charge listing fees.

Several ebay sellers have begun noting in their ebay listings that the teacher's guide to go along with their workbook offerings are available at the hslda site.

In addition to homeschoolers, this policy has the potential to effect college students as well. For anyone who attended any college course, you are already aware of the cost of textbooks. Many of the math and science courses also have solutions manuals to go along with the study guides. Under ebay's policy, these are banned as well.

While the policy was created to protect from those handful of students who may use their parent's I.D. and credit card to purchase answers, it creates more diificulty for the majority of rightful and legitimate purchasers. While throughout history, the few have made it harder on the many, does this not seem more like a parental supervision issue? It is the parent's responsibility--one which they can easily keep tabs on -- thru the My Ebay option and also by reviewing their credit card statements at the least. And yet, thousands of homeschoolers are left to face the punishment.