"What eBay needs to do is set up a system of certifying home school parents and certified teachers, and then limiting the bidding for such items to those users.
Then again, the cost of setting up such a system would be more than the fees generated, probably."
Sorry, but I have to laugh! eBay would NEVER get homeschools to agree to that. As a homeschool parent/teacher for 18 years and having graduated 3 students already, I have enough state and county regulations to satisfy without having to "prove my homeschool's authenticity" to eBay. I would keep my books or sell them somewhere else beside eBay if it ever came to that.
Both of you are misconstruing my statement. If eBay wants to enable the sale of those materials on their auction site, then they need a way to certify the bidders are qualified to purchase those materials. If not, then they can't allow the sale of those items.
eBay is a business and it must conform to rules for the sale of certain classes of goods.
The fact that eBay chooses to simply not allow the sale of teacher version text books means this is an opportunity for another business to facilitate the sale and transfer of such texts between people who are qualified for such transactions.
I was at Borders the other day, and I overheard a homeschool mother talking with one of the employees. The homeschool mother was buying some things for the new school year, but certain items were restricted, and she was waiting on a letter from the local school district in order to prove that she was a qualified purchaser.
This is a reality of the system, and if Borders has the same requirement, why shouldn't eBay? And if eBay can't ignore the regulations, then they shouldn't be impugned for deciding to cancel the offending auctions.