eBay announces ban on private sales of electric bicycles

In a confusing announcement, eBay has unveiled new plans to ban the sale of electric bicycles by certain users on its platform in the UK. However, the criteria for eligibility and plan specifics both remain unclear.

The ban will go into effect at the end of this month.

According to the BBC, the new plan by eBay is designed to prevent the sale of electric bicycles by private sellers as opposed to businesses and commercial users. Certain “eligible business sellers” would still be permitted to offer electric bicycles on the platform, though the company did not share details regarding who how companies can meet that criteria.

The motivation for the ban seems to come from concerns around fire safety, though it is unclear how the new rules would impact fire concerns.

There were 155 reported e-bike fires in the UK last year. Estimates put the total number of electric bicycles in the UK at between 500,000 to 1,000,000. In the same year, there were a reported 19,256 car fires out of a total 33.5 million cars in the country, resulting in several times higher likelihood of a car fire (0.05%) compared to an electric bicycle fire (0.01-0.02%).

The move by eBay appears to be voluntary, with no current regulation in the UK related to companies hosting private sales of electric bicycles on their platforms.

EBay has not announced any similar bans in its other markets, including the US.

Electric bike fires have become a growing concern over the last several years, often snagging headlines despite the relatively low number of fires compared to the vast number of e-bikes on the road.

Even so, the e-bike industry has largely been pushing for increased voluntary measures to improve the quality of battery production methods and to increase the practice of obtaining internationally recognized safety certifications. Most e-bike battery fires can be traced back to extremely low-cost models that cut corners in production to reduce prices. It is exceedingly rare for well-made e-bike batteries to catch on fire, and these days many e-bikes come with batteries that safety certified and even capable of being completely submerged in water.

US cities like NYC and many college campuses and other organizations have created their own local regulations regarding e-bike battery safety. National regulations have been proposed but have been held up by political jockeying.