Y8 DS wants his own ebay account. Yes or no?

[NotdeadyetBOING]

The latest battle over screens - kill me now! Rules seem clear enough - you have to be 18. He claims 'all his friends' have them and flog their old stuff to make money. The way I see it - it would mean entering into a legal contract under false pretences so a definite no. Am I in a minority/massively out of touch?

Gosh, no. Why can't he sell stuff using your account so you can keep an eye on things?

God no. Just no. YANBU. I highly doubt all his friends have their own accounts too.

If he wants to sell anything, do it for him.

What they said

That didn't work. I agree with the above posters.

Encouraged by these first replies. So fed up with having to deal with daily push back on this sort of thing. Already relented on Instagram against my better nature.

I suppose I could sell things for him, but not keen to get involved with flogging odd bits of tat (filthy second hand clothing/old football match attack cards etc) that no one will want and which could compromise my seller status. Also massive hassle and would need to do it myself to ensure postage happened properly and I didn't get negative feedback etc.

Oh the old 'everyone else' line eh?
Heard it all before, the answers still no.

What does he do if someone rips him off, or he gets an irate buyer?

Absolutely no way.

I love you all.
He is currently sulking in his room.
Will hold firm.
[exhausted]

Hold firm, or he will use the 'everyone else...' argument every time!

Relented on Instagram? That's your issue. He thinks if he pushes hard enough then you'll give in.

Lord, no.

If he wants to flog tat how about his own car boot stall?

I wouldn't let my nearly 16yo have one.

Ds1 tried but struggled to sort out a PayPal account so doesn't own one.

Car boot stall not a bad idea.
He is currently inconsolable and says I am ruining any chance he has of being popular etc. Wants a 'normal' childhood.
Parenting in this day and age is so damn HARD.

I'd point out to him that he is not old enough to have a PayPal account. Any other payment method would offer significant risks.

He could set up an underage account but would risk PayPal closing it and keeping his money when they found out.

Car boot is far better.

I don't think YWBU to relent on Instagram BTW as long as you are monitoring his account.

eBay is very different he would be selling things, having a contract with adult buyers some of whom may wish to rip him off or would not take kindly to be ripped off by him.

Perhaps he could sell through his mates accounts if he gave them a cut?

All decent parents will "ruin the lives" of their adolescents, likely several times a day year. Twas ever thus. Hold firm.

"Everyone else has".
Yeah right.
Stick to your guns.

Yes what Groupie said.
Are you the Worst Mum Ever™ yet?
So unfair

I'm not saying you SHOULD, but if you WANTED to let him have a go you could set up an email address/ paypal acct/ ebay acct and keep it all separate from yours but do it with him so he's not selling a load of old shit as new etc. I think I'd let dd do this if she wanted to (she's 2 so probably not a battle we'll have yet!) because it might give her an idea of the true value of things. I have time to commit to overseeing it though and I don't sell on ebay myself (and she's 2 so I have no idea! ).

Does a normal childhood really involve an eBay account these days? I feel old