At what age did your children start using Ebay? Independently?

[roisin]

DS1 (10) has very recently become interested in Ebay - clearly his friends at school have told him about it.

He has looked on the site for Pokemon cards, then asked me to place bids.

My instant reaction is that he is too young, and there are too many potential pitfalls.

But then I think maybe I'm being too harsh, and at least he's asking me about it and we could do it together.

Do any of you have children with their own accounts for buying and selling? What age did they start?

I'm pretty certain there's a legal age limit on eBay. It might be sixteen, possibly eighteen.

You'll get the info you need by going on their home page.

Ooooohhh! That is really helpful! Thank you! It's just the kind of thing that will work well with my rule-driven son

I'm certain it's over 18 only.

Great!

D1 now 20 is the only one of my 3 girls who have got an account. Ebay like you to have a paypal account and you cannot register for one of those untill you are 18.

Slight tangent roisin but I have an Amazon sellers' a/c and if my older ds's who are 12 and 13 want some extra pocket money I encourage them to give me their old computer games, or books that aren't suitable for passing on to their younger siblings, for me to sell. Sometimes they shift sharpish for a good price, sometimes not, but a valuable lesson is learned, in the sense that it teaches them to value what they have, and to appreciate in a small way how to make a bit of money in order to afford what's on the current wish list.

We are actually quite comfortably off (really not being smug) so I could afford in one sense to indulge them, but I do think the buy/sell process is good for opening their minds to the possibility of earning what you want rather than having it handed on a plate.

mmmmmmm

my dd age 9 bidded on 2 mobile phone the other day i thought someone had hacked into my account...as i knew i hadnt bidded!!!

it was on my account - she doenst have her own

they can;'t have their own accounts until they are 18 as you need a credit card to apply (or at least you did when i registered), and if mine guessed my password i would change it pronto!

Ds 11 has been interested in ebay for 2 or 3 years. He wanted to by Pokemon cards etc on there but I refused, too easy to fake and you just don't know what you are getting.
I sometimes buy him co,puter games from there, but wouold never let him bid himself.

Thanks all: we told him yesterday that we're not happy about it, and we won't be buying pokemon cards off ebay for him, so he might as well stop looking at them. He was very accepting and took it very calmly.