eBay listings as "purchase for mail-order" links

I recently spotted an editor linking a release to a secondhand eBay listing using the “purchase for mail-order” relationship. I am uneasy about this, since in my understanding eBay is an auction site and therefore any purchase links will expire after the auction ends. That appears not to be the case here (disclaimer: I do not use eBay and am therefore unfamiliar with how its system works), though the same issue of link rot is still applicable. Should eBay links be allowable as “purchase for mail-order” links?

JIRA link: MBS-9247

3 Likes

I think the links usually stay around, but since it is an auction site, you’ll only be able to buy the record once anyway. At least in most cases. That would make the purchase for link order relationship pretty useless.

4 Likes

I don’t think so. Maybe we need some black list?

1 Like

I proposed that on the mailing list years ago (I think I made a JIRA ticket too, but I can no longer find it) but it went nowhere.

Yeah, I wouldn’t add this to specific releases. I wouldn’t be opposed to linking to a profile of an artist selling their own stuff in there, from the artist page, though, if that’s actually a thing.

5 Likes