Online retailer eBay has pledged to conduct regular monitoring and remove any listings for disposable vapes, having used filters to block 32.6 million attempts to list illicit products in 2023.
This comes after it removed a listing found to be selling non-compliant products which was brought to its attention by Convenience Store and retailer Simon Lawrence.
It said the offending listing was against eBay policy and regular monitoring will be carried out to ensure compliance.
Speaking to Convenience Store, a spokesperson for eBay outlined the measures being taken by the business to prevent the sale of disposable vapes and illicit products.
“Under UK law, the sale of disposable vapes is illegal, and they are therefore banned on our platform. We implemented this ban ahead of 1 June to ensure compliance with UK legislation. We require all sellers to comply with applicable laws and we have removed the one listing that is against our policy.
“eBay uses block filter algorithms aimed at preventing unsafe and prohibited listings, and regular monitoring by our in-house specialists, supported by AI. Our filters blocked 32.6 million attempts to list potentially unsafe products in 2023.”
The disposable vape ban came into effect on 1 June, and means vape products have to be both refillable and rechargeable in order to be legally sold. The ban was introduced to reduce the number of disposable vapes thrown away, estimated by Material Focus to be around eight million a week. There were also concerns about youth access to vape products and the illicit trade.
Although the disposable vape ban is designed to reduce the number of single-use products, there are concerns that it will only push people towards the black market and irresponsible retailers who sell non-compliant and illicit products.
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