Web marketing giant bans Japanese PS3 imports

The PS3 has been selling well over ebay.co.uk and ebay.com for days now since its release in Japan, the consoles going for up to over $1000. However, at 7.47am GMT, ebay released a statement to its members banning the export of Playstation 3 consoles from Japan to the UK and US.

The statement (this one was pulled from ebay.co.uk) read:

'We wanted to let you know about some restrictions that will be placed on pre-sales of the Sony Playstation 3 console and games. To protect the whole eBay community, sellers will not be permitted to list PlayStation 3 consoles and games on eBay.co.uk until the authorised European pre-sales period begins in February 2007. Once the official pre-sales period has begun, eBay.co.uk will also be asking sellers to comply with the following requirements:

1. You may only offer one PlayStation 3 console.
2. If you are pre-selling a console, your listing must comply with our Pre-Sale Listings Policy. You must guarantee that the item will be available for dispatch within 30 days of the date it is listed on ebay.co.uk.
3. You must offer PayPal as the only payment option. The item must qualify for PayPal Buyer Protection.
4. You may only offer a PlayStation 3 console that you obtained within the
EU. PlayStation 3 consoles obtained outside of the EU cannot be listed on eBay.co.uk.
5. Your listing must include a photo of your purchase or pre-order receipt.
We recommend that you block out any personal information such as credit card numbers on the receipt to make sure that they aren't visible on the photo.

Our top priority is to ensure that eBay remains a safe and reputable place to buy and sell. Please be aware that we may take action against your account if your listing doesn't comply with these guidelines."