[blindlaw] E-bay accessibility

[Craig Borne]

E.J.,

There may be limitations on accommodations for a web-based site that has no
physical situs.  This might have been the basis for the airline ticket
selling website that was allowed to keep its website inaccessible (I can't
remember the case off hand).

But more so, there may be a limitation on the type of transaction you are
attempting.  Because you are no longer a "customer" of EBay, and are in
essence becoming a business partner, Title III of the ADA (public
accommodations) may not even apply.

If you went to a physical auction house to sell your widgets, the law would
not dictate that the auction house provide contracts to you in an accessible
medium, i.e., Braille or electronic copies.  The thought is that
sifisticated business people make the accommodations themselves or else not
enter into the transaction.

I would be interested in hearing the thoughts of others on this.

Craig

Craig Borne, Esq.

Ostendorf Zimmer Yake & Borne, LLC

Attorneys at Law

Office: (410) 529-2040 

Facsimile: (410) 574-6884            

 

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-----Original Message-----
From: blindlaw-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blindlaw-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of E.J. Zufelt
Sent: Sunday, April 22, 2007 7:56 AM
To: NFBnet Blind Law Mailing List
Subject: [blindlaw] E-bay accessibility

Good morning,

It has come to my attention lately that e-bay is not very accissible.  I
have never had too many troubles (searching for and purchasing items).
However, the other day I attempted to list an item for sale and discovered
that the technology used to allow users to enter an item description is
completely inaccessible.

Are there limitations (under US law) regarding the action that can be taken
against e-bay because of its web-site not being connected to a physical
accommodation?

Thank you,
Everett