Yes, they can under certain conditions; here is the extract from eBay's rules for sellers.
Pre-sale listings are those that describe items for sale that are not in the possession of the seller at the time of the listing.
eBay permits pre-sale listings only on a limited basis. The seller must ensure that the item will be shipped within 20 days from receiving payment. The seller must clearly indicate within the listing that it's a pre-sale item with postage no later than 20 days after payment, including the date on which the item will be available to post. This text must be no less than the default font size of the eBay Sell Your Item form. Currently, the default font size is HTML font size 3.
For the full T&C
http://pages.ebay.com.au/help/policies/pre-sale.htmlBe aware of timeframes for opening an
Item Not Received Dispute, currently 45 days. Don't let a seller string you along past this deadline. I believe it includes the purchase date so opening a dispute within 42 days would be the longest you'd want to wait for most PayPal dispute. But because this is a pre-sale item, and the seller has promised to supply you within 20 days, you should perhaps consider opening a dispute if your item is not despatched within 20 days, and received within 30.
Once you've opened a dispute, you need to escalate to a claim no later than 20 days from opening the dispute, if you've paid by PayPal.
WARNING: you need to be aware of a discrepancy between some of eBay's policy information pages. On
this eBay page, the requirement is said to be 30 days for pre-sale items. If you are aware that eBay have allowed out-of-date information like this to remain on their website, you will not be fooled by a seller who directs you to that page as evidence. You MUST function on the understanding that the pre-sale time has a requirement to be supplied within 20 days of the purchase.
