New Unwritten Policy Against Sale of Cow Bone - I Guess Sellers Need to Have ESP

[virginia_quailman]

I just had 2 Civil War era scrimshaw cups removed. They were made from cow bone. They are not even close to looking like ivory. And every similar example ever sold on eBay or elsewhere online says they are made of cow bone (never ivory). When I contacted eBay, I was told that all cow/bovine bone items cannot be listed. It doesn't say that in the published eBay policy online, but I was told that the policy on the website hasn't been updated yet. No explanation from the CS representative, other than that they need to protect "wildlife". Great job implementing this policy. When I did a search for "cow bone", it only brought up 8,300+ listings.
I get that dishonest folks were using cow bone descriptions to list ivory items, but this wholesale ban of cattle bone products is throwing the baby out with the bath water. God forbid they spend a little effort trying to remove listings that deserve to removed, rather than wholesale bans of legitimate items. Whatever is easiest for their AI bots, I guess.

[luckythewinner]

Great job implementing this policy. When I did a search for "cow bone", it only brought up 8,300+ listings.

With 1.5 billion items listed, eBay's policy enforcement has never been comprehensive, timely, or accurate. 

No explanation from the CS representative, other than that they need to protect "wildlife". 

I sincerely doubt that eBay customer support representatives are privy to the decision making process behind policies. 

but this wholesale ban of cattle bone products is throwing the baby out with the bath water

eBay has 1.5 billion listings. A better analogy for the loss of bovine bone listings is "a drop in the ocean", rather than "babies and bathwater". I suspect that eBay's reasoning is that this will greatly reduces the chances of ivory being sold here. 

[dbfolks166mt]

     I can see the headlines now. eBay corporate headquarters overran by large contingent of dogs distraught over new eBay policy prohibiting the sale of cow bones thereby depriving them of a basic need. 

     One has to wonder if they are going to prohibit the sale of the other parts of the cow as well. Leather, horns processed meat (beef jerky). 

[virginia_quailman]

Interesting that other types of bone from nonprotected species (i.e. camel, horse, pig, etc) are OK. Just not the endangered domestic cow.

[reallynicestamps]

The phone reps have a terrible reputation for getting you off the phone as soon as possible even if that means giving you the advice you want to hear instead of the advice you need to have.

Here are your options for contacting Ebay Customer Service. Please be aware that for social media CS, you send them a Private Message and briefly explain what your problem or issue is. Feel free to leave your Name, address, phone number and/or your email address in this message. It is private and secure and it may help to speed up the response for you.


https://www.facebook.com/ebay— Message button in upper right on landing page.

https://www.instagram.com/ebayforsellers/


https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/How-do-I-contact-Customer-Support/m-p/32016431#M1783851 -> Automated Assistant, type AGENT -> enter. You will then get more options.


The social media Chat accounts are covered by trained eBay employees with some authority.
And you get a transcript so you can compare what you heard with what you were told.
 

GET IT IN WRITING.

PRINT IT OUT.

TELL THEM YOU WILL BE PRINTING IT OUT.

But I wonder if a phone rep, who really really needed a pee break, just came up with a new policy to end the convo.

The Chat employees have a more leisurely pace. It feels like they have time to do a little research into the situation before responding.  Or get that break.  It makes a Chat verrrrry slllllloooooow, but can be more useful.

GET IT IN WRITING.

[gurlcat]

My guess is chat reps have to serve 2 or more customers at a time.  You know, like doctors.  And airline seats.  

[simba6]

Their bots don't always flag the correct items. Since customer reps don't know anything, don't try to relist  it.

Wonder if civil war triggered anything?

I for one will only be buying boneless cow  after all, it works for chicken.

[virginia_quailman]

I was told that the specific reason the listings were removed was because I said "cow bone" in the listing. Supposedly, they have revised their animal products policy to prohibit cow/bovine bone items. But they haven't had time to update their policy on the website. A more logical approach would be to wait till the policy is published before removing listings based on restrictions that no sellers know exist. The real reason for the ban on bovine bone items is because eBay recently got some bad press for allowing the illegal sale of ivory products described as cow bone. This is their poorly thought-out knee-jerk reaction. I feel sorry for all the sellers of bone handled knives out there. I guess they will have to call them pig bone from now on. 

[gurlcat]

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@virginia_quailman wrote:

 I guess they will have to call them pig bone from now on. 

'Antler' might be even safer.  -Nothing dies for antlers; they just shed off. 

[brightlightbookseller]

I worked at a big tech company doing chat support when it launched, and they made us take up to 3 chats at a time.  I've heard that some companies take up to 10 or more at a time.

[az93]

My seashell was kicked off as endangered. 

[monster-deals]

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@virginia_quailman wrote:

they need to protect "wildlife". 

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Ebay, first in the fight to increase the number of wild cows.

[virginia_quailman]

Interesting, I noticed eBay won't remove cow bone and ivory items from sellers based outside the U.S. I noticed that a seller in Italy has many listings described as antique scrimshaw cow bone and a few he even called ivory. I reported the 3 ivory listings and I got a message back that they investigated and the listing didn't violate policy. I guess non-US sellers don't have to follow the same rules as the rest of us.

[krazzykats]

Since 2015:

Solved: How hard it is to understand eBay team that.. cow ... - The eBay Community

I don't know if the best answer on that thread still applies, but I believe @disneyshopper is still around the boards and may update if they know.

[virginia_quailman]

No, unfortunately, the advice in the old thread doesn't apply. Cow bone and bovine bone are naughty words now, thanks to some unscrupulous sellers who used these phrases to illegally sell ivory. It doesn't matter if you can prove the items are truly cow bone, they are banned due to eBay's ill-conceived policy to ban hundreds of thousands of legitimate items to stop a handful of illegal sales. But the real kicker is that eBay never mentions that cow/bovine bones are restricted on the animal products page. The CS agent told me that the page had not been updated yet. Seems like eBay could have waited till the change was announced to sellers before removing listing for "violations" that nobody knew existed. I hope there is enough backlash from sellers so that eBay will rethink this policy change (fat chance). Not that there was much thought that went into their revised policy decision in the first place.