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Black Americana
I'm a bit confused,
I placed a lot of 2 miniature cloth black Americana dolls (grandpa and grandma) on eBay and after they were sold I received a notice from eBay that my listing was removed as per their offensive material policy.
However there are other miniature cloth black Americana dolls listed for sale on eBay and similar ones have sold.
My question is...why was my listing removed and others were not. Thanks
40 comments
reallynicestamps
·1 year agoYou listed.
You sold.
You were paid.
You shipped.
then
EBay told you that was not an acceptable sale?
So what else did they do?
Refuse to charge you fees?
Keep the entire payment instead of transferring it to you?
Two days after the sale ended eBay cancelled the listing and I never received payment although I did send an invoice before my listing was cancelled.
So the buyer never paid?
Most payments arrive immediately and after four days can be automatically cancelled.
I wonder if the buyer was the one who reported the item as offensive?
Because otherwise by the time eBay warned you, the item would have been in the mail.
luvsgolf
·1 year agoApparently my listing was removed even after I censored 'offensive' facial features. How can it be offensive if you can't see it? It was a vintage tin sign advertisement for Sambo malted milk with a bellhop holding a tray with a bottle of Sambo, his face typical early-mid century embellished. I blurred it. I viewed hundreds of "Little Black Sambo" books leading me to believe the word 'Sambo' was not a 'flag' word. I think I'll try relisting it with only the picture the back of the sign. I never referenced 'Black Americana', black or any other word or phrase that could possibly be construed offensive. Is the name Sambo offensive? Let's find out....
Company policy changes emanate from one person that when handed down, become other people's opinions, not law. Not everyone agrees to other's opinions, opinions are not always correct either. My point i smaller groups are controlling the majority. It is happening more and more everywhere. It is what is increasing and widening division, evidenced by the president elect. It appears to me that people are getting tired of being told they're wrong and having to live with choices they did not make. Close-minded attempts to eradicate or erase hate with policy and law changes is actually having an opposite effect.
I predict a civil war like no other is in our future, hopefully long after I'm gone. I'm only glad I don't have family to worry about what their future will be like. 'nuff said
bonjourami
·1 year agoI expect the name 'Sambo' is offensive, as its always associated with 'Little Black Sambo.'
house*of*paws
·1 year agoHi @luvsgolf
Obscuring an ‘offensive face’ doesn’t make the ITEM less offensive. You’d still be listing an offensive item.
eBay has decided that many, so-called Black Americana items are not allowed on their website … regardless of whether you change the name or obscure certain features on the item.
Surely there are venues that allow … and even admire … such items. List your item on one of those.
BTW, there was once a chain of restaurants named ‘Sambo’s’ … the original in Santa Barbara, California. All are now closed or operating under other names. Sambo is no longer considered people-friendly.
decodude
·2 years agoI recently listed an antique box of soap with the two Gold Dust twins on it. I made no mention of "black", "Black Americana", or anything, just what it was.....a box of Gold Dust washing powder. It was removed a couple of days later as offensive. Yet I saw other listings for Gold Dust that were no removed. There's no rhyme or reason when it comes to eBay.
fern*wood
·2 years agoI used to drive a red sport coupe and one day several cars whizzed by me, then shortly a state cop was behind me with flashing lights. I got a ticket. weird
deltilogical
·2 years agoAs Charles Manson used to tell his acolytes: Don't ask why.
He also used to say: No sense makes sense.
janet9988
·2 years agoYours was also listed and sold.
simba6
·2 years agoNobody has seemed to have caught on to all the Planet of The Apes figures and toys listed.
eBay doesn't equate black people with apes, so no need to pull them. I really don't understand where you are going with this one - assume that all is well intentioned, but best to not go down this road.
dbfolks166mt
·2 years agoAnother example of why eBay pretty much forced me to diversify across multiple platforms and venues, although I was headed that way for other reasons as well, where I don't have to deal with this issue. While each site has it's own rules regarding listings most are focused on legality or legal compliance rather than peoples opinion of what is offensive. I suspect that there is little in this world that does not offend someone.
yellow-snapdragon
·2 years agoeBay will target certain sellers, they've done it to me for years. You can't, unfortunately, compare apples to apples on this site.
magicjohnsonsvariety
·2 years agoSo true, any seller here any length of time can certainly relate to this...
Once listed a Black Americana cast iron bank that was removed by ebay, so I sold it to someone I knew at my yard sale.
He listed the exact same item on ebay, and I must have reported it at least 5 times and it was never removed. After several months it eventually sold.
Point is, reporting something doesn't always work to get obvious things get removed.
There is clearly something else going on that ebay won't tell us...
bonjourami
·2 years agoSeems once you are on Ebays radar for a removed item, you stay there.
johnson_junk_company
·2 years agoThat is just soooo wrong!!!
magicjohnsonsvariety
·2 years agoYeah, lots of people on here like to think it's like speeding..."some get caught and some don't".
But my point was that it's not at all like speeding when certain items have been reported over and over and still nothing is done.
tdl_collectibles
·2 years agoI had this print ad pulled down for being offensive. I made no mention of Aunt Jemima in the title or description and just had it listed as "Mills Branch Buckwheat Flour Ad 1927" or something to that effect and I wasn't selling it for any more or less than any other add I listed from that 1927 magazine.
Yet there are hundreds of other items online, including empty boxes of Uncle Bens Rice and bottles of actual Aunt Jemima still active if you search for that term.
It's all random bots and/or people being petty when we are in a world right now with much larger problems than a 94 year old piece of paper offending someone.
This is an actual listing on eBay right now below which should violate expired goods policy as well but that's where we are right now with how uneven things are.
house*of*paws
·2 years ago@tdl_collectibles
I believe it’s the images of ‘happy slaves’ that caused your item to be removed.
It’s not just the ‘Aunt Jemima’ image that became banned … but images of any grinning woman in a slave costume, which many would consider an offensive oxymoron. Anyway, that’s my guess.
b86fiero
·2 years agoed8108
·2 years agoluckythewinner
·2 years agoeBay policy enforcement is not necessarily comprehensive, timely, or accurate.
eBay policy says that if you violate policy, there may be consequences. But it does not say they will catch every violation, nor doe sit say that all violations will be treated the same.
qeqo_0
·2 years agoWondering about White Americana, etc.
If we're next on eBay's s-list?
ed8108
·2 years agoShocking that someone could be deprived of the comfort of black grandpa & grandma dolls (pale dolls are not an appropriate substitute)
An attorney may be of help & possibly provide you an opinion letter related to the two items you listed
tobaccocardyahoo
·2 years agoYou were reported. An Ebay employee reviewed the report. That Ebay employee verified the fact that it was offensive. This is one of the rare situations where Ebay acts on reports because it is viewed as important enough to invest manpower.
The category exists to list Black Americana which is not offensive.
It is very frustrating because almost all Black America from that is truly antique and of historical interest is viewed as offensive.
The sale of historical Black Americana are being forced into obscure venues and the prices are increasing as a result.
Well, I’d argue that that is a “fact†that it is offensive. Someone at eBay thought that someone might find the listing offensive. Sure, i find some of black Americana offensive, but that wouldn’t make it a black and white issue - no pun intended.
tobaccocardyahoo
·2 years agoYou fail to recognize that the definition of offensive is if any ignorant person who encounters the item is offended, the item is offensive under the Ebay policy.
I have had comic strips published by Joseph Pulitzer's World, written and drawn by R.O. Outcault, one of the most popular comic artists of his day removed by Ebay.
The most prestigious award in journalism is still named for Pulitzer, but the history of his period is largely suppressed. How many people know that he and Hearst were responsible for the Spanish-American War, who are under 70?
Rewriting or suppressing history has plenty of precedent, all of which portended bad outcomes.
Let’s be honest and say that there are plenty of what most would consider offensive items removed, and many that those same people wouldn’t find offensive. Person all, I’d stay away from anything even remotely related to black americana - regardless of whether or not I found it offensive.
ma-647837
·2 years agoIf that material policy is offensive, why not rewrite it so it's no longer offensive?
12345jamesstamps
·2 years agoYou got caught and now you are being watched closely now. Others have not yet.
And if you had like a 1000+ items for sale you might not have got caught so quickly.
That's a very touchy subject to sell on eBay even though they are a part of history.
mtgraves7984
·2 years agoThe short answer is that you got caught. Out of curiousity, did eBay allow the sale to go through?
toomuchstuffagain35
·2 years agoWhy have a Black Americana category if you're not allowed to list Black Americana?
mtgraves7984
·2 years ago@toomuchstuffagain35
Exactly to your first point... no rhyme or reason.
Oh, I only asked the OP that because I wondered where eBay stood on it after it slipped through, yet they'd been paid.
slippinjimmy
·2 years agoNothing happens, the transaction is done and complete.
The takedown is still noted in your file, same as a Vero takedown that happens after a sale.
albertabrightalberta
·2 years agoI believe buyers of removed items also get a message from ebay telling them that the item was removed "for a policy violation."
Ebay doesn't give specifics of the nature of the violation but I'd like to assume that buyers might ask questiosn. (I've seen sold counterfeit items removed and I hope those removals trigger buyers to question authenticity and hopefully, file for MBG.)
ittybitnot
·2 years agoWhy have a Black Americana category if you're not allowed to list Black Americana?
@toomuchstuffagain35
It makes them much easier to find and delete.
ed8108
·2 years agoAn offensive material policy can be racist
44012
·2 years agoThat is a very good question.
greatgramps
OP2 years agoYes. Two days after the sale ended eBay cancelled the listing and I never received payment although I did send an invoice before my listing was cancelled. Just makes no sense to me at all.
bonjourami
·2 years agoObviously your listing was reported, and others were not...yet. I believe the previous poster is correct...happy slave images shouldnt be sold on any website, but of course they are.
toomuchstuffagain35
·2 years agoNo rhyme or reason. Bots just do what bots do.