It's not ivory, so why does eBay keep taking it down?
Summary: miscetal shared their frustration with eBay repeatedly taking down their listings of Japanese netsuke carvings, which they listed as bone or bovine bone. Despite receiving advice from eBay support to list under a different category and specifying the genus and species for verification, the listings were still removed, prompting concerns about inconsistent enforcement of rules. Participants discussed possible reasons, such as eBay's automated systems mistakenly flagging the items, and the inconsistencies between live support advice and AI enforcement. gurlcat suggested alternative listing strategies while another participant advised not reusing the same photos to prevent further removals.
I have several souvenir carvings, netsukes, from Japan.
I've listed them as BONE or Bovine Bone - eBay took them down with the standard materials/provenance message.
I talked to a live person at eBay who told me if I listed them under the *mineral category, there would be no problem - just fix it.
This seemed weird, but I listed them under that category, with the bone information in the listing - this time when eBay took them down, one came with a sterner note telling me I cannot *fix the listing, and if I try to list it again bad things will happen to my account.
I looked again today, months later, and find numerous netsuke listed as bone or bovine bone or cow bone - what do the powers as iz want when they tell me fix it, and then take it down with threats?
redmodelt
·2 weeks agoThis has been going on for years, re the pulling of listings because of the word "Ivory"! :(
incredidollie4
·2 weeks agoCould it be the word "bone"?
miscetal
OP2 weeks ago"They" said the material, bone, must be mentioned.
The entire conversation was ridiculous - when at first I asked what species name would be acceptable, I was told, really: google it. Googling it gives a LOT more options for how a bovine bovidae Bos is categorized and named.
I often feel the people making eBay rules and writing down the stuff are the freshman comp kids that passed my class with a low C - and that as a kindness. I used to write "think harder" in the margins of their papers
christworks
·2 weeks ago@miscetal Do not reuse the same photos if you relist. You need to photos. When the AI removes a listing, it logs a digital fingerprint of sorts of the image. If it appears again on the platform, even if everything else is fine with how you listed it, the AI will likely take it down.
miscetal
OP2 weeks agoThanks - I wouldn't have thought of that.
roccotacodad54
·2 weeks agoJapanese netsuke were commonly carved from ivory.
Are there schreger lines showing in your photos? If so it's possible someone reported them and now you're on the radar.
I opened a new window and searched for netsuke and quite a few looked like they may be ivory. None showed schreger lines though.........................
miscetal
OP2 weeks agoNo Shreger lines in either - I want to follow the rules, and would not list anything I thought was endangered; the rules are obscure - secret, even.
The live humans told me "ignore eBay AI" and that the reason other listings are up and some sold is because "they just haven't been caught up with yet". My listings are recent..
gurlcat
·2 weeks agoThe "live people at eBay" are wrong all the time, and if you keep listening to them you'll get your account closed by software that doesn't care what they said. The same software that allows others to break the same rule it won't let you break. Listen to the messages you receive about very bad things happening if you keep trying to relist an item that was taken down.
FYI I had a netsuke taken down a few years ago. It was A-MA-ZING, a "witch" deity with a revolving face that went from 'sweet old lady' to 'terrifying crone', all carved from one piece of bone or whatever. But after it was removed I didn't try to relist it .... by itself. Instead I included it in a small lot with some other Asian stuff, didn't use the word 'netsuke' or any materials anywhere in the listing, but definitely including great photos of the 2-faced witch. I don't remember how much I got for the lot, just that I was quite pleased.
inhawaii
·2 weeks agoeBay does not allow the sale of most animal ivory, tusks, or specific marine mammal bones/products, and automated filters frequently flag and remove Japanese Netsuke if they cannot verify the material.
miscetal
OP2 weeks agoAfter an HOUR of back and forth, I was told that the genus and species are necessary: so, Bos Indicus or Bos Taurine "will be adequate"
I was told that neither cow nor bovine were adequate: because animals other than Bos are referred to as cows, and bovine, they didn't know that word.
after nearly 30 years here, this was the most comical...
gurlcat
·2 weeks ago · EditedFamilae Bovidae is pretty big, and includes lots of endangered species. Also female elephants are called cows. I know, I know. Just saying.
gurlcat
·2 weeks agoOh, and if you're looking at those 'diet' details and thinking "BIRDS?" here's one of the craziest videos I've ever seen. Trigger warning: it's also sad. You can see how frantic the parents were.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQOQdBLHrLk
adamcartwright
·2 weeks agoThank you for the trigger warning.
miscetal
OP2 weeks agoI tried telling them this - they assured me that a two-word description "Bos Indicus" would be adequate. I don't believe a thing they say.
mypostingid15
·2 weeks agoMr. @inhawaii That sounds like an AI answer, we love your human responses better.
gurlcat
·2 weeks ago · EditedWhat about it sounds like AI? Also who is "we"? You made your first post 2 days ago but you're already part of a "we" that collectively love things? 🤣
mypostingid15
·2 weeks agoWhat about it sounds like AI?
lol, all of it, not consistent with other comments.
Also who is "we"?
The community, I feel I am part of it, I don't have to post to be included in "we", I read a lot and know who's naughty or nice.
gurlcat
·2 weeks ago · EditedIt was just one ordinary sentence, about something that most of us know, and he phrased it correctly. It doesn't take AI to do that, and it doesn't sound anything like AI "speak."
Do you think anything with bold font is AI?
EDIT: I just realized, you're who started the post about AI replies to questions. If you think this^ sentence @inhawaii wrote is AI, then no wonder.