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Just a Heads Up on Selling Old Playboy Magazines.
Hey everybody. I was selling some old Playboy Magazines over the last six months or so and, after not having any issues at all, I received an email from eBay tonight informing me that one of my listings was removed because "it didn’t follow our Protecting minors policy." According to the policy, "We don’t allow listings that include images or descriptions of minors (under 18) in a compromising situation, even if the listing is not intended to be sexual in nature. Minors must be fully clothed." It further stated that the "issue contains modeling images of a nude minor".
I was extremely concerned about this and I could not imagine how an issue of Playboy Magazine from 30 years ago could possibly violate this policy. I was about to appeal their decision when I though maybe I should take a close look at the issue in question, and I think I may have figured it out... Among the many full-page advertisements was one for a clothing brand with a full-page picture depicting a family, (a couple and their young child), wearing barrels instead of clothes, similar to the old "bankruptcy barrel" depictions from back during the great depression, and a line that basically says, "If it's not our brand, don't put it on". Considering how vague eBay's policy on this subject is which basically says they can violate your listing for any one of a dozen crazy reasons, or NO reason, I figure this ad was probably it, as dumb, (on eBay's part), as that sounds.
I just pulled the handful of Playboy listings I had left, (which I wasn't going to get much for anyway), because its not worth the headache.
So, long story short, (too late), be careful with those magazines that eBay says are ok to list... It might bite you!
kh-tuna
·9 months agoHi everyone,
Due to the age of this thread, it has been closed to further replies. Please feel free to start a new thread if you wish to continue to discuss this topic.
Thank you for understanding.
liamsstoragelocker
·9 months agoJust had my 50th Anniversary issue yanked. Funny considering the current and sold listings for this issue are plentiful
jm39-3435
·1 year agoCould anyone point me in the best direction of selling some old playboy i have about 60 of the 1960 thru 2000
numan
·1 year agoAdd January 1969 to the apparently Banned list. " Protecting minors policy ", despite over 100 of this issue currently available for bidding.
thirdaycollectibles
·1 year agoEbay sucks. It's just crappy bot technology targeting the wrong information. Maybe they could use that energy to avoid real harm like shutting the border/Mexican cartels or obtaining the Epstein list.
princes7771
·1 year agoIf anyone is keeping track so you don't violate policy yourself, you can add Dec 1979, May 1977, Oct 1981, Aug 1979, and Oct 1979. All removed for policy violations for minors. Three of them had already sold months before. I went through every issue to make sure there weren't any minors, but as others have stated, if it's a child in a barrel or anything less than fully clothed, it can be flagged. eBay told me they expect sellers to "do their research" to make sure there are no minors. Well, when there are hundreds of photos in a magazine, and being 1 day short of 18 would constitute a violation, how are we supposed to know an exact age? One mag had a photo from a movie someone did when she was 17 that was flagged, even though it didn't appear in Playboy until she was 18 years and 10 months.
atticgemsfinds
·1 year agoI just spoke at length with an ebay rep on this exact issue. The rep told me that there are a handful of Playboy issues that actually have pictorials using models that were later found out to be under the age of 18 aty the time of publishing, which, of course is illegal. The rep did additionally tell me that they do encourage sellers to sell Playboys on Ebay, but also said that sellers need to do their due dilligence in researching specific issues prior to listing to make see if any of the models in said issue does in fact show minor models.
ci1000
·1 year agoI was having the same problem.... What is really ridiculous is that there is no definitive list of which issues are prohibited. You just have to wait until eBay takes them down....
Just not worth the time and effort for me.... I removed ALL of my Playboy magazines about 6 months ago and donated them.
pinup-piper
·1 year agoOk, another. Its like clockwork. The removals will always arrive on messages Sunday or Monday morning, and the listing is always pulled in the middle of the night. I have my suspicions on how and why it is ALWAYS that period of time, but I won't discuss that here.
Now, Oct '75 was pulled. Remarkably, I went on and searched up Oct '75 and the listings for that magazine as well as complete 1975 sets was ridiculous.
As I indicated previously, I will thin out my inventory out as fast as possible and move on. Good luck to the rest of you.
pickapaper
·1 year agoI'm guessing it is just easier for eBay to put all of them on a ban list instead of trying to keep track of which issues are in violation.
A couple of years ago DH bought a large collection (several hundred in excellent condition) of PBs at a really good price. I sold a few on eBay but even then I could see it could be a hassle to sell them (I wasn't that knowledgeable about the "banned ones" and I didn't want to spend the time trying to figure it out) so mostly we sold them in an antique mall - we put them in sealed plastic bags, priced them choice at a low price and they sold really well. I think there were only a couple of times that someone tore open the plastic bag. Then the mall decided all PBs had to be in locked cabinets. Okay. Then finally the mall decided that no one could sell any PBs or related mags in the mall any more, period. (We weren't the only dealer selling them.) Luckily we had just about sold all we had so no big deal. We sold our remaining issues at a garage sale and some guy happily carted them all off.
pinup-piper
·1 year agoYep...kind of where I'm headed with this. I know what in my inventory will sell and what will stagnate. I'm gonna wind it down and then unload the remainder in some other fashion.
pinup-piper
·1 year agoOk, it continues:
Checked messages this morning and got another notice of a "violation." My first thought is what now?
So, I investigated. The entire year of Playboy 1980 was in violation. Didn't say what issue. Most interesting part is that I sold the set in April (a true 30 days ago) and I received a notification this morning a month later that indicated it was a "violation." This happened twice.
I sold another set this spring (different year / decade) and then received a notification weeks later that it was a "violation." Same idea, the material had been long gone from my store.
As I indicated in a previous contribution, I'm unloading my Playboy inventory and walking away from this. Too much aggravation. Good luck.
claubre66
·1 year agoI had the same thing happen to me with Vintage playboys too. Also with Prepared hero fire blankets other people had them on and I the one who gets notice. I am to the point to shut down my store. Between the fee from ebay and shipping I am not making much.
njd47
·1 year agoI also had m Jan 1989 and Jan 1994 issues pulled. I have no idea what the offending image(s) is. I also had these issues up for over a year. Anyone have a clue as to what the offending image is?
pinup-piper
·1 year agoI reviewed many of the replies and will add to the list. I've essentially committed to walking away from this aspect of my online selling. Simply not worth the aggravation or some baseless accusation some day. I agree with many of the comments above that its unfortunate there is no proactive action from the host site to inform sellers what to stay away from / avoid listing. You should add the following to your lists:
-Jan 2004 (just this morning received a message)
-Feb '78
-Roughly half of '79 (no I'm not kidding)
-July '81
-Dec '82
-Jan '82
*I realize there are many more, and seemingly added to weekly, but I didn't see these in the previous replies.
rric.b.okknmn
·1 year agoMy item "PLAYBOY MAGAZINE January 2004 50th Anniversary" was removed on 4/19 for violating eBay's Protecting Minors Policy. When I contacted an agent to inquire as to what page or pages have images of minors, I was told "I truly respect your urge. However, we are not authorized to share exact details of our review parameter because it can lead to circumvent the policies."
So I don't even know if this is even accurate. This is like facing a court trial in which you are convicted without chance of hearing the evidence. Try as I might, I cannot find a single page where images of minors are displayed. I don't even see references to Brooke Shields or Traci Lord. Have I missed something?
sakic92710
·1 year agoI had a Toronto Blue Jays program disallowed on Marketplace because of a cigarette ad on the back. lol I just listed it again without showing the ad. Online sites are getting ridiculous.
deltilogical
·1 year ago"I had some Russian stamps for sale and 3 got pulled by eBay"
What was their rational for that?
hananova
·1 year agoYou expect Russophobic bigots to act "rationally"?
My Putin baseball cap was yanked because it "supported violence".
OTOH, E-Woke supports no, promotes, actual violent groups like BLM and Antifa
mykicks
·1 year agoWe just had January 1989 issue removed because of the Compromising Minor policy. So the list grows.
gatefold
·1 year agoMe too (Jan 1989)...
I checked the issue...there is one photo of Elizabeth Ann Roberts.....
here's the thing...that photo was reportedly not from her "minor" shoot, but was a session after her turning 18....
wherever they are getting their info, it is flawed
12345jamesstamps
·1 year agoYou did the right thing pulling all off 'not for sale'.
I had some Russian stamps for sale and 3 got pulled by eBay...so I took my 50+ off the market just to be safe as well.
mykicks
·1 year agoOur listing for January 1966 was removed for violating their Compromising Minor policy.
gatefold
·1 year agoAs a life long collector and 15 year seller of Playboy,
Here is the ebay hit-list (as best as I have determined)....
The following monthly issues violate their minors policy:
Elizabeth Ann Roberts (January 1958)
Nancy Crawford (April 1959)
Teddi Smith (July 1960)
Donna Michelle (December 1963)
Patti Reynolds (September 1965)
Linda Moon (October 1966)
Playboy Press Titles:
Sugar & Spice (1976)
Woman by 10 (1976)
Issues that violate the cover nudity policy:
January 1967 (Nudes on wall)
January 1970 (Nudes on Wall)
January 1971 (Nudes on Wall)
June 1971 (Exposed Nipple in pic 9)
August 1971 (Dressed like a teen)
November 1971 (Nip Slip under covers)
January 1972 (Nudes on Wall)
April 1972 (Exposed breast Silhouette)
June 1972 (Erect Nipple thru blouse)
January 1973 (Nudes on wall)
July 1973 (Areola exposed)
November 1973 (Areola exposed)
February 1974 (Exposed Areola/Nipple)
May 1974 (See through bra)
July 1974 (Esposed Areola/Nipple Slip)
December 1974 (Exposed Breast)
January 1975 (Nudes on Wall)
May 1975 (Erect Nipple see-through)
August 1975 (Exposed Breast/Nipple)
October 1975 (Exposed Breast)
December 1975 (Exposed/Bare Breast)
April 1976 (Exposed Breast)
May 1976 (Both Exposed Breasts)
July 1976 (See-through Nipples/Areola)
September 1976 (They say a breast in that pile of people)
June 1980 (Breast)? appealed reversed
February 1982 (Breast)? appealed reversed
Although there were never any legal convictions of the issues depicting "minors", and you could originally buy those issues anywhere, and they were transported legally through the U.S. Mail, and sold at Bookstores Nationwide (and currently at Abes Books and Amazon online)...someone deemed them as harmful at ebay..
ace_corl
OP1 year agoThe issue that got pulled was January 1994 - 40th Anniversary. And it wasn't just me... As an experiment, I reported 5 auctions that had the same issue and I got messages back on 4 of them saying the auctions were pulled. 1 mentioned the decision was made by a "customer service agent" and the other 3 were made "using automation or artificial intelligence".
4 out of 5 times, in this admittedly small sample, would still seem to indicate that something is going on with this issue. If it's not the ad I mentioned in my original post, I have no clue. Maybe someone else can figure it out.
playerkillers
·1 year agoI just had this issue come up as well, with the message:
"This listing was removed for violating our Compromising Minor policy."
The Playboy was a January 1994 - 40th Anniversary and the listing had been up for over a year (not going o miss it obviously), but I had no idea it was potentially problematic. ‌‌
It would be incredibly helpful to have a proactive feature to prevent this, similar to how the system warns you when you're about to post a duplicate listing. I imagine AI could scan listings before they go live and flag potential issues in advance. I understand there’s a cost to building that kind of tool, and the number of actual violations might be low, but it would save a lot of frustration for sellers.
I was also previously hit with the same policy violation about a year ago for some old photo lots and slide negatives I had listed. These included a few travel/beach shots from family vacations in the 1950s–70s. Since then, I’ve stopped posting any similar lots entirely. It’s just a terrible feeling for me when this happens.
playerkillers
·1 year agoMaybe mine was one you flagged? Not a big deal as it hadn't sold in a year anyways and I definitely don't want to be breaking any rules
chariot_badges
·1 year agoNew Czar of Government Enforced Morality
COGEM
Cogem good.
.
i-fish1
·1 year agoThanks, Isn't AI great? I think I already sold everything prior to 1983 and now I get thrown out for January 2004. I got a 3 page email with the item number embedded in the middle of page 2 and no reference to which issue was the issue. And I was just about to relist because they weren't selling. I appealed asking for an issue or date because there remains many thousands of other peoples listings that have not been taken down and I received no additional information. Ebay support was very helpful to finally identify the issue with the problem. If either of their AI emails had provided which issue had a problem it would have saved them at least an hour of support rep time.
liftmaster118
·1 year agoSort of ironic that Ebay discourages selling Playboys with this "Compromising Minors Policy" when you can view the full issue (including every page) of every Playboy ever published online at the Internet Archive playboy-magazines-1953-2013 directory listing. I've been hit three times with the Compromising Minors policy thing in the last three months. What am I supposed to do, review each issue and cross check the models included against their biographies to make sure none of the models was under 18? I inherited a collection going back to 1974, most of the last ten years up until around 2013 were still in their mailing wrappers. For the work involved in creating the Ebay listings, the return I've seen hardly justifies my effort. So, I ended my remaining Playboy listings and will get rid of them one way or the other.
jonathanbrightlight
·1 year ago@liftmaster118 why is that ironic? eBay can disallow anything they want, and I would bet most or all of us here opposed to selling these on eBay are also opposed to said images being available free anywhere, but those are still not the same thing.
liftmaster118
·1 year agoHey, I understand that Ebay has every right to all or disallow sales of anything on their platform. I was just trying to make a few bucks off of something I thought would be of value to someone else. What I don't understand is why the same 3 listings of mine that Ebay pulled down are identical to hundreds of current and sold listings on Ebay. All 202 issues I have remaining of Playboy will be in tomorrow's trash.
c.cummings151
·1 year agoIll pay for shipping. Binning them would be a shame
musiclover1013
·11 months agoThank you for posting this list. I posted March 1978 showing only front & back cover. I received a violation of the protecting minors policy. I've appealed as others are selling same issue on the platform currently & other sales have occurred during the last 30 days. I have a feeling they are using AI to monitor & certain words are triggering removal.
liamsstoragelocker
·9 months agoI believe the Sugar & Spice issue has an underage photo of Brooke Shields
pickapaper
·1 year ago@ace_corl
In some of the old Playboys (and probably other men's magazines, too), there were girls who were under 18 when they did the gig. They lied about their age to get Playboy to use them and often, their mothers backed them. The January 1958 issue is an example; Elizabeth Roberts was Playmate of the Month for January. She was 16. There are also other issues of the magazine with other models under 18.
I doubt the barrel ad you referenced had any meaning. There were other ads that could have though. Brooke Shields was 15 when she did the "Between Me and My Calvins" Calvin Klein jeans ad.
johnrj1226
·1 year agoDon't see any of the former Hugh Hefner's magazine sold in the last 90 days - just one sleaze Penthouse.
Probably aught stick to that Star Wars stuff.
Way back in 64/65 my college dorm roommate & moi decorated the walls with those foldouts - always had visitors. Still communicate to this day + withanother 8 blokes - none in fraternity brothers just GDIs - we actually had fun
a_c_green
·1 year ago...to which I have to add: back in the early 1980s, I wrote the computerized typesetting program for producing the Playboy Magazine Library Index, a booklet listing the contents (without photos) of every issue in the year, and distributed to libraries so that patrons could request a title to check out without them having to leave the magazines on display. Playboy Enterprises Inc. would send us a big roll of magnetic tape with the issue data on it, we would run our software on it, print out the phototypesetting masters for each page, and ship the whole thing back to PEI (who at that time were still on North Michigan Avenue).
This all worked via bicycle messengers, and they knew the PEI address by heart. Apparently the walls of the loading dock at Playboy were plastered with those monthly foldouts, so messengers were falling all over themselves to get either a pickup or a delivery over there. 🤓