All Government, Surplus and Military listings being removed?

[walter847]

Just wondering if anyone else is having this issue. My Military listings are being removed. The two that were removed were for Government Issue Cold weather wool inserts for gloves. I talked to a supervisor and was told I am not allowed to sell anything that is Government Issued or has the title Military? Why then does Ebay have categories for Military??  I have been selling for years on Ebay and that is my store Military items and surplus? Over 7,000 and 100% positive? Sooo I was told the DOD contacted them for removal. The email Ebay sent to me said I did not follow the Firearms, Weapons, and Knives policy? Again these are gloves. I have spoken to four different people and a supervisor.  They said the computer is taking off anything that has Government Issue or Military, then they said it was the DOD. Since that is mostly what I sell, I guess everything will be removed. I read the ITAR that they told me to read to see what I can sell. I found I can sell Chemical Pants, socks, boots. Which they have removed in the past. I also read I can sell gun slings, which they have removed in the past as well.  I have now contacted the DOD myself to see if I can sell gloves from the Government (Surplus). So I will wait for their reply. The Ebay site also states if you can find it at a retail store you can sell it. Guess what I buy mine at retail Army, Navy, retail stores. I have also contacted several Army-Navy stores and they have all said there is no such thing and they have never been contacted by the Government. Also, I would like to add the Government does auctions on Government items you can buy and sell! Hmmm very interesting!!

[Anonymous]

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@div_style wrote:

Sent inquiry 2 days ago, and, crickets.  Not holding my breath.

Trintons's suggestion is useless and simply an attempt to push us away.

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Hi @div_style, I am sorry to hear that the information I provided did not help out in this situation  While I understand the frustration that comes up in a situation like this, I'm here to help provide clarity on our policy and to elaborate on actions that may have been taken. We work closely with verified rights owners and government agencies and will remove listings reported to us. We aren't able to provide details of these kinds of requests as they would be considered private communication with eBay by another party. Though I cannot guarantee a response from the Department of Defense, they would be the only party that is authorized to share additional details on this topic. I'm limited on the details I can share but if you do need anything else, but I'm happy to work on providing more detail, no problem!

[sharingtheland]

appreciate the stance that eBay will work with Sellers who may inadvertantly have a correct item removed incorrectly ... 

Ah, but, mr. lincoln, you're going to have to figure out on your own whether or not your perfectly legitimate item was removed incorrectly.

Again, good luck with that ...

[mr_lincoln]

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@sharingtheland wrote:

appreciate the stance that eBay will work with Sellers who may inadvertantly have a correct item removed incorrectly ... 

Ah, but, mr. lincoln, you're going to have to figure out on your own whether or not your perfectly legitimate item was removed incorrectly.

Again, good luck with that ...

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Being an eternal optimist hope springs eternal ...

[southern*sweet*tea]

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@r2a2t2_2 wrote:

Now, I have a question. Can anyone tell me why a DSA contract number (Defense Supply Agency) should not be on an Army issued garment from the Korean War?

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Because DSA was used between 1962 and 1977. The Korean War "ended" in 1953. Korean War era uniforms should have a DA number, not a DSA number.

[rixstuff]

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@equid0x wrote:

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@forgottenape wrote:

if it was a vero take down they will list the contact info in the takedown message

i stopped selling this stuff when they decided to copy right unit insignia years ago knew it was just a matter of time. when i asked when they were going to copyright the us flag the dod guy didnt have an answer. and 3 days is light count yourself lucky

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I don't sell military items, but I find this to be very interesting. If you are a US Citizen, then isn't the copyright effectively held by YOU("The People")? The last I knew, anything the government produces and publishes is considered public domain unless restricted by classification, in which case you probably wouldn't know about it anyways...

I could understand if they can prove ownership of an item that should have been returned but wasn't, but frankly, the gov't has been selling off this kind of stuff for DECADES. I'm not sure how that would be able to tell one pair of gloves or what have you from another on the basis of photos in an auction?

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Selling current items isnt copyright infringement but it a security issue.  One can not sell certain items that would allow bad guys to impersonate our troops (or police or fire) or give them an advantage that is not allowed to civilians (night vision goggles, SAT phones, rocket launchers, et). Cell phones and video game units cant be sold to certain countries because there is some safety or security issue.

[r2a2t2_2]

Yes you can, are they Tigers, Duck Hunter or ERDL?

[southern*sweet*tea]

From Stars and Stripes:

https://www.stripes.com/news/seller-beware-all-military-gear-not-right-for-ebay-1.32343

[bubbleman2010]

Mine are tiger striped I think I haven't looked at them in 40 years...

[r2a2t2_2]

100% correct, do you see where I'm goin' with this?

[emerald40]

I saw that - from 2005.  Something must have changed in the last decade.

But hard to list when you do not know what that change is.

[emerald40]

https://taskandpurpose.com/soldiers-sold-stolen-gear-ebay/

Most current article I could find.  Yes, it is guns and equipment, but maybe because of it DOD is clamping down on everything.

[southern*sweet*tea]

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@r2a2t2_2 wrote:

100% correct, do you see where I'm goin' with this?

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Yep

[18704d]

Hi.

I'm hitting reply to emerald but anwering everyone here.

Ok... now

I personally believe it sounds like eBay is treating DOD requests in the same way they do VERO.  That means, when notified, they pull the listing.

Again, I'm just guessing it might sound this way.. and if so, I don't blame eBay.

The DOD won't answer you.

Hubby and I served active duty in the 1980s.  The DOD is a huge bureaucracy which, it sounds, has little desire to explain it's actions to eBay sellers.

Now, eBay isn't giving us keywords, and I agree with that.

The DOD isn't ever going to answer, and that totally doesn't surprise me.

So here's the confusion:

The military expects most of it's issued gear to be returned to them.

It's their property.

But,

The base we were stationed on.. (as well as probably everyone in the world)

would have government auctions Selling old stock.. and items they no longer wanted.  (that includes personal gear turned in).

Once sold it's the legitimate property of the official buyer.

So, now how does anyone know if field jackets, gloves, or other gear were Legitimately purchased from the military, or not?  And technically legal to resell?

Apparently, that decision is being taken by the DOD, at it's ... discretion.

Although  I understand eBay's stance on this, I see no safe answer for sellers wishing to list here.

Thanks for listening,

Lynn

[sharingtheland]

sweet*tea, while procrastinating so I wouldn't have to work in an attempt to help my fellow sellers, I did a lot of googling on this issue, also.  I saw the link you've given and I couldn't come up with anything else more recent than around 2008.

I think DoD recently told ebay to clamp down on something forever unknown to the people who need to know and ebay, in its usual bigfoot way, didn't give the bots any closely or clearly defined instructions.

[emerald40]

Yes, but then I wish they would be fair about it and remove all of it from the site - not just pick and choose.