All military gas masks are prohibited items?

[shhboom]

I recently had simultaneous listings for two gas masks: a M40  and a M17. The M40 listing was removed because eBay said it violated the Military items policy. I said OK, maybe this mask is too new and I did not relist the item even though many of these were sold and are currently listed on eBay. eBay said absolutely nothing about the M17 mask listing. Then 2 weeks later, eBay suspends my account because of the M17 listing. Again, an eBay rep told me it violated the Military items policy even though I told him that thousands of M17 masks (which date to as far back as the early 1960s) have been sold on eBay (67 in the last 3 months). Then the rep sends me a link to Part 121 of the ITAR, which lists all military items prohibited for sale. I read this long document carefully and the only reference to gas masks was for the M50 and M53 gas masks (described in Category XIV, paragraph f-4-i). I e-mailed eBay this information but have not received a reply. I had asked the eBay rep if all military gas masks are prohibited items. He said yes. So my question is this: ARE ALL MILITARY GAS MASKS PROHIBITED FOR SALE like the rep told me, or ARE THEY ONLY PROHIBITED FOR ME ? Sometimes, it seems eBay practices very selective enforcement of its prohibited items policy. I've had an ultrasonic stethoscope and a lock pick set listing removed even there had been, and are currently hundreds of these items listed on eBay by big time sellers from China.

[emerald40]

Ebay has recently clamped down on all military grade items.  It has recently been posted that it is at the request of the DOD.

[r2a2t2_2]

What she said OP. We've been lookin' into it. SOS on anything being applied equally. It's mainly new stuff but as always no one can tell us where the limits are. Its a shotgun dragnet...

[18704d]

This is the third such thread in a week?

Before this, the only comparable threads dealt with "assault weapon" parts?

I'm thinking this is going to be a recurring complaint here..

as discussed in the other couple threads.

fwiw,

Lynn

[janet9988]

YOU need to go by ebay policies to determine if it is okay to list an item. YOU should never go by what others get aways with listing and think it is okay for you get away with it.

[siamdao]

Are you serious?  What am I going to do for gifts for Christmas this year.....Wife will be very disappointed 😉

[annadryl]

I read the post about the glove liners (and the official non-responses from ebay reps). Looks like they were blindsided by the DoD's new rules and they just pulled a ton of listings. I can totally see this happening here, nothing new, but without warning. I've listed and sold a few such items in the past and wouldn't have had any idea that the rules changed in the middle of last night.

Rules change and listings get pulled. That's life. Some even stay listed while others are pulled and penalized. But if sellers are restricted or suspended with no warning over some totally legal mundane items, what's next? Can we still list items that are merely green? Will there be a warning before we can't?

There will be a LOT of posts on this in the coming days...

[fr8hvnhet0]

Fooof!

How will I protect myself from the fart?

Fooof!

[robot-hands]

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@janet9988 wrote:

YOU need to go by ebay policies to determine if it is okay to list an item. YOU should never go by what others get aways with listing and think it is okay for you get away with it.

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How does one do that when ebay keeps their policies secret or CSRs don't even know the policy?

[mudshark61369]

@emerald40,

  "Ebay has recently clamped down on all military grade items.  It has recently been posted that it is at the request of the DOD".

Each service or equipment manfacturer has to get an OK from the DOD before they can sell off surplus or suplanted items at Government auction. So that report is a bunch of Hogwash.

@shhboom,

Why ebay sent you a notice about the M-40 is anyones guess, unless it has not been OKed for sale as surplus.  The listing may have been reported if someone else had their item(s) pulled, or by a competitor.  That report could have put you on ebay's radar and any militaria you try to sell for awhile will probably run into the same problem.  

[juststuffisell]

Yes... as I am sure many have said above. As are chemical protection tops and bottoms and a host of other "non-weapon" military gear. Much of it is "shades of gray" kind of stuff not spelled out specifically in the guidelines. You have to read between the lines and not assume just because military & weapon items are listed that you can in fact list the items on eBay.

Check their policies, read between the lines as best as possible and if you are not sure, contact eBays Trust & Safety Department for an item review.

It is one of the reasons I quit buying military items ( I do pick stuff up in lots when I am trying to buy something else) as it is against policy to even sell some military medals 🙂

Left/Right paradime in play here (meaning both side of the politcal isle do not want certain things sold), state restrictions and issues etc. It is a complicated topic and is NOT eBays fault in their defense though I used to get very salty with them over the subject. They have to deal with a lot of legality in this sector and with weapons issues. i.e. some states have laws agains "blade length" on a knife that can get into actual county and city level laws. Crazy complicated stuff. That is not even touching on International and the laws of other countries.

Cheers

[r2a2t2_2]

As I tried to point out in the other thread, The DLA is a Law Enforcement Agency. They have 100% control over purchase and distribution of ALL service garments, no one tells them what to do. They are also in charge of "Defending The Supply Chain" against all unauthorized products including knockoffs.

So like I tried to warn people in the other thread, its a Gucci thing. The items not returned non-sense is a cover story. And for those that had items taken down by mistake, that's a shotgun dragnet, everybody gets hit except the right ones.

I would strongly urge anyone selling modern surplus to go to the article I tried to link with and learn about what the Defense Logistics Agency is up to, its an amazing article, find out what your up against. Right now items are just being removed, but the DLA can also round up items for testing and authenticity.

Good Luck!

[r2a2t2_2]

Hey Lynn and Emerald, I can answer your questions from the previous thread. I asked DLA CS about current turn-ins of property. I was directed to the Disposition Services webpage. The kids can turn-in (return) items online now! Its called a ETID, it replaces form DD 1348-1A. The NSN, National Stock Number system is another piece of information I not only use as a collector but a retail buyer to confirm that garments are legit. Lynn asked about point of sale or transfer to the public. They use the NSN system. It shows when a garment went out, issued, and when it came back, turn-in. Its no longer a weak, paper trail, its been automated. And now they have a digital trail. This is also how they know what was sold off as surplus. If a soilder trys to replace any item he purchased down at Gung Ho Surplus that is not an original issue item, it will be caught and so will he. Collectors learn the system and can read it, so yes, you can tell from photos on an auction site whether an item is real or not.

So what has changed is the accounting system on turn-ins. I was assured that our young men and women can still come home wearing their Class A's with a duffle bag over their shoulder. They are just checkin' the duffle bags a heck of a lot closer these days.

[18704d]

"Lynn asked about point of sale or transfer to the public. They use the NSN system. It shows when a garment went out, issued, and when it came back, turn-in. Its no longer a weak, paper trail, its been automated. "

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So don't all .. let's say, certain types of field jackets have the same DLA or stock number?  and if so, how can the DOD tell which were turned in, or not?

Lynn

[r2a2t2_2]

Yes, items in the same contract lot will be the same...but your service number is one of a kind. They now know item xyz was given to you and they want to see item xyz coming back.