Blocked Coin Listing by Ebay

[joneslascruces]

Ebay has blocked the below coin listing for some reason.  Cany onyone help? Thanks in advance.

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CUBA CINCO CENTAVOS 103 YEARS AGO

This coin was minted in Philadelphia, Pa., United States using the US 5 Cent Blank and it is not prohibited for sale under the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Cuban Sanctions.

Please enlarge and consider the photos as the description.

Contact us with any questions.

[lacemaker3]

@joneslascruces

eBay doesn't allow any items from Cuba to be sold, whether they are pre-embargo or not. eBay has no way to confirm if an item was made before the embargo, and they don't check listings to see if they are legal for sale, they just don't allow any items from Cuba.

https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/prohibited-restricted-items/embargoed-goods-prohibited-countries-...

 Not allowed

• We don't allow the sale of embargoed items from the following countries, and we don't allow organizations, businesses, or individuals to have or register accounts while based in these countries:
  • Cuba
  • Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea)
  • Iran
  • Syria
• We also don't allow organizations, businesses or individuals from the countries listed above or on the United States Specially Designated Nationals (SDNs) list to have or register accounts on eBay.
• We don't permit the sale of items that claim to be pre-embargo because we cannot determine when an item was removed from a specific country

[emerald40]

It may or may not be allowed to sell that coin in the US, but the word Cuba triggered the block.

It is a country for which items are not allowed to be sold here on ebay.

[annadryl]

I've run into this issue with stamps from Cuba and Iran. Ebay doesn't want to play detective with thousands of listings so they just have a blanket policy which won't bother with pre-embargo (or any) verification. Either bots caught it or it's member-reported and ebay just removes it.

And that's being lenient compared to VeRO stuff! Then they chop off your right hand. Okay, maybe that's a rumor...

Good luck~

[joneslascruces]

Thank you lacemaker3,

Yes, I knew that.  But this coin, made over a hundred years ago in the USA, is not restricted by the US  Dept. of the Treasury 's Cuban Sanctions.  So I guess my question should have been "Why is it restricted by Ebay?". (Not that it makes any difference now though since I can't list it."  I guess I have to accept it as "one of those things" and move on.  But it's killing me 'cause it may be worth anywhere up to Ten American Dollars!  ha!

Thanks.

[emerald40]

As I already said, it is the word Cuba that is triggering the bots.

[joneslascruces]

Thanks emerald40,

I understand.  But I've sold lots of other items with the word Cuba.  And just now searched Ebay using only the WORD cuba.  Came back with over 100,000 hits.

Everything's Groovy.

[annadryl]

Looks like they took Sudan and Myanmar off the list. Is the restricted list actually getting shorter?!? Strange times...

But Cuba, of all places I would think would be okay, sooner than others.

[lacemaker3]

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@joneslascruces wrote:

Thank you lacemaker3,

Yes, I knew that.  But this coin, made over a hundred years ago in the USA, is not restricted by the US  Dept. of the Treasury 's Cuban Sanctions.  So I guess my question should have been "Why is it restricted by Ebay?". (Not that it makes any difference now though since I can't list it."  I guess I have to accept it as "one of those things" and move on.  But it's killing me 'cause it may be worth anywhere up to Ten American Dollars!  ha!

Thanks.

---

Just because something is legal to sell in the USA, that doesn't mean it is appropriate or allowed to sell it on eBay.

For example, you can't sell puppies or kittens,  wine or beer, or gun parts on eBay. Some things are just not appropriate to sell online where you can't see who is buying them. That doesn't mean there is anything wrong with selling them, just that it would be better to sell them somewhere else. Preferably where you can make sure that the buyer is legitimate. 

If you're wondering why the restriction on puppies and kittens, then you should know that there are still a lot of areas in this country where illegal dog-fighting goes on. They use small animals to train the fighting dogs to kill. It's horrific.

eBay has decided that they can't police the site to make sure that the items really are legal. Some things aren't worth the risk. Anything from an embargoed country, for example. 

[emerald40]

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@joneslascruces wrote:

Thanks emerald40,

I understand.  But I've sold lots of other items with the word Cuba.  And just now searched Ebay using only the WORD cuba.  Came back with over 100,000 hits.

Everything's Groovy.

________________________________

Yes, on ebay where 100,000 listings go through and a bot finds and goes after yours.  Not the first time we have seen that here.

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[gracieallen01]

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@joneslascruces wrote:

Thanks emerald40,

I understand.  But I've sold lots of other items with the word Cuba.  And just now searched Ebay using only the WORD cuba.  Came back with over 100,000 hits.

Everything's Groovy.

---

Perhaps ebay is of a mind that, if they make examples of a few, and 'the word' is spread on the forums and such, all the rest of the sellers will fall in line.  Thus, no need for them to be responsible for listings and it won't bother the bottom line all that much.

[ted_200]

Yes, I knew that.  But this coin, made over a hundred years ago in the USA, is not restricted by the US  Dept. of the Treasury 's Cuban Sanctions. 

That is correct.

So I guess my question should have been "Why is it restricted by Ebay?".

Well, basically because eBay instituted a more restrictive policy than the government has.  This happened a few years back, and they pulled listings and issued policy violations for a great many coin sellers, without any prior warning that they'd changed their policy - nothing had changed at that point with the government's restrictions.

It's just as well.  If that item sells and goes through PayPal, PayPal has a similar policy, and their bot will pick up the word CUBA in the item title, and they'll freeze your account and report you to the Treasury Dept. OFAC as having possibly violated the trade embargo. 

[ted_200]

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@emerald40 wrote:

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@joneslascruces wrote:

Thanks emerald40,

I understand.  But I've sold lots of other items with the word Cuba.  And just now searched Ebay using only the WORD cuba.  Came back with over 100,000 hits.

Everything's Groovy.

________________________________

Yes, on ebay where 100,000 listings go through and a bot finds and goes after yours.  Not the first time we have seen that here.

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It won't fly in the Coins categories, the bot prevents the listing, and eBay greyed out the category that used to exist for them (it's non-op, you can't select it). 

The pre-Castro era coins are perfectly legal to buy and sell, and they're sold everywhere else with no issue (unless the seller is in Cuba).

And there are plenty of Cuba coins for sale on eBay right now.  None of them have that word in the title. 

[ted_200]

caribbean centavos has emerged as the standard workaround. 

[ted_200]

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@joneslascruces wrote:

Thanks emerald40,

I understand.  But I've sold lots of other items with the word Cuba.  And just now searched Ebay using only the WORD cuba.  Came back with over 100,000 hits.

Everything's Groovy.

---

The actual listing block is only on the Coins & Paper Money categories (maybe Stamps too).  Other items can be sold (DVDs with Cuba Gooding Jr., etc.). 

When eBay changed the policy without warning and with no advance notice, several sellers specializing in Cuba Coins & Paper Money (primarily Spanish colonial stuff - 1800s - before Castro was even born, and perfectly legal) found themselves permanently suspended, obviously out of business, and were reported to the Treasury Dept. 

The situation at PayPal is even worse, this is something you don't want to mess around with... I've got a nice stack of Cuba coins here, unless I can sell them some other way, they're going to stay sitting right here.