Ebay safety - prohibited items

[cortney156]

Just had an overly lengthy useless conversation about a listing I'm trying to post. It is a Vintage My Little Pony toy. The listing title included (apparently prohibited words) Vintage and Skydancer. Is it me or is this completely nuts?? I spoke to 2 different ebay reps who both advised me I am not allowed to use the word VINTAGE or SKYDANCER in a listing??? Is anyone else having  a similar issue? I told both reps to search ebay and they'll find hundreds of listings that include those words- to which the reply was some circuitous nonsense about ebay has listing from all over the world....

[kath.layn]

Just guessing here, but the Skydancer is likely because it is an indigenous Native American reference.  And I have heard of sellers being restricted from using the term “vintage” or “antique” if the eBay bots determine you have misused the term in the past.  Just questing.  I’ll be interested to hear what you learn about this issue.

[stainlessenginecovers]

I don't have an answer but I've seen other items reported about using the word 'vintage'; try listing without using that word since people that are searching for that item will know if it's the 'older' model or not as well as the category you list it in could be 'collectables' etc. 

[fashunu4eeuh]

Did you call or use chat?  Some of the overseas customer service phone reps are ill-trained and will say whatever is expedient. Sadly, they sometimes offer bad information, and this sounds like one of those times.

I checked to see if My Little Pony had been recalled in the past, but found nothing of significance (except for My Little Pony comics and lollipops had been tainted in some way). What else was in the title? It is highly doubtful that the two words Vintage and Skydancer were the triggers.

So when you tried to list your item, an eBay box appeared saying the item was prohibited in some way?

[cortney156]

Thank you- I did change it to vtg..and I figured out a workaround..I separated the word sky with a handful of spaces to "dancer"...posted it with no issues..went back and edited the listing and put those two words back together and it posted just fine.

[aprilmoviebuf2000]

It's the word Skydancer that probably triggered it.  Sky Dancer toys were recalled in 2000.  
....Not the MLP skydancers....completely different toy.  Had a doll that flew off a base, apparently caused many injuries.  

[cortney156]

I did change the vintage to vtg...then separated sky from dancer with a few spaces in between and it posted fine...went back and edited my posting and put skydancer back together and it posted just fine again...unfortunately that pony is searched for using her particular name so the listing wouldn't get the visibility if it was missing the name. Thank you so much for your help

[onefootflipper]

When you get one like this you can often put the offending word into item specifics somewhere instead and the search engine will find it but the robots won't get mad about it.

[the_fancy_fox]

I don’t use the words vintage or antique. I just use the year. The words are so misused nowadays they have become useless.

as for Skydancer, that’s a new one for me.     But I would contact Facebook ebay for business, front page, send a message, and ask them how you can list with the name. 

[cortney156]

Thank you so much- my main frustration was that the bots triggered the block on the listing...but no real human at ebay could vaguely explain why😤. 

[yuzuha]

"Vintage" is not a prohibited word-- I had some Halloween lights that were called "vintage pumpkin string lights." Had them listed for a couple of years with no problems before they finally sold.

[the-hook-and-the-loop]

Be careful not to get suspended for life for circumventing a robot's warning on eBay.

[simply-the-best-for-you]

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@yuzuha wrote:

"Vintage" is not a prohibited word-- I had some Halloween lights that were called "vintage pumpkin string lights." Had them listed for a couple of years with no problems before they finally sold.

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@yuzuha  After a great deal of research on the Mentor's board, vintage IS a prohibited KW for *some* sellers, as is "antique", again only for certain seller, who have had issues with policies in the past, typically the animal & wildlife policy, but possibly the Native American policy as well.  

@cortney156  circumventing it is a very bad idea & may get your account suspended for good, as these limitations apply to those that have had an issue with a policy in the past.   Unless that's a risk you're willing to take, I would end the listing immediately. 

[solidguitar1961]

It's not the word "vintage" I have 4000 vintage listings that has never triggered a  warning

[allen1853]

Some Sellers are denied the use of a long list of words which makes no sense whatsoever. If you ever listed something eBay thinks was ivory you could be on the list. Doesn't matter if it really was bovine bone and doesn't matter if you relied on there being HUNDREDS of similar items. Once the bots and backroom dictators have you in their sights, nothing you can do. The current list of prohibited words is as follows:

Vintage

Antique

Carved or Carving

Ebony

Horn

Bone

Ivory

Elephant

Victorian

Bovine

Tusk

Damascas