I lost my Ebay account for selling "hateful" books that I got no warning about whatsoever

[themeissnerlibrary]

Hello everyone, 

I really appreciate everyone hearing me out. We are absolutely devastated today. We are going to lose our account, and if you listen to me you'll realize that there's truly nothing we can do about it. 

So we are a book seller. We own about 50,000 different books in our book warehouse. We are just a bookseller, that's it, no other items. We have been completely safe and fine on Ebay for 6 years without any issues selling large amounts of books. 

We were doing fine, until about 3 months ago. About 3 months ago, we started getting notifications from Ebay that we are selling "hateful" books that need to be removed. Absolutely no issue with that. I totally understand, and we will remove any banned books. But here's the thing: They're suspending our account every single time a single "banned book" gets listed and THERES NO LIST FOR US TO REFERENCE TO KNOW WHAT'S BANNED. 

And so, as a seller of 50 + thousand titles at any given moment, we cannot avoid listing things that are banned. 

In 3 months, I've had my account restricted with a suspension 7 times now for listings "hateful" items, and we cannot get a list of items to not list from Ebay. I cannot find anybody at Ebay that can give me a list of things that I can't list. 

And so today, I received a notification that I am suspended for 10 days for having a book about O.J. Simpson listed. I had this book listed for a long time without issues. No warnings from Ebay whatsoever. They didn't ask me to remove it, they just suspended my account for 10 days. 

I am flabbergasted as a person and as a seller. I feel like my entire account is gone now, because at any moment I'm going to be told I'm listing a "hateful" book that I have no idea about. There's no list, there's no warning. You're just suspended and there's nothing you can do. 

I messaged and called Ebay and there's nothing I can do. I am lost and feel absolutely thrown away. 

I am just an honest person trying to sell books, and the bookselling model for bulk booksellers is completely threatened by the method by which they're removing books like this. 

I really hope someone see's what I'm talking about. I don't know what to do. I can't do anything. The next time I get a warning about these Ebay has told me that my account will be suspended for a month. 

I'm lost guys, and my business is over until I can figure this out. 

Thanks - Chase, the Meissner Team

[spark-chaser1]

Thank you. Sincerely. The one problem I need to work out with myself is when to LET IT GO.  Especially online. 

Its very true about the children. There IS hope. I am a " child" of an older generation of family members who had to TEACH MYSELF how to accept others, be it in  faith, personal choices or any of the ranges of issues discussed here. And I did it through reading books, because no one was going to objectively explain it to me.

My problem is, I mean well, but still have a lot to learn about articulating it.

My apologies to any and all here who misread me.

[mam98031]

IMHO you are fine.  It happens to many of us.

I'll tell you a little story that I think says a lot.  Friday I had my husband take me to the grocery store.  Due to my back issues I've been having for a couple years now I can't walk a store, so I used one of those battery powered carts that stores offer.  If you ever have had the need to use one it takes a bit of getting use to for sure.

Let me tell you that at least half the people I interacted with in the store were quite rude.  Instead of giving me room to move, they would cut in front of me, then stop and expect me to go around them.  Others simply blocked me from being able to move anywhere.  One lady got really mad at me because I was blocking her ability to get to the Turkeys.  I explained to her that she had me blocked with her cart so I couldn't move anywhere.  She sucked air, rolled her eyes and then moved so I could get out of her way.

Every single one of these rude people were middle age and above.  Some of advanced years.  Now their were some nice people too.  Ones that helped me grab stuff that was too high or too low for me to easily get.  And they made sure they gave me room to move.  All these people were under 30 some well under 30.

I experienced the same thing a few years ago when I broke my leg and ankle and had to use one of these carts too.  The older people just wanted me to get out of their way.  The younger people just wanted to help.

[devon@ebay]

Hi all! We have shared this topic with our Policy Team and they have a big update they wanted to share with everyone:

"We heard your feedback, and we’re making changes to this immediately. 

Starting Thursday, November 17, if you have a book removed under eBay’s Offensive Materials policy, there will not be a selling restriction.  

We don’t want you to have to try to figure out which book titles could be considered offensive or not, or worry about a selling restriction because of this. If we find a book title we don’t allow, we will remove it and let you know, with no penalties or further action needed on your part. 

We appreciate your feedback on this issue which helps us continue to make eBay a trusted and inclusive environment."

[mam98031]

devon@ebay 

That is FANTASTIC news.  Please extend our sincere THANK YOUs to the team for such a speedy response.  And thank you for getting this serious issue in front of them.

[dhbookds]

Wow!!!!!!!  that's great Devon.........thank the policy team for their solving THIS problem.........

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

devon@ebay   That's great news! Thanks for your efforts on our behalf, and extend my thanks to the Policy Team as well.

[creativecrisis]

Great response! Thank you, devon@ebay for passing the issue along! 

[pjcdn2005]

That is great! I hope that the op's account is no longer in danger.

@themeissnerlibrary   Have you seen devon's post 138?

[macabrelibrarian]

.

[spark-chaser1]

That is good news. Now, did the OP of this thread get relieved of any penalties he was assessed before this change came about? The poor guy really got put through the ringer. I'm hoping he gets retroactive correction to his case.

[carolynnq]

devon@ebay  Thank you, Devon, for your efforts on this. It is much appreciated.

[valueaddedresource]

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devon@ebay wrote:

Hi all! We have shared this topic with our Policy Team and they have a big update they wanted to share with everyone:

"We heard your feedback, and we’re making changes to this immediately. 

Starting Thursday, November 17, if you have a book removed under eBay’s Offensive Materials policy, there will not be a selling restriction.  

We don’t want you to have to try to figure out which book titles could be considered offensive or not, or worry about a selling restriction because of this. If we find a book title we don’t allow, we will remove it and let you know, with no penalties or further action needed on your part. 

We appreciate your feedback on this issue which helps us continue to make eBay a trusted and inclusive environment."

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devon@ebay  that's great news!

Can you provide a link to a help or policy page where that will be clearly stated?

Many sellers may not see it this deep into a 100+ post thread on the community and if it's needed to reference when contacting support, being able to point to a help or policy page would be more efficient.

[epowerbargains]

This is fantastic and a fast and effective solution to the problem. Thank you for listening and for resolving the issue. And, thanks to the OP for posting this allowing eBay to address it and fix the problem. 

[gurlcat]

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@valueaddedresource wrote:

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devon@ebay  that's great news!

Can you provide a link to a help or policy page where that will be clearly stated?

Many sellers may not see it this deep into a 100+ post thread on the community and if it's needed to reference when contacting support, being able to point to a help or policy page would be more efficient.

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I agree 100% that removing the penalty part of this is great news, insofar as it's eliminating the 'rock' from the 'hard place' scenario that appeared literally impossible to navigate.  So I hate to inject any cynicism into the good news, but I wouldn't be surprised if this removal-only policy won't be declared on any page, or if so it will be deeply nested and hard to find.  

A few reasons for that: 

1. A linkable declaration that violations of book bans get a more lenient result than other banned items could cause some real bitterness among sellers getting harsh repercussions for selling other banned items, especially if their items didn't even really violate the bans (like the people who can never again use the word 'antique' or 'vintage' in any of their listings, because they once described a ceramic vase as having an ivory color).  Or when their non-book item got them a restriction for being "offensive" in some subjective way, just as books might be banned for being subjectively "offensive".  Just one speculative example: the movie 'Caligula' about the ancient Roman emperor.  As it depicts a lot of the extreme stuff that he supposedly actually did, one could say it's simply a historical piece.  However it SHOWS those extreme things including the sex stuff, in a way that is farrrr more explicit than typical "love scenes" in movies, and no surprise because it was produced by Hustler.  So does Ebay consider it pornography?  I have no idea, but lets say they do, and a seller gets dinged for it (or any video for that matter) --if there's no list of exactly which video titles count as pornography, just as there is no list of banned book titles, then DVD/VHS sellers are in the same position as book sellers, but with actual repercussions to their accounts, not just listing removals.  So imagine if THEY see a statement that book sellers get off scott-free.  

2. The lack of an official title list of banned books still keeps sellers in the position of not knowing which books aren't worth the time wasted in creating listings for them, if they'll just be removed.  

3. A public statement that these violations won't result in repercussions would be screenshot'able and sharable evidence to people in the general public (e.g. social media) highlighting the fact that ebay DOES ban books, which could stir up demands to see a list.  These things happen very fast and can grow like wildfire, as I'm sure you know.   

[devon@ebay]

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@valueaddedresource wrote:

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devon@ebay wrote:

Hi all! We have shared this topic with our Policy Team and they have a big update they wanted to share with everyone:

"We heard your feedback, and we’re making changes to this immediately. 

Starting Thursday, November 17, if you have a book removed under eBay’s Offensive Materials policy, there will not be a selling restriction.  

We don’t want you to have to try to figure out which book titles could be considered offensive or not, or worry about a selling restriction because of this. If we find a book title we don’t allow, we will remove it and let you know, with no penalties or further action needed on your part. 

We appreciate your feedback on this issue which helps us continue to make eBay a trusted and inclusive environment."

---

devon@ebay  that's great news!

Can you provide a link to a help or policy page where that will be clearly stated?

Many sellers may not see it this deep into a 100+ post thread on the community and if it's needed to reference when contacting support, being able to point to a help or policy page would be more efficient.

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Hey @valueaddedresource! I can reach out to our Policy Team on this to see what they say.