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

[mam98031]

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@unitedhomeclearance2012 wrote:

Unfortunately this is their Playground, and the only thing that will stop it Legal Action. I believe eBay is a Publicly Traded company. Perhaps taking this to a Lawyer who likes going after big companies that have no regard for the little guy is an option. I am not saying sue eBay.  Watch my account get suspended for even saying this. The whole Woke movement is completely out of control. I suppose you can't list any Dr. Seuss books, right? Unreal. What has become of this country.

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@unitedhomeclearance2012 

Why would your account get suspended?  That is just being paranoid.  Your post says nothing that Ebay would do that anyway.  If your post were to break one of the rules of the Community, then you would get a warning from the moderators letting you know that what you posted was inappropriate.  But what you posted doesn't break any rule.

https://community.ebay.com/t5/About-the-Community/Community-Guidelines/td-p/26164369?nobounce=

And just so you know.  Breaking rules in the Community do not result in your account getting suspended, but repeated infractions of the rules could cause you to lose your privileges to post in the community for a period of time.

[gurlcat]

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@allen1853 wrote:

 A couple of times a year I have to inform a buyer the item was relisted by eBay "by accident". I ask them if they would like a credit in excess of the purchase price or whether they would like me to cancel and refund. They usually choose the latter and I cancel at buyers request. No "out of stock" ding which resulted from eBays "accident" in the first place. 

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Just curious, when the buyer chooses the first option, how do you do it?  Like what ebay mechanism do you use to turn their purchase dollars into credit, and doesn't that still leave you with the problem of the original item sale?  Do you just use that shipping label to ship whatever other item(s) they pick in leu of the original item?  

Ha, I just realized this might sound hostile like I don't believe you or think your idea is bad.  No, I think it's good and would like to add it to my "if ever needed" solution list, but I want to make sure I wouldn't take a problem and make it worse. 

[wastingtime101]

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@wastingtime101 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."

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Hey devon@ebay - this is great news. Can you find out if it applies to other media categories that suffer in a similar way the books category did? Media as in CDs, vinyl, DVDs, VHS, etc.

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Any chance you got a response on this devon@ebay?

[devon@ebay]

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@wastingtime101 wrote:

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@wastingtime101 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."

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Hey devon@ebay - this is great news. Can you find out if it applies to other media categories that suffer in a similar way the books category did? Media as in CDs, vinyl, DVDs, VHS, etc.

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Any chance you got a response on this devon@ebay?

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Hey @wastingtime101! I have still not heard anything yet but I will reach back out to see if there are any updates from them.

[boni-2216]

If you figure it out can you let the rest of us know?

I also faced this issue on my website.

The problem is those people that have figured out items that sell well are not going to tell you. If your items were selling well would you tell someone else so they could compete with you?

It’s not easy but you can figure out what works for you.

[gotta-have-it-collectables]

Yep!

[deltilogical]

"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. "

I love it, the totalitarians are so proud of what they do they won't even tell you what they are censoring!  See, they make tyranny convenient and Generation Hand-Held Device will put convenience over liberty EVERY time.   

[mam98031]

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@boni-2216 wrote:

If you figure it out can you let the rest of us know?

I also faced this issue on my website.

The problem is those people that have figured out items that sell well are not going to tell you. If your items were selling well would you tell someone else so they could compete with you?

It’s not easy but you can figure out what works for you.

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It was already resolved.

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/I-lost-my-Ebay-account-for-selling-quot-hateful-quot-books-tha...

[munchner_kindl]

We all know how it ends when shady forces start banning books with no clear explanation.

[southern*sweet*tea]

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@munchner_kindl wrote:

We all know how it ends when shady forces start banning books with no clear explanation.

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The OP from this almost year old thread is currently selling and has a store with over 43k listings, so apparently the situation was resolved in the OP's favor.

[kh-phdan]

Hello Everyone,

Due to the age of the thread, it has been closed to further replies. Please feel free to start a new thread if you wish to continue to discuss this topic.

Thanks for understanding!