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

[coolections]

This who off topic conversation is about KIDS. Don't worry about what I think, keep your sexual preference in your bedroom not in schools.

[nocoolnamejane]

Just like heterosexuality isn’t exclusively about sex but also about love and family so is homosexuality. 

If you can’t teach in schools that two same sex people can be in love, form a family and raise children because it somehow has something to do with or leads to conversations about  sexuality, neither should we teach about opposite sex couples doing the same. Let’s avoid talking about love, friendship and family altogether while we’re at it, we never know what could lead to talking about sex.

Never mind that any child not living in a cage has heard or seen a lot about it by age 10.

[spark-chaser1]

To the OP... I didn't realise the extent of the slippery slope you're on til I got through this thread. If ANY book was banned based just on the discussion in this thread, you'd be unable to sell books, Period.

I thought the majority would understand that banning ANY book that offends even ONE person, will result in a blanket ban so that no one will have to learn about history, religion or anything to do with basic life EVER AGAIN.  Freedom can be dirty, I know... But I live in a state where the motto  is " live free or die", so, you could say i'm invested.

I know of at least one person on this thread that would probably be upset by a book about bathroom plumbing because of a swirly they witnessed in the 4th grade, or WHATEVER. So, what- no more books about toilets, sinks, bathroom remodels, ad infinitum?

TO BE CLEAR - I understand the range emotions that are expressed in this thread, if you're not upset by something, you're clearly not paying attention. BUT - knives? Why knives? Who knows... But you better not sell books ABOUT knives. That's where I start wondering.

The bottom line is, you should be told EXACTLY what you cannot sell, or be allowed to sell everything you've got. Most other categories have it spelled out for them, but not in your case. If they have to wade through 45.65 billion books to determine the ones that are " hateful" SO BE IT.

I just can't understand how you're being made out to have to guess by penalty what you can sell. 

[cresco007]

That's horrible!

I hope you can figure out some other way to sell your books because obviously ebay is no longer tenable for book sellers. 

[doc-holmes]

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@nocoolnamejane wrote:

Just like heterosexuality isn’t exclusively about sex but also about love and family so is homosexuality. 

If you can’t teach in schools that two same sex people can be in love, form a family and raise children because it somehow has something to do with or leads to conversations about  sexuality, neither should we teach about opposite sex couples doing the same. Let’s avoid talking about love, friendship and family altogether while we’re at it, we never know what could lead to talking about sex.

Never mind that any child not living in a cage has heard or seen a lot about it by age 10.

---

Bingo.

[spark-chaser1]

... That is my concern in the context of free speech and expression.

We can't have the best of both worlds. One can't be upset about their views being dismissed when they will quickly jump to dismiss someone else's opposing view, and then not see the irony in it.  And then, not thinking twice about having yet someone else go ahead and silence THAT side of the discussion while vigorously defending theirs as sacrosanct. " good for me but not for thee".

Where does it stop? Who do we choose to believe and who to ignore?

What we are dealing with in this case is a system run amok... The fear of offending someone to the point you feel you have to pull out the big eraser and start rubbing. We will all lose in the end by this supposedly well- intentioned but wholly misguided policy, and everyone will act as though they never saw it coming.

In this case, a seller of books is being penalized without being explained the reason. Can you imagine if this was how our nation's  laws were conducted? Not such a stretch the way things are headed.

[doc-holmes]

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@coolections wrote:

This who off topic conversation is about KIDS. Don't worry about what I think, keep your sexual preference in your bedroom not in schools.

---

Sorry, man. gay people exist. I'm sorry if you or your "God" don't like it, but they do. Children need to know it so they don't end up as bigots, as some in this discussion obviously are. Let me guess, Confederate statues are history, but a rainbow flag is offensive? You're a dying breed, my friend.

There's a difference between love and sex. You don't want to ban books that mention same sex couples, you want to ban gay people from schools because you have some sort of problem with it. That's sick and unacceptable to teach children. 

[doc-holmes]

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@coolections wrote:

@doc-holmes   It is school where we teach children reading, writing, & arithmetic. NO books about sex, sexual reference, or gender should even be mentioned. That is a parent's responsibility. Especially letting a male into the girl's room.  Totally sickening. People need to leave their sexual preferences at home and in their bedrooms. I am done here so do not respond to me. 

---

If you don't want to discuss gender, then you need to take "boys" and "girls" off the washroom doors. That's gender. That's offensive, right? Let me guess, no it's not. Because that type is ok to you. Man, if the hypocrisy weren't so scary, it would be grounds for screaming laughter. 

[redmodelt]

Back to the OP now, I see over 27,000 listings. 

[mam98031]

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@monster-deals wrote:

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@gurlcat wrote:

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@monster-deals wrote:

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@themeissnerlibrary wrote:

Then I got a 7 day suspension for listing a different Dr. Suess.

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How is it as a bookseller you had no idea?

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They said they've been selling for 6 years and have a 50k inventory, so it's pretty likely they created the listing for the Dr. Seuss books long before the controversy that just happened last year, and for all we know Ebay banned the sale of them very recently.  

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 AND?

Keep up with your own industry.

Otherwise why be here?

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What do you mean?  Which books are banned is up to the SITES, not the sellers.  There isn't a single list for banned books for all sites.  Ebay needs to have on if they are going to penalize sellers for listing certain books.

[mam98031]

You are holding people from decades ago to today's standards and that simply isn't fair.  I read these books to my kids.  As a parent it was MY JOB to explain to them about the differences of when these books were written and todays world.  

[spark-chaser1]

I'm hoping the OP comes back and fills us in on any developments in the discussion we WERE originally having over HIS situatuon before it turned into a nuclear mutually assured destruction  battle of wills that most people know can't be won. 

I know I personally would be hesitant to come here if I had a problem selling books and asking for help knowing it would end up like this. There is a time and a forum for politics, morals,ethics and religion somewhere else, I'm sure.  But this is NOT it. The OP has a problem and this ain't the solution.

No one wants to admit it, but I imagine every single poster here would  agree that an all out effort to erase EVERY means of access to knowledge is dangerous to EVERY ONE of their causes. E VE R Y.  . . S I N G L E. . .O N E.

THAT ALONE is what we were originally discussing. This bookseller was looking for some help and comfort in finding support against a policy that should worry any seller...  Losing an account without explanation or recourse based on an unknown list of items that no one can produce.  This is really the only problem that needs to be discussed HERE in the eBay selling forum.

[mam98031]

@spark-chaser1 

"I'm hoping the OP comes back and fills us in on any developments in the discussion we WERE originally having over HIS situatuon before it turned into a nuclear mutually assured destruction  battle of wills that most people know can't be won. "

I think you may have misunderstood this thread completely.  The OP has the support of most sellers that have posted here.  The OP has received a very positive response from most sellers.  The OP has NOTHING to fear by posting.

It is some posters on this thread that had diverted the thread to be about the politics of it all and the opinions of others.  None of which has a single thing to do with the OP or their problem.

"No one wants to admit it, but I imagine every single poster here would  agree that an all out effort to erase EVERY means of access to knowledge is dangerous to EVERY ONE of their causes. E VE R Y.  . . S I N G L E. . .O N E."  I don't know if it is the way you worded this or what, but I think you are WAY WAY off base.  Only those that don't know or understand things FEAR knowledge.  There is POWER in knowledge, not fear.

"THAT ALONE is what we were originally discussing."  NOPE, not at all.  That didn't come onto the thread until you and a couple others decided to bring politics into this.  There was well over 100 posts on this thread before you joined into the conversation.  The majority of which were in support of and trying to help the OP.  It was somewhere around the middle of the thread where a couple other posters decided to take this subject away from the OP's issue and onto the politics and personal preferences of others.

"This bookseller was looking for some help and comfort in finding support against a policy that should worry any seller...  Losing an account without explanation or recourse based on an unknown list of items that no one can produce."  Yes and they were getting that until you and a couple others derailed the conversation.

[spark-chaser1]

Hmmm. Apparently I've been misunderstood a second time. I actually think you and I are in agreement.

I see this minefield policy of banning books without stating which ones is precisely the barrier to the access to the power of knowledge and learning you talk about. The fear actually becomes the power when people lose sight of what's being taken from them.

Its happening everywhere. Bookshelves being wiped in schools, libraries, brick and mortar booksellers and now online merchants. I figure about HALF if not two- thirds more of the things I've learned in life came from a book. And that encompasses the good, the bad, and the ugly. Once an avenue of knowledge is lost, it starts the never ending domino effect of censorship that we have seen elsewhere in the world. 

I don't have children, and used to regret it, but no longer do. The future doesn't look too promising if people are willing to sacrifice the freedom to read whatever they wish for their own education.

I'm not the best at online discussion, obviously. Maybe my words aren't clear, but if you look at the expression on my face, you'll see I'm being sincere. 🙂

I'm not sure where I derailed any part of this discussion, but again... I think I've been misconstrued by yourself and others, and that may be partly my fault. That's the downfall of having a discussion of a hot topic online.

[mam98031]

"I don't have children, and used to regret it, but no longer do. The future doesn't look too promising if people are willing to sacrifice the freedom to read whatever they wish for their own education."  It is just the opposite IMHO.  The young are going to lead the old out of all this.  I see it in my children, I see it in their friends.  

Misunderstandings happen all the time on the forums.  It is often a problem since you can't hear the tone in which someone says something so conclusions are drawn that aren't necessarily true.  Happens to us all sometimes.