Seller Profanity Policy

[lindalu143]

I've made a frustrating discovery for those selling "mature" items.  We all know that the Ebay policy on profanity is, no profanity in the title, primary picture, or anywhere in the product description.......if the seller is in the United States.

It seems that if you combine "profanity" with another word, using a hyphen, it is accepted.  For those who respect the Ebay policy, permitting this loop-hole puts these listings in front when customers search.

I've complained and told to report the listings.  I've reported for weeks with no results.  A good example are the Supreme tshirts.  Some are designed with profanity on the shirt.  Sellers are not blurring the profanity, and they are hyphenating the profanity in the title and product description.  This puts them on top of the page.  (search "F@#@" t shirt).  Some of these shirts are auction listings and I think Ebay looks the other way because they sell for so much.

Has anyone else reported profanity without results?  It is frustrating.

[div_style]

Unfortunately it seems reporting anything to eBay is about as effective as howling at the moon.  Other creatures (us, for example) will hear you but the moon just keeps on keepin' on.  You've gotten email messages that say do not reply, this is an unmonitored mailbox.  Well...

[lindalu143]

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@div_style wrote:

Unfortunately it seems reporting anything to eBay is about as effective as howling at the moon.  Other creatures (us, for example) will hear you but the moon just keeps on keepin' on.  You've gotten email messages that say do not reply, this is an unmonitored mailbox. 

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I guess that means anything goes using profanity on the listings?  That is, if anyone does report it, it is still low risk?

[duchess-at-speakeasy]

Please realize that there's a difference between "profanity" and "obscenity." Profanity is not banned by eBay and is, in fact, allowed if it is part of the product or the name of the product such as a book, movie or CD title. Obscenity is not permitted (images or text). Masking an offensive word by substituting symbols -- sometimes called "comic book" language -- is acceptable.

I don't know what you mean by "hyphenated." Your example does not include a hyphen nor does it suggest combining 2 words. In your message, "loop-hole" is a hyphenated word, although "loophole" is the more common spelling.

~~C~~

[lindalu143]

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@duchess-at-speakeasy wrote:
Please realize that there's a difference between "profanity" and "obscenity." Profanity is not banned by eBay and is, in fact, allowed if it is part of the product or the name of the product such as a book, movie or CD title. Obscenity is not permitted (images or text). Masking an offensive word by substituting symbols -- sometimes called "comic book" language -- is acceptable.

I don't know what you mean by "hyphenated." Your example does not include a hyphen nor does it suggest combining 2 words. In your message, "loop-hole" is a hyphenated word, although "loophole" is the more common spelling.

~~C~~

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@This is not about obscenity.  It is about profanity.  And yes, movies, cd's, music, books (I didn't realize books were okay) are permitted.  However, t-shirts with profanity on them must be masked, and the profanity (F@CK, without the @) is not permitted in the title, the main picture, or any where in the product description.  I'm seeing a loophole where sellers are adding a hyphen (-) to the F word, and  Ebay does not catch that (i.e. F@CK-IT).  The seller gets a better search position because of getting away with that.  I sell such a product and get removed for using the F word in the product description only.  These listings, especially Supreme t-shirts get away with it.  Reporting it does not do any good.

So, profanity is not 100% banned.  It is only banned for items that are not movies, cd's, vinyls, books.  It is banned for everything else (practically) if you are selling/shipping in the United States.  Crazy since the reasoning behind that is "standards".  Do they really think we don't see the listings from the UK or China.  Of course not.  The standards are from this PC driven establishment.

I hope that offers a better explanation.

[kh-gary]

Hi everyone,

Due to the length of time that has passed since this thread began, we have locked it from future replies. If this is still an issue that warrants discussion, don't hesitate to begin a new thread here: https://community.ebay.com/t5/forums/postpage/board-id/selling-db.

Thanks.