US Army insignia removed for Offensive material policy Nazi Items ????

[zero29zero]

Do any human beings actually look at items ebay is  removing?, evidently not

Yesterday I get a message "we had to remove your listing because it doesn't follow our offensive material policy" with a few paragraphs about Nazi items & etc that are banned. At the bottom was item "WWII era 45th Infantry Division patch"

This is a UNITED STATES ARMY insignia, in 1924 the 45th adopted the swastika as their insignia but when the Nazis came to power and used the swastika as their symbol they stopped using it and in 1939 changed to the Thunderbird

These are pretty scarce and there are none listed now but several in sold items, one brought $360. I sold one a month or two ago by auction with no problem

I've been on ebay long enough that this kind of nonsense doesn't really surprise me but C'mon man, that's pretty goofy

[completepuzzle]

Ebay has a hideous psychosis.

[johnrj1226]

Read eBay policy -

https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/prohibited-restricted-items/military-items-policy?id=4342&st=12&p...

[zero29zero]

Thanks for the link

I read it

It has nothing to do with this issue

[wrong66]

The bots just saw the swastika. That's all it takes, unfortunately. No, humans do not scour the listings for policy violations. That would be impossible. Just make sure you don't relist it, as that could be the end of your eBay selling career.  

[deltilogical]

There is no rhyme or reason when dealing with the Ebay automated interfaces.  (It is not an artificial intelligence). 

Can you blur the offending part out?

Ebay bans Cuban coins minted in Philadelphia by the US mint decades before any communist takeover.

It goes back to my assertion that Ebay is dumb platform (in contrast to a smart platform).  There is no reason the Automated interface can't discriminate between a 1950 coin and a 1920 coin.

[zero29zero]

Thanks for your reply & believe me I won't be relisting this item no matter how ridiculous it is

I didn't think any humans would be scouring the listings, just maybe some might review pulled listings

I'm not going to spend half a day trying to get to someone with common sense who would say it's OK only to have our bot overseers tag it again for my attempt to sell "offensive material"

[the-hook-and-the-loop]

A while back I listed a PVC ball valve with ends that slip on to PVC pipe and need to be cemented on. I listed the valve as "NOT THREADED". Those words triggered the gods and it was flagged and removed. I called CS and the young lady could not tell me why especially since there are other plumbing supplies with that term listed. She told me I could relist it but PLEASE don't use that term. So I relisted with slip joints.

Just thought I would share my experience with the stupidity of it all. Everyday, everywhere more and more policies and laws being written. There is a point at which it is too much and creates more problems. But these people that get paid too much to sit at a desk, need to show that they're doing something.

It is eBay keeping us safe. I feel safe, do you feel safe?

[fashunu4eeuh]

.

[simba6]

The bots are not very good and the actual people are even worse.  They have no clue about history. 

[simba6]

Words like PVC,  ball and threaded.  Wonder if turkey baster is allowed?  They do get a bit silly.  The letter Z will soon have to be banned too.

[coolections]

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@zero29zero wrote:

when the Nazis came to power and used the swastika as their symbol they stopped using it.

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You answered your own question. If the Army removed, it Ebay will

[quiltgeek]

 The problem is in the details.  eBay bans any item from after 1933 that bears a swastika. Your item was active from 1924 to 1939.

[richard1rst]

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@the-hook-and-the-loop wrote:

 I listed the valve as "NOT THREADED".

I would suggest that the offending word was NOT. eBay doesn’t like negative terms. I have seen listings that say, for example, “hook and loop not Velcro”. That is a search manipulation violation since you are including the word Velcro (which is Vero protected) on a product which is not actually Velcro. Other examples abound. So they are very sensitive about NOT.

Further, to a plumber there is no such thing as “not threaded” and you do a disservice to yourself by using that term. Fittings can be threaded (typically referred to as male or female) or slip, compression, flared, etc. So using the term “not threaded” does not accurately describe what it is: slip, compression, flared, etc which are the terms someone with plumbing knowledge would use.

So I relisted with slip joints.

Which, to a plumber, is what you should have used in the first place.

[richard1rst]

What we now call the Swastika was, originally, a 7000 year old symbol used long before either the U S Army or the Nazis got ahold of it. It translates as “good fortune” and is still used in many Eastern religions.

There is a church in the greater Boston area that has a series of symbolic carvings in its fascia. The “swastika” is one of those carvings. To their credit, at least the last time I looked, they refused to remove it because they understood its original meaning and symbolism.

But once the pitchforks and torches come out you are doomed.