eBay

grdelchamps · ‎10-18-2020

I listed a vintage copy of Little Black Sambo. It was up for a few days then taken down for violating the "Offensive Material Policy." There are currently over 20 active listings of basically the same thing and two identical ones. Also, there are over 200 recently sold similar items and many identical ones.

Previously, I had a WW-II vintage ashtray taken down for violating the same policy (search for "jam your cigarette butts on this rat"). At the time mine was removed, there were three active identical items and two recently sold identical items. Currently, there is one that sold last month and another that sold the month before. For that one, I called customer support several times to no avail.

It seems that if they were "offensive," they would all be taken down. I have no way to see how many others were removed and they won't tell you but why is removing them seemingly random? Does it depend on who reviews the particular item and their interpretation of the policy? I agree that it is probably not worth the risk to relist anyway so is there a real way to appeal or are you just at their mercy?

Gordon

american-photography · ‎10-18-2020

It may be that someone reported it, perhaps a competitor.

You should then do the same thing and report those listings for which you had yours taken down.

pburn · ‎10-18-2020

@grdelchamps wrote:
. . . are you just at their mercy?

Well, uh, yeah, you are. eBay has the first and last word on what can be listed on their website and what can't. Now, if you want to start up your own website, you can list whatever you want.

dbfolks166mt · ‎10-18-2020

Welcome to the current world we live in. I have had a couple of items taken down as well and have no issue with it. It's their site and they have that right. What I do have an issue with is they don't apply the same standards to every seller that has identical items listed. But O well such is life. It is also the reason I diversify across multiple seller online forums. What eBay determines is offensive other sites often times do not.

lotzofuniquegoodies · ‎10-18-2020

@grdelchamps

(Not to offend...Only to inform)

You can have same problems with Rudyyard Kipling books. Many include a reverse symbol that is frowned upon in its most common other form.

"The German Reich symbol is an ancient Indo-European religious symbol with the earliest known example ... used a swastika as his personal emblem on the covers and flyleaves of many editions of his books, along with the elephant, signifying his affinity with India. ... Sadly, Hi*** reversed this symbol and made it into his German Reich symbol."

Unfortunately for your average Joe or Jill it's difficult to know all the rules applicable on eBay. The longer you list the more likely you will come up against something you've never knew existed and get your hands slapped. I just wish they would be better at either explaining an honest mistake to a seller or giving them the opportunity to fix before deleting your listing off the eBay planet.

-Lotz

lamber9347 · ‎10-18-2020

@grdelchamps - More then likely your listings are being reported so that's why you see other similar listings still active. There are too many live listings at a single time for an actual person/people to monitor, so everything is automated, unless a report gets issued for a specific listing. Either a disgruntled buyer is stalking you or most likely a competitor is trying to get your listing removed so they can sell theirs. Best of luck to you....

indiansummernights · ‎10-18-2020

I think they are not applying the same standards to every seller that has identical items is because they are relying on users to report offensive items instead of having a system in place to flag listings that are considered offensive. There is no way that they do because there is currently a listing for the WW2 ashtray that has Hitler Propaganda in the listing title.

lotzofuniquegoodies · ‎10-19-2020

@indiansummernights

There can even be issues with using the first part of your name in the title or body of a listing. Same goes for Inuit in the Canadian north. It comes down to a never ending game of cat and mouse to figure out what is or isn't allowed or if something has been changed to become verboten. Honestly trying to describe an item should not be this difficult. As a side, does anyone know of a complete list of words that are not permitted in the eBay lexicon? Something like that would be a wonderful resource for all sellers.

-Lotz

little*blackdog · ‎10-19-2020

That happened to me a couple times too.

I had 2 vintage toys that spun around, lifted up a few inches, and settled back down. I sold one and then after I listed the 2nd one, it was taken down and I got "the message" that it wasn't allowed. I spoke to a customer rep about it... told it was removed "for safety reasons". There must of been 10-12 of them listed by other sellers at the time, yet the rep couldn't give me a reason why just mine was removed.

I was able to list it elsewhere, but the favoritism or whatever you want to call it, "selectivism" ? is very aggravating! If eBay really wanted to be fair to all sellers, I'm sure they could use "HAL" to knock 'em all out of the system by typing in the item title and a few specifics... but no... they can't do that. That'd make too much sense.