It's official, you can sell/do anything on eBay as long as you fool their keyword scanning 'bots
Stork
Posts: 5,207 ✭✭✭✭✭
I mentioned this on another thread...I mean if eBay can't figure this out, then what hope is there that they will ever use common sense in any other situation?
There is a seller out of China who had some listings I stumbled across. These are for brand new-nothing remotely historical-items that directly are on the eBay disallowed list. Mind you there is nothing 'free speech' or anything else involved. EBay policy forbids items relating to hate groups/organizations and specifically names the KKK and Nazis as two of them. I mean you can't even sell a contemporary German coin sometimes, and look at the Cuba thread too.
So, I hit the report button numerous times/on multiple items and reported very specifically including using that these were banned-by-name groups. Listings stayed up. Contacted on eBay and got a very 'oh my goodness this is serious and we will look into this' response. Listings are still up. Called eBay and talked to two different people who basically said 'oh my goodness this is serious and will get this taken care of right away'. Yup, listings still up.
If they can't even enforce their own rules like this, I would never expect them to use an iota of effort or common sense in order to resolve any other issue. Ugh! Okay, just had to vent/rant.
and the seller:
ebay.com/usr/nishizumi?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2754
Comments
Ebay enforce off ebay sell very seriously. Ebay only interested enforce the thing they are interested to enforce. LOL. Do you know ebay will charge you final fee if you sell your item off ebay?
I just reported the first item. I don't know about the second item.
I reported the second item as well.
Good lord, how would they know??? Sounds like some kind of restraint of trade unless you made the deal using their messaging system. Shoot, I look at your auctions but would contact you here if I ever had a serious offer to make! At least, I think it's you.
The second item was harder to explain to the people on the phone. It's (as far as I know) strictly US group, and the phone folks were clearly not US based. It's not a subtle group in the US. Oddly enough living in Spain we discovered there is a religious holiday that has absolutely NOTHING to do with the US group but has similar costumes. One of my junior Sailors told me how he came upon a procession one night and almost died of shock seeing the hoods before he remembered the difference. Completely freaked him out.
Hey guys, why not stop playing Internet cop by trying to control what others wish to collect. At one time I worked for a major token dealer with a beautiful collection of KKK items. Picture post cards from long ago with "Blacks" have been going up in price for years.
Do-gooders and busy-bodies make me ill. Reminds me of old Ms. Gruno the watchdog on the street where I lived. Ebay is a big company. I should think if they really wished to remove items they could. The fact that the items are still up should tell you something. Reminds me of "Do as I say, not as I do."
Many of the KKK and German pieces as well as world coins are fakes. Report them and you'll be doing something helpful.
Well, clearly this was a rant because the items are explicitly against the eBay rules (by name, not just under a blanket of 'hate organizations')...and eBay can't be bothered to enforce them. And, as in the other thread, if they don't enforce their own very easy to understand rules, one can't even pretend that they will figure out anything remotely complicated.
So, call me a do-gooder if you want. Other than reporting fakes when I see them (which I do), I'd rather take even a small stand about something repugnant like modern propaganda for hate groups. There is nothing historically interesting or significant about these modern rounds. If you'd rather ignore things that don't affect you then go right ahead and feel ill.
@Stork said: "Well, clearly this was a rant because the items are explicitly against the eBay rules (by name, not just under a blanket of 'hate organizations')...and eBay can't be bothered to enforce them. And, as in the other thread, if they don't enforce their own very easy to understand rules, one can't even pretend that they will figure out anything remotely complicated."
Agree, Ebay does not strictly enforce their rules unless the coin is Cuban.
"So, call me a do-gooder if you want. Other than reporting fakes when I see them (which I do), I'd rather take even a small stand about something repugnant like modern propaganda for hate groups. There is nothing historically interesting or significant about these modern rounds. If you'd rather ignore things that don't affect you then go right ahead and feel ill."
I do ignore it. The objects do not affect me. Only the misguided PC "moral police." Unlike old lady Gruno, I was raised to Mind My Own Business. This part of your opinion proves the validity of my original rant: "There is nothing historically interesting or significant about these modern rounds."
The fact that someone wishes to collect them is the reason they exist. I don't presume to tell other folks what to collect either. This is suppose to be a free country. The fact that some knuckle-dragger wishes to stick an old Indian or good luck symbol that was appropriated by the Nazi's on his sleeve or a silver round does not bother me at all. What it stands for TODAY does; yet I'm not going to shut him down.
BTW, I enjoyed our exchange.
Items are made in China and are most likely NOT illegal to sell or possess there.
Probably also not illegal to list on Ebay - China, or some other countries.
Nobody has to buy them and or have them shipped. If it is illegal for another citizen to obtain, ship it, own etc, it becomes that citizens problem.
I am not trying to defend anyone here. Just trying to look at it realistically.
BTW, it is not always illegal in Germany to display the swastika. there are situations where it can be used.
many Germans sell coins with it and without it on eBay. they simply cover it with a piece of tape.
Personally, I stay clear of that stuff.
I never meant to imply illegal...just specifically (and by name) against eBay's own rules under 'hate organizations'.
I happen to find them repugnant, but it's not my business to say no one should make, buy, or sell them at all...that is a different conversation all together (I shudder to imagine living when/where one is told what one is allowed to think/buy/collect etc...or which book is scarier George Orwell's '1984' or Frederik Pohl's 'The Space Merchants').
On a personal level I see a huge difference between things of historical note and value. Some of my coins/medals come from some pretty horrible times (and rare would be the government or political entity that is completely clear of any kind of atrocity or what a modern person would condemn as reprehensible behavior). Part of the study of numismatics involves the study of history, and that history informs our items.
That said, when I saw those modern propaganda rounds on eBay--nothing historical there--I found them personally disgusting which is why I noticed them. As they are 'against the rules' I did report them, just as I report fakes, copyright violations, a scammer etc. Is it being a 'social justice warrior' or a 'interfering busybody'? Depends on perspective I suppose.
Interesting side note on the swastika -- when I lived in Japan the symbol (called 'manji' and meaning 'eternity) is used on maps to mark locations of Buddhist temples. The mark is thousands of years old, but was flipped and adopted by the Nazis. Even traditional Japan has recently started looking into replacing the symbols on maps due to that use and modern context (and apparently freaking out tourists).
In any case, this was a rant on eBay for not following it's own rules...not meant to say something was illegal or that something should be illegal. It is hard when something means one thing in one culture or context vs. another too.