Ebay offensive material policy - Just the beginning of censorship, already happening? Whats the scoop? 3 3

[theCapraAegagrus]

Vintage eBay, shooting themselves in the foot.

[stynxno]

Ah yes. So much censorship on the eBay. 
 

 

 

[Phill the Governor]

4 minutes ago, stynxno said:

Ah yes. So much censorship on the eBay. 
 

 

 

To the untrained eye, you are correct. There they are: for sale. For sure!

However, as I just mentioned:  certainly doesn't seem like a roulette of which ones will get removed. Yesterday there were somewhere around 700 copies of the book on ebay. This morning there are around 140. The vast majority in completed listings (even as "sold") have the "this listing was ended because of an error in the listing" disclaimer. Which is a nice way of ebay saying "we removed this listing".

 

This is happening now. Impossible for them to draw the curtain completely in less than say 48 hours, but this is a substantial effort to censor the sale of the book on ebay, by ebay.

[Dick Pontoon]

50 minutes ago, Phill the Governor said:

FYI, certainly doesn't seem like a roulette of which ones will get removed. Yesterday there were somewhere around 700 copies of the book on ebay. This morning there are around 150. The vast majority in completed listings (even as "sold") have the "this listing was ended because of an error in the listing" disclaimer. Which is a nice way of ebay saying "we removed this listing".

 

This is disgusting and ignorance on this level leaves me speechless. 

That's not correct. When ebay pulls a listing, it's gone, vanished. When a seller ends a listing, one of the several options to choose (you must pick one) is "this listing was ended because of an error in the listing," which most likely means the seller has an off-ebay sale.

And the reason there are so many less listed today is because over 400 copies sold yesterday. Which is completely crazy, but has nothing to do with any conspiratorial plot.

Edited March 4, 2021 by Dick Pontoon

[Phill the Governor]

16 minutes ago, Pontoon said:

That's not correct. When ebay pulls a listing, it's gone, vanished. When a seller ends a listing, one of the several options to choose (you must pick one) is "this listing was ended because of an error in the listing," which most likely means the seller has an off-ebay sale.

I thought that myself until I saw my own listing in completed listings with the very same disclaimer.

 

Edited March 4, 2021 by Phill the Governor
spelling

[Phill the Governor]

24 minutes ago, Pontoon said:

And the reason there are so many less listed today is because over 400 copies sold yesterday. Which is completely crazy, but has nothing to do with any conspiratorial plot.

When 75% of the listings are gone overnight, we are past the point of conspiracy here. The active number is only partially reflected by actual sales, especially given the number of new listing that were being added.

[HighRadArt]

17 minutes ago, Phill the Governor said:

I thought that myself until I saw my own listing in completed listings with the very same disclaimer.

 

Just looking at "If I ran the zoo", There was a large amount of listings that were ended yesterday and the majority of books that sold were BIN. 

[F For Fake]

Whatever eBay is doing, the point is, this isn't censorship. eBay is not a public library. They're a business, beholden only to themselves and their shareholders. They've made the business decision that the possible bad optics of having this material available for sale isn't worth the trade off for the money they'd make in selling fees. eBay doesn't have an obligation to sell anything and everything. I'm certain they crunched the numbers, and made the decision they felt would be most beneficial to their bottom line, and that's the end of the story.

[evilskip]

I find ebay offensive, but what are ya' going to do?

[Ride the Tiger]

Find a few of these sellers who may have had their listings ended by ebay and ask them why the book is no longer available thru PM.

 

[Robot Man]

I bought my 5 year old granddaughter a bunch of Dr Suess books for Christmas including Zoo. She loves them. Am a bad grandpa? Should I point out the “offensive” parts then try to explain them to her? I don’t think so. She is being raised to believe all people are equal and not to be treated any different. If we could all retain those wonderful childlike qualities the world would be such a great place..,

[Robot Man]

I was going to maybe put this mint 1960’s bobble head on eBay. It has now been, how I say, “retired” by the team due to public pressure. 

Would this now be considered “offensive” and be possibly not be allowed by eBay? 

[James J Johnson]

1 hour ago, evilskip said:

I find ebay offensive, but what are ya' going to do?

Well that alone should be enough reason for ebay to be scrubbed from the net! 

[James J Johnson]

Is this one banned yet? 

 

[bababooey]

[theCapraAegagrus]

34 minutes ago, James J Johnson said:

Is this one banned yet?

No, this one is next on the list:

[FlyingDonut]

Assuming you're also clutching your pearls over not being able to sell Hansi The Girl Who Loves The Swastika on eBay as well. A reminder that "censorship" is not possible by a private business.

[Prince Namor]

3 hours ago, F For Fake said:

Whatever eBay is doing, the point is, this isn't censorship. eBay is not a public library. They're a business, beholden only to themselves and their shareholders. They've made the business decision that the possible bad optics of having this material available for sale isn't worth the trade off for the money they'd make in selling fees. eBay doesn't have an obligation to sell anything and everything. I'm certain they crunched the numbers, and made the decision they felt would be most beneficial to their bottom line, and that's the end of the story.

Exactly.

But everyone in America feels entitled these days, and it's just a matter of time before someone compares this to nazi Germany.

[thehumantorch]

3 hours ago, F For Fake said:

Whatever eBay is doing, the point is, this isn't censorship. eBay is not a public library. They're a business, beholden only to themselves and their shareholders. They've made the business decision that the possible bad optics of having this material available for sale isn't worth the trade off for the money they'd make in selling fees. eBay doesn't have an obligation to sell anything and everything. I'm certain they crunched the numbers, and made the decision they felt would be most beneficial to their bottom line, and that's the end of the story.

Censorship definition

"Censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication, or other information. This may be done on the basis that such material is considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or inconvenient.  Censorship can be conducted by governments, private institutions, and other controlling bodies"

Private Institution definition

"Independent entity owned by a non-State entity, such as a firm, business enterprise or individual. Although the principal activity is non-educational, it may develop, finance or implement activities in the domain of ICT in education."

Censorship is not limited to public libraries or public institutions.  Combined with what's currently going on in the media it's pretty clear to me that this is censorship and it won't stop here.

[Phill the Governor]

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/ebay-dr-seuss-books-listings-removed

This line really caught my attention and is quite worrisome considering who we are letting draw the line of what is "right" and what is "wrong":

eBay Corporate Communications Specialist Parmita Choudhury said. "We're currently sweeping our marketplace to remove these items. It can take some time to review all existing listings and provide education to impacted users. We're also monitoring the newly published list to be reviewed."