Ebay Ended One Of My Auction Listings - Why?

Okay - there's no such thing as an email option via ebay itself anymore. So I called again and went through three representatives and several holds with that tinny repetitive guitar music.

However, I did make some progress. It was removed by an ebay worker on their security team and flagged as originating from Cuba. Rep #3 did admit that it's clearly not a Cuban item in any form and that he believes it was removed in error. Rep #3 did say he would be calling back within 24 hours as he submitted my appeal. We'll see what happens.

Now this is a bit unsettling as now here's an example of ebay pulling items in which ebay is applying rules over items in which they have no idea what they are. A Russian postal card pulled from the Russian category on ebay because someone at ebay thought it was Cuban. Hope this is not a trend.

If this doesn't go anywhere then I'll contact the email you've provided Don, thanks!

welcome to the PC-SJW .WE can call this the brown era of stamps online

24 hours is long over. ebay never did get back to me and I'm still not surprised.

This isn't an issue of PC or SJW, but just straight-up ignorance on ebay's part.

The security team can pull a cover listing but the cartel operates with impunity.

I think you'll find that Kennedy's Cuba embargo, of which this is a bizarre spin-off, is the polar opposite of political correctness and social justice.

Somebody at ebay apparently thinks that Cuba is spelled C-C-C-P.

Maybe they took it to mean Cuban Cartel Communist Party?

So I never got a call back, but I did get an email response today:

Customer Service SR#1-191147387457


Greetings from ebay Customer Service,



Hi William! This is regarding item#312382179785 that was removed on your account. I apologize for the inconvenience this issue may cause you.



I tried appealing for the reinstatement of this listing in your behalf but I'm sorry to say that our appeal has been denied. Basing on the information of the listing this is originated from Russia and this country is on the list of one of the embargoed countries.



As a subsidiary of a US company, US government trading restrictions also apply to all ebay trading sites (example: ebay.co.uk & ebay.de).



Various U.S. agencies have sanctions in place that substantially regulate or ban all trade with particular countries (including Burma (Myanmar), Cuba, Iran, Iraq, North Korea, Sudan, Syria, Russia and other countries). Federal agencies have also banned or regulated trade between U.S. persons with certain organizations, businesses and persons.



As a result, ebay does not permit the sale of embargoed items from, with or to those countries, organizations, businesses, or persons.



Regards,



ebay



Really? Not on any list posted by ebay on their website. Is there a secret list? Why was only the one item pulled when I had over a dozen Russian items listed? Originally, I was told twice that it was removed because they thought it was Cuban. Also what about the 100,000+ other Russian stamp items currently listed? I smell BS on ebay's part.

As far as I know, restrictions in respect of Russia (which countries other than the US also apply) are aimed at specific individuals, organisations or products. Your nose is right!

ebay does not hire people to sit around and examine listings for banned words. And software runs the same way every time it is executed. So if ebay has a filtering algorithm for the word 'russia' then every listing would be flagged. Sounds to me like someone complained, that caused a human to become involved and they mistakenly pulled the listing, then ebay covered its butt by blowing smoke up yours.
Don

I sent an email to ebay last night:

Hello,
Thanks for getting back to me. Yes, it is a Russian item, but Russian stamps an postal history is not on any federal embargo list. That is complete bunk. Please refer to any federal law that forbids it. You won't find one. Also why was just one Russian item removed when I have over a dozen other listed and even sold some. I even sold one to Russia. Also I was told twice that it was flagged for removal because someone at ebay marked it as Cuban which it is not. Also if Russian items are not allowed then why do you have over 100,000 Russian items listed in the stamp category of ebay right now. I would love to hear your answers.
Best regards,
Will Battles

I got a response:

Hello William,



Thank you for getting back to us. My name is Satyaki and I'll be glad to assist you further.



While we make every effort to ensure that we only take action in cases where we have all relevant evidence, unfortunately it appears that in this case, the action on your account was taken in error.



We'll restore the listing and you're free to relist your item from the "Unsold Items" section of My ebay within couple of hours. Please be assured that keeping ebay a safe place to buy and sell is our top priority. We apologise for the inconvenience and appreciate your patience regarding this matter.



Thank you for clarifying your concern with us. We appreciate your cooperation.



Kind regards,



Satyaki T.

ebay Trust & Safety


Finally! The admitted they made a mistake and apologized. I should print and frame this as it's rarer than most "rare" stamps on ebay. That's all I wanted for them to admit they goofed. I'll relist it at some later date when I have other items to list.

Congratulations Battlestamps! Your username is definetly proper. Definetly frame that. It is truly collectable, maybe even sell a copy on good ol ebay! It will keep them, hmm, humble.

It does appear that unless the small guy stands up against the BS that we are often fed, we are pushed down. Why is it that the person that is usually correct and innocent has to prove themselves correct by wasting precious time trying to do so. Too bad the world is full of people who work for corporations and companies and believe everything they are told and do not think for themselves, or at least try.

Mike

Been there seen the movie--I also told ebay to....#$%^ off..anyway same thing. I had to call and ask the same question. If your kicking me off, then how is there xx amount of listings-in same cat?
Don is right-its the computer, you have 'russia' in your listing-the computer kicks you off-

I spent an hour explaining that my area of interest is here in USA, I live in the USA etc..

Just tonight, I had to drop 'Iran' from 'Persia/Iran' in my listing-it worked. Two seconds later my listing was approved-

I stand with Don, It's the COMPUTER-you got to find the magic word, that allows your list to get posted--

Good Luck!

91stang, it is true without a doubt that the computer AI is doing it but the humans should be able to help and override the BS and not just give us lip service. And yes it is not finding the magic word but the lack of it by making sure you don't put it in the listing.

So this turns out to be simply a case of stupidity on ebay's part -- along with a rather ham-handed attempt to cover up their repeated mistakes which includes the "Cuba" claim, and so forth. It had nothing to do with being "PC" and that ought to be noted.

Some idiot at ebay who wouldn't know the Soviet Union from Russia from Cuba from Mars and seems to actually have believed we were embargoing trade with Russia as well as embargoing items from Russia. How that would work I have no idea. Would I be prohibited from buying borscht? From purchasing some Russian nesting dolls? From selling the old samovar in the attic? This is clearly idiocy run wild. And apparently it's either a policy of censoring one item at a time or it's part of ebay's algorithm regarding what can and can't be listed. You'd think that would require some serious research before implementing, wouldn't you?

Plus, they don't want to admit their mistake in clear terms. All you get is "Sorry, we'll relist the item." You're never going to get a "We didn't know what we were doing, and we're going to have to fix that problem."

Put more simply, some 23 year old with a programming degree who actually thinks there's an embargo on Russia has programmed ebay's acceptable use policy to reject the sale of items from or about Russia -- when Russia is not embargoed at all. Or maybe it was a group of clueless people. Aren't other people responsible for checking on what is not permitted?

And good for you, Battlestamps, for pushing them hard enough to get them to admit the mistake. Welcome to a world run by the clueless. And welcome to enormous companies that keep their phone numbers and email addresses as secret as possible so you can't tell them when they're screwing up.

"Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!"