Unfair selling practices - Prohibited items allowed to be sold by a certain few!

[jeff52]

It is absolutely ridiculous the way eBay handles itself. Or is it just me? Or maybe it's just my imagination, but it seems to me that certain people are allowed to sell eBay's so-called "Prohibited items" and others are not! You be the judge!

I am a seller of antiques & Collectibles, and WW2 items belong to both of these categories, specifically Nazi-Third Reich items. We all know the arguments of why we should be able to sell these items on eBay, the historical significance of World War II and there are many militaria collectors all over the world that collect such items, but as we all (or most of us anyway) also know, eBay does not care about this significance nor the opinions of anyone that does not have elite status! SO, we have to abide by this rule or be suspended, or you would think.

As a dealer and living in Germany I have come across many of these types of items (Nazi-Third Reich) and was able to make a very good profit until eBay got really stupid with their rules. So I try my best to abide by these rules. Sometimes I try my luck, for example, I put up a German Newspaper that was from WW2, it was reporting on the war and of course it had photos along with the articles of Nazi's in uniform and a photo of Hitler playing with some kids and so on. But I thought this would be ok, because it was a newspaper, reporting the news, reporting the war, of course from their view! But within 3 days it was taken down, and I had many bids on it and lost a lot of money!! I had also tried putting postcards up that are very collectable by both postcard collectors and WW2 collectors, but just a few days in and BAM, taken down!! Ok, so-be-it, and decided to bite my lip (and many other things!! :-) ) and to just stop putting anything up that was German WW2 related, and started building my own ecommerce web site to sell ANYTHING that I wanted.

THEN, I came across a member, ALSO IN GERMANY, that was making $1000's of dollars selling WW2 NAZI postcards, and I mean Strait-UP no questions asked, NAZI! The swastika visible on the front side or the back side or both sides! Photos of Hitler, I mean, there is NO question that these are prohibited "Nazi and Nazi-related" items. Not only that but he is posting in a completely unrelated category in an attempt to not get caught. He is posting all of the postcards in "Stamps > Europe > Germany & Colonies", trying to circumvent any attempts by eBay to pull them down. Most of the DO NOT EVEN HAVE A STAMP!! I looked at his feedbacks (1485 at the time of this writing) and they were all postcards, and has been for at least over a year, but probably more, just can't confirm that because the feedbacks don't go back that far on the date, it just says "for over one year". There were also references to postcards with "The Third Reich" in the title which back in the day was no problem, like I stated before we could sell most anything until eBay updated rules. He has also tried to avoid being caught by the "Filters" by using the title "WW2 postcard, card, pc from III.German Empire", THIS IS ABSOLUTLY NOT TRUE AND COMPLETLY FALSE!!!!! Germany was NOT referred to as "German Empire" during WW2, please read:
The German Empire "Deutsches Kaiserreich", officially the German Reich, also known as Imperial Germany, was the historical German nation state that existed from the unification of Germany in 1871 to the abdication of Kaiser Wilhelm II in November 1918, when Germany became a federal republic and was no longer referred to as German Empire.
During WW2 it was referred to as "Deutsches Dritten Reichs/ German Third Empire". So this guy is lying to the customers as well, although I also know that any collector or dealer knows this, however it is the principle that I am referring to here.

He is making a killing with some listings that has sold for as much as $600-700! Well, wait a minute, I thought we were not able to sell items like these??????????????????????????????????????????? I was PISSED!! I thought, what any seller would think, how is this guy allowed to sell these types of "Prohibited Items" and I am not??????? So I reported every one of his items, 52 at the time. 3 days later they were still up and he some of them were about to end, and some for a large amount of money, so I called. Talked to a very nice Customer Service Rep, who said she completely understands, and that I was absolutely correct. She also stated that she would (after she hadd looked at the sellers account) make sure that these items would be removed within 48 hours and she would personally see to it and stay on top of it. So I was ok with that until 3 more days had gone by and still nothing was taken down, and this guy just made another $600 dollars! Called again, talked to another Service rep. male this time, he also assured me that this was being looked at. I asked why it was taking so long when it was so obvious that these were "prohibited items" and that they were allowing this guy to make money on prohibited items while not allowing other sellers to do so. Once again he said he would escalate it and make sure the items were removed. He also agreed with me that this was not fair to me or any one else that had items of this nature taken down. He also stated that he understands why I am upset and that I have every right to be...bla....bla .....bla. So I left it at that. So NOW here we are TWO WEEKS AFTER I REPORTED all of his items and STILL NOTHING IS BEING DONE!! I called again and talked to a Supervisor, female, she once again told me that it was under investigation, that I was correct in reporting these items and that they would be removed... ARE YOU KIDDING ME??? Why did all of the items that I ever put up that were "prohibited" get taken down within 3 days after they went up, some even the same day?? Meanwhile this guy is making a killing and getting by with it, and just put up 20 of the same type of listings today, and YES, I reported everyone of those also!! She said it takes time and I replied that is pure BS!! It is because this guy has 1485 feedbacks and is making eBay big bucks right now with his listings and that's why they are not taking them down!!!
And for all of you that are going to ding me and use the terms "snitch..sore loser...whatever, I DONT CARE, what's fair is fair!!! I have the same items as he does and some even better but not allowed to put them up, then Ill be damned if I just sit by while someone else does!!!

For anyone that has not seen eBay's "Nazi and Nazi-related" list:
Not allowed
Items that are not permitted include, but are not limited to:

Historical Holocaust-related items, including reproductions such as:
Uniforms and personal belongings of concentration camp prisoners
Jewish identification (armbands, Star of David)
Holocaust photos that depict dead bodies, executions, or other violent or degrading scenes
Nazi-issued documents (passports, travel papers)

Historical Nazi-related items, including reproductions such as:
Uniforms, uniform components, weapons, or other items that bear Nazi symbols, whether visible or covered
Listings in which images are edited or cropped to try and hide Nazi symbols
Denazified items (items that originally had Nazi symbols that have been removed)

1936 Olympic medals

Items that were owned by, affiliated with, or books written by Nazi leaders such as:

Joseph Goebbels

Hermann Goering

Rudolf Hess

Reinhard Heydrich

Heinrich Himmler

Adolf Hitler

Media identified as Nazi propaganda or that otherwise promote hatred or racial supremacy including historic and current items

Anyway here is an example of a listing, I reported this guy for the first time on Nov. 14th 2015, you be the judge:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1-x-WW2-post...QAAOSwHQ9WUepy

[BigCJ]

At the end of the day, its ebays site to do as they wish.

Those selling prohibited items will be hit sooner or later and its best to just either look for other things to sell, or try your luck with your accounts/items.

[dealagreeproceed]

sorry skimmed through your post so correct me if im wrong but your mad because you cant make bank selling h I t l e r / na zi stuff?

[jeff52]

YES, in this case anyway, you bet your a**. I'm not going to turn this into a moral debate thing, as I could get into all kinds of items that are being sold from other wars including our own civil war, that if you are not a collector or enthusiast you would find not correct. But the main point here is, some are allowed and some not. This is about what is fair.

[muzzie]

Is your account young or old?

[jeff52]

muzzie: not sure what you consider old, been signed up since 2003

[muzzie]

Weird. I think that guy is registered at another ebay site (for example, not at .de, but at.it), and has different countries selected in "Ship to", so certain ebay reps cant see his listings. For example, i sell some things that are +/- ok to sell in UK, but if I list them at US, they are instantly removed.

[dan_ebay]

Originally Posted by muzzie

Weird. I think that guy is registered at another ebay site (for example, not at .de, but at.it), and has different countries selected in "Ship to", so certain ebay reps cant see his listings. For example, i sell some things that are +/- ok to sell in UK, but if I list them at US, they are instantly removed.

this is what I do also lol, have some items listed on german ebay (ironically), all ebay uk listings get removed so I show up for uk users searching

[jeff52]

Originally Posted by muzzie

Weird. I think that guy is registered at another ebay site (for example, not at .de, but at.it), and has different countries selected in "Ship to", so certain ebay reps cant see his listings. For example, i sell some things that are +/- ok to sell in UK, but if I list them at US, they are instantly removed.

Yes, he is registered in Germany 2012. I live in Germany now and have a German account and got nailed every time I tried to sell my stuff so I gave up and went back to my main USA account, and I have tried the things that you guys are talking about but it didnt work out there either, maybe its just my Sh*t luck

[GreenBean]

TL:DR


Question is when did Legislation change in Germany to permit selling of
Nazi memorabilia?


If such laws are still in place, your problem is with the government of Germant and not ebay.

[jeff52]

Again huge point here being that regardless of how he has been getting by with it, and getting by the filters and so on, I CALLED three times and was assured that he was reported and "we see that these items are prohibited" and will be taken care of, well that was two weeks ago??

[GreenBean]

Do not be naive emough to think ebay will take action though.

Did you read my post?

[jeff52]

Originally Posted by GreenBean

TL:DR


Question is when did Legislation change in Germany to permit selling of
Nazi memorabilia?


If such laws are still in place, your problem is with the government of Germant and not ebay.

First NOTHING has changed in Germany and second they are USA eBay rules, if you read my first post you would have seen the [B]USA eBay[B] rules as they are listed on the [USA eBay] site!

But thanks for your input anyway

[GreenBean]

I asked a question germaine to your issue.

It actually does not matter which ebay you list on if the laws of Germany regarding Nazi memorabilia are still in existence.

Higher powers in ebay defer to those and pull listings.

There is also a strong resistance to the listings of such items, even newspapers because of counterfeits.

[jeff52]

Thanks GreenBean, and yes I understood the question and did answer. There has been no changes here in Germany to that regard, I still have to buy Nazi related items "under the table" at flea markets and shows.

Your answer just intensifies my post that much more, as he is in Germany also, so he should have been pulled years ago.

I have been doing antiques for 20 years now and have yet to come across a Repro WW2 German newspaper or postcard. I would think it to be very hard to duplicate the paper from that era.

[muzzie]

I these are so problematic, just do your own website, invest a fortune into marketing, and be a truly independent seller. I know several guys, who had to abandon EB due the same issues. They are running their own websites now. Sales are low, but still better than getting banned every day at EB.

[Atom]

Originally Posted by dan_ebay

this is what I do also lol, have some items listed on german ebay (ironically), all ebay uk listings get removed so I show up for uk users searching

How do you do that? You will need a .de eBay account? And what do you do for the local Germany sales? You post from UK?

[jeff52]

Thanks muzzie, yup, thats what I am working on, but that itch to throw them up on eBay is really big, because as we all know, unfortunately they have the traffic

And also I have many other antiques that I put up, its just that EPHEMERA - (Paper) items are a easy, fast and very money making items. As can be seen by this guys listings, just look at how much he has made in the last two weeks!

[bluegrass1]

I have tried to get someone build a website offered paying good price put out ads on fiverup and well a bunch of sites and NO ONE has responded .. I need a simple site but I want it professional . I have tried myself but keeps looking like a 3rd grader made it .. ANY IDEA WHO WOULD BUILD A NICE WEBITE>?

Originally Posted by muzzie

I these are so problematic, just do your own website, invest a fortune into marketing, and be a truly independent seller. I know several guys, who had to abandon EB due the same issues. They are running their own websites now. Sales are low, but still better than getting banned every day at EB.

[jeff52]

Bluegrassone, PM me I can help you out

[jeff52]

OK People, have a look at this guys listings, they are STILL there! I even reported them through my German account. Once again the stats:
Reported on ebay through the listings one Nov. 14th
Called and reported them on 17th
Called again on the 20th
Called again on the 22nd
Reported them through my German account

As you can see they are all still there!!
62 have ended in sales since I first reported it on the 14th and 0 have been taken down!!

You be the Judge

[orangescamper]

that's an easy fix...you should just get into trading NBP and the like memorabilia...problem solved