Posted on 04/03/2005 7:28:13 PM PDT by UnsinkableMollyBrown
Do people actually buy these government documents?
Someone probably filed an abuse report with Ebay.
Sounds like they have pages explaining their policies.
Perhaps a phone call would be useful to you.
That happens to everyone.
Suck it up.
Yes, they do. Most of the publications that I sell are long ago unavailable.
Perhaps you ought to "tone down" your item description.
They cancelled it? I find that hard to believe but what do I know. Ebay exists to make money and they will literally sell anything unless it is illegal, from used panties to dog sh*t. Unless this book is selling something that is illegal they will not take it down. If they did I suspect it is because this book is telling people to break a law.
eBay was created by a French gentleman. It was a dot-com darling. It is based in the greater San Francisco/Silicon Valley area, as are its execs and sympathies. Now things may be a little more clear....
It took a few days but one of his assistants wrote to me. She explained why the item was canceled and I had no problem with that. She even apologized for the lack of response to the email I'd sent asking for clarification. She said things went awry at their end. She did say that they have too many listings to review every one but when someone complains about a listing..... You get the gist. That's probably what happened with yours. If I had to make a guess, I'd bet someone didn't like the mention of Terri so complained. And the person receiving the complaint was probably not very bright so just canceled it.
Write to the president and you'll get it sorted out. I'll never again bother with just sending off an email to whoever happens to receive it.
http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/user-agreement.html
"5. Listing and Selling.
5.1 Listing Description. ... Your listings may only
include text descriptions, graphics, pictures and other
content relevant to the sale of that item."
http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/noitem.html
"... not permitted on eBay. These types of listings
include, but are not limited to:
...
Listings with the apparent, primary purpose of
expressing the seller's personal views"
Chances are someone complained. I doubt that eBay
routinely looks for this stuff, but they may well
be keeping an eye out for Schiavo-related items,
and you triggered the keyword 'bot.
Do it two more times and you risk suspension "NARU".
Since you asked...
I would guess it has nothing to do with any of your text.
I would guess that anything with "Terri Schiavo" is being preempted.
I would guess eBay doesn't take the time to read your description.
I would say, "Don't worry about it. Try relisting without mentioning Schiavo."
Hope this helps.
Some jerk doesn't like your political views, so they're f--king your eBay account.
Simple as that.
Just to give you an example of what can be sold on ebay, last year I put up an ad selling "nothing"... My ad said "I am selling nothing and you will be shipped nothing" and I actually sold "nothing" for $9.99 (Yes there are people out there that stupid). Like I said, Ebay lets you sell anything unless it is illegal or legally questionable. If your handbook was taken down they felt it was legally questionable. It is cheaper for them to cancel an ad then pay for a lawyer if they get sued, and they obviously must have thought your handbook might get them sued.
Can't list guns on EBay. Don't know where you're at but they are legal where I live.
My guess is that EBay picks and chooses. Of course they have guidelines to follow, but they can ignore them.
I'd relist the item as-is until a real person explains why they consider it "inappropriate".
Amazon will also "get even" for reviews that are not appreciated by well-connected authors.
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