Ebay Incompetence

[BillEllis]

Whoo boy! Some things are just beyond belief. In addition to putting my Japanese style razor up on the eBay block, I added my CD as I normally do, and I also added my yearly spoof razor auction. Key word being spoof.

I just got a notification from the eBay gods who had this to say...

You recently listed the following auction-style listing:

270346346176 - Super Duper Scarce and Rare Straight Razor


Unfortunately, we had to remove your listing because the following information violates our policy:

After consultation with the USFWS and IAFW, eBay has determined that it will not allow ivory to be sold on the site. Please note: Antique items (pre-1900) that contain less than 5 ivory are still allowed, but these must be accompanied by a disclaimer that clearly states the item was created before 1900. This applies to all marine mammals, mammoth ivory/teeth, and Scrimshaw/Alaskan Native handicrafts as well.

We notified members who placed bids on the item that the listing has been canceled.

Sales of live animals, plants, and wildlife products are heavily regulated and, in some cases, may be prohibited or harmful to the community. For these reasons, listings for these items are severely restricted on eBay.

Due to the endangered or protected status of many species from which ivory is harvested around the world, eBay doesn't allow the sale of most ivory products on the site. Antique items (pre-1900) that contain less than 5 percent ivory are still allowed, but these must be accompanied by a disclaimer that clearly states the item was created before 1900.

For more information on this eBay policy, please visit:

http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/wildlife.html

Please note: violation of this or other eBay policies may result in forfeit of eBay fees on cancelled listings, limits on account privileges and account suspension.

I am dumbfounded to even think it's possible that these morons can be this f...bleep stupid.

I had three pics posted. One showed a curled up point of a Paki razor, a broken blade to a TI and a blurry pic smaller than my avatar showing a black handled razor in the shadows.

Here are my words to the auction... I highlighted what seem to be the criminal key words they must have felt violated their rules. And they think I'm going to forfeit listing fees? Oh, yeah, eBay... go ahead and **** me off!


Up for grabs is this extremely rare straight razor. I'm pretty sure the black handles are those ones what were made from the horn of one of those extink rinoseruses. It is also carved ivory too which is a big bonis. I know it is ivory cause it has lines in it. It is for sure very scarce and rare not to mention it is in mint ** really MINT** shape as you can see in the picture that tells it all. It is so good it is hard to splane. It is not the same razor but it looks just like it.

Not to mention that it comes with a box that is just as rare because this razor was in it. I was going to sele the box in a differnt action cuz they are so hard to find and worth so much money. If you don't believe me you can search completed actions and see just how many boxes without razors are selling so good.
Originanlly, it came with the blade in the number three picture. The blade is only broke a little bit but it should fix up pretty good and it will make a good addition to any razor collection. It might even have been made this way cause it looks even that way.
Just to be sure you get the bestest deal, I am goin to include it just this once, a extra blade. I checked the tip to be sure it wouldn't break like the other one might have. I will bend it back straight before I mail it to the winner bidder for a $10 handling charge which I don't make any money on because it is actual costs.
The bent part shows that this was made in Pakistan and shows you need to buy one for the good steel that won't break like the other one might have broke.
If any of you are dumb enough to bid on this razor... I'm gonna take your money. Look at the shipping charges, first before you go getting too funny your own self.
This absurd auction was generated to help you make better decisions on buying razors. I'm having a real tough time with all these sellers who have discovered there is money to be made with straight razors. I'm really fed up with their all-to-generous appraisals... especially with the word MINT.
Go here for my rant on that word... http://tinyurl.com/qxm3m
There are way too many sellers playing dumb and taking your money. Step One... If they are taking pics like the ones in this auction spoof, and they have more than 100 feedbacks, walk away. By this time in their ebay career, they should be taking pics to help, not hinder your choice.
You should look at the reviews I have written. They may help you make better decisions when you are buying razors.

 

[SilkySmooth]

I recently purchased a knife from Crow knives on Ebay. The owner was complaining about the same issues. He said that he was just going to list his products on other auction sites.

 

[Baloosh]

ebay doesn't discriminate between fake auctions and real ones. To them, being a corporate entity, they're erring on the side of caution, and taking the normal stance -- even on an obviously fake auction.

If, for some reason, they allowed even satiric auction to close, and someone actually got shipped a piece of whatever ivory violated Federal Law, they'd be in major trouble. And they make way too much money from listing fees to worry about any single seller, even Power Sellers with thousands and thousands of auctions.

That said - funny stuff!

 

[copperhead]

Ebay does not have people going through every listing that is posted, it is all automated, a system that scans your listing for keywords and compares it to a list of banned items and cancels the listing and also sends the seller the standard company policy email. It is an efficient system in most cases but rare listings like this that can help people get shot down as well.

 

[Mr_Eval]

Bill,
I'm really interested if you still have this item. Do you have a Buy It Now price?

Seriously though, that description is eerily familiar. I think I've read a fair few that were very similar

Well done for "Thumbing the nose" at the dodgy merchants

 

[zippo]

Ah Bill,it seems you haven`t changed one bit , still causing the powers that be to use the grey matter and not very successfully., keep it up mate
Kind regards Peter

 

[Chimensch]

Hey Bill! I love your sense of humor but, please, don't crack any jokes when going through security at the airport.

 

[Suzuki]

The truly troubling thing is that they're going after spoof sales, but do nothing with the truly problematic vendors.

I haven't purchased anything off of e-bay in almost 2 years.

 

[lackluster dave]

Bill - the text in your ad had the wrong keywords. You might have an argument if the text said "not ivory" and they tagged it anyway as "ivory" and banned it. But that didn't happen.

The whole spoof-auction thing is a funny idea, but in this case it backfired: instead of teaching other ebayers a lesson you learned one yourself.

Since you didn't expect to actually make a sale, you were, in effect, paying ebay a fee to post your own opinion/advertisement. That may be ok, but ebay is entititled to enforce their rules.

If, instead of razor auctions, you decided to post a spoof auction on some offensive political/religious/racist rant, do you think ebay is required to post it simply because you paid a 55c listing fee?

Just a voice from one of us at B&B saying that it's not as if ebay crossed the street to steal your milk money this time.

 

[Tinzien]

Keywords indeed.

 

[BigBubba]

If any of you are dumb enough to bid on this razor... I'm gonna take your money.

Are you going to list it again w/o the word "ivory"?

 

[Gravy]

Ebay's response mentions a ban on, among other things, Mammoth ivory/teeth? Am I missing something? I understand there may be mammoth teeth and tusk around, but how many actual mammoths have been saved w/ this policy?

 

[rabidpotatochip]

Ebay's response mentions a ban on, among other things, Mammoth ivory/teeth? Am I missing something? I understand there may be mammoth teeth and tusk around, but how many actual mammoths have been saved w/ this policy?

They could be using mammoth as an adjective or they might have specific rules about selling prehistoric artifacts on their site.

 

[Seraphim]

Perhaps list it as "Eye-voree handles"?

 

[ssilcox]

Too funny Bill!

 

[Live2Ride]

Very funny listing, a message that is worth repeating, and a slap in the face to those trying to make a fast buck on straight razors without knowing anything about straight razors.

I've seen listings that have verbiage about "pre-ban ivory". Or, you might try Seraphim's "Eye-voree handles" - that would probably beat the 'bay's software.

Your other "message" - the sheer awesomeness of your Japanese style straight - should have the wannabe straight sellers choking on whatever they're eating or drinking when they see your listing. That'll fix their little wagons!

 

[BillEllis]

Please note*
This post is delivered with a calm monotone and laced with much more of my brand of humor... whether some of you get it or some of you don't. It starts now.

There may be a couple of you who may have missed the point of my exercise in snivelry and it's a good thing there wasn't a pop quiz at the end that could possibly have damaged anyone's self esteem. Yours, that is. (That's a joke, boys)

I think I feel the need to address a couple points that were interjected in this thread. (I'm still shaking my head over the eBay defense team that seems to be forming here ) I realize that I'm old school and hard-headed, but some things should not change even in this new present-day enlightened society.

I did not learn a lesson from eBay. In order to learn a lesson, I would have to have done something wrong... then, I could have seen the error of my ways. I did not do anything wrong by putting up the spoof auction about razors. It was relevant. It was pertinent.

Sellers on eBay continually claim that a razor has ivory scales on a daily basis. I thought I did a pretty good job of pointing that out by saying that the razor was both extink rinoserusus (intentional misspellings) horn and also ivory because it had lines in it. How many auctions have you seen where the seller tells you he knows for sure it's ivory because it has lines in it? It's here that I think I need to point out that the razor can't be both horn and ivory. They are two different things. And if it's extinct already, there is no foul for utilizing it. Duh!

Additionally, all elephant ivory that has been here in the U.S. since 1972 has been grandfathered in and is legal to use and have. We just can't import any more of it. So, eBay is blowing smoke by blaming the Feds when, in actuality, they are more likely avoiding the animal rights nimrods. That's right. I said nimrods. If you think mastadon ivory that has not been surrounded by the flesh of a living animal for over 10,000 years needs protection, you are a nimrod.

Whale ivory and walrus ivory in the non-fossilized form (newer than 10,000 years old) are illegal to use and I am not referring to them. Other countries don't allow ivory of any kind so the simple solution is just don't sell it to them. Duh... again. Do you see eBay eliminating knives because the UK is dumb enough to ban them? No, you don't. Too much money is generated from them.

I'm also a mite baffled as to why there is a comparison to an ebay political rant which has nothing whatsoever to do with anything on eBay and with a fake auction that was entirely relevant to the sale of straight razors.

I also didn't break any rules for eBay to enforce. There was no ivory. There was no razor. I even say so in the auction. At all. I'm beginning to think a couple of you may have to hear a joke twice in order to get it, if you get it at all.

I also wasn't worried about lunch money. I didn't like being threatened with a suspension. That may work on some folks. I ain't one of them.

 

[Mr. Clean]

Bill, we must be somewhere in the same age group. I'd love to sit down and discuss almost nothing or anything over a beverage (or three) of our own choosing.

 

[richmondesi]

Bill, good on you my friend. "What we've got here is a failure to communicate"... communication goes both ways, you send a message & we receive it. You made a valid, relevant point with your spoof auction. It is the job of the people reading your auction to be smart enough to recognize it for what it is.

 

[SmoovD]

So is the one-of-a-kind razor still available on your website? I have been looking into straights....would this be a good starter razor?