J
JohnL_Duncan
Guest
Hello All,
I’ve been contacting eBay about selling consecrated hosts trying to get them to change their policy.If anyone is interested in our e-mails read below.
Hello John,
Thank you for once again writing in to let us know your feelings on the completed sale of this item which was listed through our site by one of our members. My name is Christobal, and I will be happy to assist you further.
We have responded to all of your previous correspondence explaining why this item was allowed to be sold and we understand that you do not agree with our decision.
We respect your feelings and we do not expect you to agree with our decision but we ask that you please also respect eBays decision to keep our site a worldwide marketplace where nearly anything that is not against the law can be sold by nearly anyone in the world regardless of religious belief, race, sex or physical ability.
However, please remember that eBay does not possess and sell the actual items listed on our site, they are listed by individuals not affiliated with eBay, and so long as they comply with site policies, we are involved in the transactions very minimally.
Your concerns have been passed on through the proper channels and future correspondence will not change our decision to keep this completed item showing on the site. Please be aware that this will be the last correspondence you will receive from us regarding this matter.
You have explained your views and we have explained our decision.
Please understand that future correspondence will be read but will not receive a reply.
Be assured that we do appreciate you writing in to express your concerns.
Regards,
Christobal
Community Watch
Trust and Safety Department
Dear eBay community watch,
Please keep in mind that you might be allowing fraud to happen by allowing these items to be sold.
It is physically impossible to tell if a host is consecrated or not. By simply stating that it is, suddenly an item which costs pennies now costs thousands and eBay may be setting itself up for a lawsuit.
Please reconsider banning such items on these terms.
John
From: eBay Customer Support rswebhelp@ebay.comTo: John Duncan
Subject: BA62827 Response to your email from eBay’s Banned Items.
Hello John,
Thank you for taking the time to write us. We know your time is valuable and we appreciate your taking a moment to express concern over this particular item.We understand that you are upset at having seen certain Catholic items or items related to the Pope on eBay, including item #6169851381. Because eBay’s community is a diverse, international group of more than 135 million users with varied backgrounds and beliefs, there are times when some items listed on eBay by sellers might be offensive to at least some of our users somewhere in the world. At times, members may see listings that they may consider morally wrong or objectionable. However, even though these listings may be offensive to some, please remember that most of the time the law does not prohibit the items.Due to the fact that eBay’s focus is to have a free and diverse community, we are reluctant to interfere with listings that are not illegal. Regarding offensive items, there are many items that are considered sacred to many people of various religions, and we sometimes hear complaints about these items. Examples would be Catholic relics of saints, Mormon (LDS) garments, certain Buddhist tablets, etc. However, eBay has made the decision not to prohibit any item only on the basis of the item being endowed with sacred properties by certain religious groups. In general, eBay will remove items for a violation of our Offensive Materials policy only in extreme examples in which the listing explicitly promotes hatred, violence, or racial intolerance. However, we do not remove religious items that are otherwise legal for sale and do not violate any other eBay listing policy.Please keep in mind that many of us at eBay may also share your distaste with an item, and may not support the sale. In fact, eBay has many Catholic employees. However, we do our best to understand and tolerate the many viewpoints held by our worldwide community.The Eucharist is not illegal to sell, and is generally allowed on eBay as long as the seller does not otherwise include hateful text or images in the listing.Although we realize that you may not agree with this decision on eBay’s part, we hope that you can respect the diverse and open nature of eBay’s marketplace.Again, thank you for your report. We appreciate your help in keeping eBay a safe and reputable forum to conduct business.
Regards,
eBay Community Watch
From: John DuncanTo: eBay Customer Support
Subject: Please ban consecrated hosts
Please place consecrated hosts on your banned list. I, as well as 1.1 billion others believe that this is an unholy act and should not be tolerated.This is in response to Item number: 6169851381