Well, well, well.....

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....look what I got from Ebay today:

Hello Terry,

Thank you for your email regarding the sale of the Holy Eucharist by
one of our community members. We respect and appreciate your comments
regarding this sensitive matter.

As you may know, eBay does not sell items itself. Rather, we are a
global marketplace for sellers and buyers who transact directly with
one another. Each day eBay's sellers list 5 million items on the site,
and those sellers decide what items they want to list. eBay did not
possess, list or approve the sale of the Eucharist. The buyer and
seller completed the Eucharist transaction on April 11th, before eBay
even became aware of the listing.

As a marketplace, we strive to respect the diverse perspectives of our
sellers. We also work hard to promote an open environment for trade.
That said, eBay has policies in place to remove listings for illegal
items as well as highly offensive listings that promote hate or
intolerance.

We understand that the listing of the Eucharist was highly upsetting to
Catholic members of the eBay community and Catholics globally. Once
this completed sale was brought to our attention, we consulted with a
number of our users, including members of the Catholic Church,
concerning what course we should take in the future should a similar
listing appear on our site. We also consulted with members of other
religions about items that might also be highly sacred and
inappropriate for sale. As a result of this dialogue, we have concluded that sales ofthe Eucharist, and similar highly sacred items, are not appropriate on
eBay. We have, therefore, broadened our policies and will remove those
types of listings should they appear on the site in the future.

As always, we welcome and appreciate the assistance of the community in
upholding the rules of our site. Should you see another Eucharist
listed on our site, we encourage you to notify us so we can take
appropriate action. Further, we encourage you to directly communicate
with the seller. Members are often unaware that a particular item is
offensive to others. A respectful e-mail to the seller is often all
that is needed for the seller to voluntarily remove the item. We
believe this modification strikes the appropriate balance between
respect for our community’s values and our goal of providing an open
marketplace offering practically anything on earth.

Again, we sincerely appreciate your concern and thank you for
communicating your views with us. Your input has helped us frame a
policy that will enable us to better serve our diverse community of
users around the world.

This was in response to my account termination request notice.

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Article: Cleveland Plain Dealer: Communion wafers for sale on eBay spark furor Also, if anyone who reads this -... Read More

I don't do business with E-Bay. Can't afford to with my voracious appetite for books and such. MamaT got this welcome news today: We understand that the listing of the Eucharist was highly upsetting to Catholic members of the eBay... Read More

6 Comments

So not really to be that person, but I'll bite. Does that mean you will continue your 'relationship' with the diverse community also known as ebay?

Well, well, well ... that is welcome news!

Congratulations! Your efforts paid off. :)

Another friend tells me that eBay is NOT planning on putting this info on their Banned Items page; and I just checked that page. I didn't see the Eucharist listed anywhere... :(

Well, it doesn't matter if it's on the banned items page or not. If they've said it's a banned item and someone turns in an auction, it will get pulled immediately. Ebay acts before they do any kind of investigation. I design and sell children's clothing on ebay and it is very competative. Some people will turn in competitors auctions claiming a violation,knowing there isn't one but ebay automatically cancels the auctions and then asks questions later.

Now I understand from another friend who sent me a copy of her letter from eBay that they WILL have it up on their page by the end of the week. Excellent!

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This page contains a single entry by MamaT published on May 2, 2005 9:18 PM.

Looking for some help, here! was the previous entry in this blog.

it's a good thing george felos & the "right to die" crowd wasn't involved is the next entry in this blog.

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