—- eBay Customer Support
wrote:
> Hello,
>
> Thank you for taking the time to write eBay with
> your concern. I’m happy
> to help you further.
>
> We understand that you are upset at having seen
> certain Catholic items
> or items related to the Pope on eBay. 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.
>
> Thanks again for writing, and thank you for being
> part of the eBay
> community.
>
> Regards,
>
> Maricel
> Community Watch Team
> eBay Trust & Safety
