Inconsistency regarding sale of Nazi memorabilia

[jogesel 10]

Dear Mr qball

 

I am surprised that you would refrain from selling Nazi items, which are not illegal, in anticipation of possible legal action. I suppose that if you are threatened with legal action for selling Russian items you would ban the sale of those too. Surely legal threats are a part of business today. If we cave in to all possible threats then we might as well not sell anything and not be in business.

 

You indicate that you wish to protect sellers. What about taking a stand to protect the rights of those sellers who do wish to sell such items and who would be willing to take the risk of legal action?

 

Further you are either not enforcing this policy of prohibiting the sale of nazi memorabilia or you are doing so selectively or inconsistently. This evening while reading your post in Militaria I searched for “nazi”. There were 2464 listings including those below which I selected.

 

http://www.bidorbuy.co.za/item/129785155/German_Nazi_wings.html

http://www.bidorbuy.co.za/item/129023451/NAZI_1942_1_Reichspfennig.html

http://www.bidorbuy.co.za/item/128985135/Childs_Nazi_bracelet_ENA_probably_custom_made.html

http://www.bidorbuy.co.za/item/129959920/1933_German_Nazi_party_Rally_Badge_No_Pins_as_per_photo.html

http://www.bidorbuy.co.za/item/129432664/German_Luftwaffe_NAZI_Sports_vest_insignia_Original_28cm_x_14cm.html

http://www.bidorbuy.co.za/item/129293122/Germany_1942_Sports_Day_Stamp_MNH_swastika.html

http://www.bidorbuy.co.za/item/126117707/G_G_WW2_German_Army_K98_Rifle_Full_Metal.html

http://www.bidorbuy.co.za/item/127107071/Iron_Sky_Invasion_Goetterdaemmerung_Edition_PC_DVD.html

 

If you do not want people selling of Nazi memorabilia then I do not understand why you allow the sale of the items indicated above.

These appear to me to be in clear breach of your policy.

 

If you really wish to have a policy which prohibits the sale of certain items then surely the best thing to do would be not to permit the sale of any such item. Also if you are afraid of possible legal action then surely you should be more rigorous in attempting to weed out such items.

 

You have advised one seller to remove listings of offensive Nazi items however it appears to me that there are plenty of other sellers who are selling Nazi items on BOB. What exactly is your policy?

[qball 12]

I suggest you re-read the policy, certain items are permitted.

 

As we cannot monitor every single listing we cannot always pick up each and every transgression.

 

It is assumed the seller has read, understood and agreed to our policies.

 

The following items may be listed:

 

• German World War II memorabilia that does not exhibit emblems, symbols or icons referring to the Nazi's (as indicated above).
  
• German stamps and coins produced during the World War II period.
  
• Books and documentaries detailing world history and events revolving around the World War II time period (which may exhibit imagery referencing Nazi's, the Nazi SS or the swastika).
  

[qball 12]

I also think you misunderstand the policy. There may be 2000 odd listings containing the "word" "Nazi", we do not ban the word or certain items that may contain that, only certain items, as per the policy. Most of the example you have given are permitted. 2 have deleted as they contravene the policy as interpreted by us.

 

We have over 1.2 million listings and we try to monitor all sorts of infringements and contraventions, but it is not always possible to stop sellers from contravening the policy, unless they do it consistently, then we may resort to restricting their account.

 

The threat of legal action is very real and we would be remiss in our obligations and legal duty to simply dismiss these and expose our site and business to liability.