"Stay classy, eBay." Topic

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I really don't see the difference in selling these then anything else related to any war or any subjugated indigenous people.

Why should this be any different then selling a shrunken head, or tribal artifacts, or old ivory.

I am not sure you can compare holocaust relics to military memorabilia. That is about the sickest thing I have seen in a long time.

There are lines that shouldn't be crossed.

Thats wrong, but even worse is someone buys it.

The mind boggles at who would want to buy that stuff?

I will now, reluctantly, play devil's advocate for the 'Bay.

In this case, their problem is that their filtering system is utter garbage. While I don't collect WWII militaria, I know a lot of guys who do and it's amazing how frequently a perfectly innocuous listing will be pulled for "violating eBay policy". I'm not even talking about Wehrmacht stuff, but Allied insignia and gear, and even semi-civilian stuff like ARP and Home Guard items. I also know some guys have had trouble with listings for German items from the First World War. It's a bit of parlor game to parse the "offending" listing to try to find what set the buzzers off.

Also, eBay does respond rather quickly to complaints about real offenders, and they often back this up by suspending accounts. But if nobody complains, and an inappropriate listing slips through the filters, it's pretty much an auto-pilot system. So slamming eBay for "profiting from the Holocaust" is just tabloid histrionics.

I'll agree with enfant perdus. I'll give E-Bay the benefit of the doubt. I don't think they would knowingly allow this to happen. I am certain they will be going to great lengths to keep it from happening again.

I hadn't even considered this being on ebay. I was so astounded that anyone would buy or sell the stuff…..

I've collected military items in the past (W.W. I, W.W. II mostly).

I have never even considered why somebody would want something like that. A museum so the world never forgets, sure, but a private collector? That's really twisted.

Of course ebay won't let you show a picture of a swatstuka on any items listed (even model plane kits), but selling this crap is ok by them?

Enfant Perdus for the win. I'm with everybody else about selling that horrible crap but in this case it seems as soon as eBay found out they acted on it. No harm, no foul, except bringing these sort of sick people to everybody's attention.

Are you guys aware that there is a robust market in antiques and collectibles related to slavery, Jim Crow, and racist toys and advertising? Handbills for slavery auctions, genuine shackles, "Coloreds Only" signs, original photographs of lynchings, adverts like these,

…and so on. The collectors are pretty much exclusively African-Americans.

I have no idea who collects Holocaust artifacts, but I doubt it's all, or even mostly people with ill intentions. I was at the Houston Holocaust Memorial last week and have been to the USHMM in DC several times and much of those collections are listed as on loan from private individuals. Most have an immediate family connection, but not all. So, if a survivor or their relative, or perhaps a person who lost family in the Holocaust happens to collect these things, are we still outraged and appalled? Or is it only because there is presumably some profit in it?

I'll admit I find it disturbing, even by those who have the best intentions, but I hesitate to deliver a blanket condemnation without knowing the who and the why.

People who collect Nazi crap, on the other hand…

…and I have had my auctions ended because the mini had bare boobs. Hypocrits. But really you can run anything on ebay until someone complains. I have seen real pornography of a very distatsteful type ran on ebay disguised as something else. Who knows what crap is on there. Maybe the organ trade?