23 June 2011

Oops is now an eBay term

Rico says that, with all the really important things we should be worrying about in this world, this is not one of them, but the Daily Mail has an article about it anyway:
An eBay user has been banned from selling a 28mm-high war game model of Hitler (photo) after the online marketplace branded it 'Nazi propaganda'.
Philip Fursman, 38, paints models from war games and sells them around the world on the popular website. In the past, he has sold other 'hate' figures including those of Osama bin Laden and the Taliban without a problem, but when the father-of-three came to sell a tiny model of Hitler worth just ten pounds, eBay removed it.
And he was 'stunned' to be told that site regulations do not 'permit members to list items that contain propaganda or memorabilia with Nazi or SS markings.' He also received a warning that if he tried to list similar items in the future they 'may be removed and affect your account negatively". Mr Fursman, an aerospace programmer from Chard, Somerset, said of the decision: "I quite agree that Hitler was a horrible individual, but, if you look at the model, there are no SS markings on him."
Identity card belonging to 'murdered' Pope John Paul I sells on eBay for almost £5,000
"If I painted him blue he could be mistaken for Blakey from On The Buses. There are still lots of Nazi branded products on eBay, and if this is their policy they should apply it more thoroughly. And if you are have the good guys, you have to have the bad guys, too. I don't think I have been treated fairly."
Mr Fursman bought the Hitler model four years ago from an online shop when his son Owen, now aged fourteen, was studying World War Two at school. It was made by Bolt Action Miniatures which produced a World War Two range of figures including Stalin and Mussolini.
He put the model up for sale on eBay on 13 June with a £2 reserve price, and had already received nine bids before eBay removed it six days later with bidding at £9.
eBay told him in an email: "We know it is frustrating to see items removed from the website but people are not allowed to list items that promote or glorify hatred, violence, or racial intolerance."
Despite removing Mr Fursman's model from its listings, eBay continues to stock other memorabilia, including three-inch high figures of Hitler and Goering which are currently available and have attracted bids of up to £115.
Mr Fursman's experience is similar to that of David Davidson, who was banned from selling a rare Dad's Army board game (photo) on eBay in January of 2010 after it breached their 'offensive material policy'.
 Mr Davidson of Droitwich bought the game, sold as suitable for children as young as eight, second hand from a car boot sale for just £1 more than twenty years ago. He decided to sell the game on eBay with a starting price of 99p but received an email from the online giant, telling him they were taking it off the site because it could 'promote violence, hatred, racial, or religious intolerance'. The company even suggested a swastika symbol on the board and on the front of the box constituted 'memorabilia associated with the Nazi Party', which breached their offensive material policy. Mr Davidson, who came across the game while clearing out his loft, said at the time: "Instead of making a few quid and clearing some space, I've been made to look like I'm a racist or Nazi sympathiser. I'm very annoyed." He accused eBay of vetting content on the site "without looking into anything properly. They allow coins and stamps with swastikas, and there are hundreds of novels which are war stories that have them. It's ridiculous that they can't use common sense."
Rico says there's an old joke with a punchline of "in the background, little tiny Jews, running" that would apply here...

1 comment:

  1. The only Nazis still causing profound human misery are the ones running eBay. And the Nazis in San Jose are every bit as tyrannical and mindless as the originals in 1930's-40's Germany. I say if somebody's going to be offended by a Hitler youth knife, let that individual practice his freedom of expression by NOT LOOKING AT THAT PARTICULAR LISTING!!! Idiots.

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