Not content with hacking off shop owners, eBay have decided to employ people who know precious little about what their members are selling.

My wife decided to sell an organic bead set on eBay. They are a lovely fired set of ivory-coloured beads that many people have commented are very beautiful.

However, eBay have decided that ‘ivory glass’ must be something that contains pieces of dead elephant, and hence is a prohibited item because it contravenes this policy:

Ivory

All trade in ivory is strictly controlled. Items made from or containing ivory may only be listed under one of the following two conditions:

1. The seller has documentary proof that the item is older than 1st June 1947, the proof is included in the listing, and the item is in a significantly worked form; or
2. The item is accompanied by an Article 10 certificate as issued by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), or the Irish Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, and such certificate is included in the listing.

Hear this, eBay – ivory glass means that it is glass that is an ivory colour.

These items DO NOT CONTAIN ANIMALS! For goodness sake, where do you think someone living in London is going to get hold of ivory from – hack up an old piano and then melt bits of it into molten glass? Get real!

Better still, employ people who don’t have kneejerk reactions to primitive keyword filters. And if you don’t really understand what something is – ASK! If you don’t get any reaction, then sure, pull the plug, if you’re that stupid.

Instead of banning genuine, beautiful artwork, why not pick out the idiots who sell bootleg software, stupid iPod promotions, and other illicit crap? Yeah I know – because that’s too difficult isn’t it? Much easier just to search for anything containing a word that you think is bad, and pull the listing without any communication with the seller.

It’s an appalling way to do business, and shows a shocking lack of professionalism or courtesy to your sellers. And of course, a fast way to make cash, given that the listing fee hasn’t been refunded. eBay have at least refunded the listing cost.

eBay continues to fall in my estimation and my advice to people is to leave well alone and find some better services that actually care about their buyers and sellers instead of being totally focused on making money.