eBay Prohibits Selling Dr. Seuss Books

Discussion in 'Books' started by vitry-le-francois, May 5, 2021.

  1. vitry-le-francois

    vitry-le-francois Well-Known Member

    As many are aware, 6 books by Dr. Seuss will no longer be published because they may contain offensive material.

    This has lead to a stampede of Dr. Seuss books being sold on eBay. Many of these 6 books have sold for thousands of dollars each. No more!

    eBay will no longer allow those six books to be sold on their platform. Citing "Listings that promote, perpetuate, or glorify hatred, violence, or discrimination, including on the grounds of race, ethnicity, color, religion, gender, or sexual orientation, aren’t allowed"

    Below is the full message:

    We had to remove your listing because it didn’t follow our Offensive material policy. Listings that promote or glorify hatred, violence, or discrimination aren’t allowed.
    What activity didn't follow the policy
    Dr. Seuss Enterprises announced that it has stopped publishing six books due to their negative portrayal of some ethnicities. We have a consistent standard of removing items if the manufacturer deems them offensive. We're currently sweeping our marketplace to remove these items. It can take some time to review all existing listings and provide education to impacted users.

    What you need to do next
    You can't relist items we've ended. Please ensure your current and future listings follow this policy.

    What is the policy
    - Listings that promote, perpetuate, or glorify hatred, violence, or discrimination, including on the grounds of race, ethnicity, color, religion, gender, or sexual orientation, aren’t allowed. This includes, but isn't limited to, the following:
    -- Slurs or epithets of any kind
    -- Items, including figurines, cartoons, housewares, historical advertisements, and golliwogs with racist, anti-Semitic, or otherwise demeaning portrayals, for example through caricatures or other exaggerated features
    -- Black Americana items that are discriminatory
    -- Slavery items, including reproductions, such as tags, shackles, documents, bills of sale, etc.
    -- Confederate battle flag and related items with its image
    -- Historical Holocaust-related items, including reproductions
    -- Any item that is anti-Semitic or any item from after 1933 that bears a swastika
    -- Media identified as Nazi propaganda
    -- Listings that imply or promote support of, membership in, or funding of a terrorist organization
    - When offering shipping to other countries, make sure to first check our International trading policy to verify that your item is allowed

    How this affects your account
    Because you may not have been aware of this policy, we're sending this notice to educate you about it and ask that you follow this policy in the future.

    - Listings that didn't follow this policy have been ended.
    - We have credited all associated fees except for payments processing fees and the final value fee for your listing(s).

    Listings that don't follow this policy in the future will be ended.

    Why we have this policy
    This policy helps ensure that our marketplace promotes trust and respect, and follows government regulations.

    More information and help
    https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/prohibited-restricted-items/offensive-materials-policy?id=4324
     
    ulilwitch and judy like this.
  2. laura9797

    laura9797 Well-Known Member

    Oh good lord. Enough of cancel culture!!!!!!!!!!!
     
    Tanya, ulilwitch, Generic_Lad and 7 others like this.
  3. Joe2007

    Joe2007 Collector

    I think I messed up at an estate auction a few weeks ago.

    A stack of Dr. Seuss books sold for $21 and I am sure I saw "And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street" in there.
     
  4. komokwa

    komokwa The Truth is out there...!

    is that Woke enuf?

    I wonder just how many copies of those books the publisher has socked away !!!
     
  5. Aquitaine

    Aquitaine Is What It IS! But NEVER BORED!

    WOW!!!! Personally, I think they're going overboard. Did anyone watch the Stars version of Antiques Roadshow Monday?? There are some great pieces being collected by individuals of color who feel the pieces relevant to their history and don't want to lose it!! It was a great show! I don't want to open a 'hornet's nest' here, but I think so much of our history is being torn down, discarded and negatively impacted....... but.....OTOH, we are a changing nation.....a LOT is a-changing....probably never to be the same again.....and definitely, SOME SHOULDN'T be the same.....just sayin' SOME of our writers/publishers shouldn't be discarded so fast.....I'm probably NOT expressing what I want to say here.....it's just sad.................what @laura9797 said........
     
  6. vitry-le-francois

    vitry-le-francois Well-Known Member

    However, eBay has no issues with selling 1st edition copies of Mein Kampf. You can also look through the Black Americana category and purchase any number of black face photographs, characterized Black children eating watermelon and so forth.

    Why hasn't eBay banned Jerry Lewis movies with his depictions of Asians?

    eBay is claiming since the PUBLISHER is banning the books, so should they.

    My French mother (89 years old) told me this "cleansing" reminds her of a time not to long ago when another country next to hers was going through the same thing during the '30's.
     
  7. komokwa

    komokwa The Truth is out there...!

    no one is banning the books....the publisher decided not to print them anymore.
     
    ulilwitch and Aquitaine like this.
  8. ulilwitch

    ulilwitch Well-Known Member

    These books were not written for adults. An adult can take the context of any book and make it racial, sexual, or believing that it's leaving children exposed to harm. Children are innocent and don't take silly rhyming books the same as an adult with hypervigilance takes them. The adults are removing things a child would never think of when reading these books. I don't believe for instance "Green eggs and ham" is about an adult trying to force a child to eat moldy eggs and ham but I am sure that will be next. Wow, what next?
     
  9. antidiem

    antidiem Well-Known Member

    All of this appears to be "bounce back" from related stressors - entire countries still on "quarantine" - fires started to destroy wood, disgusting politicians fighting for elections, and what little govt transparency there ever was, there seems to be none now.

    :( our next great depression will be a global one and the greatest one yet...
     
  10. smallaxe

    smallaxe Well-Known Member

    EBay kinda is
     
    ulilwitch, Aquitaine and Lucille.b like this.
  11. komokwa

    komokwa The Truth is out there...!

    well, yes......but their control extends to just one selling site....theirs ...
     
    ulilwitch likes this.
  12. Shangas

    Shangas Underage Antiques Collector and Historian

    Don't you DARE give them any ideas. That's the last thing we bloody need...
     
  13. Iowa Jayhawk

    Iowa Jayhawk Well-Known Member

    Etsy has a copy of Mulberry Street listed. We have two copies from when our kids were small. One pristine, one pretty well loved to death.
     
    ulilwitch, lovewrens and komokwa like this.
  14. Firemandk

    Firemandk Well-Known Member

    Your Mother is a wise woman. Having an Asian extended family, I find it interesting that in their culture and entertainment they readily make fun of stereotypical asian stuff and think nothing of it . But then again , Filipino people are pretty laid back in a lot of ways . I guess you need to be, seeing what that country has gone through and continues to go through.
     
    ulilwitch likes this.
  15. Joe2007

    Joe2007 Collector

    Wonder if that one on Etsy sold or got pulled down by the site? I searched right after you posted this morning and that listing disappeared right as I was looking at it.
     
    ulilwitch likes this.
  16. Ghopper1924

    Ghopper1924 Well-Known Member

    Funny how "cleansing" is OK, as long as it comes from the left.
     
    ulilwitch and janettekay like this.
  17. Double_D

    Double_D Member

    This is absolutely true. To a hammer, everything looks like a nail.
     
    Ghopper1924 and ulilwitch like this.
  18. Double_D

    Double_D Member

    Ironic thing about cleansing is that to make something clean, something has to get dirty. But you can make everything dirty without ever getting anything clean.
     
    janettekay, Ghopper1924 and ulilwitch like this.
  19. Neal Andres

    Neal Andres Well-Known Member

    The world is safe at last and now there can be peace on earth. Well done Ebay. (sarcasm)
     
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