Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Tell Ebay You Want Magick, Psychics and Spells to Remain Part of the eBay Metaphysical Marketplace

As many of you may have recently heard from either forum posts or your favorite sellers, eBay is removing much of the Metaphysical Category come Aug. 30th.
We have created a list of eBay contact emails, phone and fax numbers where you can voice you opinion on this and ask eBay to change their minds.

 YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE! SAVE YOUR FAVORITE SELLERS!

Tell everybody and take it to Twitter and Facebook too! Tell eBay HOW YOU FEEL!



The petition-PLEASE sign it so it can be emailed too!

http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/dont-ban-our-psychics-on-ebay.html

Ebay official Facebook sites:

http://www.facebook.com/eBay
http://www.facebook.com/ebaydotin
http://www.facebook.com/eBay.co.uk 
http://www.facebook.com/ebay.de
http://www.facebook.com/eBayPhilippines
http://www.facebook.com/ebaymotors
http://www.facebook.com/eBayFashion
http://www.facebook.com/EbayGivingWorks
http://www.facebook.com/ebaydailydeals
http://www.facebook.com/eBay.Malaysia
http://www.facebook.com/eBayCanada
http://www.facebook.com/eBayFrance
http://www.facebook.com/eBayanuncios
http://www.facebook.com/eBayClassifieds
http://www.facebook.com/eBayMainStreet
http://www.facebook.com/chodientu
http://www.facebook.com/eBayGreen
http://www.facebook.com/pages/eBay-Advertising/116856088369100
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Shop-Ebay/133867573382861
http://www.facebook.com/eBay.store.Albania
http://www.facebook.com/ebay.it
http://www.facebook.com/ebayinc
http://www.facebook.com/eBayMarketplace
http://www.facebook.com/orderebay

Ebay Twitter
http://twitter.com/eBay
http://twitter.com/eBayInc
http://twitter.com/pierre  Founder of eBay
http://twitter.com/Tallboy6    This is the CEO John Donahoe!
http://twitter.com/eBayCollectors
http://twitter.com/ebayinkblog
http://twitter.com/AskeBay
http://twitter.com/ebay_uk
http://twitter.com/eBayNews
http://twitter.com/eBay_Marketing
http://twitter.com/eBayDE
http://twitter.com/ebayindia
http://twitter.com/eBayforCharity
http://twitter.com/eBayGreen
http://twitter.com/eBayClassifieds
http://twitter.com/eBayPartnerNet
http://twitter.com/ebaygr
http://twitter.com/eBayEvents_SLC

The Founder of eBay's Website--it can't hurt to email here!
http://omidyargroup.com/

CEO INFO---
FAX NUMBER: send a fax to the eBay CEO, here is his personal 
office fax number: 1-408-376-7414

EMAIL: jdonahoe@ebay.com / john.donahoe@ebay.com / john@ebay.com

BUSINESS/MAILING ADDRESS: John Donahoe, eBay CEO, 2145 Hamilton Avenue, San Jose, CA 95125

HOME ADDRESS: John Donahoe, 10 Palmer Lane, Portola Valley, CA 94028

HOME PHONE NUMBER: 650-851-9263

EBAY INFO-----
You can use either one of the following eBay 800 numbers to contact eBay by phone: 1-800-322-9266 and 1-888-749-3229.

The telephone number for eBay UK is 02086 053 000.

To contact eBay by mail use the following address:

2145 Hamilton Avenue
San Jose, CA 95125
www.ebay.com

To contact eBay customer service via fax the number is 1-408-376-6554

Telephone number for eBay's main coporate office: 1-408-558-7400.
Other Ebay Numbers--
408-376-7400
800-322-9266
888-749-3229
888 221-1161



A letter template to use if you wish--


To whom it may concern
I am writing to eBay to express my dismay over your recent decision to remove certain categories under the metaphysical heading. While I understand some few sub-par sellers may have caused charge back issues, this is certainly not the norm among sellers in the Metaphysical categories. Most have exemplary feedback and many happy and satisfied repeat customers. In fact, the feedback of metaphysical sellers as a whole is probably far better than sellers of electronics and other like merchandise.

There has also been the statement made that many sellers are dealing in 'intangible' items. While we understand this poses an issue with eBay/Paypal dealing with refunds and charge backs when nothing is mailed, selling an intangible item has long been against eBay policy anyway. Many sellers know this and DO mail items to their customers. Those that do not should be educated in eBay rules to cease this practice which has long been against policy.

What is alarming now is that the blanket term of 'intangilbe item' is being used to ban actual ITEMS. Jewelry, crystals, stones and other items with ADDED energy work or yes, what is commonly called 'spells', are being targeted. What concerns me is your purposed selective enforcement of what you(eBay) terms 'intangible'. It seems you only have targeted those sellers who offer items of a certain occult or esoteric nature, ie. pagan beliefs and witchcraft. Magic, Spells, items of a paranormal or psychic nature, etc.... 

Sellers have also been told (via EBay's Facebook) that the prices of their tangible items can not  reflect any significantly added value put on by any intangible addition. What a nightmare for eBay to enforce since many items listed every day are priced subjectively by the sellers in many categories such as art, antiques, jewelry, vintage items and collectibles. The market determines the price and people will pay the price or they won't. Again this seems like only sellers of certain occult natured items are being singled out for selective enforcement if the Facebook statement is true.

EBay has not disallowed Feng Shui items or 'New Age' items like Crystals used in healing and crystal work, both of which have 'intangible' properties that are believed in by MANY millions and millions around the world and add to their value in the eyes of  many. You have not banned rosaries, crucifixes or religious medals, all of which have perceived 'intangible' abilities and energies associated with them. You have not banned items like Aromatherapy products which people use to gain certain 'intangible' benefits from. Magnetic therapy jewelry. Radionic devices  and the entire category of natural and homeopathic remedies are items that people must subjectively get 'intangible' and unverifiable benefits from. The list of items with 'intangible' benefits goes on and on. I ask HOW are these any different than spells, blessings, magic and energy work placed upon items? How do these items differ in dealing with any Resolution Center disputes?

I am saddened and deeply concerned that eBay's new policy may appear to some as a form of religious or ideological discrimination against occult and esoteric metaphysical beliefs. Something that I'm sure eBay does not want to imply.

Various Pagan, Neo-pagan, Alternative and Wiccan beliefs are ages old and actually a rapidly growing segment of our world population. Not everyone subscribes to the 'Big Three' religions, four if you include Buddhism. 
in fact according to religioustolerance.org:

"A second important statistic is the rate of growth of the Wiccan community. "In May, 1998, the Chicago Tribune reported that, though difficult to quantify due to lack of formal organization, neo-paganism is the fastest-growing religion in North America with the Internet being the prime means of proselytizing." 1 Ms. Curott estimates a doubling in size every 18 months. This growth rate seems quite high, but appears to have some credibility in the Wiccan community. The ARIS survey of the American adult population indicates a growth in the Wiccan community of 17 fold between 1990 and 2001 - the highest of any faith group monitored. This would indicate a doubling in numbers of adherents about ever 30 months. 2 Maria Alupoaicei, who co-authored the book "Generation Hex" claims that "The numbers of [Wiccan] adherents are doubling every 30 months." We suspect that she derived her estimate from this essay. She notes that there are over 700,000 websites for Wiccans on the Internet.

If the latter growth rate is accurate and if it continues, then Wicca would be the third largest religious group in the U.S. by about 2012, behind Christianity and Judaism, and ahead of Islam."

If this is all a misunderstanding, I apologize but there have been many mixed messages coming from eBay Customer Service reps who tell sellers who call in that not only are readings of all types and direct cast spells(non mailed item) being prohibited, but that ANY item, TANGIBLE ITEM, that mentions a spell or magic anywhere in the title or listing is now prohibited. Sellers are told that the use of certain WORDS are banned and listings will be scanned for these certain keywords like magic, prayer, blessing, psychic, spell, haunted, etc... I can only imagine what a nightmare this will become if that is true, with listings being pulled just for using a certain keyword picked up by a computer bot.

I ask that eBay consider carefully how targeting certain beliefs and practices may look to the world as a whole-a world where millions of people hold alternative and differing cultural beliefs. I think sometimes certain corporate departments can be short sighted in making changes whose widespread ramifications are not well thought out.

I am only ONE of HUNDREDS if not THOUSANDS of persons, both buyers and sellers of items in the Metaphysical Categories that are asking these same questions now.

Sincerely,
A concerned eBay member



Email Addresses
A suggestion--create several hotmail, gmail or other email accounts in case of sending limits.

matthewb@ebay.com 

(Matthew J. Bannick, President, eBay International)


billcobb@ebay.com 

(President, eBay North America)


jdonahoe@ebay.com, john.donahoe@ebay.com, john@ebay.com 

(CEO of eBay)