My Letter to Matt Halprin at Ebay

[Shiloh]

Sir,

I read your new firearms policy changes that will take affect in mid August.
These new restrictions go too far, way beyond what is prohibited by federal law.

I have bid and won auctions on rifle brass and small obscure parts, as well as
some hunting optics. I also acquired a stock for an antique service rifle.

Your policy change will affect many folks who supply these LEGAL items as a
supplemental, and possibly full time income, as well as those customers who
purchase them.

Your reference to Virginia Tech psycho as the reason to discontinue legitimate
and LEGAL items in the name of symbolic do-gooderism is a convenient dodge, weak mind you, but convenient.

As most of my activity with E-bay has been in this area, I will now purchase
from those sights that will certainly fill the void. What a shame. It was
convenient to use the E-bay services.

Respectfully,


This will hurt the many providers of accoutrement's and accessories for the shooting fraternity. It $ucks !!

Here's his E-mail: mhalprin@eBay.com

Shiloh :castmine:

[handyrandyrc]

Their reason for this is that the VT kid bought rubber duckies on eBay? lol

[fatnhappy]

My letter to ebay.



Sir,

As a ebayer in good standing (lhsjfk3t) I must voice my dismay at the proposed firearms policy change. I fail to understand how the lawful commerce of firearm parts should in any way be linked to the VT shooting, and by association my friends in the shooting community slandered. An adjudicated threat to society without consequence, the commonwealth of Virginia and VT faculty have much to answer for. Ultimately Hui is the responsible party.
Should you choose to review my purchase history you will note that the mainstay of auction activity revolves around hunting and shooting items. If ebay chooses to implement this policy my market needs will no longer be served. Regretfully, I have chosen to close my accounts upon delivery of items currently in transit.

Respectfully,

[wiljen]

I just added this one to his Mailbox.

Mr. Halprin,

I read through your policy changes and see them as nothing more than a way to further someones political agenda. As a Virginia Tech Alumnus, I can assure you that the VT spirit is not to give away our liberties in order to feed the illusion of a safer world. I'm sure the cadets that train at VT today would tell you the same. These new policies will do nothing to curtail senseless acts, they will curtail legitimate trade on your site and send it elsewhere. Auctionarms.com, gunbroker.com, gunsamerica.com, and others should be thanking you for the business you have just sent to them. The majority of my business both buying and selling has been in items that will no longer be allowed so I'll be shopping at the above mentioned sites. It was nice to have a one stop place to shop, but I guess I'll be switching to other places and Visa instead of Ebay and Paypal.

[zipdog]

Good show, Wiljen. I'm a Tech alumnus myself. ME '66. I'm going to send a letter to the school withdrawing my pledge until they decide to do away with the gun ban on campus. There was no such ban when I was there.

[Shiloh]

Good Job Wiljen and Zipdog !! :drinks:

Shiloh :castmine:

[Mr. Reaper]

Screw e-bay. Let them know you are closing your account and why and you will tell everybody and their brother and why. Time to stew in their own juices in my opinion. There are only 200 million gun owners they just alienated...

[leftiye]

On another thread here there was much ado about fleabay being within their rights to choose what they want to sell. This was invariably followed by the static about the writer not agreeing with it but respecting fleabay's right to undertake the action.

As I stated there, this is all well and fine but has nothing to do with our right to do whatever is legal about whatever we dissaprove of- that's the essence of Democracy in a nutshell. Actually, it has nuthin' to do with nuthin'. Whether or not it was their right to do it, we don't violate that right by opposing that action.

We as pro gun individuals owe it to ourselves to shun economically any entity that would curtail our constitutional rights, even if they only voice that desire. I wouldn't be too surprised that if all shooters boycotted Fleabay they (eBay) would see the light. Zumbo the b@$t@*d$

[crazy mark]

Thank you for your recent email to Matt Halprin in regard to changes to
our Firearms, Weapons and Knives policy. He has asked that I review your
email and respond on his behalf.

At eBay we take the safety of our community and our marketplace very
seriously. We have a Trust and Safety team which consists of more than
2,000 experts in online security and safety who are located around the
globe. This team is dedicated to ensuring that our marketplace is a safe
and trusted place for buyers and sellers to engage in trade.

We value an open and transparent marketplace; if items are legal to buy
and sell in an unrestricted manner we allow them on our site. However,
there are some items that while legal, may not be safe for our
marketplace. In these instances, our applicable policies go beyond the
law to ensure that our marketplace is safe.

Currently we do not allow actual firearms on the site. After careful
consideration our executives and our Trust and Safety team determined
that any item required to fire a gun has no place on eBay. All of our
policies are under constant review. As the Internet and the way our
communities use the Internet evolves, our policies and our marketplace
must evolve with it. We determined that this policy change was in the
best interest of promoting a safe marketplace for all members.


Regards,

Kristine
Office of the President
eBay, Inc.


He can't even be bothered to answer his emails. Guns are evil.....baseball bats and tire irons are OK though. Not sure why knives are dangerous....

[Ben]

Everyone that has written has gotten the same silly form-letter sent back to them.

Real convenient.

Ben

[Blackwater]

"Evolve?????" Dang! I'm sure the Founders would have used the word "DEvolve." But what does a dumb redneck like me know about big ol' words like that? Never liked the sumbix, and even LESS now. Let 'em eat spit!

[357maximum]

Obviously the form letter was drafted before or shortly after the decision, I got my copy also.............................................. ..chuckduster01 feedback of 98 and actual of 109................................gone 4ever...they can kiss my one brown eye.

[warf73]

This will be my answer back to EBay.

"At eBay we take the safety of our community and our marketplace very
Seriously. We have a Trust and Safety team which consists of more than
2,000 experts in online security and safety who are located around the
globe. This team is dedicated to ensuring that our marketplace is a safe
and trusted place for buyers and sellers to engage in trade."


Your concern with safety of the community is greatly acknowledged but you must take a bigger step in protecting the community.

EBay must remove auto mobiles, motor cycles, planes, boats and train. All items associated with these modes of travel MUST be removed they are extremely dangerous and cause thousands of deaths each year.

According to the NTSB auto mobiles, motor cycles, planes, boat and trains contributed to over 45,636 deaths in 2005.

Please keep us safe and remove these dangerous modes of travel and there parts from your web site.

Link to the NTSB http://www.ntsb.gov/Pressrel/2006/060918.htm

[BluesBear]

What about all of those overpriced antique toys covered in lead based paint they sell on fleaBay?

What about all of the junk that could be considered chocking hazards?

How about vintage tobacco ads that don't have the surgeon general's warning?

And how about the vintage gun magazines sold on fleaBay? How can they allow the sale of anything that illustrates people having fun using firearms?


First of all they banned photographs of guns.
If you were selling a gun case you couldn't picture it with a gun inside to illustrate size.
If you were selling grips you couldn't show them on an actual gun.
If you were selling a gunsight you couldn't use a photo to show how it looked mounted.
Now they say "anything that has to do with the firing of a gun".
That leads one to believe that you can still sell holsterson fleaBay?
And gun cases are probably still okay because they are "safety items".
But how long will it be before holsters are forbidden because they impliy that someone will carry a gun?
And then cases will be forbidden because they promote ownership of a gun.


Sounds just like the Brady Bunch's tactics.

First you outlaw one little thing. Hopefully no one will notice or complain much.
Then you outlaw something else. You use some sort of warm fuzzy retoric saying it's for safety.
Then you keep banning and outlawing little by little until there's nothing left.


fleaBay's picking and choosing of which portion of the bill of rights they want to live under is okay. In fact it is one of their rights.

But why doesn't fleaBay just stand up and admit that it's owners hate guns?
Instead they just piss on us and tell us it's raining.

[leftiye]

I really don't think for a second that any of us expected anything but bullspit from ebone in response to our emails. We wrote them to tell them how we felt, knowing that they wouldn't care. The only possible thing we have that they care about is money. Make sure you let them know they won't be getting any more of yours. Let them know that any one you know is going to be influenced to do the same. Do whatever you can to make others see this light. We can't afford to make anti gun businesses any more profitable than is the least possible. RATHER, the pro gun businesses need our money!

[montana_charlie]

My letter to Halprin contained an offer to help clear up the kind of misconceptions about 'guns' that his phraseology shows he suffers from.
The reply was the stock message that everyone else has received.

My answer to that reply was...

Suza,
I have received your 'form letter' reply, which is identical to those received by my shooting friends.
As a 'form letter' it states your policy, but does not address the content of my original message to Mr. Halprin.

Is he unable to speak for himself?
Is his attitude one of, "My mind's made up...don't confuse me with facts."?

Your 2000-member Trust & Safety policy team may be experts in 'online safety', but that (alone) gives them no expertise in 'firearm safety'. It is quite evident (from your old policy and your new one) that there is a noticeable lack of understanding in that department.

My offer to Mr. Halprin still stands, if he wishes to make use of it. But I don't need another supercilious response from his secretary.

Cordially,
(signed)

[Adam10mm]

Who cares? Sell the stuff on gunbroker, auctionarms, or the forums. It isn't the end of the world. You aren't going to change eBay's mind so why waste the energy? Seems foolish to me.

[leftiye]

To all of the "nothing can be done" "they're too big, it won't work" "they've got a right to their opinions" " If we boycott them, it'll just polarize the situation, and they'll just bitch at us some more (like THAT is possible)" and etc. advocates. I guess all of the wrong thinking isn't in the airhead anti gun liberal idiot camp. Maybe a retreat at a buddist monastery would help? Maybe not.

Easy answer, Are you going to do what is best for yourself, or are you brainwashed to do what the establishment would have you do- at your own expense. Remember, we were once the establishment. We got where we are by not fighting for what we believe, and by being tolerant and LETTING the opposition have its way. If you're paying attemtion- how tolerant are the anti gun nut jobs?