# Ebay is banning listings of confederate flags and related items. **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [June 23, 2015, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-is-banning-listings-of-confederate-flags-and-related-items/723258 "2015-06-23T16:50:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2015, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-is-banning-listings-of-confederate-flags-and-related-items/723258/1 "2015-06-23T16:50:52Z")
[http://www.cnbc.com/id/102781633](http://www.cnbc.com/id/102781633) > [@](#): > > eBay’s decision comes after Wal-Mart Stores Inc and Sears Holdings Corp said they would stop selling products bearing the Confederate flag on Monday, a week after a white gunman shot nine dead at a historically black South Carolina church. Amazing. This is obviously gaining momentum. ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2015, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-is-banning-listings-of-confederate-flags-and-related-items/723258/2 "2015-06-23T17:15:09Z")
Apparently flag sellers in Canada have removed them from their inventory! Now that’s momentum! ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2015, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-is-banning-listings-of-confederate-flags-and-related-items/723258/3 "2015-06-23T17:57:01Z")
Hopefully they burn them to donate them to a museum where they can be displayed next to proper context ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2015, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-is-banning-listings-of-confederate-flags-and-related-items/723258/4 "2015-06-23T18:04:39Z")
What’s the debate? ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2015, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-is-banning-listings-of-confederate-flags-and-related-items/723258/5 "2015-06-23T18:33:37Z")
The debate is it’s just a flag, stars and bars, a historical artifact. No doubt more people were killed by the USSR than confederates, and yet the USSR flag still remains. Do an [eBay search for Nazi flag](http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2050601.m570.l1313.TR11.TRC2.A0.H0.Xnazi+flag.TRS1&_nkw=nazi+flag&_sacat=0) and you might be surprised (at least here in the US, I’m sure it doesn’t appear in searches from Germany, France, and various other countries.) Will they also ban [album covers?](http://www.ebay.com/itm/HANK-III-HANK-3-HANK-WILLIAMS-III-Rebel-Within-LP-NEW-SEALED-/161651414707)[Toy cars?](http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-ERTL-1-64-Dukes-of-Hazzard-GENERAL-LEE-COP-CAR-/260809227029) This just seems like a knee-jerk reaction more than a reasoned policy. eBay can do what it wants though, they have been spiraling down the drain for some years now. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2015, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-is-banning-listings-of-confederate-flags-and-related-items/723258/6 "2015-06-23T18:39:11Z")
That’s the debate. Does this achieve anything meaningful or is it just PR on the part of Ebay (and others)? Is it the right thing to do or is it a knee-jerk reaction? But I don’t quite get why **control-z** thinks this is eBay “spiraling down the drain”. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2015, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-is-banning-listings-of-confederate-flags-and-related-items/723258/7 "2015-06-23T18:56:29Z")
> [@davidm](#): > > That’s the debate. Does this achieve anything meaningful or is it just PR on the part of Ebay (and others)? Is it the right thing to do or is it a knee-jerk reaction? > > But I don’t quite get why **control-z** thinks this is eBay “spiraling down the drain”. Just PR is my view. I don’t think eBay is a hotbed marketplace for violent white supremacists and this won’t do much more than get eBay in the news. Maybe that is why eBay did it, they probably totaled up how much revenue they got from any item mentioning “confederate” and decided the news coverage of a ban far outweighed the revenue loss from not selling the items. I don’t think the specific act of banning confederate flags sent eBay spiraling down the drain, but an inconsistent knee-jerk reaction would be an example of another bad eBay policy. eBay seems to have gotten generally anti-seller, such as not allowing sellers to leave negative feedback for buyers and taking a cut of seller shipping costs. But that’s another topic. ---
**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2015, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-is-banning-listings-of-confederate-flags-and-related-items/723258/8 "2015-06-23T19:09:06Z")
Now _this_ I am against. Censoring government speech is fine, but it is not a good thing for corporations to use their control of the market to suppress private speech. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2015, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-is-banning-listings-of-confederate-flags-and-related-items/723258/9 "2015-06-23T19:16:29Z")
> [@Grumman](#): > > Now _this_ I am against. Censoring government speech is fine, but it is not a good thing for corporations to use their control of the market to suppress private speech. I don’t see this as ‘suppressing private speech’ at all. If I had, say, a consignment store, I wouldn’t accept ISIS-themed, Al-Qaeda-themed, Nazi-themed or Confederate-themed memorabilia. That’s not ‘suppressing private speech’ – it’s my private store, and I get to choose what ‘speech’ is displayed in it. I don’t see how it’s any different for eBay or any other retailer. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2015, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-is-banning-listings-of-confederate-flags-and-related-items/723258/10 "2015-06-23T19:19:30Z")
Just don’t stop showing reruns of Dukes of Hazzard because of the confederate flag on the General Lee. ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2015, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-is-banning-listings-of-confederate-flags-and-related-items/723258/11 "2015-06-23T19:22:22Z")
I agree. We should stop showing reruns of DoH because it sucks. ---
**Author:** ![PSXer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/48db29/32.png) [@PSXer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PSXer)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2015, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-is-banning-listings-of-confederate-flags-and-related-items/723258/12 "2015-06-23T20:12:35Z")
Just goes to show you freedom is dead in america. if you have different viewpoints from the rest of the country too fucking bad ---
**Author:** ![ZPG\_Zealot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e47c2d/32.png) [@ZPG\_Zealot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZPG_Zealot)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2015, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-is-banning-listings-of-confederate-flags-and-related-items/723258/13 "2015-06-23T20:13:08Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > I don’t see this as ‘suppressing private speech’ at all. If I had, say, a consignment store, I wouldn’t accept ISIS-themed, Al-Qaeda-themed, Nazi-themed or Confederate-themed memorabilia. That’s not ‘suppressing private speech’ – it’s my private store, and I get to choose what ‘speech’ is displayed in it. I don’t see how it’s any different for eBay or any other retailer. How do you feel about a baker’s right to refuse to make a cake displaying the confederate flag or otherwise celebrating the Confederacy? ---
**Author:** ![Robert163](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/4af34b/32.png) [@Robert163](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robert163)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2015, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-is-banning-listings-of-confederate-flags-and-related-items/723258/14 "2015-06-23T20:17:31Z")
> [@PSXer](#): > > Just goes to show you freedom is dead in america. if you have different viewpoints from the rest of the country too fucking bad right because wearing a confederate flag t shirt or having that decal on your truck or flying the flag in your front yard are all illegal ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2015, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-is-banning-listings-of-confederate-flags-and-related-items/723258/15 "2015-06-23T20:43:09Z")
> [@andros](#): > > I agree. We should stop showing reruns of DoH because it sucks. But so did Daisy Duke, and you had no problem 'tall 'tall with that, didja? This will make the “coal rollers” a lot easier to spot, since they’re all going to sport 10-foot stars’n’bars now. ETA: God, these threads go down the shitter fast. From major retailers refusing to sell CF emblems to “people will be arrested for having t-shirt versions”… uh, no. Nothing stopping anyone from wearing a CF flag shirt (Abbie, where are you now that you’re really needed?) and being just as proud of it as any Aryan Nation skinhead in his new swastika shirt. ---
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2015, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-is-banning-listings-of-confederate-flags-and-related-items/723258/16 "2015-06-23T20:52:06Z")
Banning the flying of the Confederate battle flag over the South Carolina statehouse? Absolutely. It needs to happen yesterday. Without a doubt. Banning the selling of the flag on ebay? Kneejerk publicity move, but certainly their right to do so. ---
**Author:** ![CGav8r](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/34f0e0/32.png) [@CGav8r](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CGav8r)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2015, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-is-banning-listings-of-confederate-flags-and-related-items/723258/17 "2015-06-23T20:57:33Z")
I feel bad for all of the racists that now have to go farther afield to get their Rebel Flags. ☹ _sniff_ It’s a sad day in 'Merica when businesses make business decisons on what they will sell. It’s like we live in Russia, or something. ---
**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2015, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-is-banning-listings-of-confederate-flags-and-related-items/723258/18 "2015-06-23T21:03:16Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > I don’t see this as ‘suppressing private speech’ at all. If I had, say, a consignment store, I wouldn’t accept ISIS-themed, Al-Qaeda-themed, Nazi-themed or Confederate-themed memorabilia. That’s not ‘suppressing private speech’ – it’s my private store, and I get to choose what ‘speech’ is displayed in it. I don’t see how it’s any different for eBay or any other retailer. Because companies like eBay are, if not strictly monopolies, members of oligopolies with significant monopolistic power that do not suffer from the problems of finite capital to buy stock and finite space to store stock that would make being more picky an inevitability. If Walmart doesn’t want to sell Confederate-themed items they can rightly say that by buying Confederate-themed items and assigning shelf space for those items, they would be crowding out some other item that they could be selling, but now lack either the money or the space to sell. EBay or their subsidiary Paypal cannot use that excuse. > [@ZPG\_Zealot](#): > > How do you feel about a baker’s right to refuse to make a cake displaying the confederate flag or otherwise celebrating the Confederacy? The cake decorator is being hired as an artist, and doesn’t have any obligation to produce a specific piece of art just because they are offered a commission to do so. But if somebody wanted to buy a plain cake for their party to celebrate the anniversary of the Battle of Fort Sumter, a cake is a cake. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2015, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-is-banning-listings-of-confederate-flags-and-related-items/723258/19 "2015-06-23T21:09:20Z")
> [@CGav8r](#): > > It’s a sad day in 'Merica when businesses make business decisons on what they will sell. Well, actually, most businesses make decisions based on what \*will \*sell, limited only by laws and what they call “ethics” - defined as, “if we piss too many people off, they won’t buy even our products that they want.” ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2015, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-is-banning-listings-of-confederate-flags-and-related-items/723258/20 "2015-06-23T21:11:13Z")
> [@PSXer](#): > > Just goes to show you freedom is dead in america. if you have different viewpoints from the rest of the country too fucking bad What, like the viewpoint that it’s ok to own black people? Again, people misunderstand the concept of “freedom” and particularly the First Amendment. Ebay is a private corporation. They are well within their rights to not use their service to support the sale of items which are illegal, dangerous, or controversial. Hell, they can decide not to sell items just because they are orange. If someone wants a Confederate Flag, I’m sure there are places one can buy them. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-is-banning-listings-of-confederate-flags-and-related-items/723258.md?page=2)