Banned Items - Offensive material?

spugzbunny

Hello!

Ebay are driving me nuts so I thought I'd ask for advice here! I am trying to sell a First Edition of Mein Kampf through ebay - purely for collector purposes I don't want to upset anyone! A number of other people are selling the exact same book. If you search for mein kampf 1939 you will see the item I have - it is the hurst and blackett copy. If you click completed listings you will also see the book succesfully sold through ebay.

My problem is ebay have pulled it because it is offensive. Although I understand that it is against their policy, they have not been able to explain why others have been allowed to sell the exact same book! It's so frustrating!

Has anyone any ideas? Or can anyone suggest an alternative>? Amazon is a possibility I guess.

Thanks,

Caroline

montyrebel

Why would you have bought this horrible book in the first place?Dont sell it, just burn it

cyberbob

There seems to be a lot of Nazi related stuff being pulled at the moment. The reason others have got away with it is no one has reported them. If someone does they will probably get pulled.

I would not try and relist as it will only get pulled again. I think your best bet of selling it is finding a specialist book dealer or Militaria expert or even talk to your local Auction house as they may be able to advise you.

frivolous_fay

spugzbunny wrote: »

My problem is ebay have pulled it because it is offensive. Although I understand that it is against their policy, they have not been able to explain why others have been allowed to sell the exact same book! It's so frustrating!

You got reported... they didn't.

cyberbob

montyrebel wrote: »

Why would you have bought this horrible book in the first place?Dont sell it, just burn it

I dont like it or agree with it but at least I have read it. Have you? Shall we just burn all history then good or bad? Did you agree with the burnings of the Satanic verses? Next stop burning Harry Potter and Mr Men Books eh!

worbikeman

montyrebel wrote: »

Why would you have bought this horrible book in the first place?Dont sell it, just burn it

That's what the Nazis did. We are better than them, are we not?

rsykes2000

I know Germany has a ban on the sale of this sort of thing,due to worries over neo-nazis wanting it as celebratory literature, maybe if you stated you would post to Europe or worldwide this could be the problem ?

Official policy :
http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/policies/offensive.html
eBay has always exercised judgment in allowing or disallowing certain listings consistent with the spirit of a world wide community. Therefore, eBay will judiciously disallow listings or items that promote hatred, violence, or racial intolerance, including items that promote organizations (such as KKK, Nazi, neo-Nazis, Aryan Nation) who profess such views. For example, eBay will generally remove items that bear the marks of such organisations, such as relics from the KKK or certain Nazi memorabilia.

My own view is that it should be fine to sell this sort of thing. Alomg the lines of "if we don't learn from history, we are doomed to repeat it", as has been said many times over the last couple of hundred years.

StaffsSW

montyrebel wrote: »

Why would you have bought this horrible book in the first place?Dont sell it, just burn it

Have a google for "Bebelplatz Berlin". You will then understand the irony of what you have just said
Or click this link and read the first paragraph - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazi_book_burnings

rsykes2000 wrote: »

Alomg the lines of "if we don't learn from history, we are doomed to repeat it", as has been said many times over the last couple of hundred years.

Indeed - and having spent time studying in Germany, visiting sites, speaking to survivors and also some elderly people who were involved, there is a generation growing up in the UK that are ignorant of, or just do not understand the magnitude of significance of what occured relatively recently right on our doorstep.

Going back to the OP - does it have the Nazi insignia on the front cover? That is almost a sure fire way to have model figures, books, literature and even copies of the 1970's board game Colditz removed.

spugzbunny

Hi - Thanks everybody! I was a little bit apprehensive about posting in case I was deemed a Nazi hate mongering evil doer! I appreciate all your replies and yes it was bought because I was interested in the history and mind behind such a terrible human being. In all honesty it's a awful read!

Yes it does have the Nazi insignia on the front. I'm wondering if someone who has viewed another my items for sale has reported it. I may leave it a week or so and list it through my BFs account. If that fails then off to Amazon it goes. Unfortunately it has annotations in the text so I think it is probably worth £50 - £75.

TurkishDelight

You might be able to put it under collectible as it is first edition? (Selling books isn't really my strong point, but I found you a link) http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-listing/B000JJUHU0/sr=8-8/qid=1248267210/ref=olp_tab_collectible?ie=UTF8&coliid=&me=&qid=1248267210&sr=8-8&seller=&colid=&condition=collectible

Smart_But_Casual

I would suggest that it's the symbology that got it pulled.