Ebay is dumping on all hunters

[flairboater]

***Message from Matt Halprin "“ New Listing Restrictions on Gun Parts***




July 30, 2007 | 10:00AM PST/PT









Matt Halprin

Hello everyone"¦In mid-August, we will be updating our Firearms, Weapons and Knives Policy to place more restrictions around gun-related items. Once these changes take effect, we will prohibit listings of any firearm part that is required for the firing of a gun. This includes items like bullet tips, brass casings and shells, barrels, slides, cylinders, magazines, firing pins, trigger assemblies, etc. Please read the Firearms, Weapons and Knives Policy for more details on our current policy.
As you may know, eBay does not allow the listing of any items which are regulated by individual states or the federal government; however, there are still a large number of firearm-related parts that are legal and are widely available in retail stores. These items have also historically been allowed on eBay.
After learning that some items purchased on eBay may have been used in the tragedy at Virginia Tech in April 2007, we felt that revisiting our policies was not only necessary, but the right thing to do. After much consideration, the Trust & Safety policy team "“ along with our executive leaders at eBay Inc. "“ have made the decision to further restrict more of these items than federal and state regulations require.
This new update continues to encourage safety among our community members and brings our policies in the U.S. and Canada in closer alignment with our existing policies in other markets around the globe.
Sincerely,
Matt Halprin
Vice President, Trust & Safety
THIS IS MY RESPONCE
Mr. Halprin,
I am disappointed that you and the Ebay company are turning anti-American in your decision to eliminate the avenue for Americans to facilitate the right to bear arms.
Most of my purchases have been in the field of hunting and that is, forthe most part, gun related. So as your new policies go into effect I will have very little reason to shop on Ebay, Therefore the monies, a considerable amount,thatwould have been spent at your company sites will be spent else where. As foryourreasoning that some parts sold through Ebay "MIGHT"have been used at Virginia Techis ludicrous and even if one or more parts might have been involved, to make such a change in policy is ridiculous. The simple fact is thousandsmore Americans are killed, injured and maimed everyday by automobiles and yet you are stepping up your promotion for Ebay Motors. Why would you notinclude the automobiles in this effort to " encourage safetyamong our community members"?
The last paragraph in your policy change statementreally smacks of true anti-Americanism and seems to try to promote communism.
The changes that Ebay is going to initiateare truly a huge disappointment to those of us who believe in the Constitution and the 2nd amendment. Punishing the law-abiding citizens on a "may have been used" is as close to Gestapo tactics as I've ever seen.
I hope for your or your loved ones sake that you never have defend against some individual armed with a gun, knife, car, baseball bat, rock or any other device that could cause injury or death and not have the means to do so. I understand that the idea is for the police to provide protection but they, 99% of the time, arrive after the fact.
The real shame is the management of Ebay has proven that they do not support the Constitution of this United States of America
Bill Sandberg
1616 Wyoming Dr Se
Palm Bay, Florida

[flairboater]

I would like to know your thoughts on this topic

[BigTiny]

I have posted this here before, but here goes...

Stop buying sporting goods on ebay. Email ebay sporting goods sellers to let them know they just lost your business and tell them they can find you on gunbroker or some other site like it. The sellers will find you. Their margins will probably be better on another site anyway.

If you get really mad, stop using ebay altogether, you had to buy stuff somewhere before there was ebay, right?

How many NRA members are there? What if they all stopped using ebay and went somewhere else?

[flairboater]

Yea, what BIG TINY said.
To bad some one doesn,t start another sight for the sales and support of our sport. It has been my experience that the Ebay auctions generally are more expensive than online retail stores anyway. But you can find the stores on the Ebay sight then go to their web sights and get better buys rather than getting a bidding war with people that don't know the value of the items they are bidding on. Learn to shop on the web and you will find better deals than Ebay can offer.Our own forum has a Clssified section and you don't have to deal with 'Bidding War Fools".

[nvshooter]

I have never used EBAY and now I never will. i would rather support my local mom & pop gun store even if it means paying a little more.

[hillbillyhunter1]

I think that although they are a private company and have no official responsibility to insure or provide methods/products that enable us to insure our 2nd amendment rights, it is still a shame to see them execute this new policy. Essentially closing one more avenue to outdoorsmen.

If we value our 2nd amendment rights and outdoor heritage as one of the things we hold most sacred then we should make the wise decision to pursue other avenues when at all possible ourselves (gunbroker.com, etc), even when it comes to non-hunting/shooting related stuff. Money is the only real tool we have to combatcorporate genuflecting to the anti-gun a la mode.

[DougMD]

Ridiculous PC BS that makes no sense! Go to ebay and search on "knife" and see how many thousand hits you get. Those aren't knifePARTS, but knives themselves.

[BenGarrett]

How did eBay become as successful as they are? With a decision like this, one has to wonder. This new policy will not attract new business for them. On the other hand, judging by the volume of reloading components and gun parts listed on the site, they will lose a small chunk of business. And any melonhead with an IQ over 50 or so has to realize that this is not going to help save a single life or make anyone safer, since these same parts can be purchased at the nearest neighborhood Wal-Mart. It reeks of political correctness, but the fallout from their decision has the potential to be much bigger than any feel-good fuzzy feeling they get from this.

Also, I can't help but feel we're being lied to about Wo Ching Louey or whatever his name was purchasing gun parts from eBay to use in the Virginia Tech shootings. There has been no mention of that in any press reports. And that's something the press would've been all over. They hunted down the owner of a little unknown gun shop where the gun was purchased and interviewed him. The concept of the gunman ordering parts of his killing tools online and having them delivered to his front door would've had reporters salivating.

Still, stopping the sale of a certain product becuse it was used in a shooting is akin to Wal-Mart jerking beer from its shelves because someone purchased beer, drove drunk and killed someone. If eBay is truly interested in playing saviour to the world and making us all safer, they're going to have to pull any auction that includes items that could be used in murder. THAT should make their volume of listings decrease substantially.

[falcon]

i agree with BigTiny. We need to stop buying stuff from e-Bay.

[CalHunter]

I have never used ebay or paypal (owned by ebay) and never will. I am amazed at how many gunowners don't look at restrictive policies against guns and still shop at places like ebay. There are numerous website alternatives for everything you could want, not just guns.