To Watchers and bidders of 300241202774 - Two (2) Gothic Armour Claw Rings. Approx. size T/U and eBay's weapons policy.

For these people, you have apparently been informed that the item you have been watching, a pair of gothic armour rings, have been removed from eBay, as they contravened their weapons, knives and firarms policy.  Whilst I share their outlook on prevention of supplying weapons to young people, I was staggered that they removed my rings under the premise that they were classed as weapons.  In a fit of lucid frustration and outright bafflement, I sent a reply to eBay last night.  Here it is:-

Dear eBay,

Whilst I appreciate your need to protect your users from sellers of dangerous items such as knives and other weapons and I myself - as a citizen and a parent of three young children - am continually concerned with the presence of knives in the hands of young people on the streets these days, I still find myself baffled at the removal of my listing. If I may make some points, quoting your email;

". . . buying and selling weapons is highly regulated in the UK and Ireland, and may harm eBay and its members, you're not allowed to list weapons on eBay."

First of all, I did not list the items as weapons, as they are not weapons, nor are they intended as such. They are rings - jewellery, however unorthodox looking - pure and simple, as mostly worn by Goths and followers of the black metal music genre, and are widely available elsewhere on eBay. Indeed, one of the rings in my listing, I purchased via eBay around 18 months ago.

Again, quote your email; "Other knives you're not allowed to list include:

- Any stealth knife. This is a knife or spike with a blade or sharp point which is made from a material not readily detected by metal detectors and not designed for domestic use, use in the processing, preparation or consumption of food or as a toy.
- Any knife designed for throwing."

(Something that just occured to me, which I didn't put in the email; what eBay seem to be suggesting in their policy is that having a ring with spikes on can be classed as a weapon, yet having a toy with a spike on is okay. . . . does that sound sensible to you?) to continue:-

Again, my rings were listed as jewellery and not as weapons. I also pointed out in my listing that the rings were made of some form of metal, so your statute of them possibly being stealth knives were eliminated right there, as they'd easily be detected by metal detectors. I did not list them as toys, because they're not, nor did I imply or outright state that they had any other use than as rings. If you removed the listing on the grounds that the rings had pointed elements to it, then you might just as well remove listings for pencils and knitting needles, which would make far more effective weapons than the rings I was selling. Nor did I make any statement or implication that my rings were for any reason designed for throwing; they were rings, so the implication was that they be worn on the finger (between a size T and U, as my listing stated). Again, apply that to the majority of items selling on eBay and you'd be making your living selling cars, wool and collectable postage stamps, as anything else of any decent mass or size could be ably used as a throwing weapon to cause harm to somebody.

My apologies if my tone sounds somewhat vitriolic, but I have been a long-time eBay member and trader, with an impeccable feedback record and customer faith, which I believe has been harmed by your intervention. By pulling my listing on the grounds of breach of your firearms, weapons and knives regulations, it is my belief that you've cast a seed of doubt in the bidders and watchers of those items, tantamount to defamation of character, that I am not entirely an honest trader, whereas I've built my albeit modest reputation on just that - honesty, integrity and reliability.

I do fully appreciate your need to be openly seen to take a stance on traders selling weapons - both overtly and covertly - on eBay and also the need to come down hard on these traders who profit on the glorification of weapons in modern culture, but I am just a small private trader, selling items of my possessions I no longer want, in order to scrape some money together, with a view to treating my partner to a night out - something we've not enjoyed for a number of years, mainly due to lack of finances - as well as some gift items for my children for Christmas. I do fully support and endorse your stance on weapons, but I just wish you'd handle it with a little more common sense; my rings have as much potential as a weapon as anything else; there are many household objects readily available on eBay that would make more effective weapons, if used in the wrong hands.

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My apologies to those who were watching these items.  Oviously, eBay has not yet got back to me with any further explanation for their actions - I only mailed them last night - as I believe they've been somewhat overzealous here.  I don't know if I'll be allowed to relist the item, which annoys me still further, as they had received a bid at the time of withdrawal, but under their definition, an item of jewelery can be classified as a weapon; if that's true of jewelery, then many other supposedly benign items can be classified as same. 

Sellers beware; you might have your listing for a hair-dryer pulled, because it vaguely resembles the shape of a gun!