No more spells, hexes, or prayers on eBay

eBay is banning the sale of spells, hexes, healings, blessings, prayers, and other similar supernaturalia. From CNN:

Beginning in September, the site is banning the sale of "advice, spells, curses, hexing, conjuring, magic, prayers, blessing services, magic potions, [and] healing sessions," according to a policy update.
The company is also eliminating its category listings for psychic readings and tarot card sessions.
Has anyone actually been buying magic on eBay? It seems so: The site's "spells and potions" category currently has more than 6,000 active listings and happy feedback from quite a few satisfied buyers.
"Best spell caster on Ebay," one customer wrote after a recent purchase.
"Wonderful post-spells communication!" another raved. "We bought 4 spells! Highly Recommend!"

"EBay bans sale of spells and hexes"

David Pescovitz is Boing Boing's co-editor/managing partner. He's also a research director at Institute for the Future. On Instagram, he's @pesco.

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Teller

Oh well, back to card tricks over the phone.
- niktemadur
  
  There’s still Craigslist, you know…
Donald Petersen

Thanks for the early warning. I still have a fortnight to get my Christmas shopping done.
Phoc Yu

eBay also closed down the market for “black-market” beer sales. Bottles of some local microbrews were going for upwards of $150!

http://www.7dvt.com/2012hill-farmstead-beer-auction-ebay

They buried the lede….You can’t buy a decorative crack pipe on Etsy anymore.
- http://twitter.com/fossilfuels Funk Daddy
  
  haha I love how crack pipes roll, for years there were and maybe in some places still are, some product or other, be it a flower, or vanilla bean or what have you, being sold in a glass tube with a lil glass holder in one end to keep the flower in place, in so many convenience stores.
  
  I wanted to buy the rose one to give a sweetie so I could later ask them wth why u gotta crack pipe?
BarBarSeven

They also mentioned Etsy at the end of the piece:

Etsy, a platform for homemade goods, also recently prohibited the sale of various items, including drug paraphernalia and body parts.

Must be a bummer to everyone who was using Etsy to sell human skull bongs.
Taniwha

Sigh, my mission in life appears to about to become – go to ebay, find homeopathic remedy, report it as a “magic potion” … it’s going to take a while, I’m going to need some help ….
- daev
  
  I’m in. Came to the comments to say much the same.
http://twitter.com/bbum Bill Bumgarner

…. yet homeopathic crap is still OK….
- Repurposed
  
  I’m sure there’s a community that will rally around to defend it. Probably all in caps.
http://twitter.com/HubrisSonic HubrisSonic

silly muggles, tricks are for kids.
sam1148

So, no rosary beads?
- Antinous / Moderator
  
  Please, oh please, file a class action suit.
- http://insight.pinkonbrown.org/ Dr P Fenderson
  
  What about those magic “Ts” with the little dead dude on them?
http://echofox3.blogspot.com efergus3

So many politicians, so few hexes…
http://twitter.com/BonzoDog1 BonzoDog1

Delaware’s Christine O’Donnell is going have to find a new line of work.
sam1148

The Rosary beads might be a stretch, they are more props.

But the St Joseph icons to use to bury in your yard to sell a home, or a St. Christoper medal would, and should fall under their rules, as the claim is that will help sell your home, and comes with a prayer card.

http://www.catholicsupply.com/christmas/stjoe.html
- Antinous / Moderator
  
  There used to be a St. Joseph statue site that had a splash page where you had to ID yourself as a Realtor (volume discount!) or seller.
  - sam1148
    
    Until recently, I always thought St. Joseph was the patron Saint of Aspirin.
pjcamp

How does one tell when one has successfully purchased one of these?

Oh well. You can still buy someone’s grandma. Or virginity. Or jar full of ghosts.

http://pigjockey.com/2010/03/09/top-10-strangest-things-sold-on-ebay/
- Tribune
  
  well, some apparently can be returned in 14 days…
  - pjcamp
    
    Now that just adds a whole new level of weird.
- gypsyspacemuffin
  
  Or someone’s grandma’s virginity, kept in a jar with ghosts.
BarBarSeven

Hey! But it’s still legal for eBay sellers to promote unlicensed mustache rides?!?

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_sacat=0&_nkw=Mustache+Rides&rt=nc&_dmd=1
Petzl

Thanks a lot, secular-humanists!
we_the_people324

I’m of the opinion if someone is stupid enough to buy spells, hexes, or any supernatural services over ebay they deserve to lose their money. Its the only way they’re going to learn how retarded doing so is.

Prohibiting it is giving the whole process/people involved far more relevance than it deserves.
BarBarSeven

More outrage! eBay is selling “Breast Inspector” badges without asking for paperwork. What if someone who is not qualified gets a badge like this? http://www.ebay.com/itm/U-S-Breast-Inspector-Badge-High-Quality-Harley-Rally-Biker-Pin-/170825278179?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item27c5fae2e3#ht_500wt_917
- Repurposed
  
  I didn’t go through 6 years of breast inspector college for nothing. When I came back from BU, they spat on me.
Tribune

“Are you looking for… the Adult Only login page or help about the Adult Only category”

Plus my ebay search history is now a bit odd
http://www.facebook.com/people/Spitty-Sumo/100002601661770 Spitty Sumo

herpaderpy people who think they have magjickck powers cry “religious persecution” in 3… 2… 1…
- denofthieves
  
  I’m a practicing pagan, or “herpyderpy” person if you will, and I am totally ok with ebays decision. Spiritual advice and services probably should not be sold over the Internet. It’s just so crass. a lot of us don’t even feel money should be exchanged for such thing as they are subjective and intangible. That being said, the ban doesn’t include pagan handcrafts or ritual items (which are tangible) so I don’t see it as discriminatory really. At least not if those rules apply to other religious groups equally, for example can I buy Christian prayers over eBay? How about absolution of my sins? No? Well that’s fine then.
http://twitter.com/sirkowski Sirkowski

200 000 years of evolution… and still doing the rain dance.
Mitch_M

If the buyers are happy with the purchase where is the problem? Can they get around it by saying “for novelty use only”?
SHaGGGz

Religious discrimination class action suit time. Who’s in?
http://twitter.com/fossilfuels Funk Daddy

Everytime I see something like this, some tap of fleeced fool money being closed, I get teh slightest itch about missing all that free money if only I were slightly closer to ammoral.

Homeopaths, yeah, I could also wildcraft some medicine, or just rely on tap water as so many do to get rich or at least paid… stupid niggling backbone keeping me honest wtf yo.
- Hanglyman
  
  You’re not the only one. The urge to make easy money selling water, or sugar pills, or, well, NOTHING to gullible idiots can be pretty frustrating sometimes. On the plus side, at least you have a conscience, one of the few things that can’t be bought for any amount of money.
http://fallsastar.com Crashproof

Coincidentally, I just removed the casters from my desk.
ponzicar

I can see some problems with the concept. What if there is a dispute between the buyer and seller? “He didn’t do the spell right!” “The spirits don’t have to help someone so selfish!”, etc. How could you prove who was right?
- Antinous / Moderator
  
  Is that really any worse than getting a sweater vest with three armholes?
  - Mike The Bard
    
    Yes. There’s a physical object to point to, which a neutral third party can make a ruling on: Yes/No, that Is/Isn’t what you ordered.
    
    Subjective personal experiences, almost by definition, are difficult or impossible to do that with.
- Repurposed
  
  When my magic doesn’t work, I usually appeal to the Dungeon Master.
http://theladyfingers.blogspot.com/ Ladyfingers

If only I’d thought to do this before I found out I couldn’t.
sam1148

I don’t think they’ve thought their cunning plan through.
darkjayson

I think it has to do with the fact there selling non physical services rather than physical objects than just because there occult. Are there any other services that are aloud to be sold on ebay?
http://disqus.com/Kimmoth/ Kimmo

Suck shit, sleazy bullshit peddlers!

: D
ImmutableMichael

Oh the irony…. I’m seeing this page with a banner ad promoting http://www.julia-clairvoyance.com/

I was hoping it was a parody but alas it was not, although she is billed as “extra lucid”.
- TooGoodToCheck
  
  I just logged in to say basically the same thing. The context-sensitive advertising on this page is for asknow dot com, and they are encouraging me to click to “Ask a Free Psychic Question”
  
  Although if I were actually able to ask Psychic Questions, I’m not sure what use i would have for asknow
- Teller
  
  Extra lucid. Now there’s a goal worth reaching.
Sebastian Gravina

Darn it! Now I have to go all the way to Darnassus in order to get my spells. Not cool… :)
Ito Kagehisa

I cast the spell that made eBay do this.
Mike The Bard

Another Pagan here, one who actually does tarot readings at that. I’m actually fine with the eBay policy- rosaries, St Joseph statues, and any of my handcrafts are still allowed because they are tangible goods.

The problem was that eBay was becoming a middleman for transactions which could not actually be proven to have taken place.

If sell a wand online, the customer has a physical item, a shipping label, and a return address. If there’s an issue, there’s something to point to, even if that issue can be summed up with “not happy with purchase”. If I do a tarot reading for someone in person, they’re paying me for my time rather than for any advice or insight. If someone sells a service like that online, well, there’s no way to prove whether they actually did anything, or just pasted a form email response.
- denofthieves
  
  Exactly. I really don’t trust most of the ritual services you can buy online to truly be carried out, or to be carried out as they are often described. Under a full moon under the right stars etc. it all sounds very unlikely. Also, ritual work tends to only be effective if the practitioner is personally and emotionally invested in the outcome. Even if you are a person who believes wholeheartedly in the efficacy of magick, it’s just not a good investment. Do it yourself and you will be much better off. I generally don’t charge for readings, some people insist, in which case I usually just use the cash to buy lunch for a homeless guy. But the I don’t need to make a living that way. The only service I’ve ever charged for is performing handfastings.
  
  Honestly as pagans we have way bigger issues facing us, and it seems a bit silly to worry about this sort of thing.
Greg Webster

Note that this is not banning only non-physical items, but also physical items with alleged magical properties. Let’s see if they extend this to Catholic prayer beads and crosses.