The days of the “Windfall Money Riches Fortune Gambling Good Luck Spell” ($8.99, returns accepted within 14 days) and “POWERFUL MAGIC SPELL OF WEREWOLF TRANSFORMATION lycan shapeshift vampire haunted” ($15.99, returns accepted) on eBay are coming to an end. You better get your orders for your psychic readings, authentic voodoo dolls, love potions and “powerful money and wealth” spells in now, because starting August 30, the sale of psychic readings, spells and potions will be banned from eBay. Finding a seller ready to give up three wishes from a 1,000 year-old ancient genie for just $5.99 is surely going to get a bit harder after that (that seller of those three wishes, by the way, has 99.8% positive feedback).
Here is eBay’s statement regarding the reasoning behind this decision (via Slate):
We want customers to have great experiences on eBay, and we regularly review categories and update policies to deliver the best shopping and selling experience possible. Based on our long-standing policy restricting the sale of intangible items on eBay, we are discontinuing a small number of categories within the Metaphysical category, as transactions in these categories can be difficult to verify and resolve. We believe this update will enhance the experience on eBay and benefit our customers.
With this year’s Fall Seller Update, eBay is also discontinuing its digital art category, for example, so the company is clearly taking a broader stance against the sale of “intangible items.” That’s not stopping people from protesting the ban on spells and potions, though. About 1,500 people have now signed a petition against this ban. How, after all, can eBay ban these sales when “there are so many people that work so hard to do this everyday, and countless more people who depend on our services! For the few bad apples and problems eBay may have…. is a thousands even millions more successful and happy clients every day!” eBay, the petition argues, still allows the sale of energy crystals, Feng Shui items, rosaries and other items “which have perceived ‘intangible’ abilities and energies associated with them.”
Instead of signing a petition and sending letters to eBay executives, though, I would have expected most of these sellers to just use their magic to convince eBay to reverse this change. They’ll just have to hope eBay itself hasn’t already bought a few “REVERSE ANY SPELL EXTREMELY POWERFUL USING ANCIENT EGYPTION ARTS!!!” spells for $25 to protect itself.
Image credit: eBay seller bythepowerof3.