eBay's New "Eucharist Policy"

It is great to see Catholics rise up with one voice to defend themselves and our Church! It is about time we quit “taking it” when people slander and demean our faith.

After a prolonged struggle and thousands of letters, including mine, eBay has now decided to forbid the sale of the Eucharist on their website. I sent them a very nice “Thank You” letter in response to their decision.  But let’s face it, they didn’t decide to change policies out of the goodness of their heart — but because of the massive uprising of Catholics to protest!

I hope many people also write them and say “Thanks“. You can do it by clicking here.

Here is what they wrote to me:

We understand that the listing of the Eucharist was highly upsetting to Catholic members of the eBay community and Catholics globally.   Once this completed sale was brought to our attention, we consulted with a number of our users, including members of the Catholic Church, concerning what course we should take in the future should a similar listing appear on our site. 

We also consulted with members of other religions about items that might also be highly sacred and inappropriate for sale.  As a result of this dialogue, we have concluded that sales of the Eucharist, and similar highly sacred items, are not appropriate on eBay.  We have, therefore, broadened our policies and will remove those types of listings should they appear on the site in the future.   

As always, we welcome and appreciate the assistance of the community in upholding the rules of our site.  Should you see another Eucharist listed on our site, we encourage you to notify us so we can take appropriate action. Further, we encourage you to directly communicate with the seller.

Members are often unaware that a particular item is offensive to others.  A respectful e-mail to the seller is often all that is needed for the seller to voluntarily remove the item.  We believe this modification strikes the appropriate balance between respect for our community’s values and our goal of providing an open marketplace offering practically anything on earth.

Again, we sincerely appreciate your concern and thank you for communicating your views with us.  Your input has helped us frame a policy that will enable us to better serve our diverse community of users around the world.