eBay bans ivory sales

In response to growing pressure from international law enforcement agencies and conservation groups, eBay, the online auction giant, announced it would ban all commerce in ivory, including most heirlooms, to avoid providing a market that would encourage the slaughter of endangered elephants.

The global ban on ivory sales will be enforced starting January 1, 2009.  Exceptions to the ban include products made before 1900 that contain small amounts of ivory.

The announcement came ahead of  a report by the International Fund for Animal Welfare that over a six-week period tracked more than 7,000 posts offering body parts of protected wildlife, including pelts, teeth, bones, horns, and feathers. The report, titled “Killing with Keystrokes” [PDF], found that the United States was responsible for more than 70 percent of the trade, an amount nearly 10 times more than the two countries with the next highest volume, Great Britain and China. Nearly three-fourths of the posts were for ivory products.

By far, the single largest seller was eBay, with 73 percent of the total posts tracked on US websites.

The online auctioneer tried a limited ban on ivory last year, blocking all cross-border sales. According to eBay’s official blog, that ban attempted “to balance the protection of endangered and protected species while also providing a way for sellers to offer legitimate ivory products legally allowed for sale within domestic markets.”

But the illicit ivory sales continued. “…given the complexities of the global ivory trade, and the distinct and unique characteristics of the eBay Marketplace,” says eBay’s blog , “the sale of any ivory on our site continued to be a concern within the company and among stakeholders.”

In speaking with the International Herald Tribune, eBay spokeswoman Nichola Sharpe said, “It’s just so complicated.  As we’ve said over the years, we are not experts” in the items bought and sold through the site.

“We don’t have possession of the items,” she said. “We never allow anything illegal to be sold. Where there are complex laws, we work with a number of stakeholders to make sure we are in compliance. That’s especially true with ivory.”

Last year, the company instituted a ban on international sales of elephant ivory products, but Jeffrey Flocken of the animal welfare fund said it “has not worked at all.”