Ebay And WW II Swastika Medal question?

Hello,
I have afriend who wants me to sell his small collection of authentic World War II German medals. It is not a huge collection but apx 50-60 medals. I know that they can not be sold on ebay because of their rules. I was just wondering if anyone had used any other sites to sell such related items. I have been looking alittle at ioffer but thought I would get some opinions first.
Thanks

 

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try e-bid.net

 

I thought that e-bay would still let you sell nazi militaria, you just cant use the word nazi, and you must cover any swastika on the item. I have seen items with the offensive areas blacked out....search german militaria see if you get any.....I stand corrected, I just searched german wwII and saw plenty of items; coins and otherwise with nazi in the title and swastika pictures on the gallery...

 

eBay's 'Offensive Material Policy'

 

eBid:

Offensive material

"What we deem "offensive". eBid may at its discretion, remove items and refund listing fees. eBid reserves the right to determine the appropriateness of listings posted to our site. There can be cultural differences and sensitivities. Please be careful to post items that are appropriate for our global community."

 

Here in Germany I would suggest Münzauktion (http://www.muenzauktion.com/ or http://www.muenzauktion.info/). Might also be worth a try if you are elsewhere ...

Christian

 

EBay will pull any auctions of German militaria that shows the swaz. They have been doing it for years. I suguest http://www.wehrmacht-awards.com/forums/index.php. A forum similar to this one that does German militaria. Also I trust this militaria dealer. His name is Robert, Let him know that LostDutchman / Matt Dinger sent you (that's me) and he'll take care of you. You can find him here:

http://www.collectortocollectormilitaria.com/

 

Ihave bought several WWII german coins and notes with swastikas on them on ebay.

 

Coins & medals of the German Third Reich (Nazi) absolutely MAY be bought and sold on Ebay, with the swastika displayed. And, contrary to the beliefs of many, "Nazi" coins are freely traded in Germany: privately, in shops and in major auctions, and they are completely legal to own, buy and sell. -Preussen

 

I also tried to but a few items that had the swastica, they were insta-pulled .... 8 months after I still have them

 

I have a friend that collected German WW II medals, and had much the same problem on ebay. The other problem is that unless the medals are all very common type medals and not some of the more elite or better or lesser known they will be hard to sell because they will need to be authenticated before they can be sold. When an authentic Knight's Cross can go for $8000 depending on the manufacturer then many attempt to forge a knights cross.

 

Have no idea about eBay's rules regarding items that the company considers to be offensive. Some sellers there apparently cover the swastika in their auctions. While that is not required by German law, it may be necessary due to eBay's policy, dunno. What is not allowed here in DE is selling, hmm, non-contemporary items - such as a nazi propaganda medal made some time in the past ~65 years. But sure, you can buy and sell such pieces here - see my previous post where I referred to Münzauktion for example.

Christian

 

The rule of thumb for eBay is whether or not the items were used by the German citizens (there being no alternative) which is why coins, paper money & stamps are permitted. Anything military or political-related is against policy. It is also my understanding that ebay doesn't necessarily look for forbidden items, they only respond to complaints, so it is possible for a banned item to run the entire 7 days & not get pulled. I deal extensively in WW2-era militaria & have sold many, many Nazi items on eBay over the years...sometimes they get pulled & sometimes they don't. The worst that can happen if your listing does get pulled is that you've wasted a bit of time, the listing fees get refunded.

If anyone needs any help selling any of these items, let me know, I can help.

 

If you violate the EBay rules regarding that stuff multiple times you account can get suspended. Coins and bills and books are ok... the rest is no good whether you cover the swastika or not.

 

There is nazi money with swastikas all over eBay, the very first 3 coins that pop up for a search of the term 'German Coins' are Nazi era coins.

 

I've often wondered why eBay also has specific categories for Nazi militaria, which is strictly forbidden.

 

i dont know what state u are in ... but there is a guy in Connecticut that buys whole collections and sells none. he bought my entire collection and pays pretty well. He maybe could lead u to a good place or someone in your area. He works close with the people from "On the Road Antiques show" and has contacts all over the place. His name is Don number 203-262-6560 or email chainshot@aol.com or troianicollector.com hope it helps

 

As for the part of E-Bay not looking for certain items, this is true. Think about all the counterfeit coins being sold on there all the time. If E-Bay was actually doing their job and preventing items like this(which are offensive to many) and counterfeits from being sold, then a lot of people would not be able to sell on there at all.They are more worried about peple putting a uncertified grade on a coin than actually seeing if it is real or not.

 

I've always found it interesting that they had strict rules about Nazi stuff, but would let kooks and nutcakes try to sell stolen Holy Eucharists! Now there's a truly progressive company!

 

Ebay accused me of hatred and racism....

I listed a German 1939 War Merit medal which was a non-military issue given to CIVILIANS who worked in factories. Since the medal displays a swastika on one side, I had an image of only the side with the inscription "For War Merit" (In German.)
In addition, I blocked the sale to all countries except the US, stated in the text that it was for sale only to collectors of militaria in the US, that it would not be shipped to countries where such items were against the law, and was being sold only as a historical item.
A potential bidder wrote and asked this question:
Dear frankcoins,
Hi I was wondering what the translation of the inscription is. Thanks for
your kind reply......Cortland.
-cortland248

I replied AS A PRIVATE MESSAGE with a link to this wikipedia article
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_Merit_Medal

and mentioned that I could not show an image of the side with the swastika as to not offend eBay.

Well a few hours later, ebay ended the listing, and I noticed that on my Seller Dashboard, my "policy compliance" went from "high" to "low" instantly for THIS ONE ITEM and I am guilty of "HATRED AND DISCRIMINATION."

I called my customer service representative and he said this could probably be removed because I was an 11 year ebay seller and a $49.95 per month store owner , but he needed to check with his supervisor. After about 15 minutes on hold, his tone changed to that of scolding me like I was a child, that "hatred" was "the most serious violation of all" on ebay, but WORST OF ALL, he cited the private message with the potential buyer as proof that I "KNEW I WAS DOING WRONG" and that KNOWINGLY doing wrong is much more serious than INNOCENTLY doing wrong, because it was a MATTER OF HEART.

(Anyone else find it disturbing that they can sanction you on information NOT IN THE LISTING that you communicate by private message?)

He suggested that I didn't understand the wrongness of hatred and Nazism (I am a 53 year old patriotic Texan, whose Dad and uncle both served in World War 2 combat zones...so having some young kid in India lecture me about the wrongness of the Nazis and my "state of heart" made me blow my stack.) I told him to F--- himself and hung up on him, so now I fully expect to have eBay totally ban me.