do you think this is legal? religious discrimination?

[shugah]

does not discriminating based on religion extend to ebay? i came across this auction:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=13769&item=3286955920&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW

and within the listing it states "AUCTION TERMS:~Please read before bidding~ Due to the religious/Christian nature of the items I sell, I will cancel bids on anyone with occult, profane, New Age, pro-abortion, or anti-Catholic user id's, buying or selling histories. This includes but is not limited to items with the following descriptions or content: Wicca, Satanic, Druid, Witchcraft, Pagan, Pornography, Profanity, etc. ~By bidding on my auction you are agreeing to these terms.~ "

i have to admit that my first thought was to get an ebay ID that was something like yay_abortion!_lets_kill_babies! or altar_boys_turn_me_on and bid on all their auctions just to give them the grief of having to cancel them all, but that was just a fleeting thought - funny for a minute, but this really isn't funny. i seem to recall that discrimination based on religion is against the law.

according to the person who listed this auction, what they put in the sale terms is allowed by ebay. i don't know if that makes it legal. by the same token, i'm not sure that this type of discrimination is illegal. is it?

if it is, what can be done about it? if it isn't, is there anything that can be done about it?

[Rowdyboy]

1. I have no idea about the legalities but

its "altar boys" not "alter boys". These are two very different concepts! :)

[shugah]

6. oops!

fixed that on edit! i knew it was wrong when i typed it, but was on to the next thought, so was going to go back and fix it - which i now have, just with a kind reminder ;-)

(LOL, BTW. do you think this person would sell to "alter boys"? ;-) )

[Rowdyboy]

9. I don't know but she scares me!

Its like an updated Lorena Bobbit! LOL!

[MichaelHarris]

2. fleeting thought?

5 bucks says I can talk my nephew into using I-dig-altar-boys as a nick to do it. That boy'll do anything.

[Occulus]

3. Totally legal

it's a private seller.

However, a good tactic would be for as many of us as possible to auction-bomb the seller. Get as many "profane" and "unacceptable" sellers as possible.

Better yet- bid as a "good" person (under this seller's definition) and then use their return address to spam them with porn catalogs and such.

On second thought- that's a freeper ploy. Nevermind. :)

[troublemaker]

4. They can sell to who they want. n/t

[theboss]

5. I would think it's fine; no shoes, no shirt, no service

You can't discriminate on the basis of religion in business transactions. But this seems to be a discrimination on a type of behavior rather than a class of people. Presumably a Catholic or Pagan or whatever with the ID "TOM70" could buy these items.

It's along the lines of a dress code in a restaurant.

I guess there could be an issue on banning Catholic memorabilia as some sort of intereference with the practice of religion, but it's such a minor inconvenience I would have a hard time arguing that it is discriminatory.

[shugah]

8. what if they said they'd sell only to catholics?

what if a search of buying/selling history showed that a bidder might be a democrat? i don't know what gets sold on ebay that indicates a person might be pro-choice, but apparently this person thinks they know.

also, according to ebay, selling or bidding is a legally binding contract. is that not a business transaction?

[theboss]

13. It's Ebay's rules

I don't really know what Ebay's policie are. I've bought three things there in three years.

I'm saying what is Legal to do and not Legal to do. Ebay can state that all restrictions are against the law.

But my question is, in cyberspace, how do you tell a Protestant from a Catholic, Jew or Pagan? I don't see how anyone can really be disriminatory since you are selling to faceless people.

[No2W2004]

7. ebay says

that a seller has the right to refuse bids, so even though it's repugnant, it's fine by ebay's standards....

I like the ideas here....I think I'll use Jebus_loves_beelzebub

[shugah]

10. refusing bids is one thing

and i did research ebay's stance on that. but refusing a bidder, and stating that you will refuse a bidder because of religious belief are disparate matters, dontcha think?

[No2W2004]

11. You're right,

but ebay doesn't say you have to have a reason to refuse a bid, not even a coherent reason. Say I was selling confederate flags, and stated that I would not sell to anyone outside the original confederacy because I think that "yankees" would use my fine hand-stitched, hand crafted flags to use in performance art where the artist would shit on it. Ebay would not have a problem with that. In their view, the seller can refuse anyone's money.

(All situations described are purely hypothetical, as I think the nut case seller as described in the original post is an idiot.)

[shugah]

14. true, true!

no reason necessary for refusing a bid. this person could go around cancelling bids night and day if they wanted (and i kind think they probably do). but they have stated, for all the world to see, that they will cancel bids because of the religious beliefs of bidders.

if you list your flags and cancel bidders you don't like for whatever reason, that's fine. if you state in your auction, "and i won't sell to anyone north of the mason-dixon line, or anyone that has an ID or buying/selling history that indicates they are sympathetic to reparations for slavery or that they are not going to hold this flag as sacred to our struggle..."

where is the line?

[No2W2004]

15. thats the question,

Since in the "terms of auction" I wrote "and i won't sell to anyone north of the mason-dixon line, or anyone that has an ID or buying/selling history that indicates they are sympathetic to reparations for slavery or that they are not going to hold this flag as sacred to our struggle...", as far as selling goes, I'm stupid because I'm refusing to take people's money.

As far as being a human being goes, putting crap like that for everyone to read just shows what an ignorant, backwards prick I am....

I know that I, for one, would take my business else ware for my Satanic needs....

[shugah]

19. yes, the back button

good point. we thinking folk employ it, don't we?

but i think about many things. and this particular auction, when i think about it, PISSES ME OFF! (sorry! i was thinking loud ;-) )

it's not that i am worried about the pagans, new age folk, satanists, etc. in fact, i think it sad that most will dismiss aforementioned as "the fringe."

but, if ebay sellers can state "i won't sell to anyone who believes ____ " without penalty, then that is an ugly can of worms, and one i would guess ashcroft would love to oversee.

[No2W2004]

20. I guess the best thing to do

since ebay has already made the rules, is to point this out to them, and try to get them to change the rules so that you can't discriminate who you sell to based on IDs or where they live or their gender. The whole reason for refusing bids is so you can kick out phoney bidders, or bidders with bad track records.

This person must LOVE Ascroft covering those "naughty" statues

[kichigai usagi]

12. Call me lazy..

but i'd just raise holy hell with EBAY. They are the ones allowing this hypocrit to sell on their site and they have the right to ban his sorry ass from EBAY also. I guess i would get turned down since my ebay ID has my favorite number in it (69!)

[MAlibdem]

16. well, really, what can they do?

how would they know who you are?

[No2W2004]

17. In the original post

the person is basing whether they will sell to you or not purely on your ebay ID. So, if your ID is I_dig_god, you'd be fine, but if your ID is satan's_butt_boi, then you'd get dumped.

[AlFrankenFan]

18. Hmmm...

Report it to E-bay. That kind of restriction should be illegal, considering the numerous times I've been discriminated against for being Jewish.

[Renew Deal]

21. It's been freeped

[No2W2004]

22. Thats just not riiiiight......

:evilgrin: :evilgrin: :evilgrin: :evilgrin: