June 8, 2021 | Online

eBay is banning everything deemed NSFW

Guess what? You will no longer be able to sell that beautiful painting of your penis on eBay.

That's right, the popular site for selling pretty much anything is about to lay down the law by banning anything it considers Not Safe For Work. The purge begins June 15, 2021.

Banned will be anything that shows "any part of male or female genitalia, anus, or female breasts where the areola or nipple is visible.” As well, “most adult-only items are prohibited” as well as “sexually explicit anime, comics, books, films, animation, manga, hentai, yaoi.”

It's not all doom and gloom. Sex toys in unopened packages are still okay (but your used dildo, Frank, is not!). And strangely enough, Playboy, Playgirl, Mayfair, and Penthouse will be allowed. We wonder if this will extend to our vintage collection of Honcho, Blue Boy and Inches magazines.

Artwork featuring "tasteful" nudes lands in that wonderful middle ground. Some pieces of work will be fine. Other pieces of work will be banned.

eBay says this is all about creating a safer online environment. The changes will make it more difficult for people to spread and monetize revenge porn, for example; or to share material without consent of everyone involved.

“eBay is committed to maintaining a safe and trusted marketplace,” a spokesperson wrote. “Starting June 15, 2021, items showing sexual content or sexually suggestive poses will no longer be allowed on eBay.com. The ‘Everything Else > Adult Only’ will no longer be available as a category. No new listings will be allowed in the Adult Only category and good-til-cancelled listings will be ended upon their renewal date.”

Things that promote hate, guns or conspiracy theories will remain unaffected. Thanks, eBay, for watching out for us.