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The Skeptics group I'm in has scored a major victory: eBay has banned the sale of magic spells and potions!

As of Aug. 30 the following merchandise and services are perma-banned from eBay:

• Advice
  
• Blessing Services
  
• Conjuring
  
• Curses
  
• Healing Sessions
  
• Hexing
  
• Magic
  
• Magic Potions
  
• Prayers
  
• Spells

Now ... if we could just get eBay to include Acupuncture, Homeopathy, and other hucksterisms, we'll be well on our way to a fact-based society instead of the faith-based muddle we're all in now.

A few more victories like this, and I'll be back to posting daily on WP!

Acupuncture is not bunk, though the others usually are unless you go to the amazon.

A fool and his money are soon parted.

There's a part of me that believes anyone stupid enough to buy this crap deserves what they get.

You're more compassionate than I am.

Advice is banned? Ohhh service, I immediately thought of books that give advice, such as fitness books.

A guy sold his soul on ebay before. I saw it.

I didn't buy the two I have (plus the one inside me) on ebay, I bought them at a party. Really. I have their signed contracts in the "jar o souls" thats in my closet over by the good shoes that hurt me to wear.

Oh, great. What am I supposed to do with all this snake oil?

Seriously, though, more quality control can't be bad.

The rain forest or the mythical tribe?

I actually don't get this thread. What is considered magic? Tarot cards? Magic tricks and paraphernalia like magic coins and rings? Magic the Gathering? Books of magic spells? Magic instruction videos? Seems like a pretty big category to get rid of. Just saying.

BTW, I checked just now. When you type 'magic' on ebay, it pops up with 633,469 results. To ban all of these on August 30th seems improbable, no?

Thanks for your efforts. However, acupuncture is not bogus. It actually does help some people with some problems. It is often helpful with joint and muscle problems. The real problem with it is that it is sometimes used for treating other things that it is not able to help with. Based on my own research, the needles help by interfering with pain signals passing along nerve pathways. Both pain and the inflammation that causes it, can interfere with healing due to body chemicals involved in the pain cycle. Because of this the reduction in pain can stimulate some healing, so there is then a reduction in inflammation, which can also help reduce the pain even more. That's a big part of why it works.

Some, but not all homeopathy works, too. You just have to be careful and do your research.

Aroma therapy has a small amount of benefit, but there is a little. I do know that smelling bad things bothers me, and smelling things like some fruits or peppermint tea have a mood boosting effect, so that is a benefit. Smelling bananas is on my list of bad smells. I can't stand the smell or taste of them. Ugh! So I guess this proves I am not descended from apes.

While I agree this stuff is all a bunch of BS, why would you feel so impassioned about prohibiting it from Ebay? All that crap is mostly novelty, and in some ways it's kind of funny. In a free market, and a free society, how can you, in principle, try to stop the sale of that crap?

I don't really understand why this is a matter of victory or defeat. If people want to sell these things and people want to buy them, why should they not be allowed to do so?

To prohibit sellers and buyers from trading these things doesn't seem any more or less silly than allowing it.

People give hundreds, some even thousands, of dollars to their churches and I hear very few people complain about that. To me beliief in Christianity and other religions isn't any more rational than belief in the occult or mysticism.

I don't know why some people are afraid of letting people do what they want with their money.

I can never get back on ebay again. Dammit!

Because skeptics/atheists are becoming more and more like the Taliban.

A zealot is a zealot is a zealot.

Dear GoonSquad, You are so, so right!

Sylkat

Absolute BS, GoonSquad. Absolute BS. Protecting consumers from utterly false medical advice, religious proselytization disguised as expensive cures and products that can lead to people avoiding actual care or literal harm to their person is Taliban-esque to you? If anything the Taliban would be encouraging these kinds of non-modern "medicines", so long as they don't conflict with Islamic mysticism and are thus heretical.

They should simply put a disclaimer stating that this product is not proven to be effective nor possess any health benefits. If people believe something that isn't inherently dangerous, they should be able to purchase it, no matter how stupid it seems. If someone wants to put a spell on someone else, why not let them purchase a spellbook or related items/services? Does Ebay honestly believe in curses/magic/potions? Besides, there's far more questionable things I've seen sold on Ebay which have the potential to pose undue risk to an individual.