eBay to ban spell and potion sales

eBay
eBay axes hexes

In its fall 2012 update, eBay has announced that it will no longer process the sale of certain psychic and magic goods, including spells, magic potions, and curses.

Here's the full list of items being added to eBay's prohibited items category as of September 2012: "advice; spells; curses; hexing; conjuring; magic; prayers; blessing services; magic potions; healing sessions; work from home businesses & information; wholesale lists, and drop shop lists."

For those who didn't even know these services were available on eBay, there's still a few weeks to check it out. Some of the listings, for example, in the Spells and Potions section are absolutely fascinating.

eBay's reasoning

Certainly the online auction mega-site wouldn't vilify the occult and its wares without providing an explanation. On its update page, eBay had this to say:

"Transactions in these categories often result in issues between the buyer and seller that are difficult to resolve. To help build confidence in the marketplace for both buyers and sellers, eBay is discontinuing these categories and including the items on the list of prohibited items."

Although the company didn't provide any anecdotal evidence on the matter, the scenarios likely involve some dissatisfaction on the part of the underwhelmed buyer.

Managing expectations for a "Get a Job & Money Spell" is a dicey proposition, especially when the vendor doesn't offer refunds, only re-castings.

Via CNN