And thus I do understand eBay's reasoning to remove intangible metaphysical goods. Because John Smith can buy a spell, and a week later the waitress at the diner still hasn't fallen in love with him, and now he wants his money back. There's no way to prove a spell was actually performed (short of audio/video recording if it was a spoken or ritualistic spell), and—if you believe in spells—no way to prove the result of a spell as just manifesting in a way that wasn't expected. Maybe John wasn't specific enough in his request, and the schizophrenic waitress with a cocaine addiction and three illegitimate kids has fallen in love with him instead.
Luckily for eBay this isn't focused just on pagan metaphysics. Christian metaphysics fall under the category too—you can no longer buy prayers. (Really? You bought a prayer? Won't good natured Christians pray for the sake of helping their brethren?) While you and I may find the sale of certain spiritual things silly or ridiculous, this has been going on for hundreds of years, probably more—I can't remember that far back. People bought prayers for their dead relatives. People bought spells and amulets and potions to attract love or to ward off evil or the plague. I'd argue we still do that today... We buy insurance policies to protect us from unpredictable events, buy fancy clothes and cars and perfume to attract mates, buy all sorts of "miracle" gimmicks to help us lose weight...
Anyway. My problem with this is that this can grow into something that infringes on physical good sales on eBay or even influence other sites that would be more appropriate venues for metaphysical goods and services.
As far as physical "metaphysical" goods go... Magic potions are banned. That's the only physical thing I see explicitly listed in eBay's 2012 Fall Seller Update. I've included the applicable areas from this document at the bottom of this post, but you can find it here: Category, Item Specifics and Catalog Updates.
So, even though potions are the only physical metaphysical items listed... I have seen other publications on our good ol' Internet that eBay is targeting physical items with added metaphysical value (blessed items, charged items, etc.). While it's normal for those affected to freak out and over-exaggerate when it comes to things like this, Wired's article on the matter started off on a similar note. "Haunted gypsy rings, a portal to the realm of the immortals and creepy 40s dolls that promise to 'come alive' will soon have to find a new home [...]"
These sentiments contradict a quote that has been floating around from eBay's
spokesperson Johnna Hoff, which says "It's important to note that items that have a
tangible value for the item itself and may also be used in metaphysical rites
and practices (ie jewelry, crystals, incense, candles, and books) are
allowed in most cases." Most cases... Maybe they are right to freak out with that vague suffix. I know I'd like to be able to search for unique tarot decks on eBay in the future.
We're just talking about eBay right now, and I already said that they wouldn't be my first place to buy a tarot reading and the like. Then you realize that eBay owns PayPal. And then you further realize that many of the sites that are more appropriate for metaphysical services might utilize PayPal for payment...
It will be interesting to see how this grows. Regardless, I don't see why a "for entertainment purposes only" clause couldn't protect eBay from the consumer grief they're reacting to. If I'm buying a spell from someone I've never met, I know I'm taking a big (potentially dangerous) gamble.
