EBay to Ban Sale of Items Linked to Hate Groups and Murderers

Bowing to pressure from anti-hate activists around the world, online auction site EBay Inc. on Thursday said it will ban the sale of items associated with Nazi Germany, hate groups and murderers.

The ban followed a similar move by Internet portal Yahoo Inc., which pulled memorabilia associated with hate groups earlier this year after a storm of controversy and a legal battle.

The decision came a day after EBay removed from auction a piece of door, allegedly the one an unarmed African immigrant was standing near when he was shot and killed by New York police in 1999.

In a statement, EBay said it already had policies that prohibit many hate-related items from groups such as the Ku Klux Klan, Nazis and neo-Nazis, but EBay had allowed the sale of related goods if they claimed to be at least 50 years old.

The new policy takes effect May 17. It also forbids listing of items associated with people who have committed murder in the last 100 years.

Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean of the Los Angeles-based Simon Wiesenthal Center, which had lobbied for the change in policy, praised the decision.