[RESTRICTED]
In an email sent out to all of their sellers who utilize eBay’s Adult Only section, eBay has announced that said section well be closed effective June 15th, 2021. Moreover, the classification of adult-oriented items will change radically; namely, most things sold in the section will be banned, with very specific guidelines for what is allowed to be sold for the remainder.
We have revised our Adults Items policy. Starting June 15, 2021, items showing sexual activity, sexual content or sexually suggestive poses will no longer be allowed on eBay.com. 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.
If you still have items in the Adult Only category on June 15, we will begin removing them. You may relist items that comply with the updated policy.
Please familiarize yourself with the updated policy. Not all Adult Only category items will be allowed to be relisted. To determine which items can be revised and relisted in an appropriate eBay category, please see below.
The email also came with a chart detailing what would be allowed and what wouldn’t. Notably, some sexually explicit materials are still allowed, provided they are “artistic”, and sex toys/accessories are still permitted. They do, however, have to follow their new guidelines, primarily revolving around the fact that the images of the items contain no nudity or sexually provocative poses. The full rundown of their new policies can be found here.
While there is a fair amount of speculation as to the cause of the change, eBay has stated their public reason for it on the page featuring the new guidelines under “Why does eBay have this policy?”.
We want to make adult items available to those who wish to purchase them and can do so legally, while preventing those who do not wish to view or purchase these items from easily accessing them.
Source: AVN