eBay Removing Adult Category June 15th

UPDATE 5-13-21: Despite the previous update which seemed to indicate Adult items would be allowed in the Everything Else>Adult Only category, now just a few weeks later eBay has emailed sellers saying they will be removing that category June 15th.

We have revised our Adults Only 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.

Here's a link to the updated Adult Items Policy.

It's not clear to me why there was so much mixed messaging and an apparent about face here. My guess would be possible banking and/or government regulations may have played a part in this decision.

I'll update as more information becomes available.

It appears eBay has quietly cleared the hurdles to migrate another category into their Managed Payments program. There is no official announcement yet, but eBay has updated their policy pages and sellers who sell primarily in the Adult category should begin to receive notices of deadline for enrollment in Managed Payments soon.

Certain items are not allowed to be listed by sellers participating in managed payments, even though those items may be allowed on eBay.

All sellers must follow the guidelines in eBay's Prohibited and restricted items policy. Sellers who are participating in managed payments have some additional restrictions on what they can list.

What is the policy?
Sellers enrolled in managed payments are not allowed to list the following items:

• Gift cards & coupons
• Lodging, timeshares, vacation packages, and car rentals
• Tickets for travel, events, or experiences
• Virtual currency
• Wine
  
  

Listings containing nudity and sexually-oriented adult material must be listed in the Everything Else > Adult Only category.

Listings that don't follow these rules may be removed from the site or from search results. Other actions we may take include lowering a seller's rating, charging additional fees, limiting buying and selling privileges, or suspending an account.

Why does eBay have this policy?
When eBay manages the end-to-end payments experience, there are additional restrictions on what items can be sold. We are working to expand the types of items allowed by sellers in managed payments, and ensure we are compliant to support them in the future.