eBay Updates Live Animal Policy, Stops Sales Of Fish & Aquatic Invertebrates
UPDATE 2-24-25
After massive seller outcry, eBay has reversed course on the fish ban, sending impacted sellers the following in an email today:
Great news for sellers and buyers
Dear Seller,
After listening to the feedback from our community of buyers and sellers, we hear your passion for being able to buy and sell live fish and certain other live animals on eBay.Although we had shared plans to discontinue this category in March 2025, we have decided based on this feedback that we will not be changing our policy and will continue to allow approved live fishes, bait, bees, crickets, and ladybugs when shipped in compliance with shipping carrier requirements or restrictions.
For a full list of live animals we allow, you can review our Live Animals Policy on our Help page.
The policy page has also been reverted back to show the full list of previously allowed live animals:
eBay sellers of fish and aquatic invertebrates received a surprising update today, informing them of changes to the Live Animal Policy stopping sales on the platform next month.
Affected users received the following email from eBay today:
We are writing to inform you of an important update to our selling policies concerning live animals on eBay that directly impacts your current listings.
As part of our commitment to ensuring a safe and responsible marketplace, and in compliance with regulatory guidelines, eBay has decided to limit the types of live animals that can be listed and sold on our platform.
This change will be implemented 30 days after the receipt of this email, and we kindly request your cooperation in complying with this new policy.
The following insects and animals are allowed, including:
- Bees
- Feeder insects such as crickets, Dubia roaches, earthworms, and mealworms
- Ladybugs
- Hatching eggs provided that they aren't from migratory birds or endangered species and the seller provides domestic-only shipping.
Please review your current listings and remove any that don’t comply with our updated policy.
Thank you for your understanding and for selling on eBay. We appreciate your prompt attention to this matter and your cooperation in maintaining the integrity and safety of our marketplace.
While the email says the new policy won't be enforced for 30 days, it appears eBay has already updated the Live Animal Policy page to reflect the changes.
Old version:
New version:
The fact that cockroaches are still allowed to be sold through the platform may seem particularly ironic to those who have been following the ongoing legal fallout from the 2019 cyberstalking scandal where eBay security personnel sent live cockroaches as well as other disturbing deliveries as part of a harassment campaign against Ina and David Steiner of EcommerceBytes - though in fairness, according to court documents the insects were not purchased through eBay.
The live animal crackdown in the US comes just days after even stricter policy updates were put into place on eBay's Australian site, which now only allows the sale of sea monkeys.
Sellers have taken to reddit to share their disappointment and suggestions for other possible alternatives, with many suggesting Aquabid.
There are thousands of sellers of live animals on ebay. I being one. I generate a good amount of income from their site selling live fish and spent a significant amount of money to upgrade my setup at the end of the year for this. This is terrible news.
I can confirm as well. I'm a pretty prominent seller on eBay and this cuts my income by almost 80%. With only the 30 day notice as well has me scrambling trying to figure out next steps.
Some speculated eBay is cracking down on these sales due to higher rates of claims in this category, while others believe eBay may have gotten in trouble or received warnings from government regulators about lax enforcement of the previous policy allowing some prohibited items to still be sold on the site.
Increased regulatory enforcement and/or pressure from investors to ensure compliance is very likely driving this change - especially since eBay is still under Department of Justice required enhanced compliance monitoring due to the cyberstalking scandal and the DOJ is appealing last year's dismissal of an EPA lawsuit seeking to hold the company liable for prohibited pesticides, restricted chemicals, and illegal emissions control cheat devices sold on the platform.
Liz Morton
Section 230 of the Communications and Decency Act has long been used as a shield by big tech companies and marketplaces looking to avoid liability for the actions of third party users - like in a recent class action lawsuit filed against Walmart, alleging the company profits from and enables massive triangulation fraud through their marketplace.
Bipartisan efforts to either amend or sunset the law are expected to ramp up this year, so it's not surprising to see marketplaces may be preemptively preparing for potential liability and compliance challenges on the horizon.
eBay also recently updated their User Agreements for the UK, Ireland, Germany and France with new sections about tackling illegal items sold on the site, likely in response to rumored EU regulatory changes seeking to hold marketplaces liable for items sold by third party merchants.
Liz Morton
While it's good to see eBay taking compliance seriously and taking steps to ensure prohibited, restricted and illegal items are not sold through their various global sites, unfortunately that means some items may increasingly no longer be viable to be sold online - leaving sellers and consumers in those markets with fewer options going forward.
Trying to make corporate decisions that walk the fine line between those considerations is not an easy task and I think some of the policy changes and quick reversals we've seen lately in several areas probably reflect that eBay's efforts to balance them are a work in progress, to say the least. 😉
