Dr. Seuss Books that are considered offensive will be listed from eBay

Hundreds of listings for the six books were available on stage from Thursday morning, though the number appeared to be lower than it was on Wednesday night. An eBay spokesman said it would take some time to review reseller listings and that the company was monitoring newly published listings.

Vendors often make decisions to remove products from their platforms for a variety of reasons. The move by eBay comes at a time when there is growing concern, especially in reservation quarters, about how major technical platforms will determine what content is appropriate. At the same time, others argue that the platforms are not doing enough to pollinate inappropriate content.

Dr Seuss Enterprises LP, which oversees Dr Seuss’s publishing interests and areas of support, said on Tuesday that they had decided that six of the author’s best-known books— “And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street ”; “If I was running the zoo”; “Amar McElligot”; “Air Beyond Zebra!”; “Scrambled eggs well!” and “The Cat’s Quizzer” – would not be published anymore as they “show people in ways that are painful and wrong. ”

Following the announcement, one woman stated that she had recorded two titles, “On Beyond Zebra!” and “McElligot’s Pool,” for sale on eBay Wednesday. Later in the day, she said, she received an email from eBay explaining “On Beyond Zebra! ”Was removed from sales because it went against“ eBay’s offensive product policy. The second title was drawn on Thursday morning, she said.

“Dr. Seuss Enterprises has stopped publishing this book due to its negative image of some races, ”said the email message from eBay, which was reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. “As a court, we have terminated your item and refunded your sales fees, and as long as you do not reset the item, your account will not be adversely affected. ”

Many controversial items – including Adolf Hitler’s “Mein Kampf” and “The Turner Diaries,” a novel popular with white supremacist groups – were available on eBay on Wednesday afternoon. When asked, the spokesperson said that these two books also fell into the “offensive materials” category and would be removed. On Thursday afternoon it emerged that “The Turner Diaries” was no longer available on eBay.

With “millions of transactions happening every day on our platform across over 190 markets, we are constantly evaluating and making improvements to ensure that prohibited items stay off eBay,” said the person. -spoken.

The six books that stopped Dr. Seuss is among the author’s most famous works. Earlier in the week, publisher Random House Books for Young Readers and several booksellers – including Barnes & Noble – said Dr. Seuss available to customers.

More than five million printed copies of Dr. Seuss’ s books were sold in the U.S. last year, according to data from NPD BookScan – led by “Oh, the Places You’ll Go!” and “Green Eggs and Ham,” each sold by the hundreds of thousands. Of the books now discontinued, the top seller last year was “If I Ran the Zoo,” with around 7,000 copies sold.

Some non-stop copies of the six titles were still available for sale from third-party retailers on Amazon.com Inc.

A spokesman for Amazon declined to comment.

Last week Amazon faced questions from Republican senators after it took away a book about transgender issues that had been on the platform for about three years. Amazon did not comment on the seniors letter but said it reserved the right not to sell certain titles based on the content guide for books.

A spokesperson for Encounter Books, which published “When Harry Became Sally: Responding to the Transgender Moment,” by conservationist Ryan T. Anderson, said Thursday take out sales. Amazon on Thursday cited the statement earlier.

“All sellers make decisions about what option they choose to offer and we do not make selection decisions lightly,” Amazon said in a statement last week.

Write to Jeffrey A.Trachtenberg at [email protected]