Update: The shadowban appears to have been temporary. Sex dolls can be found on the Ebay US marketplace again.
On May 5, 2021, some people noticed that they could no longer find sex dolls on Ebay. It turns out that Ebay has shadowbanned sex dolls from the US marketplace and sex dolls can no longer be searched for. It is unknown what date Ebay made this change. Their Prohibited Adult Items Policy and Restricted Adult Items Policy does not mention sex dolls or anything related to sex dolls. However, sure enough, a search for sex dolls, love dolls, TPE dolls, or any other similar variant yields no results except for a few remaining sex torsos and hip toys.
The term “Shadowban” refers to the fact that you can no longer search for sex dolls on Ebay, but they are not entirely banned (yet). I made a test listing of a sex doll and it published successfully. However, I could not find it in the search results. Some sex doll listings can actually still be found by going directly to the link or by getting creative with search terms. Some search terms (that Ebay hasn’t shadowbanned yet) still lead to some sex doll listings, but not nearly as much as before.
Interesting enough, this only affects Ebay’s US marketplace and not any of their other ones. For example, you can still easily find sex dolls on Ebay Canada and UK with no problems. The reason for the ban in the US is unknown since there is no official statement from Ebay. Whether it is because of charge-backs, child-like dolls, or anti-sex doll activism is anyone’s guess. The shadowban seems to have happened recently and will most likely lead to a full ban eventually. So far, Amazon, Ebay, Aliexpress, and Alibaba have all banned sex dolls in the US marketplace.
The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
The Good: Although most sex doll bans are bad, not much of value was lost in this ban (in my opinion). Ebay was always filled with counterfeit and knockoff dolls from China so less people will get ripped off, and more traffic will go toward legit vendors. Sites like Ebay also mislead people into thinking sex dolls cost $500-$1000 when the authentic ones in the photos actually cost closer to $1500-$2000. Plus, buying and selling on Ebay isn’t that great for anyone when it comes to sex dolls anyway. Sellers pay high seller fees, and buyers pay high sales taxes (Buying from a vendor usually doesn’t have sales tax). All in all, the ban isn’t a huge deal, and is, surprisingly, probably more good than ban.
The Bad: Americans that liked buying cheap sex dolls on Ebay can no longer buy them anymore. Sometimes you can get a good quality knockoff doll for cheap. Ebay had buyer protection in case anything went wrong so it was a relatively safe gamble.
The Ugly: Similar to when Amazon and Alibaba banned sex dolls in the US, these decisions always create stigma around sex dolls. Large companies banning the sales of sex dolls have an influence that carries on into the media, government, and society. Ebay seems to have done it silently but it will be harder to find sex dolls in the future when companies are constantly labeling sex dolls as obscene, vulgar, and violent products.
Thoughts on Ebay’s shadowban (and probably eventual full ban) of sex dolls in the US marketplace? Comment below!
Kind of late but, i have a eBay Hani doll and she is great for the price. Not perfect but for the money I cant complain! Not as good as my piper but not even close to bad.
The eBay sex dolls banned from their side would not be so bad but correct.
There are e.g. A lot of basement companies on German eBay with fake WM-Doll dolls, these dolls are sold for about 850 € and cannot be used, if you want your money back this basement company / mailbox company is gone again.
Problems of these sex dolls:
– Smells bad of chemicals, even after multiple showers.
-Love openings have no structure, smoothly goes in.
-USB heating elements are said to have burned many times.
-Legs and arms are very difficult to move.
-People have already injured themselves when sharp-edged metal parts came out of the TPE, someone is even said to have injured their limb.
-Wig practically dissolves after unpacking.
-The clothing that is randomly included is always made of coarse plastic fabric and dental floss, is far away from what is shown on the Ebay pictures.
-It is often WM-Dolls that are fake.
-Weight is 4-6KG higher than advertised.
Since Corona there have been many problems with counterfeiting on eBay, with sex dolls it is already dangerous to the public.
Hi Not Surprised,
I’m not sure if it was a bug on eBay or not, but the shadowban only lasted about 1-2 weeks. Sex dolls appear in the eBay search again. In addition to what you said, many counterfeit dolls also don’t look like the photos, have skinny arms and legs, the skeleton can break quickly, and the TPE is firmer from what I heard. Some are better than others. It depends on which factory they come from.
So I had already heard horror stories, on the outside they look 1 to 1 like in the pictures, but at the latest at the love openings you should notice that they are not usable.
These basement companies are gone with your money faster than you can say “I was betrayed”.
Someone who buys a doll for the first time (normally one probably only buys one in life) does not see it immediately.
AND yes, I see the dolls reappeared on Ebay.