Ebay Item Kicked Off

I guess this would fit the unexpected (unwanted) discoveries, yesterday I found ebay had kicked my item and deleted the listing. With 10 hours left, the item had been on for 10 days when it was kicked. This was the exact title: M40 US Military Biological Chemical Gas Mask Size Medium w/ 2 Canisters Bag Hood. It had 30+ watchers and was at $70+ when it was deleted. I had seen lots of other items very similar which had recently sold and a few currently selling. This is the message I received: Hello schro3,After reviewing your eBay account, it appears that you have violated eBay's Firearms, Weapons, and Knives policy. We realize you may not have been aware of this policy, or that this may have been a simple oversight, but unfortunately, we had to take the following actions:
- Violating listings have been removed. A list of removed items is available further down in this email.
- We have credited any associated fees to your account.

Due to laws restricting the sale of explosives, military ordnance and grenades, most of these items aren’t allowed on eBay.

Military ordnance includes items such as weapons, ammunition, equipment, vehicles, and their related parts. This restriction includes items that are considered demilitarized, de-milled, or unserviceable. This is because we can't confirm whether the items have been changed in ways that would make them safe and legal to sell and transport.

Listings for any explosives or grenades are not allowed, including:
- Dummy grenades
- Grenade launchers or grenade-launcher attachments
- Inert grenades (such as curios, display items, memorabilia, or relics)
- Metal grenades
- Military practice grenades
- Mines
- Rifle grenades

To learn more about our weapons policy and guidelines for explosives, grenades, and military ordnance, go to:
http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/firearms-weapons-knives.html

You listed an item that has been requested not be sold on eBay by the U.S. Department of Defense. For any questions or concerns over this item and removal you can reach the Joint Equipment Assessment Program (JEAP) through the Department of Defense by the following email address: SMBLOGCOMJEAP@usmc.mil . We please ask that you do not relist this item.

Please be sure your future listings follow these guidelines. If they don't, they could be removed.

If you have any more questions, contact our policy experts.
http://ocsnext.ebay.com/ocs/cusr?query=508&domain=email1383

Here are the listings we removed:
181353359452 - M40 US Military Biological Chemical Gas Mask Size Medium w/ 2 Canisters Bag HoodThanks,

eBay

Please don't reply to this message. It was sent from an address that doesn't accept incoming email. Can anyone please help me understand this better? Thanks!

eBay is a joke in many respects . I listed a fire grenade once . They cancelled it stating that the liquid inside was a hazard . I emailed back and asked why mine was taken down while another person had a whole case of them listed . His auction went off as being sold . I probably should not have posted here , I have a great dislike for eBay and some of their practices .

RELISTED, changed a few words in the title and description, hopefully they don't decide to kick it.

Most often, (but not always) a listing is pulled because one or more people reported it (using the little report button on the listing page) which brings it to there attention. I don't think eBay persay patrols the listings themselves to much unless certain keywords trigger it. In the case of the mask likely some eBay screen monkey in a cubicle somewhere just hit delete when a light came on rather than take time to check anything out. Masks even have their own category in militaria/surplus. Al

That is pretty stupid. Sounds like an unstable individual or possible competitor flagged the listing for personal satisfaction/gain, and then some uninformed Habeeb in Delhi canned it just to be safe.

There is a 'M40' rifle used by Marine Corps snipers. Ebay probably did a fuzzy logic software search of postings, saw "M40" and "US Military" and concluded you were trying to sell a sniper rifle. That's my guess why your posting was yanked. Steve