Stunning Reversal: eBay Walks Back Animal Ban

On Monday, February 24th, 2025, John Zika of Superior Shrimp & Aquatics forwarded a surprising email received from eBay. In summary, the online marketplace and auction juggernaut eBay was reversing the animal sales policy change (that banned nearly all live animal sales), which eBay had announced just days prior on February 19th.

The message, shown above, arrived with the subject line “Important Update on Live Animals Policy,” and says:

Still No Response from eBay

It is worth noting that I have still not received a response to my press inquiry with eBay. However, this policy reversal would render many of those questions irrelevant.

Are Sellers Still Impacted?

Referring back to the original policy page captured by Liz Morton, as discussed in my previous article about the ban, it appears that the policy in place at this moment is exactly the same as the one prior to eBay’s announcement. So, basically, it’s business as usual.

That said, I remain confused by the lack of anything that specifically authorizes the sale of aquatic aquarium life other than the vague mention of “tropical fish” in the policy or “approved live fishes” in the message sent on Monday. What is an “approved” live fish? Corals and freshwater cherry shrimps, for example, are not “tropical fish,” yet specific categories exist for these live-animal offerings on the platform.

Are sellers offering aquarium livestock that isn’t specifically “fish” operating in a sort of grey zone under eBay’s ambiguous policy? I could argue that eBay’s policy technically would exclude non-fish aquarium livestock, as it reads, “Pets and other live animals not included in the list above are not allowed.”

Could eBay come back at any time and simply remove these non-fish categories from the site, pointing to the active policy as justification? Are sellers taking a gamble? Have they always been gambling?

Has eBay Changed its Shipping Policy?

Some vendors may not have paid much attention to the policy page in the past, given that sales of aquarium fish, corals, and inverts have been present for decades, but this recent chaotic ban and retraction might have changed that. Some are perhaps noticing eBay’s requirement for overnight shipping for the first time.

“Sellers need to ensure that they have the necessary government permits and also guarantee safe, overnight shipping.”

Reviewing Liz Morton’s screenshot, the wording of the policy relating to the requirement for “overnight shipping” was present prior to this upheaval.

Overnight shipping is the defacto reality in the marine aquarium side of the trade, but freshwater aquarists who’ve shopped online have likely encountered vendors who will offer other services, such as ground service to local regions or USPS Priority Mail. This is not unusual.

Having run an online retail and wholesale business myself, I can say that when done right, all of these services work, and the animals shipped with these methods normally arrive safe and sound on the other side unless there are carrier delays. It really comes down to picking the right shipping methods given the weather and time of year, properly preparing animals for transit times that are more than 24 hours, and packing them appropriately for the journey. Knowing that my losses in some years totaled something like “one cherry shrimp” (which was actually an extra bonus shrimp in the bag) out of an entire year of selling, with other years having truly zero DOA reports from customers, I know that shipping through these methods can be done safely and correctly.

That said, it’s clear that not all vendors would agree, and things change. Just today, while writing this article, I received an email update from niche freshwater native-fish vendor Brian Torreano of BT Darters, which states, “As many of you know, we had a lot of problems with the U.S. Postal Service over the last several months. The problems got so bad that we have decided to abandon the postal service for as many shipments as possible.” Torreano explained further in a video, and plans to use FedEx going forward through broker RedLine Shipping. Torreano notes that this is “A little more expensive than the U.S. Postal Service.”

More Conflicting Messaging from eBay

eBay seems to have a policy of vague, conflicting messaging, and frankly, this might be by design.

Again, note that the current policy states, “Sellers need to ensure that they have the necessary government permits and also guarantee safe, overnight shipping.”

Compare that to the wording of eBay’s messaging to sellers on Monday, which states, “[eBay] will continue to allow approved live fishes…when shipped in compliance with shipping carrier requirements or restrictions.” I’ll note now that not all carriers require overnight shipping, specifically the United States Postal Service (USPS).

It is important to review the USPS policies. Here is the current USPS general policy (526 Mailable Live Animals).

Relevant highlights of the policy include:

With regards to small, harmless, cold-blooded animals (and all animals permitted under this policy, the USPS states:

As it pertains specifically to the example of fish:

So, as I read the USPS policies:

1. Tropical fish and goldfish are explicitly permitted.
2. Other aquatic aquarium life is permitted under a general umbrella of “small, harmless, cold-blooded animals.”
3. When the USPS refers to explicit lists, it notes that these are “examples,” which does not preclude things that are not listed.
4. I can find no requirement anywhere in the policy that these permitted animals MUST be shipped using an overnight service.
5. It is worth mentioning that USPS does not even have a guaranteed overnight service at this point since Priority Express is an overnight to 2-day service now.

I don’t know if eBay will allow sellers to continue to select USPS for shipping livestock when appropriate, but it’s clear that other competing platforms will allow for the service. Kenny Lin, founder of ReefnBid, explained, “Regarding the use of Priority Mail, [the ReefnBid] platform also integrates with ShipStation really well. So for high volume sellers, some of which are already on it, they can use ShipStation to manage their shipment on ReefnBid using carriers of their choosing.”

Is This Episode an eBay Foreshock?

The bottom line is that eBay’s policies are vague, and its messaging seems to conflict at times. Could vague policies allow eBay to take selective enforcement action, removing listings or even vendors at their discretion?

The way the policy was announced to only some sellers of animals on the platform, and the short 30-day timeframe that left vendors truly scrambling, suggest that eBay did not have a good handle on what it was proposing. That said, there is constant outside pressure from animal rights and anti-aquarium groups to end the online sale of pets. It has been suggested by industry leaders, off the record, that online animal sales are one of the largest factors in the illegal wildlife trade, and that has the attention of government agencies as well.

While eBay appears to have effectively scrapped the proposed near-complete ban on animal sales that was due to come into effect in March 2025, sellers who offer aquarium livestock other than fish or those who do not exclusively offer overnight shipping may have to make careful calculations about how they conduct business on the platform. While sellers have been given a reprieve, I have to wonder if continued pressure will cause eBay to reexamine the idea of ending animal sales on the platform at some unknown point in the future.

An Opportunity For Competing Marketplaces

There are likely numerous outlets besides eBay that sellers can use as a failsafe in the way of this recent eBay uncertainty. While my prior article was squarely focused on eBay’s policy change and the sellers who would be affected, the news put me in contact with the people behind a couple of competing sites. Of course, it’s not my intention to promote alternates or create an exhaustive list; Google is a good tool! But here’s what John Zika (SeaBay Marketplace) and Kenny Lin (ReefnBid) had to say.

Zika sees the writing on the wall, having already jumped into the development of his alternate marketplace within hours of considering the prospect of losing a primary revenue source for his online business. Despite the eBay reversal, Zika said, “As for SeaBay, we are absolutely still going to develop it. If anything, it can be an additional tool hobbyists can use to build their platform and following. It also can be a safe haven where they don’t have to worry about a policy change like that again in the future as we will be centered around it.”

When reflecting on this latest upheaval with eBay, Lin makes a compelling pitch for vendors to consider more specialized platforms that cater to aquarium livestock vendors and aquarists who shop online. “The best way I can put it is selling corals or live fish on eBay is like selling the same thing at a mall next to other businesses selling clothing, ice cream, and furniture. Coming to a hobby-specific platform like ReefnBid is like going to a digital Reefapalooza or frag swap where you know everyone there shares the same interest and is looking to buy your product.”