NationStates Jolt Archive

So, I just heard a story from my dad... apparently this guy he works with went to Cuba for a nice vacation, bought some Cuban cigars, and put them up on the Canadian Ebay site. He doesn't smoke them, but knows other people will pay a lot for them.
In no time at all, he'd tripled his money, and was looking forward to getting a good return on his investment...
When Ebay shut it down.
Their reason? "You can't sell things like this in the USA."
Now, perhaps I'm confused but... who the hell cares? If we gave a rats ass what Americans wanted to buy and sell, we'd use the AMERICAN Ebay, not the Canadian one...
So, what exactly is the point of having a Canadian Ebay if we still have to worry about what Americans do? Why not just give up the pretense, and have one Ebay site run strictly by Americans? It's fairly obvious that they all are, anyway.

I think it's more to do with the U.S.A. hating Cuba than what's appropriate to sell in the U.S.A., cigarettes and guns are sold there anyway - what's the problem with Cuban cigars?

I think it's more to do with the U.S.A. hating Cuba than what's appropriate to sell in the U.S.A., cigarettes and guns are sold there anyway - what's the problem with Cuban cigars?
They use a special form of tobacco whose smoke makes you receptive to communist propaganda.

Lame, lame, lame. They're being awfully silly about this.

This is only speculation, but:

Whether or not one agrees with it (I for one think it stupid), the US has a trade embargo against Cuba.

Whether one wants to admit it or not, eBay's parent corporation is based in the US, although it has affiliate sites world wide. However, the parent site may be (justifiably) worried that what one of its affiliates sells may indeed impact upon the parent company (as in, US authorities fining them hugely by claiming it is using the affiliates to sell products illegal for the US site.)

We saw what is to my mind a similar situation when Google agreed to censor certain search terms and block sites for its Chinese version.

Isn't there some other online auction site not subject to silly US laws he could use?

The Sheraton in Mexico City recently expelled a group of Cuban citizens because US laws bans US-based companies from dealing with Cubans. I suppose it's something similar.

The funny thing is that the Cubans in this case were in talks with US officials about some commercial issues. They agreed on Mexico as good neutral territory but should have checked the hotel too.

It's illegal to do business with Cuba in the USA.
I presume that EBay's servers are in the US.


The Helms-Burton Act was codified in U.S.C. Title 22, sections 6021-6091.
This law states, among other things, that any non-US company that deals economically with Cuba can be subjected to legal action and that company's leadership can be barred from entry into the United States.
Sanctions may be applied to non-U.S. companies trading with Cuba. This means that internationally operating companies have to choose between Cuba and the US, which is a much larger market.
The exact text is here: http://www.ustreas.gov/offices/enforcement/ofac/legal/statutes/libertad.pdf

A good writeup of it is here:
http://rorfgw.com/TOPIC_ARCHIVE/Helms-Burton-Cuba_Sanctions/helms-burton-cuba_sanctions.html