Ebay Bans Grand Belial’s Key & Goes To War On NSBM!

ThrashMetalIQ

2 months ago

Ebay has gone to war with NSBM (National Socialist Black Metal). I distribute a small number of titles, including Grand Belial’s Key for Weltenfeind Records. By and large, eBay has been allowing sales of various “NSBM” bands, such as Goatmoon, Grand Belial’s Key, and Vothana.

While eBay has always targeted certain bands like Burzum (because of Varg’s politics, not lyrical content), Absurd, and Der Sturmer, it has allowed sales of some bands that are less in-your-face or have no overt Nazi imagery.

That has all changed. Grand Belial’s Key is now persona non grata on eBay. Say what you like about the band’s politics, you can’t argue that the riffs aren’t divine! No wonder they are a top seller with so many black metal fans!

Ebay has either been taken over by Antifa or is running some type of AI that is going crazy flagging listings for anything further right than Creedence Clearwater Revival. An innocuous copy of Death In June was recently triggered by the “offensive music filter” as Nazi, even though it’s 80’s synth pop. I guess the little skull-and-crossbones cartoon on the cover was too much for it.

EBay’s Offensive Music Policy Specifics

Below is the verbiage of eBay’s offensive music policy:

Listings or content that promote, perpetuate or glorify hatred, violence, or discrimination, including on the grounds of race, ethnicity, color, religion, disability, national origin, sex, gender and gender identity or sexual orientation, aren’t allowed. – https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/prohibited-restricted-items/offensive-materials-policy?id=4324

A simple read of this would apply to all black/death metal and extreme metal bands, as religion is a common target for most extreme bands. Although nobody seems to get their feather ruffled when it is Christians who are being targeted.

It’s pretty clear that things will not get better from here. It won’t be long before bands with even tertiary associations with NSBM, like MGLA or Deathspell Omega, are on the out list.

Summary

Already Flagged / Removed by eBay

Grand Belial’s Key (GBK) — Primary focus; one of his top sellers for years. All listings suddenly pulled. Lyrics target Judaism (seen as crossing a line).
Graveland — 1992 demo (pagan/black metal, limited white vinyl). Not overtly NSBM
Death in June — Flagged quickly, possibly due to skull/crossbones imagery.
Moon Tower, Vulturno, and Darker than Black releases — Triggered complaints/flags.

Heavily Restricted

Burzum — Long-restricted (Varg’s history + church burnings policy). AI now detects artwork/logos.
Goatmoon — Some sketchy lyrics on certain albums; later works look more pagan but still at risk.

Obviously Avoided (Never Listed)

Der Stürmer — Too overtly Nazi; not even attempted on eBay.

eBay’s policies (hate content + crime-related) are hitting underground black metal hard, especially anything perceived as NSBM or anti-Jewish, while much of the broader black metal scene remains at risk.

What Are We Going To Do?

We are in the process of pulling all of our more controversial listings from Ebay and moving them to our online store. While this will be a lot of work, there are quite a few upsides:

No more censorship. We decide what we want to sell.
Our prices will be lower. Ebay takes 20% of our money. We will pass those savings on to you.
The same great free, fast shipping, and customer service at a lower price.

Our New Store is Open

It will take some time for our new store to be completely stocked. By no means do we intend for it just to be a clearinghouse for NSBM, but we have to start somewhere.