Source: Adult Press Service
(SAN JOSE, CA) — Hundreds of XXX porn stars and thousands of their fans are planning a "Million Porn Star March" on the San Jose, California headquarters of eBay Inc. to hold a massive "panty bonfire" to protest the leading internet auction site’s recent announcement that they would sharply curtail sales of porn-related items as of November 21st. The demonstration-dubbed "D-eDay" by organizers for the "Death Of Porn on eBay-Day"–is also scheduled for the 21st, and is expected to be led by throngs of adult video starlets who for years have made impressive secondary incomes from auctioning off their "personal" collectibles on the site. In fact eBay, the world’s largest internet auction site, grossed $140 million last year from the auctions and bids by porn stars and their fans of sexy erotica ranging from used panties and autographed X-rated videos, to graphic photos and hardcore sex magazines.
"This sucks, it absolutely sucks!" fumes mega-porn actress Jasmin St. Claire, one of the group of X-rated performers that is staging the "Million Porn Star March," and who regularly auctions off the clothing she wears in her porno movies. "For years tens of thousands of porn stars and their devoted fans have made eBay’s adult section the largest in the world, and eBay in turn has made a fortune off of us. And now they decide they don’t need us anymore because they’ve gotten so big? So they toss us out on the street? Well, I got news for you, we’re all fired up, and we’re not going to take it!"
eBay–publically traded on NASDAQ under the ticker symbol "EBAY"–stunned the international adult entertainment community several weeks ago with the shocking announcement that they would no longer allow most XXX auctions, and were giving all of their carnal-content auctioneers and bidders a month to basically pack up their sex sales and leave their cyberspace–forever. Collectors, traders, and sellers of sexual souvenirs were notified that auctions of such wares–defined by the company’s announcement as anything they deemed "sexually explicit or graphic"–would be phased out and finally permenantly banned from eBay as of November 21.
eBay’s on-line announcement immediately ignited a wave of panic amongst the site’s legions of adult-oriented sellers and X-bidders, setting off a mad scramble amongst sex starlets and carnal collectors alike as to what to do, and where to take their business.
"The purpose of ‘The Million Porn Star March’ is to give eBay one last chance to take back it’s ‘eviction notice’ and let the porn auctions continue," declares top film sex siren Houston, "We will march on their headquarters, we will all take off our panties, and we will burn them in a bonfire of protest–give us g-strings, or give us death! " says Houston, best known for starring in a video where she has sex with 620 men. "If the president of eBay doesn’t come out of his office and agree to our demands, then we are walking–we are going to take our business elsewhere and they can kiss our asses!"
Specifically eBay’s anti-adult auction attack focuses on their current "Adults Only" and "Risque" categories, and in nearly a dozen pages of "new rules" and regulations, literally rips the heart and soul of their sex auction section to shreds. eBay though says they want pornsters to remain with them in a recently-created "Mature Audiences" area, with it’s newly released set of listing restrictions turning it from a "hardcore" to a "softcore" site. Their newly-named "Mature Audiences" area will ban any depictions or descriptions of dozens of sexually-oriented items and acts, including the prohibition of all actual sex acts, vulgar language, graphic photos, bodily fluids, amateur adult videos, used underwear, frontal nudity and even what they term "profanity."
But sex video followers and the porn star organizers of the "Million Porn Star March" say the new watered-down version of the site will be useless for the XXX-style of most of their offerings, and if eBay will not relent, they will lead a flood of members to rival sites.
Houston, who herself was denied access to eBay’s adults-only site several months ago when she tried to auction off a surgically-removed silicone breast implant and slices of her own labia that were lanced during a gynocological procedure, also decried the company’s treatment of it’s X-interested members.
"They took our business, they took our money, but they did nothing but try to hide us and harass us, we were never given the same perks that their mainstream auctions get," says Houston. "And now they want to restrict us further? They want to make it virtually impossible for us to sell our stuff? Well, they get one chance to take us back, and then we take our millions of fans, and billions of dollars and go elsewhere."
eBay gave no reason in an announcement posted on their web site for the sudden decision to rid themselves of the "Adults Only" section of their massive auction platform, but online insiders have long speculated that eBay’s concerns about their "public image" would eventually cause them to dump their X-rated auctions. While profitable, eBay’s X-division only represents a small fraction of their yearly $2.8 billion gross income, and its loss is not expected to materially affect the site’s financial picture.
If eBay stands by it’s announcement, the immediate beneficiary will apparently be the Internet’s largest adults-only auction site, www.EroticBid.com. Upstart EroticBid gained worldwide notoriety this summer when it launched and announced it was selling Houston’s implant and labia slices, as well as other over-the-top sexual items deemed too controversial for eBay. EroticBid Vice-President of Marketing Joseph Chiarovano says that there has already been a "tidal wave" of eBay exiles checking out his site, and estimates that some 80% of eBay’s XXX clientele would sign up by the end of the year.
"This comes as no surprise to us. eBay is a mainstream auction site that never knew anything about the adult entertainment industry, and always treated it’s XXX members as second-class citizens," says Chiarovano. "On the other hand EroticBid.com is happy to cater to the needs of porn stars and their fans, and not try to hide them and be embarrassed about what they do. We offer the wildest, most open XXX-rated auction site on the planet, and we extend an open invitation to anyone who has been rejected by eBay to come on down!"
"Unless eBay reverses it’s policy, it’s reign as the leading XXX auction site on the web is over," predicts Chiarovano. "It’s a distinction they never wanted, and truly dedicated buyers and sellers of hardcore erotica won’t buy into this watered-down version of what an adult auction site should be. Sex fans want real auctions of real sex items, and the only place to do that now is EroticBid."
