--- title: Ebay To Ban Confederate Flags description: eBay said that it will ban Confederate flag-themed items, following in the footsteps of Walmart, Sears and K-Mart. canonical: https://time.com/3932419/ebay-confederate-flags/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-06-23T17:16:26.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:05:08.853Z article:section: Politics og:title: EBay To Ban Confederate Flags og:description: The auction site follows in the footsteps of following in the footsteps of Walmart, Sears and K-Mart. og:url: https://time.com/3932419/ebay-confederate-flags/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt11b05d081ac23fe9/698857f9cd684839780a07cb/gettyimages-477937342.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3959 og:image:height: 2227 og:image:alt: US-CRIME-SHOOTING-FLAG og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: EBay To Ban Confederate Flags twitter:description: The auction site follows in the footsteps of following in the footsteps of Walmart, Sears and K-Mart. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt11b05d081ac23fe9/698857f9cd684839780a07cb/gettyimages-477937342.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # eBay to Ban Confederate Flags > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ## Video: Know Right Now: Alleged Charleston Shooter Arrested [Watch (HLS stream): Know Right Now: Alleged Charleston Shooter Arrested](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/pAFOX8tB.m3u8) (1:01)  _Published 2015-06-18. A white man opened fire during a prayer meeting inside a historic black church in downtown Charleston on Wednesday night, killing nine people, including the pastor, in an assault that authorities described as a hate crime._ by [Claire Groden / Fortune](https://time.com/author/fortune/) ## Claire Groden / Fortune Fortune Jun 23, 2015 5:16 PM UTC  A man holds a sign up during a protest rally against the Confederate flag in Columbia, South Carolina on June 20, 2015. A man holds a sign up during a protest rally against the Confederate flag in Columbia, South Carolina on June 20, 2015. MLADEN ANTONOV / AFP/Getty Images by [Claire Groden / Fortune](https://time.com/author/fortune/) ## Claire Groden / Fortune Fortune Jun 23, 2015 5:16 PM UTC eBay said in a statement today that it will ban Confederate flag-themed items, immediately, following in the footsteps of [Walmart](http://fortune.com/2015/06/22/walmart-confederate-flag/), Sears and K-Mart. “We have decided to prohibit Confederate flags, and many items containing this image, because we believe it has become a contemporary symbol of divisiveness and racism,” the spokesperson said in a statement. The backlash against the flag comes in the wake of the mass shooting in a Charleston, S.C., historically black church. The alleged perpetrator, Dylann Roof, has been shown posing with the Confederate flag in photos, as well as making racist remarks. In response to the shooting, South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley [called for](http://time.com/3930715/south-carolina-governor-nikki-haley-confederate-flag/) the Confederate flag that stands on the grounds of the state capitol to be taken down. Viriginia Governor Terry McAuliffe called for his state to phase out license plates depicting the flag, which many associate with slavery and racism. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3932419/ebay-confederate-flags/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3932419/ebay-confederate-flags/"},"headline":"eBay to Ban Confederate Flags","datePublished":"2015-06-23T17:16:26.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T08:05:08.853Z","description":"eBay said that it will ban Confederate flag-themed items, following in the footsteps of Walmart, Sears and K-Mart.","url":"https://time.com/3932419/ebay-confederate-flags/","keywords":["eBay","Racism","South Carolina","Confederate Flag","pubdesk"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt11b05d081ac23fe9/698857f9cd684839780a07cb/gettyimages-477937342.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Claire Groden / Fortune"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt11b05d081ac23fe9/698857f9cd684839780a07cb/gettyimages-477937342.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"US-CRIME-SHOOTING-FLAG","caption":"US-CRIME-SHOOTING-FLAG","creditText":"MLADEN ANTONOV / AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/ebay/","name":"eBay"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3932419/ebay-confederate-flags/","name":"eBay to Ban Confederate Flags"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Know Right Now: Alleged Charleston Shooter Arrested","description":"A white man opened fire during a prayer meeting inside a historic black church in downtown Charleston on Wednesday night, killing nine people, including the pastor, in an assault that authorities described as a hate crime.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/pAFOX8tB/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-06-18T08:44:08.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/pAFOX8tB.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3932419/ebay-confederate-flags/","duration":"PT1M1S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3932419/ebay-confederate-flags/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```