“An IFAW investigation in 2005 uncovered more than 9,000 products made from endangered species available on the Web in just one week across a wide variety of sites, including ivory products.

With 33 national web sites, eBay provides a global online marketplace where practically anyone can trade practically anything. Following the release of IFAW’s Bidding for Extinction report which outlined these shocking results, IFAW met with eBay senior officials in the USA and across Europe. As a result, eBay agreed to ban the cross-border trade in elephant ivory products on its sites around the globe at the end of June.

In its announcement, eBay stated that in addition to this international ban, clearer and stricter policies would be implemented on a national level for in-country ivory auctions. It remains to be seen if their new policies will be effective and actually reduce the number of ivory items offered on their sites. However, it is already clear that IFAW’s pressure on eBay “ including more than 10,000 messages to eBay’s headquarters from IFAW supporters over a single weekend “ helped secure this decision.”