Roughly 20,000 African elephants are poached each year for their ivory tusks, according the World Wildlife Fund. It’s a crime that goes beyond harming the environment. Transnational crime organizations lead the illegal ivory trade, using the profits to fund their illicit activities, including acts of terrorism.

eBay became a leader in anti-trafficking efforts in 2008 when it became one of the first online marketplaces to ban the sale of elephant ivory. Since then, we’ve become a founding member of the Coalition to End Wildlife Trafficking and invested in new technology and employee training programs to better identify listings selling illegal wildlife.

"WWF sees eBay staying ahead of the threats with continuous refinement of automated filters and its systems for elephant ivory and traditional medicine products containing protected wildlife, which have been game changers. Finding a company so committed, transparent, and inspiring to work with is rare,” Crawford Allan, senior director, wildlife at WWF-US.

Constant Monitoring

For years, eBay has continuously monitored its platform to take down any listings for illegal wildlife products. In 2023 alone, eBay blocked or removed 500,000 prohibited wildlife items, such as ivory, rhino horns, products made with pangolin skin and live animals.

The number of items blocked or reported increased compared to 2022, due in part to our increased investments in technology, including new AI tools that constantly monitor listings for prohibited items. Enhanced employee training has helped as well. eBay enforcement staff receive training from the Coalition to End Wildlife Trafficking Online so they can more easily and accurately identify illegal items.

“eBay made great strides this year in finding new solutions to detect and deter wildlife trafficking on their platform, which can provide lessons for the sector to replicate,” Allan added.

We’re also working to explore additional ways educate consumers and sellers about the perils of wildlife trafficking and the damage it does to protected species. “Eradicating the illegal wildlife trade must be a collaborative effort that not only addresses supply issues, but also educates the consumer on the illegal and unethical nature of these products in order to reduce demand,” Mike Carson, of eBay’s Global Policy and Regulatory Management team, said.

Partnering for Progress

We know we can’t eradicate wildlife trafficking alone. It’s why we’ve partnered with the Coalition to End Wildlife Trafficking online, whose members include nearly 50 corporations, the International Fund for Animal Welfare and the World Wildlife Fund. Through our collective efforts, Coalition companies have blocked or removed more than 10 million listings for prohibited wildlife online.

The group shares best practices to find illegal listings and has developed a list of 2,500 known search terms in multiple languages used to avoid detection online that can be used to strengthen AI monitoring tools.

“eBay’s success in addressing illegal wildlife trade on the platform is a direct result of the company’s senior-level commitment and dedication to the issue, backed up by the increased expertise and awareness of our staff trained by the Coalition,” Carson said.