More and more companies are getting involved in environmentally-friendly actions, even if said actions may affect their profit and may entail significant changes in their policy. These actions have started to amount to much more than just recycling.
One example of major policy change was given by popular internet auction site eBay.

The internet company decided to ban ivory transactions on its auctioning platform. They made this change because of increased concern over the endangered elephants. The company decided to ban ivory from the list of products allowed to be auctioned on their website as this was the way they were able to protect the species hunted down for ivory.

Although a wonderful initiative, it is possible that eBay may have reacted to pressure. The Humane Society made public a statistic involving ivory products sold on eBay, back in 2002. The UN already had a ban on international ivory transaction, and eBay banned them too last year. But it was clear to eBay officials that this ban was not sufficient.

eBay’s new policy will go into effect as of December this year and will be enforced starting with January 2009. eBay will allow, however, transactions involving ivory items that were made before 1900. They threaten violators with severe consequences, as executives have promised to collaborate with local, federal and international authorities on the matter. The change received and enthusiastic welcome from the Humane Society.

Users and campaigners applaud eBay’s decision, all the while saying that they delayed it for some time. However, the saying “better late than never” applies for this case. The International Animal Welfare, who also released a report on the ivory trading situation on eBay, have said they would keep an eye on eBay to make sure that they respect the regulations.