Amazon, Etsy to Ban Confederate Flag Merchandise, Joining Walmart, eBay

As some Confederate flag sellers enjoy brisk sales, other retailers ban them.

ByABC News

June 23, 2015, 4:03 PM

Boxes move along a conveyor belt at an Amazon fulfillment center on Jan. 20, 2015 in Tracy, Calif. Amazon officially opened its new 1.2 million square foot fulfillment center in Tracy, California that employs more than 1,500 full time workers as well as 3,000 Kiva robots that can fetch merchandise for workers and are capable of lifting up to 750 pounds. Amazon is currently using 15,000 of the robots spread over 10 fulfillment centers across the country.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

 -- Following Walmart, Sears and eBay, mega online seller Amazon and crafts site Etsy say they will ban sales of Confederate flag merchandise, after the products experienced a surge in popularity.

Seattle-based Amazon.com Inc. is joining the ban on Confederate flag sales, a spokesman for the company confirmed to ABC News, with its more than 2 million third-party sellers.

In the last 24 hours, the top five biggest sales rank gainers on Amazon.com, or "movers and shakers," of the "patio, lawn and garden" category have been Confederate flag products, according to the website.

A search of the website for "Confederate flag" Tuesday afternoon produced more than 14,000 results.

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The top product in that category, with a sales rank that increased 3,620 percent, is a Confederate flag that's 3 feet by 5 feet and costs $1.80. The sales rank was 186th and shot up to No. 5, according to the website, which states that the rankings are updated hourly.

A view of the Amazon "Movers & Shakers" list created on June 23, 2015 shows a jump in popularity of Confederate flags.

In a statement, Etsy said it is "removing confederate flag items from our marketplace. Etsy’s policies prohibit items or listings that promote, support or glorify hatred and these items fall squarely into that category."

The company said added "due to the nature of our platform, it is possible that a prohibited item may appear for sale on the site before our enforcement teams have a chance to remove it."

An employee walks past a quilt displaying Etsy Inc. signage at the company's headquarters in the Brooklyn borough of New York, May 4, 2015.

Kerry McCoy, founder and president of FlagandBanner.com, based in Arkansas, told ABC News that sales of Confederate flags through her business in Little Rock, Arkansas, were "so-so" yesterday, but things have changed rapidly since Walmart, Sears, Kmart and additional politicians have called for their ban.

"We are getting a lot of calls for them and not for hate purposes but rather in fear that they will somehow become unavailable in the near future," McCoy said.

While Walmart, eBay, Kmart and Sears have announced the ban of Confederate flag products, McCoy said she will continue to sell all flags through her business in Arkansas as long as it is legal.

"We represent all Americans. It is not the place of Arkansas’ FlagandBanner.com to judge its customers. We are providers not politicians," she said. "History buffs and re-enacters love the Civil War for its contributions to our country. As long as it is lawful we will represent all Americans at FlagandBanner.com, which include but not limited to Gay Pride, Tea Party, Democrats, Republicans, Native Americans, etc."