Google Bans Common Sage
The internet search giant Google has banned the sales of common Sage through it’s online transaction service Google Checkout.
“At first we thought they had just made a mistake” commented Steve McKewon, the owner of Indigo Herbs of Glastonbury, an online retailer effected by the ban. But several emails later Google have confirmed a ban of the sale of one of the world’s most popular culinary herbs through their checkout system.
“Google’s original email claimed that one of our products fell into Google Checkout’s ‘unacceptable product category: Drugs & Drug Paraphernalia’” explained Steve. “We thought it was an error because the order they referred to contained common sage / Salvia Officinalis, which is in the same botannical family as the psychoactive drug Salvia Divinorum, sometimes referred to as simply ‘Salvia’.” However further correspondence with the Google Checkout Team, advising them that they were effectively banning a common herb and an entire genus of the mint family, has fallen on deaf ears.
Indigo Herbs has an explicit policy of not selling any herb that could be considered a legal high. However, after trying to point out to Google that this was an issue caused by the botannical taxonomy alone, Steve realised that a different approach was required. “Next we got back to Google to explain that until they changed their policy, we would remove the latin names from our Common Sage products”. But even this does not appear to be enough to keep the ham fisted digital behemoth at bay. “I understand that you are selling salvia by different names. Please note, our specialist has reviewed your account and sale of salvia of any kind and by any different names is not allowed through Google Checkout” came the unyielding response.
A quick search for Sage related products on Google’s shopping search reveals that quite a large number of Sage products can currently be bought via Google Checkout, and one could be forgiven for wondering if we are facing a future without such bucolic delights as sage and onion stuffed roast chicken or even witnessing the demise of the humble but timeless pork and sage sausage? And the situation could be about to get a lot worse. If some enforcement agency or other harasses Google Checkout into banning the well known legal high known as ‘Spice’, we could see a huge range of products from chili sauces to jerk chicken disappearing altogether into the internet underground.
But Indigo Herbs are undeterred. “We often face obstacles in the persuit of our mission to provide excellent quality herbs, superfoods, wholefoods, essential oils and many other of mother natures finest health products to the public, at the most competitive prices. In general Google have been a great help in our mission and we won’t let this little hiccup get in our way”.
Those emails in full
And for reference, here are the emails in full.
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On 18/05/2011 11:38, Google Checkout wrote: Hello, During a recent review, we found that one or more products or services you have sold with Google Checkout appear to violate the following Google Checkout content policies, specifically order number XXXXXXXXXXX: Unacceptable product category: Drugs& Drugs Paraphernalia. Please note, Google Checkout restricts the sale of salvia. To avoid having your account suspended, please do not use Google Checkout for products considered unacceptable under our content policies. Until your website meets our policy requirements, your AdWords ads have been suspended from displaying Google Checkout badges. Please visit https://checkout.google.com/support/sell/bin/answer.py?answer=75724 for more information about our content policies. For general product or account questions, please review our Help Centre at http://checkout.google.com/support/sell/?hl=en-GB. Alternatively, please do not hesitate to contact me by replying to this email. Kind regards, Nisha The Google Checkout Team ————————————————— From: claireindigo Subject: Re: [#806945815] Google Checkout Notification Date: Wed, 18 May 2011 12:38:54 +0100 Hi We think you have made an error, we sell the common herb Sage, its Latin Name is Salvia officnalis and this is NOT a drug Please review our product page http://www.indigo-herbs.co.uk/acatalog/Sage_Salvia_officinalis.html And review http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salvia_officinalis We also sell White sage, its Latin Name is Saliva alpine and this is NOT a drug. Please review our product page http://www.indigo-herbs.co.uk/acatalog/White_Sage.html and review http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salvia_apiana We do NOT Sell Salvia Divinorum http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salvia_divinorum We do not sell anything that could be considered a drug or a high. Thanks Steve www.indigo-herbs.co.uk ———————————————- On 19/05/2011 11:05, Google Checkout wrote: Hello, Thank you for your email. Please note, Google Checkout restricts the sale of salvia and its related products. To avoid having your account suspended, you must display the Google-hosted ‘not available’ button for products that are unacceptable under our content policies. To display these buttons, please use the following code snippet (replacing ‘XXX’ with > > your merchant ID): http://checkout.google.com/buttons/checkout.gif?merchant_id=XXX&w=180&h=46&style=white&variant=disabled&loc=en_US For general product or account questions, please review our Help Centre at http://checkout.google.com/support/sell/?hl=en-GB. Alternatively, please do not hesitate to contact me by replying to this email. Kind regards, Nisha The Google Checkout Team ——————————————— From: claireindigo Subject: Re: [#806945815] Google Checkout Notification Date: Thu, 19 May 2011 12:37:17 +0100 Hi Thank you for your reply. We still think you have made a mistake. Common Sage which is used as a herbal tea and to make sage and onion stuffing for roast chickens has the*LATIN NAME* Salvia officinalis Until Google checkout corrects its error of limiting the sale of Sage using its Latin name we have removed the words Salvia officinalis from the product name. Thus… Sage / Salvia officinalis Herbal Tea 50 grams has been changed to Sage Herbal Tea 50 grams and Sage / Salvia officinalis Herbal Tincture 100ml has been changed to Sage Herbal Tincture 100ml If you have any problem with this, and / or google checkout corrects its policy about using the Latin name of common Sage, please let us know as we are keen to continue our partnership with google checkout. Thanks Steve www.indigo-herbs.co.uk ———————————————————- Hello, Thank you for your email. I understand that you are selling salvia by different names. Please note, our specialist has reviewed your account and sale of salvia of any kind and by any different names is not allowed through Google Checkout. To avoid having suspension of your account please do not use Google Checkout for selling products unacceptable under our content policies. For general product or account questions, please review our Help Centre at http://checkout.google.com/support/sell/?hl=en-GB. Alternatively, please do not hesitate to contact me by replying to this email. Kind regards, Nisha The Google Checkout Team
Un-****king believable! Google really need to educate their front-line about common herbs… I can’t believe they’re referring to something sold in every domestic supermarket as a ‘Drug’!
This would be funny if it wasn’t so frightening. To give the uneducated and ignorant such power, is like giving small children the right to vote! I’m appalled at the sheer stupidity of the Big Brother minions.
Hi just got a very similar email saying I cant use google checout to sell my products these include reishi, cordyceps, astralagus, goji powder, siberian ginseng and griffonia seed extract.
Looks like ill be getting rid of my google checkout option and trying a different company that isnt so narrow minded !
I also wouldnt be suprised if google is targetting companys that sell herbs maybe a bit cynical but hey.
[...] Indigo-herbs-co.uk have been told that they cannot use Google checkout to sell Sage yep you heard it right Sage you know the stuff you shove up a chickens arse in an attempt to show you culinary skills. Even after trying to explain that though the Latin name of sage contains the word salvia it has nothing to do with with drug that seems popular to kids on YouTube who want to stitch a mate up with (a far different use I imagine from it’s origin in a rainforest some where). [...]