6 Companies Ban Confederate Flag Sales

Retailers are banning the Confederate flag.

Last week's massacre in Charleston, South Carolina, which left nine black church members dead and a white supremacist gunman charged, kicked off a movement to remove the flag from the grounds of the state capitol.

This week, protests spilled into the private sector, as a growing number of major online and brick-and-mortar retailers vowed to pull the rebel flag from their shelves.

Here are some of the companies that have banned the flag:

1. Walmart

"We never want to offend anyone with the products that we offer. We have taken steps to remove all items promoting the confederate flag from our assortment -- whether in our stores or on our web site. We have a process in place to help lead us to the right decisions when it comes to the merchandise we sell. Still, at times, items make their way into our assortment improperly -- this is one of those instances."

2. eBay

We have decided to prohibit Confederate flags, and many items containing this image, because we believe it has become a contemporary symbol of divisiveness and racism.

3. Sears

"We are in the process of scrubbing our marketplace to pull those items down.

4. Target

Our intention is never to offend. We all recognize the great sensitivity around this and have removed that one item from our website. But ... that was the only item.

5. Etsy

Today, we are removing confederate flag items from our marketplace. Etsys policies prohibit items or listings that promote, support or glorify hatred and these items fall squarely into that category. With each new application of our policies, we strive to strike the right balance between creative freedom, Etsy's values, and establishing a safe and respectful marketplace for members. The challenge of defining and eliminating offensive items raises deep and complex issues -- both philosophical and pragmatic -- which we at Etsy wrestle with regularly. We strive to think about our site holistically and determine what is best for the entire community.

6. Amazon

Alexander C. Kaufman contributed reporting.