My friend received a nasty message from paypal to desist from buying anything related to Sudan. It was a cover depicting Pope John Paul's visit to Sudan. Paypal told him; do it again and they will terminate his account. He bought the cover via Delcampe auction not ebay.
The fiat applies to all the countries on the US boycott/ embargo list. Even when the material predates the embargo, as in pre-Castro Cuban stamps.
DH got so annoyed by this, that he circulated a special flyer to his B&M store and auction customers with only material from those countries, but mentioning that the buyers would have to pay other than by Paypal.
