I have been on eBay for over 13 years as a seller. I've increased my sales from a few packages per day to 25+ packages per day over the last four years and everything was going great. A counterfeit item claim was placed against my account about a year ago, but I didn't think anything of it because I know where I buy my products from and I brushed it off as a mistake in the system. The counterfeit item claim didn't make sense to me because the exact item was still listed on eBay UK even after my item was removed from the site. I had purchase the item directly from the manufacturer and had the receipt in my hand. A call to customer service yielded no pertinent information as to why the item was flagged as counterfeit. The eBay customer service team is hesitant to divulge information about their counterfeiting identification policy and methods, and understandably so as this may give counterfeiters an upper hand on beating the system. 6 months passed and I was staring at this item I purchased directly from the manufacturer over and over again. Like a big dummy, I thought to myself "I will list this item again and eBay will just let me sell it this time." This was not a smart thought. I listed the item again, it was instantly taken down, and this led to the second counterfeiting claim against my account. It was quite strange, the item I listed was flagged almost immediately after it was live on eBay as counterfeit. I inquired to customer service again and this is when I learned eBay has an agreement with the government to stop "price gouging" for items in which eBay classifies as being related to COVID 19. I was attempting to sell a Nike x Matthew Williams facemask for running, so now it started to make sense. Matthew Williams is a famous fashion designer for Givenchy and his items typically command a higher price, so I didn't think I was "price gouging" as I had listed my item significantly cheaper than the same listing already on eBay. When I say the "same listing", I literally mean the same listing. I cloned the listing already on eBay using the $ Have one to sell? Sell now button found within each listing on eBay. The item already on eBay could be purchased from the UK through the eBay international shipping program and is still on eBay at the time of this post. The state I am living in did not choose to implement draconian measures throughout the pandemic and all state restrictions had been removed at the time I listed the item for the second time. These were strikes #1 and #2 against my account, and it only goes downhill from here
Strikes #3 and #4 were also quite unpleasant. Strike #3 for "counterfeiting" occurred when I listed a Size 15 Jordan shoe which I bought for $25 and was attempting to sell for $75. If you've ever been to a Nike store, you will commonly see discounts on men's shoes size 15 and above (the extreme sizes). The shoe was immediately flagged as counterfeit (Strike #3) and taken down from eBay at approximately 1am in the morning. I had the shoe in multiple sizes so this was quite concerning. The non-extreme sized shoes I purchased for $50. Another call to customer service was placed, I uploaded my digital receipts from the Nike app and attached them to the eBay SR ticket number. The customer service representative said a member from the eBay Trust team would review the receipts and get back to me. As to be expected, 2 weeks passed without a call-back from customer service or an email back from customer service.
I proceeded to list the shoe in a non-extreme size for $100 (Size 12). At $100 the eBay authenticity guarantee is in place. I was able to sell this item without the listing being taken down. After the size 12 shoe sold, I thought to myself "let me re-use the currently active listing for the size 12 with quantity 0 in stock, adjust the size of the listing to size 15, adjust the quantity remaining to 1, and drop the price by $15 this time to sell the item for $85." Once again, this was not a smart thought. The size 15 listing was flagged immediately for being counterfeit (Strike #4). I called customer service again and began an escalation. This escalation caused the Trust team to reach contact me about strike #3 with a response saying "counterfeiters can counterfeit receipts, we don't believe you receipt taken directly from the Nike.com app and uploaded to our eBay site, even if you do have the order number and price directly from Nike". After speaking with customer service I discovered eBay is using an algorithm to flag items as counterfeit. The algorithm sets an expected market price for an item, and if you are below the expected market price you are at risk for a counterfeit claim. In strikes #1 and #2 I was flagged for price gouging, in strikes #3 and #4 I was flagged for pricing too cheap. I was not aware eBay was putting in such price controls in place. The customer service team treats you as if you are nothing and seemed as if they had no interest in hearing my side of the story (aka the truth). The customer service team is stuck reading off a script and are unable to deviate from their pre-defined script. My favorite parts about talking with customer service are when they say "your voice will be heard" and "you should expect a call back", neither of which you should expect to happen. After strike #4 my account was restricted for 7 days, all my listings were removed from the website and I could not create any new listings for the duration. When the 7 day ban was announced, I immediately listed the size 15 item on my second account for $100 and purchased the item from my first account. The item cleared the eBay authentication inspection without issue and I called customer service back after it had been cleared. Once again, the customer service team and the eBay Trust team did not care. My item was authenticated by the eBay 3rd party authenticators but this was not good enough to have my account unlocked. It was also interesting when the customer service team requested for me to take photographs of my receipts and place the receipt photograph in all of my listings moving forward, while at the same time telling me counterfeiters can counterfeit receipts.
I am writing this message after strike #5. For strike number 5, I purchased an item directly from Nike, photographed & listed the item on eBay 30 minutes later, and had a new counterfeit claim 30 minutes after that. I've once again purchased the item from myself to clear though the eBay authenticators and I doubt eBay customer service will care. For strike #5 I also cloned an existing listing on eBay USA. For some reason my listing was flagged and the current listing on eBay is still available for purchase. There is a serious on-going flaw with the counterfeiting algorithm and no appropriate actions in place for a buyer to clear his or her name. eBay representatives don't care to help me, I am just a cog in the machine, just dust in the wind. Sellers are unable to speak to the eBay Trust team directly because the are a secret infallible back office team and speaking to sellers is beneath them. If you do hear from the eBay Trust team expect a pre-canned email and do not expect them to remove the counterfeiting claim from your account. The counterfeiting algorithm must never be questioned, the counterfeiting algorithm has never made a mistake. If you've made it this far, thank you for reading and god speed.
