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EBAY HAS SHUT ME DOWN FOR 72 HRS FOR FALSE COUNTERFIT CLAIMS
Summary: chucknwatches, an eBay seller of watches, has faced a store shutdown due to false counterfeit claims against three listings, which were denied upon appeal despite providing proof of purchase. jacbarcollectibles explains that counterfeit claims can be made either by a rights owner through eBay's VeRO program or by other users, making it difficult to prevent such incidents. rfmtm advises avoiding commonly counterfeited items and suggests including serial numbers and authentication details in listings. chucknwatches is frustrated and considering alternate platforms due to lack of clarity from eBay about the violation specifics, which undermines their ability to prevent future issues.
Hello everyone, i am in need of some help please, i am an ebay seller i mainly buy and sell watches new mostly, I have been bombarded with policy violations that just shut down my store going into the holiday weekend with a huge sale campaign going... I received shutdown notice and had no known violations showing on my phone app ios so i reach out to ebay customer service and was informed ive been flagged for counterfeit hi risk and still i was not seeing violations on my end, I used desktop app to look a second time and yes 3 listings from a valid supplier were flagged, I immediately appealed all 3 violations and I was informed today that my appeals were denied, I showed proof of purchase, i uploaded where i purchased. what can i do to prevent this as it has now hurt my business. like many of you I worked hard to reach top rated seller, never had any issues except these false counterfeit claims. Is possibly someone doing this to me maybe competition? how are counterfeit claims made? do i have the right to appeal a second time? Is this maybe a scam that beats ebays AI by buyers who do this after purchase? I see how easy it is through app to just claim fake or counterfeit it appears to be a couple clicks and you can really hurt a store, should i put receipts with listings proving authenticity? what can i put in listing that proves authenticity and will prevent this from ever happening again?
thank you
rfmtm
Mentor2 months agoUnfortunately counterfeit claims are the hardest to fight, especially if these were not done through VeRO, which you can fight. Most likely the ebay bots spotted something in the photo or listing that got you items flagged or there were multiple reports or returns citing counterfeit.
Best you can do is avoid items that are often counterfeited and pay close attention to how you photographic, title, and describe the item. Include any serial numbers in the photo plus anything you have to authenticate the item. Still the problem now is you are on ebay's radar and will be under higher scrutiny, even if you win an appeal, which often is not even an option.
Would need more specific details of the listing and how you at titling and describing the item to help you further.
chucknwatches
OP2 months agoTbh im exhausted with the whole thing, its alot of work selling on ebay and now im searching for others just because of the vulnerability i felt being accused and denied. We adapt but it would be nice to build a template for listings that create all the info needed that win an appeal if counterfeit is claimed. I think part of the reason I lost my appeals was because I have no idea what was flagged or listed wrong, was it the pictures? Was it just someone making claims that were false was it one of the Brand companies that feel I don’t have the rights of the first sale doctrine lol was it Ai ? Who knows but if i could get clarity which i cant then i could almost guarantee this never happens but ebays not giving specifics and im just going to continue until i cant. Ty again appreciate in-site
chucknwatches
OP2 months agoThanks so much for replying i wish you success and good fortune. Ty chucknwatches
jacbarcollectibles
Mentor2 months agoCounterfeit claims can be made if two ways. If the message you received about the violation mentioned VeRO (Verified Rights Owner) then the rights owner for the item reported you and had eBay take down the listing. Some rights owners do not want their item listed on eBay by anyone other than an authorized dealer and will report other listings. The other way you can be reported is if another user reported the listing to eBay. Since eBay does not allow counterfeit items to be listed they will quickly take the item down.
Since this was a 72 hour suspension there is really no point in trying to appeal. Since they have already denied your appeal there is little you could present to them to change their mind.
chucknwatches
OP2 months agoAppreciate your comment, still curious how to prevent this from happening in future, and its important for me to clear my name how do i do that with ebay after being denied claim
chucknwatches
OP2 months agosecond question is did i understand you correctly in saying any user can claim counterfeit against another user or seller? thats pretty simple way to control your competition just knock em out for 3 days on an account suspension for false claims and ebay lets that happen?
jacbarcollectibles
Mentor2 months agoYes, unfortunately this could be a problem and I am sure that it has happened. eBay will always err on the side of caution because they lost a major lawsuit years ago that cost them a lot of money. So eBay is very careful about claims of counterfeit items. Although I cannot be sure but I would assume that eBay monitors how may claims of counterfeit items a user makes and if they see a pattern they could decide not to value those claims made by a user to highly if they make a lot of claims.