Counterfeit item
Purchased quite a few clearance items from Target only to be told the Cards Against Humanity Cards are counterfeit. Won't tell me what the issue is so I can return them but 14 other dealers sell the same thing with no issues. When I contacted the Cards Against Humanity site and sent them pictures of what I'm selling and copies of my receipt they said they couldn't see any issues and they did sell quite a few to Target and Walmart and currently there are many available on Amazon as well. Ebay won't let me relist and won't give me an itemized listing of the issues so I can get my money back. What remedy do I have??
5 comments
harafkac0
·3 years agoI believe we'd all like to think there is some malicious or overzealous office worker somewhere flagging these listings... Sadly I think the truth is far less flamboyant, I believe certain listings trip some computer software algorithms, which I do agree is likely created by certain large brands in their effort to catch actual counterfeiters.
As usually is the case with these things, the cure is worse than the disease.
I also doubt it stops any actual counterfeit operations.
And I mean any.
It just hurts the good guys.
bamorris
·3 years agoWhen I had an item pulled, the message from eBay stated the manufacturer flagged the item. Now it could have been a programmatic flag. Or it could have been some intern they hired that hits the button on "Newly Listed" item trying to keep the supply of gray market goods down and encourage the sale of retail MSRP items.
I try not to get too conspiracy theory on stuff and just accept the reality that the item was flagged and removed. Lesson learned for me. Some brands are more notorious than others at policing the eBay market for their items.
The Verified Rights Owner (VeRO) Program allows owners of intellectual property (IP) rights and their authorized representatives to report eBay listings that may infringe on those rights.
Not sure if that is applicable, but I think the VERO program can flag items as counterfeit as well. https://www.ebay.com/sellercenter/ebay-for-business/verified-rights-owner-program
rosachs
·3 years agoBack when I was selling shoes, I had a wee issue with the folks at Velcro. They tagged one of my listings with that word in the title & description - it was there because the manufacturer's distributor had it in their data and I was selling on consignment for that distributor and had contractually obtained permission to use their ad copy.
There was contact info for Velcro, so I contacted them (email) and asked the simple question: what did I do wrong? How do I fix this so I can continue to sell these shoes for my client? And the response was so simple that I was a bit embarrassed. "Velcro" is a proper noun - the name of a product and should therefor be capitalized. It is also a registered trademark and requires the ® symbol after the name.
That was all it was! So I went thru all my listings that had "Velcro" or "hook-and-loop" in the title or description and reviewed the text to my client's source data. If the shoes actually used Velcro, I made sure the listing properly reflected that. If they did not, I made sure "hook-and-loop" was used.
for the next 6-7yrs, I never had another issue with that term, and since my client specialized in 'comfort shoes', over 20% of the shoes I had would have that type of closure. That was a LOT of shoes!
The OP should check the notice again and look for any contact data. If they've already contacted the manufacturer and gotten the OK, it gets a bit more complicated. eBay will remove the VeRO violation tag and allow you to relist, but the party filing the complaint has to file a removal, allowing you to repost without issue. eBay is supposed to keep that removal on file, in case some over-zealous audit tags the listing again.
eBay has consistantly claimed that they do not scan their database for violating words. They -do- scan at time of posting, preventing you from posting a potentially violating listing, but they do not go back afterwards. The exception, I suspect, would be when there are direct legal consequences - like the removal of Nazi memorabilia or the more recent removal of HFC refrigerant products (note: all Freon products are refrigerants, but not all refrigerants are Freon. Freon is a trademark and only to be used for products of one company: DuPont).
So it was either a cranky competitor, an overly fussy non-buyer, or an agent hired by the manufacturer - some person/entity had to report your listing for eBay to look at it for removal. The one thing those reporting members don't think about... eBay will also scan their listings (another exception?) for the same type of violation. Goose/Gander - both taste good oven-roasted with mashed taters and grease gravy!
If it was a VeRO pull, talk to the company indicated on the notice and ask them how to correct it. I've had better-than-50/50 results doing so. One reporting company admitted they had tagged out listing in error, but by the time the removal form was filed (we have no proof it was but were able to relist and sell the rest of the inventory without incident) -- our 3day suspension was ended and we were back to posting and selling.
-Bob.
bamorris
·3 years agoIt's the risk you take with retail arbitrage.
I had a Whirlpool refrigerator water filter that was thrown off eBay as counterfeit. It wasn't counterfeit, but there was nothing I could do.
I think some of these larger brands police the items on eBay and will throw them out (flagged as counterfeit by manufacturer).
I would try to return the item to Target for store credit. Don't try to relist it or try to circumvent eBay's decision on it.
simba6
·3 years agoIt's a judgement call. Sort of like an umpire, one says it's a ball and another would call it a strike.
Not much you can do. Just never relist them on eBay. You can be suspended from selling for life if they keep removing them.
Even art experts don't always agree if a painting is fake or not.