Ebay Discriminates !!!!!
I was singled out as a seller as selling prohibited electronics with Listing removed and I was admonished saying I was a violator while there were eight(8) other listing for the exact same model item which were never removed. I brought this to eBay's attention and asked why were they still listed as I had screenshots as proof, but was ignored. I have been selling for over 25 years and sell with good feedback and are treated like a criminal. When further investigating those items currently listed on eBay that were in my supposed prohibited item group there are nearly 100 different brands, models and versions still listed. I never said I was the only one that this has happened to I just wanted to report that their system is flawed that they hand out warnings and remove listing on just a few random sellers and ignore the rest. eBay is only interested in the commissions they receive from sellers and sometimes treat them poorly.
johnrj1226
·1 year agoHow do you know there weren't many others busted not just you singled out?
Got a ticket on a rush hour Friday nite by an Indiana State Patrol for going with the flow during the National 55 mph speed lime - some days you are a diamond some day not. - What Is The Fuss?. Pay the ticket.
But I felt like this guy Charlie Brown in a Coasters song from '57 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tQgkaG58tI was 14 then
luckythewinner
·1 year agoI have been selling for over 25 years and sell with good feedback and are treated like a criminal.
How exactly were you "treated like a criminal"?
eBay is only interested in the commissions they receive from sellers
If all they care about is commissions, why did they end your listings and deny themselves the commissions?
I was singled out as a seller as selling prohibited electronics with Listing removed
Did you list a prohibited item? There are 1.5 billion listings on eBay, and their policy enforcement has never been (and will never be) timely, comprehensive, or accurate.
pickapaper
·1 year ago@commco1
eBay has bots that crawl listings looking for "wrongdoings", but every listing has a button that says "report this listing" so people can report listings that they come across that they know or think are in the wrong. Perhaps someone saw your listing and reported it but didn't look at any of the other listings for the same thing or report them. It could have even been a competitor that reported your listing.
commco1
OP1 year agoThat is very possible, thanks for making mention as it makes you look at it from a different prospective. I would think that you may be a good observation since my listing was considerably lower than all the others. As I said in an earlier post I sell much equipment to Volunteer Fire Personnel who are affiliated with a local Dept. and do not have the funds to pay $500 for a new item, but can afford $150 for used. With all of eBay's resources they should be able to come up with a system that verifies that the buyer is a bonified member of an emergency response entity whether it be Fire or Police in order for them to reasonably purchase this type of equipment. This can be done through that Dept. providing proof to eBay. This is done everyday with Auction Companies that sell these type of things online from municipalities that have upgraded to new equipment.
pickapaper
·1 year agoI understand what you are saying but eBay has 18 Million sellers selling 1.7 Billion items on any given day. It would be impossible for them to vet every seller or item as being legit.
albertabrightalberta
·1 year agoLike the one you sold on the same day you started this discussion?
You don't sell in large quantities so that doesn't seem to be the reason you use ebay for selling what you sell.
And if your prices are so reasonable that you can make a business of selling these items to "local" volunteer fire personnel, why not just avoid the 3rd party site and visit your local departments and makes the availability of your services and items known.
That way, you know items are going to appropriate personnel, you aren't selling to anonymous public safety impersonators, you aren't violating ebay policy by listing prohibited items and you're even saving ebay fees.
commco1
OP1 year agoSounds like an alternate approach, Thanks for your advice!
toysaver
·1 year agoPolice-related items policy | eBay
EBay doesn't want to take the liability in case an axe murderer buys it and pulls somebody over. Not to mention it's illegal to impersonate law enforcement. How would you determine the buyer had an official ability to use the item?
commco1
OP1 year agoYou misunderstand my post: I am not against their policy at all! What my complaint has been is they should have equal enforcement to all sellers, not just the one's they happen to catch. There have been mentions of AI related programs that catch certain phrases, wording etc. which is fine. But with all of eBay's wealth and wisdom, if they can't use software that is that reliably enforces their rules then they shouldn't use it. Bottom line is I had a chat with a Representative and explained why I was annoyed with their decision and offered them proof of the other listing and they didn't care. Do you think that is good business?
Has anyone else had similar problems with eBay as I cannot believe I am the only one.
fashunu4eeuh
·1 year agoHi @commco1 You have articulated the problem well.
You are not the only seller to bring this discussion to the forum. It is a topic that cycles in and out occasionally because policy enforcement is not consistent, as another poster mentioned upthread.
Since i cannot effect change in how eBay manages its site, i have long since come to terms with its foibles and faults.
My response to this has been to do what is within my control—namely, learning the myriad of rules and policies that govern the platform, to prevent inadvertent violations.
mam98031
·1 year ago@commco1
Ebay is not discriminating against you. But to understand why your listings were removed, we would need more details. The email or emails you got from Ebay told you why the listings were removed. What did they tell you.
commco1
OP1 year agoThey told me the listing item was prohibited. Again as I explained to Toysaver below: I am not questioning eBay's policy nor do I disagree with it. My issue lies with their inability to properly enforce these rules by blatantly allowing many others to sell the same types of items while they give me warnings over it. There was no dialogue when I indicated there were at least 8 other sellers with the exact same item listed I would have thought good business practice would have been: Would you mind sending us proof of this- But no that was not discussed. My post is not about Policy, it's about fairness in eBay's Selling Platform. Technically they are supplying a service to us sellers, a service that is certainly "Not Free" which in essence say's they work for us and our success. I am not into Drama or Entitlement or a CEO of a large company like others have listed in some of the earlier posts however, this is supposedly a forum to start discussions and I feel as though I have a right to express my thoughts without gaining negative comments from other contributors on here.
mam98031
·1 year agoIt is important to remember a couple of things. One is that Ebay has between 1.5 to 2 billion active listings to police. So they do not catch everything and certainly not like violations at the same time. Second, since I don't know what product it was that you had removed, it is possible in the policy that it says that authorized / preapproved sellers can sell it. IDK because IDK what product was removed or why it was removed as you haven't shared that, or I missed it.
The discussion has to include the policy in which you violated because that policy may have exceptions. But again, not know what was removed, we can't know which policy you violated.
Listing items is free. It is actually selling the items that are not.
jameshen1
·1 year agoI hardly think having a listing removed is "being treated like a criminal.". Drama much?
stainlessenginecovers
·1 year agoAnother poster/human on this planet- that has absolutely NO CLUE what the word 'discrimination' means; or is.
inhawaii
·1 year agoI was thinking the same thing.
You must think you're a pretty important person for a multi-billion dollar company to single you out amongst hundreds of thousands of other users and discriminate against you.
They had a board meeting and the CEO said "Let's get this guy!"
12345jamesstamps
·1 year agoI was in a hurry to mail at the post office today...I was gone like 2 minutes from my motorcycle.
Yea, I parked on sidewalk...came out and a police guy was writing me a ticket ....I questioned 'are you writing me a ticket'? Yea...you are blocking the sidewalk...actually I wasn't...I was near the curb on sidewalk.
I put my key in bike and said it won't start and what did you expect me to leave in the street with parking meters? I walked that **bleep** bike a whole block to pretend it wouldn't start. Will I get a mailed ticket?
I don't know.
My defense : homeless people with shopping carts block the sidewalks all the time...do they get a ticket?
I will fight the ticket.
Some people get picked on...while others don't.
I see cars all the time without a front license plate(against the law in California) plus expired tags.
This is my second eBay shipping mishap.
Monday I accidentally left my debit card in stamp machine but was returned to me after 3 hours after I discovered it missing by a clerk at the post office.
End to the story....it's a never-ending story with eBay...LOL
toomuchstuffagain35
·1 year agoI've had stuff removed for being recalled when it was similar to the item in the recall but NOT the same at all.
kensgiftshop
·1 year agoWhy would you park your bike on the sidewalk and not in a parking spot like everyone else?
That makes real bikers look bad.
mondex
·1 year agoThis happens with comics too. It's not discrimination, however. They don't have live humans looking through listings for the most part. I'm pretty sure they just have a program running through listings and seeing if they match certain criteria to be taken down. However, I don't know how they'll take 1 down and miss like 10 of the same item. It doesn't seem very efficient.
FYI, the comic book standards are kind of arbitrary as well. Originally, they banned anything with nudity or adult material inside, but they allow newer independent titles like Power Hour, Totally Rad Comics, Duty Calls and M House that are very adult in nature. They will still take down older titles from the 90's though. It's very inconsistent.
commco1
OP1 year agoYou are more than correct. There are almost 100 listings similar to mine with the same type of equipment just different brands that are currently listed on ebay. Apparently they don't have the ability to come up with an efficient program that can cover all the bases to make it fair to sellers. Must be their 13% plus cut of what we sell isn't enough to become efficient. Lol
onefootflipper
·1 year agoEvery single thing I have ever had removed had multiple active listings from other sellers, and I generally sell $100K per year.
The real story is that yours got flagged and pulled and the others didn't. I have had things flagged and pulled 10 minutes after I listed them, and I have had it happen 8 months later.
Then sometimes I know I have something that isn't against the rules but that is likely to get incorrectly flagged and pulled anyway. I tend to list those items very low so they sell almost immediately.
There are also shadow title bans in some categories, in which no items are specifically banned, but just try using certain words or word combinations in the titles.
commco1
OP1 year agoThanks for the reply! Sounds like you have a good understanding of the idiosyncrasies of ebay and their unfair practicing systems. Only a few of thousands get flagged and caught and more than likely many don't even know they have done anything wrong while others continue to evade getting flagged and are allowed to break the rules. It will be interesting how ebfares once the tarrifs are in full force.
inhawaii
·1 year agoNot just ebay, my local police department also discriminates.
I was pulled over and cited for speeding when there were HUNDREDS of other vehicles speeding.
ramdaddi
·1 year agoSomething similar just happened to me. They claimed I was selling to Canada and it wasn't allowed. Just figure out how to contact a service rep and they might be able to walk you through 1 of the latest 1,000,000 changes to our selling platform that you've 'Ai' violated. For me, I thought I had Canada blocked (strange thinking people up there) but ebay has their own special way of blocking countries I found out. Get to the eBay chat bot and ask for a "live agent".
commco1
OP1 year agoI did speak to a "live Agent". They read me the "Riot Act" how I received a Violation for my own good because they are protecting people from those who are masquerading as first responders.
doc-holmes
·1 year agoYeah, Canadians are the strange ones.
chevymontecarlo88
·1 year agoOh, don't be so hard on Canadians. They are more confused than strange.
ps. Sorry for what the Caps did to the Habs. Many are blaming Carney for scheduling the snap election during the playoffs. What a mess.
doc-holmes
·1 year agoMontreal had a good year. They overachieved, and the future looks good.
movieman630
·1 year agoJust remove them.
powell-collectibles
·1 year agoWhat is a prohibited electronics item? I’m curious!
iamalwaysright
·1 year agoGee I really hope it was this
pikabo-icu
·1 year agoIs it a guessing game?
I guess a vape.
commco1
OP1 year agoAn Electronic siren unit that Fire Departments use and regularly buy from me. I typically sell Two way radios and electronics to these dept.s Some members cannot afford to buy new.
meme6253
·1 year agoMaybe they are not discriminating against you, Maybe they don't like firemen.
pikabo-icu
·1 year agoI got stopped and got a ticket for speeding when there were a dozen other cars speeding.
Their day will come...
coastaltechsolution
·1 year agoAh! I thought that was you when I drove buy ðŸ˜
pikabo-icu
·1 year agoiamalwaysright
·1 year agoMaybe the 8 other listings are from people who have been selling for 26 years and nearly $11k per year. 😀
Ebay doesn't care about your achievements.
commco1
OP1 year agoYou could be correct, it makes you think, thanks for the reply
iamalwaysright
·1 year agoThere were probably also many more listings that ebay singled out and removed well before they got to yours tho. Luck of the draw I guess.
fbusoni
·1 year ago@commco1
Sometimes?