Ebay keeps removing and restoring and removing my listings.
Ebay keeps removing my listings, claiming they are prescription only. I keep appealing and having them restored because the policy mentions the brand by name as an exception because it is an OTC product. Customer service made suggestions (such as adding the NADA# even though it wasn't required, etc.), and I've done everything, and they keep saying don't worry, it won't happen again... But it does.
How do I talk to someone that can actually make a difference with this?
Thank you!
18 comments
salesandresales
OP2 years agoThe rest of my listings won their appeals this morning and all listings have stayed up so far.
Moral of the story: appeal appeal appeal if you have good evidence!
salesandresales
OP2 years ago****Update****
This was posted Thursday. Thursday evening, one listing was restored and has stayed now through the weekend. The 2 losing on my other account were restored Friday morning and are still up. There are 3 more listings on my 'main' account still pending appeal. I'm not sure if they have finally fixed it, or if this is a temporary reprieve, but it's been a relief to be selling those products again so if we do end up screwed we aren't sitting on as much stock.
brabha_9
·2 years agoOnly thing I can suggest would try to offload it on mercari or Facebook marketplace. This is what I am doing for items that get taken down no matter how we word or adjust listings.
At least on other platforms, if the brand name gets it removed off Mercari or specific ingredients in the title.
You can try what I do is putting those keywords in the hashtag area. That way when people search for a keyword or brand name, it will pop up your item in those results and it won't get removed as quickly.
This is all based off my experience, no means saying that it is 100% foolproof.
inhawaii
·2 years agoI'm having this issue as we speak.
One of my listings was taken down unjustly, I assume by a bot.
Customer service says I can re-list.
So I re-list and a few days later it's taken down again.
As @luckythewinner says, I don't think customer service has any control over what the bots do.
salesandresales
OP2 years agoI don't think that they have any control, either. However, I have noticed that for us at least, the bots remove the listings in the morning, and we've been able to get the listings restored so we are able to get some sales. We will probably keep limping the listings along and clear out as many as possible.
I believe our accounts are flagged so they are checking our listings regularly, even though all of the penalties have been rolled back each time our appeals are granted.
Make sure you actually have them appeal and that it is granted when relishing, otherwise you will find yourself with your store frozen after a couple rounds of this!
brabha_9
·2 years agoBasically having the same issues we are having and a couple of friends that sell as well.
Mornings from 3:00 all the way to 10:00 AM, listings get taken down in intervals of 30 minutes and up to 1 hour.
So after 10:00, listings don't get removed as quickly, but they get removed maybe 2-4 hours after relisting them. Around 3:00-10:00 PM, listings do not get hit and they stay up.
WHy that is? I don't know. If your item is a hot item and you know can sell it quick, those windows of opportunity would be the best time to list it. But stressing again, your account is strong and aged well.
Starting over if your account gets hit is going to be an uphill battle.
salesandresales
OP2 years agoThat is very helpful. I'm only relisting when the appeal goes through and I get the email saying that everything has been restored, so we are still just getting warnings and not penalized. Unfortunately we have very little control over when the appeal goes through and the items get relisted. Today I couldn't even get into a chat until about an hour ago to make an appeal because ebay was only offering the option to email them. This is ridiculous.
salesandresales
OP2 years agoBack a few years ago we had this issue with another product, and after a while, ebay customer service (when you could actually talk to people in different departments, depending on the situation) were able to kick it up to a department that was actually able to address the problem. We actually got a call from someone that we could explain it all to, and they fixed it. It was shocking then, and I'm betting that job position no longer exists.
It is hard enough getting these reinstated over and over because the easy thing for customer service to do is just ignore my SR#'s and my FDA links and do nothing.
tobaccocardyahoo
·2 years agoThe amount of enforcement activity on government regulations has increased to the point that it is no longer performed or controlled by humans.
All of "big tech" has grown too big to manage. They would need hundreds of people like those you used to be able to speak to, and they would have to spend too much training them and replacing them when they burned out due to the boring nature of the job.
This is just a small sample of the world to come, when AI does all the boring stuff. It will not do it well, but it will do it for the price these companies are willing to pay.
tobaccocardyahoo
·2 years agoThis is a common issue on most Internet marketplaces.
The human actions do not overrule the bots.
The human reinstates, the bot when it is next run takes the listing down.
Eventually, your account will be taken down, temporarily or permanently because some human will not know enough to prevent it.
With 20k sales, you may wish to weigh the risks of this product against the risks to your account.
This problem is unlikely to be fixed in a way that is stable and risk free.
albertabrightalberta
·2 years agoI wonder if the items may be removed because you aren't specifically stating or showing the expiration dates in your listings as required by policy:
For example:
1. the Seresto doesn't state or show the expiration.
salesandresales
OP2 years agoThey are specifically stating main ingredient isn't FDA approved, which is why we added the NADA# in two places in each listing. We were told the expiration dates are fine, as our holders products carry the date in the listing. We've had multiple agents review the specific listings and made changes based on their suggestions. It LITERALLY says that this brand is OTC and an exception in the full version of the prescription drug policy (that only they have access to).
tobaccocardyahoo
·2 years agoThe IQ of the artificial intelligence in the bot is under 50. Getting more clever is not going to stop this from recurring.
brabha_9
·2 years agoIt's because of their stupid AI bots that they employed a year ago messing it up. Result of hiring incompetent developers who took Codeacademy and consider themselves FAANG level employees after 6 months of bootcamp.
albertabrightalberta
·2 years agoIf you keep relisting items after they were removed for alleged (accurate or not) violations, you may find yourself restricted from any selling.
salesandresales
OP2 years agoI don't realist them until after the appeal restores them. Every time they take them down they tell me my store will be frozen next time for 3 days, and every time the appeal is granted they roll that back.
brabha_9
·2 years agoAvoid listing those. Since you have a nice solid account with lots of feedback, don't risk it. Offload it elsewhere until the eBay starts to fix this AI mishaps.
luckythewinner
·2 years agoI suspect you are in a catch-22 because I doubt that eBay customer support actually has the power to change or override the bots from flagging your listing as a violation.