Found a seller with website url in every one of their main product images
From my understanding, this a major violation of policy. They have 38000+ items and all of them have their website url on the main image, and also most of them have a top rated seller badge on the image as well. Seems like after ebay started pushing sponsored listings they just threw their own rule enforcement out the window.
30 comments
bashort
·10 months agoIf ebay does not care why do you?
mam98031
·10 months agoAgain, it is NOT that Ebay doesn't care. It is the process of reporting these things leave a lot to be desired. For awhile they did improve the process and now we are back where we were. Very little help on this. Ebay is approaching having 3 BILLION active listings [2.6 right now, I think]. That is a lot of listings to monitor.
kibble-net
·10 months agoI've reported stock photos - nothing happens.
Several months ago I tried to list a magnetic art set, and was informed it was banned due to CPSC. I found a similar item evading ebay's keyword filters for said item, and reported it. And of course, lo and behold, they claimed it didn't violate ebay policy.
This is what happens when you let AI do the work of humans.
oldwestgold
·10 months agoAbsolutely true. One of the largest metals dealers in the world sells here using stock photos. They even state as much in their listings. Tens of thousands of listings. We are talking coins selling for thousands of dollars each. Not the actual photo.
mam98031
·10 months agoThat is absolutely OK per the policy as long as it accurately depicts what is being sold.
mam98031
·10 months agoThat would be because Stock Photos are not against the rules. While I know many stock photos are easy to spot, others are not with all the picture editing software available to everyone. As long as the pic accurately depict what is being sold, they are fine.
Ebay had to make this change when they started rolling out their Catalog because many items in the Catalog contain stock photos or even various seller's photos.
The following are not allowed:
https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/listing-policies/picture-policy?id=4370
I would note that it does not seem that Ebay is enforcing that last option unless it contains contact info.
Sadly just using the Report a seller option is often not enough. And then it is up to the member if they want to spend more time on getting things correct by contacting Ebay directly.
fm2000
·10 months agoThis isn't new unfortunately. Here is a good example. Every media megaseller on eBay has some listings for books and other media with either no pictures or a placeholder image that has absolutely nothing to do with the item itself (an exclamation point in a circle, a photo of people wearing 3D glasses, a "tiki man" cartoon of some kind etc.) eBay's image policy states at least 1 picture of the item (at least a stock photo) is required and placeholder images are prohibited.
Nonetheless, there are zillions of media listings no pictures or a placeholder image that is completely irrelevant. This kind of selective enforcement puts small media sellers (or those who put a modicum of effort and pride into their listings in general) at a disadvantage. Some booksellers have been complaining about this for years. Will image policies ever be applied the same to everyone? Probably not, and as One Foot Flipper said, they probably get special terms us little people don't get, officially or unofficially. It probably isn't worth your time to pursue the issue.
desertscooters
OP10 months agoWe reported it, and this is what ebay said:
What happened:
We looked into your report and didn’t find the listing to be in violation of our policy. This determination was made by a customer service agent.
Every one of their 38000+ ads has a main pic with their website url and an ebay top rated seller badge on it.
mam98031
·10 months agoOK, I warned you of that outcome in my post #3 and I gave you options for the next step if you want to still see what you can do about it and get Ebay's attention.
oldwestgold
·10 months agoIt should not be the duty of anyone on eBay to police eBay. We as sellers, pay fees for stores, commissions, etc. Part of this fee goes towards the maintenance of the site. We all must agree to abide by the rules that eBay has set in stone. eBay has a legal responsibility to hold up its end of this contract. They continue to fail. It's their job, not ours.
mam98031
·10 months agoI agree. I just told others what they CAN do, not what the have to do. It is completely up to each member to decide on their own what THEY want to do and how much time they are willing to spend on it.
onefootflipper
·10 months agoEnterprise level account that likely still has concierge service and probably has a negotiated contract with ebay giving them different terms and conditions than what you or I have.
dirk12955
·10 months agoThis discussion reminded me of a seller (Stamps) on ebay that has
an active link in every listing.
Huge seller. December 1998 start date and over 1,250,000 sales on ebay
I never clicked the link over the years, so I went to see what's what.
The link took me to the sellers eBay listings page.
meme6253
·10 months agoReporting the listings is your best option, Whether or not anything will be done will remain to be seen.
richard1rst
·10 months agoWell, I got a perfectly legitimate listing taken down and the note included the following line:
Other than what was communicated to you previously, no additional action is required from you and no further actions are being placed on your account.
This determination was made by a customer service agent. This came to our attention because of a user report.
(Emphasis added)
redlinear
·10 months ago@desertscooters
You are correct. ai is doing the policing around here and if ai can't or won't catch it, nothing will be done.
So far, ai cannot figure out a website or phone number if it's in a photo. You can report that 100 times and nothing will be done about it.
It's the same with keyword spamming in item specifics. ai can't or won't discern part numbers from spam.
gloryglorygifts
·10 months agoI'm thinking that if they have 38000+ items listed, ebay is making a heck of a lot of money off them, so nothing will be done. That's my 2 cents.
onefootflipper
·10 months agoNothing will be done. Text and logos in images is a rule that ebay nearly universally does not enforce.
Also, you have nothing to gain by trying to report the megaseller, it isn't going to improve your sales any. Reporting a seller who likely still has a concierge service account isn't going to do a thing other than maybe make them fix that one listing.
gloryglorygifts
·10 months agoI’m aware of that and said it a little sarcastically. eBay doesn’t care.
mam98031
·10 months agoI don't believe that is not a deciding factor for Ebay. I know it may feel that way, but it isn't. Reporting listings is just not as responsive as many of us would like.
meme6253
·10 months agoNothing to see here, just look the other way.
gloryglorygifts
·10 months agoExactly right. At least someone here gets me
jonathanbrightlight
·10 months agoIt’s not a simple task to identify rule violations in images, even if eBay has begun using AI to scan those images (and I don’t know that they have, in fact I would guess not or we’d be hearing sellers complaining about the resulting policy violations). That’s especially true for something like a website address, because there will be many instances where it’s not a violation, such as a photo of a product box that has the manufacturer’s website somewhere on it. AI would not be equipped to identify properly which one was a violation and which was not, but it’s also impossible to have people checking every listing, so eBay relies on user reports. They don’t always take action from a single report, or get the decision right, but they don’t even check for things like that unless it’s reported.
oldwestgold
·10 months agoI would disagree that finding violations is difficult. I can search for 5 minutes and find over a thousand at any given time. As a retired IT Mgr of 33 years, this is a very simple task to set up search parameters here. eBay has no excuse for not doing better.
If you would like a few examples, I can search and report 20 items right now. I guarantee not a one will be removed, and all will have a bot answer come back that no violation was found. And yes, these would all be very clear violations. For example, listing an item in the coin category over $2,500 NOT certified. Counterfeit coins are listed by sellers in China. Thousands of them. US buyers are being ripped off daily. This also destroys the hobby.
mam98031
·10 months ago@desertscooters
No they didn't. It is important to realize how big of a job it is to manage all the active listings on the site. Ebay is at something like 2.5 - 2.7 BILLION active listings. That is a lot and they aren't going to catch everything.
I would suggest a couple of things. On any listing on the lower right side of the screen is a "?" icon. Click on that and just fill out the info they require to report the listing. Do that to a few of their listings and also Report the seller for all their listings.
https://www.ebay.com/help/action?topicid=4022
Still doing what I suggested above, if you still want to do more, contact Ebay directly.
On each Ebay page there is a link to contact Customer Service at the top of the page and again at the bottom of the page.
I would suggest that you contact Ebay for Business on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter for the better trained CSRs.
Here are your options for contacting Ebay Customer Service. Please be aware that for social media CS, you send them a Private Message and briefly explain what your problem or issue is. Feel free to leave your Name, address, phone number and/or your email address in this message. It is private and secure and it may help to speed up the response for you.
https://twitter.com/askebay
https://www.facebook.com/ebay
https://www.instagram.com/ebayforsellers/
Your options will be on the left. If you use the link below you can only get to the Automated Assistant or Chat box type AGENT in the box and hit enter. You will then get more options. Not all options are available 24/7. It will depend on staffing available. So sometimes you can request a call back and sometimes you can't. Sometimes you have the Chat option available and other times it won't me. If it is important to you to use one of those options, just try back later.
If you use a cell phone or other mobile device, you may need to turn off your Spam filter so that Ebay can call you.
If you are a seller outside of the US or Canada, you will need to use the Chat Option.
https://www.ebay.com/help/eua?id=5275&mkevt=1&mkpid
https://www.ebay.com/help/home
oldwestgold
·10 months agoReporting a clear violation will never get it removed. While all of what you type seems logical and may make someone feel all warm and fuzzy, the fact is eBay will do nothing about your report. I gave up reporting months ago after reporting a hundred or more clear violations over a couple of months by chat, the report(?), calling, and sending smoke signals. Not even one got removed or changed. Nobody cares. Unfortunately, it is destroying the eBay marketplace. Have a good day.
inhawaii
·10 months agoWhy don't you report these listings?
doc-holmes
·10 months agoI tried that once for this exact issue and guess what? The robots found no violation.
jonathanbrightlight
·10 months agoCan’t say I’m surprised. If you remember or still have those messages, did they specify if the decision was made by AI or by a customer service agent?
oldwestgold
·10 months agoIt doesn't do any good anymore to report anything. I gave up reporting things months ago, after reporting many clear violations. Not a one came back by the bots as in violation when even a blind person could have seen they were. Just the sign of the times - nobody cares. Have a good one. (No disrespect to the blind.)