WHO ELSE IS GETTING ROBBED MY VERO BULLIES?

[funneemunkeechase]

I had an item removed a while back stating that I used photos from the manufacturer. I did, in fact use my own photos of the actual physical item I was selling. Not to mention the item removed was an item that had sold some time before...so, it wasn't actually removed but they did issue a violation in spite. I contacted ebay who said to contact VERO...but vero doesn't have a customer service dept...just an email which they do not respond to. I attempted to get the situation fixed through ebay but getting a human being is next to impossible. Apparently the zillions in fees we pay them isn't enough to hire customer service reps. So, after a close examination of my entire listing & deletion of the entire description...just a basic hand-typed list of ingredients...I relisted my skeleton of a listing. The item sold then at some point much later they "removed it" and issued a second violation and suspended my account!. I again contacted ebay and the vero email with ZERO help or advice. Finally I was able to INSIST on providing an actual human to help me...sort of,  it was just on-line chat...and then I was told it was because the people who sold me the items don't allow re-sale...even though that is how they were transacted to me. So, basically the company is running a scam. Sell you bulk items...then have them booted off ebay. Which seems to be completely illegal and a major conflict of interest for ebay. Ebay gets their money from buyers and sellers fees....so why the heck are they allowing outside sources to force listings off under false pretenses?? I mean it's not like anyone contacted me and said they no longer allowed 3rd party sales. They just make up some bold face lies about photo rights (that were in no way violated) so they can knock out the competition...AND EBAY LETS THEM!? They claim it's out of their hands...like a legal issue or something (vague)...but  I've never heard of Amazon allowing this behavior....so it's obviously not a law it's just ebay policy to allow large sellers to bully small ones in order to eliminate the competition & keep all the sales for themselves. Just wanted to put this out there. Good luck ebayers....to the few left who haven't given up and moved to Amazon:(

[rfmtm]

VeRO is often abuse, and the DMCA often misused, but still ebay gets to do what it wants.  In a nutshell, when a VeRO member requests it, eBay removes an item in question, whether it has to legally or not.

Note that the actual DMCA law applies to copyright violations only.  Authenticity and trademark abuse are not covered by the DMCA for web site removal under the law.  It's eBay's own policy that extends the DMCA like behavior to this. The downside is that as a result you don't get the DMCA mandated remedies for people who abuse it.

Best you can do now is figure out what triggered the take down, and was it valid. First step is to contact the VeRO member and if no response, call ebay. Usually unless this is your main item of business, it is not worth the fight to relist one item and risk further trouble. Of course this is what VeRO abusers count on.

However, if it is clear abuse you have the right file in your local federal court, and here the loser pays the winner's court fees and damages.  Many have done this and won, even without an attorney, and once eBay's legal department is notified of the outcome, they leave you alone.  Still, hardly worth it unless you have damages and it is affecting your ongoing business.