Account Suspended

[sourced_direct_sd]

Hey everyone! We’ve been selling on eBay for some time now. Our feedback is pretty good (99.4%), we are top-rated and overall do a pretty good job or disclosing everything in ours listings and such… Anyways, 2 days ago eBay notified us that we were going to be banned for 7 days due to a counterfeit item policy. This was not the VeRo program, this was internal eBay. The reasons its 7 days is obviously we’ve had an offense before (Back in January we were banned for 3 days for failing to use the word MFi with Apple Products, and then further forgot to fix all of our listings which led in our warning leading to a suspension). Anyways… that was a VeRo offense for counterfeit item - even though it wasn’t counterfeit, we just forgot to use the word MFi in our listings, and our appeal failed and we were banned. 

Fast forward to now. We listed a ‘YU33 Wireless Gaming Controller Compatible With PlayStation 4 - Purple’… The listing was removed for counterfeit item - and eBay told me they did it to ‘er on the side of caution’ and imposed a 7 day ban. We provided proof of purchase for the item, we correctly titled it with ‘Compatible With’ and we never used any coined Sony terms. They said that the controller image itself too closely replicated an actual PlayStation controller. However, it wasn’t exactly what a PlayStation controller looks like, and we just posted images of the controller itself. We bought it from Amazon initially (showed them our purchase receipt) and we were going to sell it on eBay. Boom. 7 day suspension not more than a day after listing it.

Funny thing is if you search YU33 controller for PS4, other people are selling this item with several of them sold with nothing happening to their listings - I know its not fair to compare - but my point is that we didn’t actually violate any rule and they literally told me they removed to to ‘er on the side caution’, and to avoid ‘a situation where it may create un-satisified buyers’ which seems absurd that they would issue me a 7 day ban for it, especially considering I didn’t actually violate any policy. This item has 1000s of them sold on Amazon, with over a 4-star review average.

They obviously denied all my appeals. All the reps just kept saying the same thing saying they couldn’t go into detail or know what was going on. Requested to physically talk on the phone with someone from that department, and got no response. One rep even told me you can submit an appeal but it wont do anything. Basically, the people I can talk to said they have no powers to change anything. The people I can’t talk to apparently have all that power. I’m still left with them saying I listed an item that violated a ‘counterfeit item’ policy with them having nothing to support - and like I said - I uploaded proof of purchase, images of the actual item, links to where the item was bought, images depicting design differences, used correct listing title practices, used correct item description/specifics section.

Is there anything I can do - or do I just bow to the dictatorship that is eBay? Because they’ve definitely considered me guilty of something they haven’t proved, in their own words ‘er on the side of caution and removed your listing’

Thanks! 

P.S. You can also see we sell around 1500-3000 items a month, so we aren’t running a small operation on eBay which is why this is detrimental to our business and I’m here.

[mandisattictoyz]

Time to lawyer up and arbitrate.  You can win with ease.   Make eBay pay, that’s what I do.  I do not play with my money, it’s like playing with my emotions.  I do not get scared when I know I win.

[katzrul15]

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@sourced_direct_sd wrote:

Hey everyone! We’ve been selling on eBay for some time now. Our feedback is pretty good (99.4%), we are top-rated and overall do a pretty good job or disclosing everything in ours listings and such… Anyways, 2 days ago eBay notified us that we were going to be banned for 7 days due to a counterfeit item policy. This was not the VeRo program, this was internal eBay. The reasons its 7 days is obviously we’ve had an offense before (Back in January we were banned for 3 days for failing to use the word MFi with Apple Products, and then further forgot to fix all of our listings which led in our warning leading to a suspension). Anyways… that was a VeRo offense for counterfeit item - even though it wasn’t counterfeit, we just forgot to use the word MFi in our listings, and our appeal failed and we were banned. 

Fast forward to now. We listed a ‘YU33 Wireless Gaming Controller Compatible With PlayStation 4 - Purple’… The listing was removed for counterfeit item - and eBay told me they did it to ‘er on the side of caution’ and imposed a 7 day ban. We provided proof of purchase for the item, we correctly titled it with ‘Compatible With’ and we never used any coined Sony terms. They said that the controller image itself too closely replicated an actual PlayStation controller. However, it wasn’t exactly what a PlayStation controller looks like, and we just posted images of the controller itself. We bought it from Amazon initially (showed them our purchase receipt) and we were going to sell it on eBay. Boom. 7 day suspension not more than a day after listing it.

Funny thing is if you search YU33 controller for PS4, other people are selling this item with several of them sold with nothing happening to their listings - I know its not fair to compare - but my point is that we didn’t actually violate any rule and they literally told me they removed to to ‘er on the side caution’, and to avoid ‘a situation where it may create un-satisified buyers’ which seems absurd that they would issue me a 7 day ban for it, especially considering I didn’t actually violate any policy. This item has 1000s of them sold on Amazon, with over a 4-star review average.

They obviously denied all my appeals. All the reps just kept saying the same thing saying they couldn’t go into detail or know what was going on. Requested to physically talk on the phone with someone from that department, and got no response. One rep even told me you can submit an appeal but it wont do anything. Basically, the people I can talk to said they have no powers to change anything. The people I can’t talk to apparently have all that power. I’m still left with them saying I listed an item that violated a ‘counterfeit item’ policy with them having nothing to support - and like I said - I uploaded proof of purchase, images of the actual item, links to where the item was bought, images depicting design differences, used correct listing title practices, used correct item description/specifics section.

Is there anything I can do - or do I just bow to the dictatorship that is eBay? Because they’ve definitely considered me guilty of something they haven’t proved, in their own words ‘er on the side of caution and removed your listing’

Thanks! 

P.S. You can also see we sell around 1500-3000 items a month, so we aren’t running a small operation on eBay which is why this is detrimental to our business and I’m here.

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Yes - be grateful it is not a permanent ban, which is where you are headed if you keep listing these types of items.  

I would use this 7 day timeline to go thru your listings to make certain you do not have any others that are similar that can cause you issues and if you do, remove them.  Not everything can be sold here.

In addition, just because you see others being sold, here or elsewhere (no one cares at e-Bay what is being sold at AZ), does not mean you can list them here without issues as you are clearly discerning.

Good luck and work to color inside the lines for the next 6-12 months to keep your account in good standing.  A perm ban is just that, permanent.  

[pburn]

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@mandisattictoyz wrote:

Time to lawyer up and arbitrate.  You can win with ease.   Make eBay pay, that’s what I do.  I do not play with my money, it’s like playing with my emotions.  I do not get scared when I know I win.

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Lol.

[annadryl]

No, you don't have to "bow down" to anybody. But you do need to have your listings straight if you want to sell with them. They're not wanting to be liable for your mistakes. As mentioned, take so time to get everything corrected. Selling here is a privilege, not something anyone owes us. Good luck~

[dryophelia]

@sourced_direct_sd 

If your item is not PlayStation brand, do not mention PlayStation in your title. 

[sourced_direct_sd]

They literally tell you in the VeRo Policy you can use a brand name as long as you use ‘Compatible With’, not sure what your comment is.

[sourced_direct_sd]

That’s unhelpful. What did I do wrong is what I’m curious of in the previous post? I’ve validated everything that I needed to. I’ve proven I wasn’t infringing upon any trademark, yet they kept my ban. There’s literally no policy against what I did and they refuse to tell me what I actually did wrong.

[sourced_direct_sd]

My question would be like I said is that I’ve validated everything I can. I correctly used a listing title. I used images of the actual item. I even provided them proof of purchase like they wanted and still nothing, its like they asked me for all the things I needed to appeal, I submitted them all perfectly - and still nothing. Same computer like generated response.

[katzrul15]

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@sourced_direct_sd wrote:

That’s unhelpful. What did I do wrong is what I’m curious of in the previous post? I’ve validated everything that I needed to. I’ve proven I wasn’t infringing upon any trademark, yet they kept my ban. There’s literally no policy against what I did and they refuse to tell me what I actually did wrong.

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It is the compatible with that is getting you in trouble.  You cannot use Playstation or Nintendo if it is not.  Just like I cannot say Gucci Inspired..............

We really are trying to help you.  Whether you take the advice (I would ignore the post above about hiring a lawyer as it is horrible advice) and work to meet or exceed the expectations of e-Bay or work to sell those items elsewhere.  If you continue on this path, they will suspend you permanently.   And e-bay will never tell you "why".  Just won't.

[katzrul15]

@sourced_direct_sd 

Reach out to e-Bay thru social media.  Maybe it will help you better understand how best to present your listings vs asking here on the boards.  They cannot help you with your 7-day suspension.  They can perhaps help you better understand, as an e-Bay CS, exactly why you continue to have the issues at hand.  

I do not think you will like their answers any better than what advice you have been given here - but sometimes it helps to hear it direct from e-Bay.

(10) eBay for Business | Facebook

When you hit the landing page, there is a message button in the upper right.  Send them a private message with your user ID and email and a brief summary of what has occurred.  Today is Sunday - you likely will not hear back from them until Monday.  Good luck!

[yuzuha]

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@katzrul15 wrote:

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It is the compatible with that is getting you in trouble.  You cannot use Playstation or Nintendo if it is not.  Just like I cannot say Gucci Inspired..............

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Actually, this is one case where that IS allowed. You're allowed to say "compatible with [X]" or "fits/for [X]" in accessories/parts listings the same way you're allowed to list an unbranded phone case as being "for iPhone 11" because in cases like that it isn't keyword spamming, it's specifically telling which models a part or accessory will work with.

[coolections]

I checked you sold listings. It looks like several could have easily been removed. I believe you got lucky and they sold before Ebay caught them. Several pictures of Iphones but not selling an iPhone product and selling many other non branded stuff. Many from China which are most likely counterfeit like the AC adapter. I doubt ebay is going to lift the restriction but good luck trying.

[stainlessenginecovers]

Just an FYI- this IS  a VERO takedown; ebay does not have anyone internally 'monitoring' listings. Someone has to report it. 

[pburn]

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@yuzuha wrote:

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@katzrul15 wrote:

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It is the compatible with that is getting you in trouble.  You cannot use Playstation or Nintendo if it is not.  Just like I cannot say Gucci Inspired..............

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Actually, this is one case where that IS allowed. You're allowed to say "compatible with [X]" or "fits/for [X]" in accessories/parts listings the same way you're allowed to list an unbranded phone case as being "for iPhone 11" because in cases like that it isn't keyword spamming, it's specifically telling which models a part or accessory will work with.

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Correct. 

From this page:

Verified Rights Owner Program 

Expand the first question, "What are some reasons my listing may have been reported?" under the "Seller FAQs."

"You may use "compatible with," "fits," or "for" before a brand name if the item you are describing is specifically designed to be compatible with the products of that brand."