Asian sellers with multiple accounts, posting identical listings

[partarray]

I've noticed a trend that is getting out of hand. Asian sellers, not satisfied with the privilege given to them to ship to US customers at ridiculously low rates, are opening multiple accounts - and by multiple I mean dozens - and then posting identical listings - again, dozens of the exact same listing - in order to crowd out genuine domestic sellers. 

This is infuriating. 

eBay - Why are you allowing this?

[emerald40]

In the fine jewelry categories sellers are doing the same thing.

One has 10 different accounts.  But it is obviously the same person.

Sellers can have as many accounts as they want.

I just put them in my seller blocked list.

But I agree it can be infuritating.  That is why imo, ebay should limit the number of listings one seller can have under all his various accounts.

[redstarkgb]

Oh how the Chinese sellers are beating, they are knocking down the price of unreal cheap goods, because of them many sellers with good goods suffer! And I do not understand people who buy things for a couple of bucks which falls apart in a month)) As they say in Russia "Miserly pays twice "

[partarray]

The use of multiple accounts to list and sell different products is reasonable. Using multiple accounts to list and sell the same products in order to crowd out other sellers in the search results is not, and is what I object to.

[emerald40]

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@partarray wrote:

The use of multiple accounts to list and sell different products is reasonable. Using multiple accounts to list and sell the same products in order to crowd out other sellers in the search results is not, and is what I object to.

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You do not know what their objective is.

[pjcdn2005]

Does it really matter what their objective is? What they are doing is against ebay policy and I agree it is annoying as heck to have to scroll through duplicate listings that are obviously all from the same seller. It isn't only Asian sellers that do this.

 Not allowed

More than one listing of an identical item listed separately by the same seller:

• Under another eBay user ID.
  • The following will be considered "one seller" under this policy if the accounts are used to sell duplicate listings:
    • Multiple accounts from an individual
    • Multiple accounts from a single business
    • Multiple accounts from multiple businesses that are – fully or partially – owned by the same individual or related individuals
    • Multiple accounts from related individuals, including family, friends, roommates, employees or online connections
  • https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/listing-policies/duplicate-listings-policy?id=4255&st=3&pos=1&que...

[emerald40]

I am ageeing with you.

Several times I have hadmy few listings sandwiched in between dropshippers.

As a buyer I can block them.

As a seller I try to list when they don't.

As far as not allowed, I am seeing so many things that aren't allowed that ebay refuses to enforce.  I have given up trying to report them.

What I posted is while we see the outcome, we do not know they are trying to crowd out other sellers.  We do not know they are consciously trying to do that.

[partarray]

I do, actually. It is one of the more obvious schemes to manipulate search results.

[tina06457]

Ebay does not police their Asian sellers. They can do no wrong. They will be the only sellers left on ebay if this doesn't change.

[cooltronix]

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@pjcdn2005 wrote:

 Not allowed

More than one listing of an identical item listed separately by the same seller:

• ........

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Good and helpful quote from the eBay TOS. But seems difficult to enforce it. They may use fake adresses with different names. Even to verify if the company is legit is difficult in China, which doesn't have a online company register.

And even if there is one, like in Hong Kong, you could simply use the details of an existant company. 

The TOS is good, controlling it pretty much impossible.

Try this:

1. Go to https://www.ebay.co.uk
2. Search for: 9v battery connector

Look for, lets say, 5 identical images, and open the page. You most likely get 5 identical listings from 5 different sellers.

[drusalina]

What really bugs me about their listings is they will put a price range of a really low price with a cheap piece of crud and then the rest are the high price to get at the top of the search for low price + shipping.

[etrusca]

In answer to all of you REPORT the listings - I will do about 3 different products for a seller if they are duplicates, suspicious repeat products from different sites with same photo, language/text in description and manipulative prices or keyword spamming by anyone esp foreign sellers who skate under the radar and pretend to not know the rules . (Problem now with Catalogue its going to get much worse.) When really bad call in and tell the Fraud dept yourself. Ebay doesnt seem to have a dedicated team to police they are unfortunately putting the burden on us instead of staffing it. 

I have been doing it for 5 years - its esp painful when it floods the antique section by unethically

using the word antique in the title if it is not, China is not the only abuser - so is India

This is one major area where Ebay needs to step it up.  For some its a language barrier problem or maybe Ebay doesnt write the rules clearly in their own language for them to read... that is why we all should be asked to sign a contract except Ebay doesnt want to be held accountable on their end.

[jamokebob1]

I forgot to check the seller location. Turns out it was China. I purchased a refrigerator water filter and it was a fake. Good thing I noticed it before I installed it. Who knows what knid of sickness I could get. After multiple emails back and forth he refunded my money without having me send it back.

Ebay should check put these Chinese sellers better. I'm now going to limit my Ebay purchases. Too many problems. More for Amazon!