Being accused of keyword spamming for using "not"

[missmelindalou]

We listed an item "Pair 2 Bose Double Cube Speakers Black Work Great Cosmetics Not Great" and our selling privledges are temporary restricted for keyword spamming because "not great" violates ebay policy of keyword spamming because "not great" is somehow a "brand name, celebrity name, specific product or much searched word".  Additionally this is apparently our 3rd or 4th offense, but all of the offenses are relisting this one item.  So we are getting close to getting kicked off ebay because we are keyword spamming when we have never keyword spammed.

We have spent hours and have got no where.  Both myself and my girlfriend have tried to explain that although using "not" plus some other word might be a typical way of keyword spamming, "great" is not a celebrity namebrand name, product name or typical keyword search.  Even though "cosmetics" was not part of the complaint in our email from ebay, we tried to explain that the word cosmetics has multiple meanings in english which seemed to be confusing to one operator.  The worst was one ebay rep who seemed to get more and more annoyed about our refusal to stop keyword spamming and all explanations were met with some sort of "if you don't stop keyword spamming you will be kicked off ebay" with the operator never acknowledging that there might be some mistake after we had explained the error many times.

I sort of feel like this comes into the general category of racism, where non-native speakers blame and accuse and punish and blame and accuse more because they cannot accept that their understanding of English misses certain nuances.  Sort of as though someone from the US were to accuse and blame and punish a minority or a foreigner because the majority US person did not understand them and could not accept that there might be a different point of view.

We are really concerned that we might be kicked off ebay for good

[retrose1]

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@missmelindalou wrote:

I know, but our account got temporarily suspended and we had no idea why and now we are really concerned that we will get permentantly banned for no reason.  I can't guess at what thing some non native English speaker is going to not understand the next time, and ebay reps have shown they won't do anything but blame and accuse. 

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Have you read ebay policies that say what sellers can and can't do?

Many people just come here and start selling and then decide that since it was so easy, they'll make a second job of it and never really take the time to learn about the dos and don'ts and then come here wondering why they were booted from selling.

Take this time to look over the selling regs, do an analysis of what your seller dashboard says and that should give you a good idea of whether you are walking a tightrope.

[sidemouse]

How about...:

https://andrewminalto.com/how-to-write-perfect-ebay-listing-titles/

[missmelindalou]

Ok, it makes sense that it was a bot and reps are either lying or mistaken.  It's not difficult (notice I just tend to use the word "not" a lot, I have no idea if this is common where I'm from or just a habit of mine) to just avoid using the word "not" in the future, but it seems silly that we are on our last legs on ebay because one listing used "not" and then some other word.  We didn't have that much of any issue with a bot making a mistake if the mistake was then addressed, but were getting blamed for our spamming after we explained that we didn't spam with just increased blame and threats of punishment from one rep the more we explained.

[missmelindalou]

We are top rated and not even close to losing that status, but we are, at least according to one ebay rep, close to be permantely banned because we keyword spam even though we never keyword spammed

[myangelandmyprincess]

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@sidemouse wrote:

The simple fact remains that "Not Great" should never be included in a title. I realize a lot of sellers do it but the title is not where adjectives belong. Adjectives describing the condition of an item belong in the Item's condition description box.

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Condition is the title is a good idea   That ways it's right up front.  But using not whatever is a breeding ground for keyword spamming "not great" is no different Than if a seller put "not new". Instead of saying what conditions it's not. It needs to say what condition it IS. 

[myangelandmyprincess]

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@missmelindalou wrote:

We are top rated and not even close to losing that status, but we are, at least according to one ebay rep, close to be permantely banned because we keyword spam even though we never keyword spammed

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Using not whatever in this case not great is keyword spamming.  You didn't mean for it to be but it is 

[mistressmime]

Go over every listing with a fine toothed comb and make sure you dont have anything else that stands out.

Also, keep calling ebay till you get an American rep (early morning is best) and see if they can actually send you copies of the KWS reports or if its just this one incident that is hurting you

[missmelindalou]

Whatever, I can't see how it's not a good thing to make the title accurately describe the condition of the item, to avoid wasting potential buyers time if they are searching for a pristine item.

[missmelindalou]

I understand, I think it's just a habit of mine to use the word not a lot, plus "cosmetics not great" just sounds better to me that "looks bad"  We are trying to be honest but not unsell things.  I understand now just don't use that word "not", it's just frustrating that the next time we make a mistake that triggers bots we will either be kicked off or banned for a longer period.

[couldabeenworse]

Whatever, I can't see how it's not a good thing to make the title accurately describe the condition of the item

Telling the buyer what something is NOT doesn't accurately describe anything. 

[klassic*kids]

As it's been established "not great" is considered keyword spamming why don't you just give up that ghost and list as "good" or "fair" or some other descriptive?  You keep fighting this and there's "not a great" chance you are going to win.

[missmelindalou]

Our sole negative feedback is because someone disagreed with our description of the condition of something.  Words like "good", "fair", "great" are very subjective but "cosmetics not great" isn't really that subjective to me.

[retrose1]

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@missmelindalou wrote:

Whatever, I can't see how it's not a good thing to make the title accurately describe the condition of the item, to avoid wasting potential buyers time if they are searching for a pristine item.

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Then use As Is at the end of the title.  It will not hold up in a snad case, but it will let buyers know.   I do it all the time on another site and the As Is on my cheap stuff sells better than my pristine.   Or use damaged, or scuffed there are plenty of descriptive words you can use to get the point across.

While accented CS will say anything to keep a caller happy and get them off the phone,  being Top Rated doesn't give you a safety net.   There have been plenty of trs that have been booted and can't figure out why, but it woud have never happened if they knew the policies that ebay considers important.

[missmelindalou]

I agree, but we were told we are either one or two instances of keyword spamming away from being permantely banned, and, after this, I fear that there will be some secret other mistake we make that is viewed as keyword spamming and we will get kicked off for good.  It would be really nice if this mistake on the part of ebay would be addressed and removed from our account instead of us getting punished for someone else's error which might result in more serious punishments if someone else misunderstands things again.

[missmelindalou]

Can you explain about using As at the end of a title?  I'm not catching what this means.