Cannot Use 'Vintage' or 'Antique' in Title - Get Error Msg Violated Animal Policy - Anyone Else?

[2womenwithapast]

For about the past month, I cannot edit or create listings that have the words antique or vintage in the title or descriptions.  An error message pops up that I have violated eBay's animal products policy.  I have called eBay numerous times and they kept telling me they were working on it.  Now they tell me this is the new policy, don't use these terms, and it is appropriate that I get this weird error message that has nothing to do with it.  Anyone else experiencing this?  eBay is a marketplace for vintage and antique items, so how does this make sense?  

[lacemaker3]

---

@2womenwithapast wrote:

The problem applies to everything in my store, at present about 1100 items!  Any that have the words antique or vintage in title and/or description are effected.  Everything from clothing to dolls to household items, you name it!  So, it doesn't seem to be related to the 'what' or the category, just seems to be something universally applied... which is why I wondered if other sellers were having the same problem.

I am trying to resolve it on Twitter now with eBay help, I guess this is the way to approach customer service these days.

---

@2womenwithapast 

Have you ever had a listing removed? Possibly because you thought something was vintage when it turned out to be a reproduction?

I don't believe that this is a site-wide issue, so I am wondering if there's a restriction on your account for some reason, and I'm just speculating why that might be. I do see that you use the words antique and vintage in your titles a lot. As a buyer, I don't ever use those keywords (or pay attention to them in a title) because too many sellers use them incorrectly (for reproductions).

[1tuna]

the only thing I can think of now is maybe you listed something as tortoise shell.

I know for sure that customs has destroyed valuable antique tortoise shell stuff on purpose

this is when it reached another country

bird feathers on antiques are also a problem, no feathers on an automaton singing caged bird are allowed in certain counties

antique animals can be taxidermy

I

[coolections]

This sounds like another poster who violated some policy and does not want to give out the details. Ebay does allow vintage and antiques, so my guess is the OP left the building.

[sarabythesea723]

I am having the very same issue. All of a sudden I cannot edit anything with the word ANTIQUE or VINTAGE. They have nothing to do with ANIMALS OR WILDLIFE and I am getting they very same popups. The call center people told me the same thing.. ebay is not allowing the words ANTIQUE or VINTAGE anymore!!! Have you had any luck finding a fix? Thank you Sara

[cybergal55]

Happened to me today.  What’s weird they cannot tell me how long I’m being restricted or why.  I posted a Chinese carved statue.  In description I stated I was not sure if ivory.  What’s weird it was listed for months, then boom I was sent email 3 days ago scolding me.  I think someone may have reported item.  Honestly I believe it’s resin.  My mistake.  Now for some reason I cannot use words, antique, vintage or collectible.  99% of my items are under those categories.  I have over 1200 items listed.  I’m honestly either going to open my own store online or go to Etsy.  The name of my store is Janice’s Vintage Finds.  eBay is too pro big business.  They no longer care about small business.  The old items are what made eBay special.  I never purposely would have gone against their rules, but to treat me like that and not even give me the courtesy of letting me know how long until I can use key words is frustrating to say the least.  

[lacemaker3]

---

@cybergal55 wrote:

Happened to me today.  What’s weird they cannot tell me how long I’m being restricted or why.  I posted a Chinese carved statue.  In description I stated I was not sure if ivory.  What’s weird it was listed for months, then boom I was sent email 3 days ago scolding me.  I think someone may have reported item.  Honestly I believe it’s resin.  My mistake.  Now for some reason I cannot use words, antique, vintage or collectible.  99% of my items are under those categories.  I have over 1200 items listed.  I’m honestly either going to open my own store online or go to Etsy.  The name of my store is Janice’s Vintage Finds.  eBay is too pro big business.  They no longer care about small business.  The old items are what made eBay special.  I never purposely would have gone against their rules, but to treat me like that and not even give me the courtesy of letting me know how long until I can use key words is frustrating to say the least.  

---

@cybergal55,

Really, you thought it was appropriate to tease the possibility that you were selling illegal, poached ivory? That is disgusting, and inexcusable. If you didn't believe it was really ivory, then you have just admitted to keyword spamming.

It does seem that deceptive listings associated with [probably fake] "ivory" and associated keyword spamming seem to have something to do with this restriction; several sellers have reported the same association.

eBay's response was too lenient. But at least they are taking steps to discourage sellers who deliberately give misleading descriptions of older collectible items. That should help to improve the older collectible market.

[2womenwithapast]

Sorry this happened to you too!  I had to go through the process twice via Twitter of contacting eBay support and they removed the restriction finally.  Good luck!

[2womenwithapast]

Sara,

I had to contact eBay support via Twitter twice to get the restriction removed.  First, they removed it but within 24 hours it was back, so I contacted them again.  Sorry this happened to you too, it's incredibly frustrating!

Good luck, Sherry

[moyer1868]

Same problem. I cannot figure out what word is triggering a dessert set in transferware.  I have removed antique (but made in 1909). It does not state vintage or collectible.

I had a similar experience to others - a bone frame like a zillion others listed - it is bone, not ivory.  We wouldn't take a risk and attempt to sell ivory. Specified that it was bovine or cow bone - even the most likely breed based on when/where made.

Now I can't list transferware and cannot figure out what word is the issue.

It has birds on the plates - not real birds but transferware prints of birds.  Not sure how to describe a bird plate without using "bird"

Maybe they do not want sellers of antiques and vintage items now.  Very confused and frustrated.

[lacemaker3]

---

@moyer1868 wrote:

Same problem. I cannot figure out what word is triggering a dessert set in transferware.  I have removed antique (but made in 1909). It does not state vintage or collectible.

I had a similar experience to others - a bone frame like a zillion others listed - it is bone, not ivory.  We wouldn't take a risk and attempt to sell ivory. Specified that it was bovine or cow bone - even the most likely breed based on when/where made.

Now I can't list transferware and cannot figure out what word is the issue.

It has birds on the plates - not real birds but transferware prints of birds.  Not sure how to describe a bird plate without using "bird"

Maybe they do not want sellers of antiques and vintage items now.  Very confused and frustrated.

---

@moyer1868,

I believe this is the listing that was removed, and if so, it does not state anywhere what species of bone the frame is made of. The words "cow" and "bovine" are not included anywhere, nor any other species as far as I can see. So it was violating the policy (species was not given) and the piece appears to have some legitimate age so it might have been thought to be ivory.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/304561626438?&nma=true&orig_cvip=true&nordt=true

I see that you also had a similar frame, which was sold a couple of days before this one was removed. So apparently that one did not trigger the removal. I am not an expert on ivory, but I can see that the picture of the man was in a frame that looked much more recent, while the picture of the woman was in a frame that looked seriously old.

When I have looked into this issue in last few weeks, in a few cases I was able to find the listing that was removed, or a cached copy of it. In one case, the seller had  used keywords that only apply to Ivory, so including those keywords made it look as though the seller was trying to get around the restrictions on selling ivory, or was using the ivory keywords to try to convince buyers that the item was really ivory, not whatever it was said to be.

In another case, I couldn't find the listing or description, but the seller admitted that they had used verbiage that suggested the item might be ivory (they didn't know if it was ivory or not).

It appears that eBay is cracking down on the possibility that ivory items are being trafficked on this website.

Other keywords that have been reported are: antique, vintage, carved bone, Victorian.

[jenijensong]

I use both those words in nearly all my posts.  I can't put them in quotes "Like New" In quotes just got booted without quotes no prob.  Hope that helps.  Sincerely, Jeanette

[simba6]

What is the item your trying to list?  Words like bear claw clasp and ivory color do get flagged.

[gooseislandcollectibles]

There was a discussion about this earlier this week. It probably has to do with the category you are posting in. I have the word "antique" used in 32 of my listings for Antique Automobile magazine. I have also used the words "Dinosaur Bones" and "Fossils" and "Ivory" in the names of LP records titles. None of my listings has been taken down or I have never received any warning on any of my listings. And these listings are TFN and have been up quite some time. It is category specific you are being called out for.

[moyer1868]

Your response makes it appear that we were misleading about ivory and selling ivory items - we were not, but there are many listings that do.  The same is true with tortoise items.

The listing that you found was the original one. EBay was concerned and asked that we add the type of bone -  after a long review phone call - which we did and another eBay representative did research and has admitted that we did as directed (evidently eBay always pulls up the original one first where I did not know that they type was required and had not seen it in similar listings.

, not the revision per their instruction) yet it was removed again. 

We would never have re-listed if a confident eBay representative had not given specific instructions that we followed exactly telling us that it would not be a problem.  We discussed with them and they recommended adding bovine bone.  We did that and also stated cow bone to be doubly sure of no issues.  Had we been trying to slip something by, we would not be upset. We were reassured again that it was not a problem.  

We purchased the item as bone - both of them way before the ivory ban from an expert who did sell ivory also but at much, much higher prices. He has been in the business for about 50 years and has a very good reputation and knowledge base. The frames were not ivory.  We are both animal lovers and are not attempting to sell elephant ivory. We support saving wildlife. In fact, I love animals so much that I once performed CPR on a lizard that I washed accidentally (he lived).

Again, we would never have willfully re-listed without the encouragement and reassurance from an eBay representative.  That is what is so upsetting.  If you do as they instruct you, they should simply say that they changed their mind and not be so punitive.  If we had just re-listed without discussing it with eBay even as it is bone, we would understand as that seems defiant. 

We are retired and depend on eBay sales so just not worth risking our livelihood. Now we cannot list items with proper descriptions and worry that that will be an issue.  We are wanting to add more as we need to downsize due to my husband's health but most items are antique (over 100 years old) or vintage (over 25 years old).  We do hope to get this resolved but with every new day of not being able to list, hope fades.  Another eBay rep suggested that we use "outdated" or "obsolete" to describe antiques!!

[lacemaker3]

@moyer1868,

I did not mean to suggest that you had deliberately tried to suggest that your item was actually ivory. I was trying to explain how it could have looked that way.

eBay appears to be taking a shotgun approach to the ivory-trafficking problem, which  never-the-less appears to be somewhat effective. Using arbitrary, and punitive keyword restrictions is not a logical or rational approach, but it appears to be somewhat effective in achieving the goal. Unfortunately, it also sweeps up a lot of sellers who were not trying to traffic ivory, or even hint that an item might be ivory to try to increase the putative value.

The eBay customer service agents who return your calls are not eBay employees. They are third-party contractors, who don't have much experience with eBay at all. They read from scripts, and they are widely known to give bad advice, which has resulted in some sellers being permanently banned. The CS agents are not eBay spokespeople or representatives, and eBay is not bound by what they may tell you.

With all that said, nobody here is going to be able to change this. eBay will probably change it at some point, but not because of  these discussions. They will probably change it when it stops working for them. You will need to adapt and change, if you want to continue selling.

In some ways, this could be a blessing. Most buyers dislike the keywords "antique" and "vintage" because they are, without a doubt, the most misused and deceptive keywords on eBay. Foreign sellers misuse them because they think that they are styles, rather than a description of the item's age and history. A lot of sellers just search keywords that were used previously on successful sales, and use them without even knowing what they mean, or whether they apply to the item in question or not. Knowledgeable buyers never search for those keywords, and they may be less inclined to view your item, if you put too much emphasis on keywords like that.

Rather than calling something antique or vintage, just say the era or time period that it actually comes from.