Medical devices policy requires phone number in listing but phone numbers are not allowed in listing

[matrixmedical]

Part of the the eBay Medical Devices Policy states reads "The following information must be included in the item description:

• The seller's name, city, state, and telephone number

So eBay will remove the listing if you do not put your phone number as it violates their Medical Devices Policy and they will remove it if you put your phone number in the listing as they do not allow phone numbers in a listing. Also, the Medical Devices Policy changes from time to time without notice, so I just found out that one of my listings did not have have the new information that they now require and rather than to send an email letting me know that my listing was in violation of the new policy changes as they had previously done, they pulled the listing and suspended me for 7 days. I have been selling on eBay for 22 years and the customer service has only gotten worse and I feel like the $375k that I have spent in eBay fees since 1999 have not at all been invested in customer service! Never once has eBay reached out to me in any way, not even a survey, to see how things are going. I can't even think of another company where one would spend on average 20k a year over 22 years and never once have them proactively check on customer satisfaction. FedEx and other large companies do that frequently, hopefully one day eBay will have some real competition which may be the only way to get them to care!

[stainlessenginecovers]

You have to be 'pre-approved' to see those type things, so once approved, maybe the phone number is also allowed for THOSE sellers only. 

I'm sure reaching out to 25,000,000 sellers asking them their 'opinion' and then someone having to actually read them would just be an exercise in futility as there would never be enough people to read them and only people with 'complaints' would respond. 

[luckythewinner]

Just to clarify for others, the section of the policy in question reads as follows: 

Some medical devices can only be sold with government authorization. Listings for these items must follow the rules below:

• Items must be listed in the Business & Industrial > Healthcare, Lab & Dental category
• The following information must be included in the item description:
  The seller's name, city, state, and telephone number
  The seller's business name, if applicable
  A statement that the item has been cleaned and handled in accordance with the manufacturer's instructions
  A copy of the following statement:
  "The sale of this item may be subject to regulation by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and state and local regulatory agencies. If so, do not bid on this item unless you are an authorized purchaser. If the item is subject to FDA regulation, I will verify your status as an authorized purchaser of this item before shipping of the item

So in other words, the part about the phone number only applies to those medical devices that can only be sold with government authorization in one specific category. 

[matrixmedical]

There is no such thing as "pre-approval". There may have been at one time, but after checking just now, there does not appear to be any such process.

[matrixmedical]

Not sure what kind of government authorization eBay is looking for? I guess I could call them but that is always such a painful experience as I doubt they even know what they mean by government authorizing and there are no specifics that I could find regarding this?

[gracieallen01]

Well, today is Wednesday and from 1-2 PST you can 'Ask a Question' of the 'staff', online, here:  

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Weekly-Discussion-with-eBay/bd-p/weekly-chat

As far as out-sourced, overseas CS, nah, doubt that they would be much help.

[dentalsales4u]

I feel you pain @matrixmedical.

I fought with eBay a few years back regarding this.

They pulled a few of my listings due to no "disclaimer" in the listing, but there was.

They reinstated the listings. They got pulled again due to no disclaimer. I called again and they saw I did have the disclaimer, but advised me to move it to the top of the listing instead of at the bottom. Which I did.

They got pulled again so I called again.

This time I needed photos of the FDA approval tag that's on the product, so I added it and everything has been good for the last couple years, up until last night when they got pulled again!

I called this morning because the email they sent didn't specify what was missing or in violation.

The rep looked and transferred me to someone else, who said he couldn't see any reason for them to have been pulled, maybe just the algorithm, whatever that means.

He's checking with that dept and said he will call me back.

It's a lot of work to redo these since the listings are gone along with all the history.

[matrixmedical]

@dentalsales4u Maybe part of it is the labor shortage as it has been bad lately. Perhaps they are using more algorithms and less real people and the real people are not properly trained or are just new at it? I have had issues going back to 2010 and like you, had a few years where there were no issues. I had one item pulled as I put world wide shipping and apparently some country out there did not allow it so they pulled the item and I got a strike against my account. Hard to know every countries import laws. And I recently had another item that was pulled right after listing even though there are 250+ of the same item that have been live for a long time and when I asked why others can sell the exact same item, I was told that because I had recently violated the medical device policy, my account would be scrutinized more than others! I was told that I cannot list an item even if it is not in violation, but everyone else can! This is not only not fair, but how am I to know if they are going to pull an item and suspended me even if I know it to not be in violation of their policy? They basically said that I may have items pulled and subsequently suspended even if I list items which are not in violation!  I guess it is and always will be part of selling on eBay, but I am not purposefully putting items that violate their policy, not once, so I think the suspension is a bit much and makes me even more sick to be giving this company so much money! Anyway, good luck, I would love to hear their response as I have never heard eBay say that they pulled am item in error.

[dentalsales4u]

Unfortunately, I have not gotten a return call regarding the reason.......surprise surprise!

I contacted again today, but via Facebook for business this time.

Haven't gotten a response from them yet either.

None of the live listing by others for the same items have all the required information they said I needed, but they remain active.

I went over $5,000,000 in sales last January and now pushing $6,000,000, and have also paid them a hefty sum in fees.

I just don't understand them at times!

I quit selling over seas quite a while ago. To big of a pain to deal with these types of products.