The VERO program is out of control

[schloopertz]

The VERO program is completely out of control and unreasonable. 

Today I received this (poorly written) message from a bot 

 

 Apparently, and this is news to me, I can no longer sell Levi’s to any buyer in the EU. The listings were on EBay US, and I offer the global shipping program for everything I sell…I’m hardly an “importer”.

Although the shoddily worded email doesn’t even list the items that were removed, it was 4 pair of Levi’s jeans.

eBay and the VERO program keep changing the goal posts, and it’s crazy making.

How In the world would any seller know that a worldwide brand they have sold dozens of times suddenly is telling VERO to take down any listing with global shipping…this has GOT to be losing eBay so much money, and  I cannot even fathom why it’s supported so aggressively.

These threats of removal and punitive action have scared the bejesus out of me and have me almost out the door. I suspect I’m not the only one….

Also, yeah, yeah, it’s their sandbox/party/playground/rules, I’m aware, but sending it out there as a heads up to others, as well as a whine. 

[skeletonstore]

Might even be a bot flagging you.  Big tech is out of control.  The Day the Internet Stood Still. If I were to send out email marketing and ignore unsubscribe requests I could get in big trouble.  I found of recently politicians can ignore those requests. It's illegal in the US for a company to flag a review as spam that  wasn't spam but google can auto flag you for any reason under the sun and not be held accountable.  I suspect bots are flagging you,  probably after ebay told you to fill out all that item specific stuff that previously only distributors(large ones)would fill out.  

[reallynicestamps]

Well, actually-- It's the importer's duty to know the laws of his own country.

However, this could be looked at as a "seller protection" against seizure of "contraband" merchandise which may be destroyed rather than returned, leaving both seller and buyer angry and out of cash.

https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/ebay-money-back-guarantee-policy/ebay-money-back-guarantee-policy...

And what happens if the seller ships to a US-based freight forwarder?

Too complicated for my little mind.

[dbfolks166mt]

     Reading all the comments I can't help but wonder if a buyer has a registered eBay account in another country, or has a US account because they do not have an eBay platform in their country, and the sellers listing are posted where they do not sell internationally, what happens in the case where the buyer is using a FF that has a US shipping address? Does the posting get flagged and removed or does it pass through a loophole? 

    It's probably irrelevant while US sellers can't export buyers just purchase the ones made out of China. It's a huge challenge for a lot of American based companies. While they want the expanded market they face the down side that comes with that.  

[yuzuha]

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@dbfolks166mt wrote:

     Reading all the comments I can't help but wonder if a buyer has a registered eBay account in another country, or has a US account because they do not have an eBay platform in their country, and the sellers listing are posted where they do not sell internationally, what happens in the case where the buyer is using a FF that has a US shipping address? Does the posting get flagged and removed or does it pass through a loophole? 

---

In most cases, that isn't a problem-- it's just that the items can't be shipped directly out of the country by the seller. As an example, for a while there was one particular brand of crane game prize that wasn't allowed to be shipped outside of Japan by the crane game apps. There was no restriction against having those prizes sent to a reshipper and then shipped on to the US, it was just that the apps themselves were not allowed to ship those prizes internationally. The seller isn't allowed to be selling directly to the international market, in other words.

[baantiques]

Seems like there has been an increase in attacks on sellers of used brand names stuff.  

Makes sense, manufacturers make nothing on a sale of something used.  

[luckythewinner]

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@reallynicestamps wrote:

Well, actually-- It's the importer's duty to know the laws of his own country.

---

IMHO only a fool would rely on his buyer to protect him from selling a prohibited item.

[rknrl_rsl]

I just got suspended too.  Three days.  Levis to Russia.  I had gotten a warning before and forgot to make sure there is no shipping to EU.  Ah well.  It's on me. 

[reallynicestamps]

Russia is not a part of the European Union. That's one reason they are so angry about Ukraine, which has applied to joint the Union as well as NATO.

Russia is part of Europe, at least part of Russia is in Europe, which is not so much a continent as an Asian archipelago.

[cypressheights]

I got the same message in November 2021. removed nwt levis . so now i won't buy and nwt levi's to resell 

[zamo-zuan]

We've had this happen to us once before with the eBay Global Shipping program.

One of the severe glitches in the GSP is sometimes it IGNORES your "blocked" delivery locations. 

I had extensive conversations with eBay regarding this, and at the end of the day, they state that you should be protected if your listings exclude the delivery locations, as it's an error on their side.

Problem is, on the "one-pager" reports the MSO Sellers Health reps give you, you still receive a VeRO violation even when protected - it still shows up on the report, and does have an effect on your search performance!

I've been reporting this issue to eBay for years, but as some advice, I would confirm if this address is actually included in *your* shipping settings. If it was on eBay's side and not your fault, they are supposed to protect you.

Whether those protections go through and you still get a violation or not, that's a different story. But make sure eBay protects you if it was something not initiated by you!

[wheredidiputthatremote]

I got vero'd for the first time in 11 years over a cable box remote control. Still processing it.

[rfmtm]

Cable box remotes are generally still property of the cable company, if it came with your original service.  Same goes for the box itself.   So while often they don't ask for the remote back, they still consider it theirs if you try to sell it.  Guess they want to prevent their installers from making them disappear and turning up on ebay.

[cardenas262002]

eBay and Levi’s is so abusive with the Vero program, today for the 2nd time they have suspended my account over Levis.  Levis keeps targeting my account over shipping to Europe.  I edited all my shipping on Levi’s to ship in the USA only, but apparently 4 t shirt listings did not update.  They suspended my account for 3 days and when I called I was basically told to F off.  When I sent in an email I did not even receive the courtesy of a response.  This is complete over reach by Levis and eBay.  

[rknrl_rsl]

Levis is the worst. I have never had a problem with any other company.

[beardedyankeeclothier]

I just received a VERO notification on NWOT Levi 501s.  I didnt realize that Levis were on the VERO list.  I have updated my shipping policy on all Levis to remove Europe.   This is funny because I have sold multiple Levis within the US in the past few months and not a peep and one of my listings gets taken down for offer it for sale in Europe.  I will be more careful I guess going forward.