eBay

wilsonharborsales · ‎09-02-2023

I’ve never listed a counterfeit item. Never. I’ve never had items removed for being counterfeit until the past two weeks. It is now happening often, specifically in the hats category. I am on my final warning and I am afraid to continue listing. If this is happening to you, you aren’t alone. This is terrifying and I am not sure how to proceed. Here is one of the ‘counterfeit items’ that was removed. It appears the brands: John Deere, Budweiser, Bud Light, Starbucks, Walmart, October’s Very Own, Monster Energy, Walmart, Ontrac, Nortrax, Chevrolet, and Ford are impacted.

wilsonharborsales · ‎09-04-2023

His account was reinstated after his 3-day suspension. I know he is very concerned because he supports a family of 5 on his eBay income. I am similarly concerned because I am supporting two small children and a terminally ill parent on this income.

devon@ebay · ‎09-05-2023

@wastingtime101 wrote:

@wilsonharborsales wrote:

I believe they are beta testing Certilogo on the live site in the hats category. I have a fairly strong seller network, and many of them have been experiencing these ‘take-downs’ of legit items over the past two weeks. Brands enrolled in Certilogo have a special CGG number on their tags. These CGG numbers did not exist before 2019. The items being removed for being counterfeit (no CGG number on tags) are from 1980s-2019. Of course they don’t have a CGG ident number. Certilogo didn’t exist then.

The big problem is that with this beta testing, big sellers who are having items removed are losing visibility because it is impacting their selling metrics. It is a horrible feeling to be accused of fraud by an AI bot, have no recourse or anyone who can assist you, and then operate under the fear that your account can be suspended at any time.

There has been a fair amount of coverage on this issue across groups, social, etc. A lot of sellers are reporting takedowns of legit merch. Is there any advice you can offer sellers in this situation devon@ebay ? This isn't the type of situation sellers feel confident contacting front line CS reps about. Is there a way your team can forward these situations to the eBay team working with Certilogo and/or Trust & Safety for investigation on the accuracy of these takedowns?

Hey @wastingtime101! I can make sure to have this thread and the examples in here shared with the correct team. I know that we have teams that are actively looking through listings that could be counterfeit so I can see if there is any insigh from them that I can share.

Devon,

snoops · ‎09-16-2023

devon@ebay I am researching this topic because it has started happening to me. I am not sure where to turn. I have called customer service and the first two times they allowed me to relist my item however it continues to happen and I am loosing some of my longest listings, best sellers and those with the most watchers. I purchase directly from the manufacturer and I have offered to show receipts to eBay but I can not find answers. I have been waiting for a CS supervisor to call me but so far nothing. Looks like I have the same issue as this poster.

wastingtime101 · ‎09-16-2023

Which brands/items of yours are being pulled, if you don't mind sharing @snoops ?

Walk without rhythm, it won't attract the worm.

snoops · ‎09-16-2023

Vera Bradley Bags. I have sold hundreds of these and for some reason some are them are getting flagged even after being listed for over a year. The CS agent I spoke with on the first one said to add more photos and relist. I already had so many photos but took their advice. Same advice was given on the second item that was removed. The third item I have gone around and around with a few agents and I was told someone would call me (still waiting). It is crazy because I buy these items from Vera Bradley (no middleman) and I have actual Vera Bradley receipts. I was told to add my receipt to the listing which of course I will not do (but I am happy to send a photo of it to eBay). There are also so many of these bags listed on eBay so I am not sure why I am targeted. One of the CS agents yesterday told me my price was probably too low? Seems very strange!!! Nonetheless very concerning as the one yesterday had over 200 watchers and over 40 sales (sharing information that anyone could see looking at the listing)

lonebuck-books · ‎09-16-2023

@snoops wrote:
Vera Bradley Bags. I have sold hundreds of these and for some reason some are them are getting flagged even after being listed for over a year. The CS agent I spoke with on the first one said to add more photos and relist. I already had so many photos but took their advice. Same advice was given on the second item that was removed. The third item I have gone around and around with a few agents and I was told someone would call me (still waiting). It is crazy because I buy these items from Vera Bradley (no middleman) and I have actual Vera Bradley receipts. I was told to add my receipt to the listing which of course I will not do (but I am happy to send a photo of it to eBay).

Those CSR agents gave you really bad advice. It is never a good idea to relist something that eBay took down with a counterfeit claim. That is a great way to get a suspension at a minimum or permanent ban at worst. CSR agents are notorious for giving bad, even account ending advice. I would not relist any of those items again on eBay. There are other sites where you can sell them.

snoops · ‎09-18-2023

@wilsonharborsales How are you doing with a resolution? I just made a facebook account as everyone says this mode of communication with eBay is best. I am not real pleased with having a facebook account but hoping that gets me somewhere.

wilsonharborsales · ‎09-18-2023

I donated everything they took down and just moved on. There is nothing more to do.

michaewarnic_0 · ‎11-09-2023

I have had some cards taken down due to counterfeit. I got a 3 day suspension. When I go to ebay and search the same thing I am being charged with others are selling the exact same thing. This is ridicules. I don't know what to do. Like the first seller. I am scared to even list anything else.

dbfolks166mt · ‎11-09-2023

I have had some cards taken down due to counterfeit. I got a 3 day suspension. When I go to ebay and search the same thing I am being charged with others are selling the exact same thing. This is ridicules. I don't know what to do. Like the first seller. I am scared to even list anything else.

It was activity like this on eBay that initially forced me to diversify across multiple platforms and venues where I have not yet encountered this problem or anything similar to the VERO program. EBay is not the only game in town anymore and it is stuff like this that causes sellers to go somewhere else to sell and of course if the buyers cannot find it here they are also looking elsewhere.

Over 80% of my sales now take place on other platforms and venues most of which have lower or no fees, a better balance of buyer/seller protections and for the local forums no shipping issues or costs for either the buyer or the seller.

dbfolks166mt · ‎11-09-2023

https://techcrunch.com/2023/07/11/ebay-acquires-product-authentication-company-certilogo/

I hadn't heard of that so I looked it up and found this article. Wow so eBay is slowly unleashing an AI to take down items that it thinks are counterfeit but it's obviously really bad at it. I wonder how this will go down once they unleash it on all fashion categories.

Yikes

This has the potential to be either a great success or a colossal disaster. So now you have the potential for an AI product to check for counterfeit item descriptions that were possibly written by AI software. What is wrong with this picture??

valueaddedresource · ‎11-10-2023

@dbfolks166mt wrote:
https://techcrunch.com/2023/07/11/ebay-acquires-product-authentication-company-certilogo/

I hadn't heard of that so I looked it up and found this article. Wow so eBay is slowly unleashing an AI to take down items that it thinks are counterfeit but it's obviously really bad at it. I wonder how this will go down once they unleash it on all fashion categories.

Yikes

This has the potential to be either a great success or a colossal disaster. So now you have the potential for an AI product to check for counterfeit item descriptions that were possibly written by AI software. What is wrong with this picture??

@dbfolks166mt while Certilogo may be part of the picture, especially in fashion categories, I actually think the 3PM Shield acquisition is likely more what is driving these increasing false counterfeit takedown reports.

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ebay-acquires-3pm-shield-to-bring-advanced-marketplace-comp...

https://3pm.ai/

Counterfeits
3PM’s cutting-edge computer vision and state-of-the-art NLP automatically removes counterfeits at scale. 3PM analyzes millions of listings per day.

Prohibited Items
3PM’s Next-Generation Compliance Solutions will protect your customers and keep your marketplace compliant with government agencies.

Simplifying The Decision Process
3PM solves complex problems by simplifying the decision process. This new approach reduces the inconsistencies of human decisions and the costs associated with managing them.

bill.purvis2012 · ‎11-10-2023

Just got "hit" by the AI counterfeit police. I had listed a jewelry set that is sold on Amazon. I bought several of them from a thrift store that sells Amazon returns. These are new in original package. It is cheap Chinese jewelry and I had them listed for $15 or so. They sell on Amazon for about $25. No one makes counterfeit cheap costume jewelry. It is not counterfeit.

I guess the Chinese company is involved somehow. Okay. but, not counterfeit.

I wasn't suspended. But, it gives me pause.

mishmoshmart · ‎11-10-2023

I had a AC/DC tour shirt taken down for being so called counterfeit. it is an older shirt from early 2000s and has a trademark and date under the image.

dbfolks166mt · ‎11-10-2023

I had a AC/DC tour shirt taken down for being so called counterfeit. it is an older shirt from early 2000s and has a trademark and date under the image.

If this is the result of the Certilogo process this may become an AI VERO program on steroids. It may wipe out the lions share of listings posted by Chinese sellers.