Trying to learn from item removed due to Counterfeit item policy

[makosuke]

I had the first-time experience of having a rather boring listing for a pair of open-box older-generation Apple AirPods removed due to the counterfeit listing policy.

(Not that this matters, but no, they're not counterfeit; I got them direct from Apple with a back-to-school promo and after sitting around unused for a while decided there was no point in keeping them.)

I'm well aware that eBay can and will do whatever they want with any and all listings, and I have absolutely no recourse, so I'm trying to learn from the experience of what I did wrong given that the item isn't counterfeit.

The listing didn't have any of what I would have considered "red flags"; the item isn't counterfeit (of course), it had a non-boilerplate description, I took my own photos, the price was if anything a bit on the high side, shipped and sold from US, and I've been on eBay since the previous century with 100% positive feedback (including a lot of much-more-expensive Apple gear).

Since I had done none of the "don't do this" things in the list, my best guess is that it was because I covered the serial number in the photo of the box, which the item policy email implied was not allowed, something I was not aware of.  In hindsight, I don't think there's any need for this anyway, but I've reflexively done it for years and didn't realize it was going to cause problems since obscuring serial numbers at least used to be extremely common. (Heck, I listed a used Apple TV on the same day and did the same thing with its serial number, but that one is still up.)

Anyone with similar experiences have suggestions of other mistakes that might make the eBay bots angry?  Looking now, there seem to be quite a few listings way more sketchy than mine, so either I have terrible luck or I did something weird.

I'm also curious if anyone has experience with the "Do not relist this item" warning; I could of course take new photos (and not cover the serial number this time), but I'd be worried about that triggering something worse for my account in the long run.

[wrong66]

Oh please....

[slippinjimmy]

---

@rugerskick wrote:

This is correct.

People here think ebay's terms and conditions can violate the laws of the country they are in.  Simply because they state them in terms and conditions.

Their terms and conditions systematically enable and facilitate buyer fraud occurring at sellers' expenses. This may be in their terms and conditions, but it might not be legal to always blindly side with the buyer at the sellers' financial detriment, especially when they ignore evidence and/or admit the buyer is abusing the ebay system for fraud.  Just because ebay has a MBG policy.

That MBG policy if it violates the law, is not legal.  More and more evidence is coming to light it could very well not do well surviving a legal challenge on behalf of ripped off sellers that were enabled by ebays policy.

---

Please tell us what "law" you claim eBay is violating.

[gemarakop_trading]

Don’t sell airpods

[makosuke]

Sadly, "don't sell AirPods" seems to be the the main lesson learned from the experience.  Actually, the utter arbitrariness of it teaches a lesson closer to "Don't sell or plan to sell anything for which knockoffs are common, period," since there's nothing unique or unusual about AirPods.

Well, that and something rather negative about eBay the company, but I've known that part for a long time.

[makosuke]

@rugerskick wrote:

People here think ebay's terms and conditions can violate the laws of the country they are in.  Simply because they state them in terms and conditions.

Their terms and conditions systematically enable and facilitate buyer fraud occurring at sellers' expenses. This may be in their terms and conditions, but it might not be legal to always blindly side with the buyer at the sellers' financial detriment, especially when they ignore evidence and/or admit the buyer is abusing the ebay system for fraud.

---

Just to be absolutely clear, I at least am not claiming that a TOS that violates laws is valid.  Ad absurdium, if I write a TOS that says you give me the irrevocable right to murder you if you click "I Accept", that is obviously not going to get me out of prison if I do.

My point, rather, is that eBay's legal department has clearly laid out what the company thinks it's within its rights to do terms, and for a small-time seller who doesn't have a lawyer on retainer plus the time, energy, and resources to litigate it, it doesn't really matter whether that would stand up in court or not.  A small time seller (in a situation different from mine, I'll add) might suffer some financial harm, but they're not going to go find a lawyer and pay them $300/hour to go up against eBay's legal team over a $100 item they got scammed on.

For a large selling selling organization suffering significant financial harm, that calculation might well be different, and as someone said, if it were to get bad enough there might be some kind of collective legal or PR pressure campaign.  But for the vast majority of eBay sellers, it's like any other minor insult from a big company--realistically, you either work around it, live with it, or take your business elsewhere.

[windmillwayne]

To all ebayers,

Haven't read all the response but I also experienced an item being removed within six hours of completion of a 7 day auction. My belief is two bidders were in a bidding war and when one was going no higher and would lose, they hit the report item and pick out the appropriate tabs offered to get it removed as a counterfeit item. Ebay agent won't admit to this being the case. You can try it out for yourself. Remember sore lovers can ruin your day and ebay has to go with the flow. One man's opinion. 

[ckimodog]

@windmillwayne 

This is an old thread from 2022.  OP doesn't appear to be selling anymore, so I doubt they'll reply. 

Should you have any questions or concerns it is always a good idea to start your own thread to get the help and advice for your specific issue. 

Happy Selling

[kh-cathy]

Hi everyone,

Due to the age of this thread, it has been closed to further replies. Please feel free to start a new thread if you wish to continue to discuss this topic.

Thank you for understanding.