UNFAIR EBAY POLICY! Not allowed to list an item while other sellers listing identical items! WHY????

[red-rooskie]

I am officially **bleep**.  I am one of the "Little Guys" in this massive ocean we call eBay.  I had 12 listings removed and when I called to get some answers, I was told it was an item that has been prohibited as of November, 2016.  (5 of the items in question......Railroad Keys). One of the items they removed was a COIN with the word Railroad on it, NOT A RAILROAD KEY!  Seriously eBay, REALLY?!?  Here's is the short version of the call:

eBay:  "It's a security risk to sell them".

Me:  "What I am listing is an obsolete item that is no longer being used and it's more than 20 years olds."

eBay:  "Well......we got calls from several railroad companies asking us to stop selling them".

Me:  "Really?  Even if it isn't something that is current use?  Which railroad companies requested this?"

eBay:  "For security reasons, we can't tell you."

Me:  "OK, so is security is such an important reason for this policy, why are identical items still being sold by other sellers, but I'm not allowed?  Why haven't you removed those???"

 eBay:  "If you see an item like the one we are talking about, you should report it. There is no way for us to catch all of them".

Me:  "Huh, I noticed these items that aren't being removed are listed by "Power Sellers".  Um, I'm a seller too, and we should both be able to sell the same thing."

eBay: "Well.....we're working on it".

Me:  "Well.......you have a lot of work to do".

eBay: "Well......you should report the items when you see them".

Me:  "Well.......you should  know that is your job, not mine.  My job is to be a seller.  Your responsibility  is to address this "Security Risk and delete every last one of these listings.  It is my responsibility to be a SELLER - to make money  -   to pay my mortgage, get food to eat, get clothes for my children to wear, pay the electric bill.....oh, and run a business,  But if you want to pay me to do your job, I will gladly accept.  How DO you police this policy anyway?"

eBay:  "We have a seperate department that handles policy violations, but it takes time"

Me:  "My time is just as valuable as yours, probably more so, since I' a SELLER.  You make money off everything I sell. "

eBay:  "Well.........."

I find it extremely hard to believe that eBay has prohibited us from selling this ENORMOUS category of items which is by the way a highly lucritive and very popular collectible item!!!!  All I see is the "Little Guy" getting the shaft.  This is horribly unfair and you better believe I will be calling them weekly to ask why these keys are still being sold on eBay, and why I am not able to sell the exact same item.  This is really gotten me worked up and I am truly **bleep** off.  Anyone else experienced this treatment???

[city*satins]

"Well.......you should  know that is your job, not mine.  My job is to be a seller.  Your responsibility  is to address this "Security Risk and delete every last one of these listings.  It is my responsibility to be a SELLER - to make money  -   to pay my mortgage, get food to eat, get clothes for my children to wear, pay the electric bill.....oh, and run a business,  But if you want to pay me to do your job, I will gladly accept.  How DO you police this policy anyway?"

This kind of rant is not the KEY to success.

[sockmonkeydave]

@red-rooskie

Wow you have a bunch of duplicate listings, are you sure you want to raise cain with ebay.

[city*satins]

I think you might be mistaken about that. I see duplicate titles but the pics seem different. I didn't spot any obvious dupes .

[sockmonkeydave]

@city*satins

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@city*satins wrote:
I think you might be mistaken about that. I see duplicate titles but the pics seem different. I didn't spot any obvious dupes .

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I seem to recall a thread where bots were pulling listings with the same title ???

Yes some of the pictures did look different, but would a bot care ?

the OP is on ebay's radar, I would keep a low profile.

[city*satins]

I think it may depend on the category. e.g. coins and books and some other categories - they're bypassed by the BOT.

But yes, keeping a low profile would be a smart non-move at this juncture.

[chipper01work]

Op, I'm a TRS seller and have several friends who are too. We won't list RR keys because we know they will get the boot and we'll get a nastygram from eBay and get a on the radar for awhile. It's not just the little guy. eBay pulls listings when they get multiple of the same reported violation on a listing. A few people probably reported your listings so they actually looked at them and pulled them. It may have even been others selling them to reduce their competition. I feel like you, it is eBays job to police the site and I don't report listings but not everyone takes that approach.

[sockmonkeydave]

@chipper01work

It could be competitors, but there are some people who troll ebay looking for violations.

[chipper01work]

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@sockmonkeydave wrote:

@chipper01work

It could be competitors, but there are some people who troll ebay looking for violations.

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Yep it could be either.

[yuzuha]

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@sockmonkeydave wrote:

@city*satins

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@city*satins wrote:
I think you might be mistaken about that. I see duplicate titles but the pics seem different. I didn't spot any obvious dupes .

---

I seem to recall a thread where bots were pulling listings with the same title ???

Yes some of the pictures did look different, but would a bot care ?

the OP is on ebay's radar, I would keep a low profile.

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Listings with the same title are fine-- I have a few of those and they've been listed for months with no issues.  They're very clearly different things when you look at the pictures.

[sockmonkeydave]

@yuzuha

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@yuzuha wrote:

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@sockmonkeydave wrote:

@city*satins

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@city*satins wrote:
I think you might be mistaken about that. I see duplicate titles but the pics seem different. I didn't spot any obvious dupes .

---

I seem to recall a thread where bots were pulling listings with the same title ???

Yes some of the pictures did look different, but would a bot care ?

the OP is on ebay's radar, I would keep a low profile.

---

Listings with the same title are fine-- I have a few of those and they've been listed for months with no issues.  They're very clearly different things when you look at the pictures.

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I can't remember all the details of the other seller who was having bot problems.

I thought it was the titles, who knows what the bots are thinking.

[city*satins]

I know the bots will warn me right away when my listing is CLOTHING.   It lets the listing go through but warns me that nobody will see it until the earlier listing is completed.

[flp]

I just read the list of prohibited items quickly and don't understand why Ebay prohibits used clothing when there are tons of "pre-owned" items for sale. Any suggestions?

[sockmonkeydave]

@flp

That would be pre owned underware.

[city*satins]

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@flp wrote:
I just read the list of prohibited items quickly and don't understand why Ebay prohibits used clothing when there are tons of "pre-owned" items for sale. Any suggestions?

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Used clothing is allowed but there are some restrictions. Here's the policy

https://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/used-clothing.html

[city*satins]

One element of the policy as written is rather bizarre.  It says that BRAs (pre-owned) can be listed as long as they weren't used as underwear.

I'm really struggling to imagine who would wear their bra over their clothing.  Maybe if you specify the bra was used strictly as a slingshot?