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???

[sockmonkeydave]

@city*satins

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@city*satins wrote:

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?  

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Lady Gaga ?

[bubbleman2010]

Its always amusing when searching for items that are against policy to list here how they always populate the top 30% to 40% of best match. In OPs case 177 like items are listed with 928 in completed and if someone just runs off info displayed in active and sold you'd never know they aren't suppose to be listed here....

[rolenboy01]

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@slati_2013 wrote:

Yes, it is true that eBay does not get everyone, but whenever they can, they will remove offending items. Why? For legal reason. In a court of law, it is important for eBay to show that it did take actions and tried to comply with requests by copyright holders or those harmed by things sold on eBay. Ebay has won cases by proving it does take action. Failure to do all it can to remove offending items opens eBay up to lawsuits. And, oh, it is eBay's site; they can ban anything they want. For any reason. 

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Incorrect some sellers can list prohibited items and they will NEVER be removed after tons of reports because said sellers are under eBay's protection.

[plumbingspecials]

If you are copying another listing exactly... it is a duplicate. 

[bubbleman2010]

They have different photos for each listing nothing will happen until the bots go off track and they cancel 43 of the 189 listings might be today might take 5 years only the shadow knows......

[d-k_treasures]

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@city*satins wrote:

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?  

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Sell it as a double-barrel slingshot! And depending on the size ............

[d-k_treasures]

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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 .

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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.

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Why? They are auctions. You can list 1000 auctions if you want that are exactly the same.

The next one down the line won't be shown in general search until one gets a bid. But they show up by looking at the sellers listings, so someone could possibly bid on a few that have no bids if they want to.

[sockmonkeydave]

@d-k_treasures

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@d-k_treasures 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 .

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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.

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Why? They are auctions. You can list 1000 auctions if you want that are exactly the same.

The next one down the line won't be shown in general search until one gets a bid. But they show up by looking at the sellers listings, so someone could possibly bid on a few that have no bids if they want to.

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My bad, I know nothing about auctions, but that makes sense.

[johnfduda]

You mean if I have two thirty year old Nikon 35mm lenses and start one on Tuesday and the other on Saturday the second won't be seen till the following Tuesday? What if one is AS-IS and the other is New Old Stock? You might say I should know this, but I don't cause I wouldn't list both at once cause I don't want to compete with myself. But there might be 50 of that same lens listed at once. Used to be 50 auctions for the item.

[tellmemama]

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@city*satins wrote:

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?  

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The late great Dodie Goodman in Splash!

[best_vintage_photos]

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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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Message to those people: Get a life.

[d-k_treasures]

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@johnfduda wrote:

You mean if I have two thirty year old Nikon 35mm lenses and start one on Tuesday and the other on Saturday the second won't be seen till the following Tuesday? What if one is AS-IS and the other is New Old Stock? You might say I should know this, but I don't cause I wouldn't list both at once cause I don't want to compete with myself. But there might be 50 of that same lens listed at once. Used to be 50 auctions for the item.

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No - if they are exactly the same, the 2nd won't be seen in a general search until the first one has a bid.

If they have different titles, conditions, photos, then they both will be visible.

But they will always be visible if you see sellers other items.

I have 2 of these miners lamps, and I'll list the other when the current one ends tonight. As you said, why compete with yourself?

[roryriver]

If I list a collectable coin from a country that is prohibited I get my hand slapped before I even finish the listing. It's automatic. I am honestly curious about why the don't do that with every prohibited item.

[brettbullrider]

I disagree! I just had this happen for the second time. My listings were in violation and I notified eBay that there were hundreds of other listings with the same items currently running. Now, I completely understand that some people get caught and others don't and that may seem unfair. HOWEVER, in both of my situations including one just yesterday. I actually took the time to report multiple items (30 in this case) using the eBay "report item" link. The violation was clearly listed and if that is eBay's policy then so be it. But, I reported THIRTY different listings to eBay and not a SINGLE listing was removed. while they actually removed seven of mine, two of which were items that sold over a month ago. This was the case on my previous violation (TENS units in that case). Nothing whatsoever was done. Not surprisingly my items were removed only when they began selling very consistently (4 in the past 24 hours alone). I think eBay does in fact cater to certain sellers and tries to eliminate competition from the "little guys" just as the OP stated!

[thatsallfolks]

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@brettbullrider wrote:
I disagree! I just had this happen for the second time. My listings were in violation and I notified eBay that there were hundreds of other listings with the same items currently running. Now, I completely understand that some people get caught and others don't and that may seem unfair. HOWEVER, in both of my situations including one just yesterday. I actually took the time to report multiple items (30 in this case) using the eBay "report item" link. The violation was clearly listed and if that is eBay's policy then so be it. But, I reported THIRTY different listings to eBay and not a SINGLE listing was removed. while they actually removed seven of mine, two of which were items that sold over a month ago. This was the case on my previous violation (TENS units in that case). Nothing whatsoever was done. Not surprisingly my items were removed only when they began selling very consistently (4 in the past 24 hours alone). I think eBay does in fact cater to certain sellers and tries to eliminate competition from the "little guys" just as the OP stated!

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Take all that energy you’re wasting on disagreeing, and use it to learn and follow the rules.