eBay has deleted my listing. Why?

[april_13x]

Hi everybody. A few days ago I put up an ad with the sale of Amazfit GTS 2 watches. This watch was bought by me on eBay in July 2021. Now I have bought another watch and put the old watch up for sale. But how surprised I was when I received a notification from eBay today that my ad was removed due to - "We had to remove your listing because it didn't follow our Counterfit item policy. We don’t allow counterfeit items, replicas, or unauthorized copies." **bleep**? There were real photos of the watch in the listing. Also the original watch box. Counterfeit? I bought this watch on eBay last year. I have been an active buyer on eBay since 2016 and have started selling goods there sometimes since 2018. But after such an attitude, I no longer want to have anything to do with this trading platform. The funny thing is that some sellers just put up one picture from the Internet as a preview and their listing are not deleted, but I had real photos of the product and a simple description. The listing was available for 4 days and then it was simply deleted on someone's whim. I do not understand.

[bonjourami]

Sorry to say just because you bought it on Ebay doesnt make it authentic. Fraud listings are usually not removed on a 'whim', takes more than one report of counterfeit to have Ebay remove it.

[april_13x]

Well, first of all, according to your logic, does eBay allow me to buy a fake product? And now eBay has blocked it itself? Secondly, the product is genuine - documents, warranty box and serial numbers. What complaints could allow my listing to be blocked if no one bought this product? Has someone identified authenticity simply by name? Complete nonsense.. And thirdly, I called eBay support and asked what was going on and why my ad was blocked. The operator checked my ad and said that she did not see any fraud in it. She said that it should be restored within three days. So I'll wait for now.

[kensgiftshop]

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@april_13x wrote:

Well, first of all, according to your logic, does eBay allow me to buy a fake product? And now eBay has blocked it itself? Secondly, the product is genuine - documents, warranty box and serial numbers. What complaints could allow my listing to be blocked if no one bought this product? Has someone identified authenticity simply by name? Complete nonsense.. And thirdly, I called eBay support and asked what was going on and why my ad was blocked. The operator checked my ad and said that she did not see any fraud in it. She said that it should be restored within three days. So I'll wait for now.

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It wouldn't be the first time someone bought something on Ebay, then tried selling it and their listing was removed for being counterfeit.

The CS that checked the listing, they wouldn't know if it was fake or not.

[downunder-61]

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@april_13x wrote:

Well, first of all, according to your logic, does eBay allow me to buy a fake product? And now eBay has blocked it itself? Secondly, the product is genuine - documents, warranty box and serial numbers. What complaints could allow my listing to be blocked if no one bought this product? Has someone identified authenticity simply by name? Complete nonsense.. And thirdly, I called eBay support and asked what was going on and why my ad was blocked. The operator checked my ad and said that she did not see any fraud in it. She said that it should be restored within three days. So I'll wait for now.

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I wish you luck and hope this works out the way the CS has advised, personally I would not take their word for anything that could have serious repercussions to my account.

Perhaps list on another platform or locally - if you do list and it gets pulled again, you could be faced with account restrictions - not worth it IMO.

[april_13x]

Yes, I understand that. But I don't understand why they removed the listing with real and not fake watches.

[april_13x]

Thanks! I think if my listing is not restored within three days, I will put the watch up for sale on Amazon. I have an account so I will sell items there. Ebay will remain only for rare purchases.

[fashunu4eeuh]

The CSR told you what you wanted to hear. There will be no “restoring” of your listing, sad to say.

eBay may have gotten it wrong and removed a genuine watch. But even if that is the case, even if a CSR swears it was removed in error and it’s ok to relist, it is quite risky to do so. Ebay reps have been known to give conflicting and sometimes damaging advice. 

Sorry this has soured the selling experience for you.

[ckimodog]

Ebay customer support is overseas.  They know very little about your issue.  They lie to you and tell you what you want to hear only to discover they have done nothing for you.  They read from scripts, make things up and send you on your merry way.

If you want to escalate your case, perhaps you should reach out on social media:

https://www.facebook.com/eBayForBusiness/

These are credible US cs agents who work for ebay and may be able to give you some insight.  Many positives posts here concerning their ability to be helpful.  

Good luck should you try to go this route.  

[april_13x]

Thanks. It's a pity if it is. Then I'll just stop selling completely on this trading platform. If they have no respect for the seller, then I have no respect for eBay.

[april_13x]

Thank you for advice. I tried to write to eBay support on facebook (eBayForBusiness), but they simply deleted my post. In private messages, they also did not respond, just ignored me.

[april_13x]

So the results. On the advice of "ckimodog", I contacted Facebook support. Not immediately, but they answered anyway. I gave them proof with the serial numbers of the watches they had withdrawn from sale. I also provided a link to buy this watch on eBay on July 14 last year. I have also provided screenshots of my purchase. After some time, they nevertheless replied that, thanks to my testimony, they were convinced that my watch, intended for sale, was genuine. Here is their response: “Thank you for doing this for us! After checking, we found your purchase, so I removed the violation of this ad from your account. I really appreciate you bringing this to us. Be sure to let us know if there's anything else we can do to help." To be honest, I didn't even know that it was registered in my account as a violation. Okay, that's good, but I asked them what to do next? But I still can't list this watch for sale? That's their answer - "That would be correct, we're asking that the item isn't relisted." This is how the story ended.  If anyone comes across a similar situation, know that even if you have all the evidence that your product is genuine and, moreover, was previously purchased on the same eBay, you will still be denied the sale of this product. Simply because they have already decided so and do not want to change their rules. Stupid? Yes. I think that for me it became the finish line after which I don't want to sell on eBay anymore.

[slippinjimmy]

“Thank you for doing this for us! After checking, we found your purchase, so I removed the violation of this ad from your account. I really appreciate you bringing this to us. Be sure to let us know if there's anything else we can do to help." To be honest, I didn't even know that it was registered in my account as a violation.

The violation was when they sent the takedown notice. The rep decided to wipe that clean because you were "innocent" due to having bought the watch on eBay and making the (incorrect) assumption that it could be resold on eBay.

Bottom line, they removed the violation but the claim that it infringes copyright still stands.

As far as your earlier comment about selling it on Amazon, they are even more brutal than eBay regarding infringing items, listing it over there is a good way to have you account permanently suspended, Amazon won't be so nice about giving you a pass as eBay did.

[april_13x]

"Bottom line, they removed the violation but the claim that it infringes copyright still stands." -

So what is the violation anyway? The serial number in the watch and in the box matches and also makes its way through the Amazfit database. The watch itself was bought from a major seller on eBay of the "adorama" store.

[slippinjimmy]

The violation was listing an item that possibly violates copyright.

I did some quick research about Amazfit, rather complicated issues that have been going on for many years, plenty of billable hours generated with lots of court filings. Seems the primary issue is not counterfeits per se but rather copying aspects that infringe US patents.

Here's a statement from 2017 from the lawyers representing one of the companies involved;

https://www.hongfanglaw.com/en/news/huami-sued-in-usa-for-patent-infringement/

These are touchy issues for eBay, they don't want to get involved AT ALL. This means they will have a twitchy trigger when it comes to pulling listings for these devices.