Duplicates - eBay for Business now saying they don't always remove them!

[lupo-store]

I have been reporting competitors with duplicate listings for years.  Its getting worse now.  One competitor has 4 identical listings.  I have reported them via concierge, they take the reports and nothing gets done.  I have reported them at least 10 times now.  They have 1400 listings but in reality should be about 200.

In desperation I also contacted eBay for Business.  Their response was:

I appreciate that you want them removed ASAP. As per our policies, we may take a range of actions, some of which may not be removals. I cannot disclose anything further than that. Thank you

I have sold on eBay since 1999, have nearly half a million feedbacks.  My business is being negatively affected by eBay not policing this.

Marco@eBay Katie@ebay 

What do I do if ebay are not taking action to police their own policies and my business is not thriving as a result?

[masonskingsshop]

I would love a more robust policy from ebay on obvious duplicates. 

[lupo-store]

My suggestion to Concierge was that for 'obvious' duplicates they could remove them.  If there were 4 then ALL 4 removed.

That triggers an email to the offending user saying they have 72 hours to get all in order with the duplicate policy details and offering how eBay can help them.  After 72 hours there's an audit.  

First offence is a 1 day suspension.  2nd is 3 days.  That will sort it out immediately

We all know the reasons they do it.

I work really hard to get to the top and my sales are throttled by the algo.  Thats fine.  We understand why.  It has to share the love.

But if I sell and have 15% market share someone else could have 4 listings getting to 15% market share but if they were playing by the rule books then they would only maybe get 6%

ITS COSTING ME (and good honest sellers like me) MONEY.  

[tascio1]

It may be that their listings may look identical but have an extra full stop in or very slight variation. I know I get the warning message if I accidentally try to list the same item twice with the exact same description. In fact, it doesn't let me list it twice or more for that reason.

I'm not sure their bots can diferentiate if the listings are ALMOST identical.

[lupo-store]

My argument is that I understand bots can miss these but I am flagging them and then these are apparently checked by humans.  They should be removing them immediately.

[therenewalworkshopltd]

To be fair, the answer you got does not say that they don't always remove them.

What you actually got was a brush off answer, that was literally meaningless.

Or to put it another way.  "We deal with these in the way that we see fit and we won't tell you what we have/haven't done!"

[padanpcparts]

My guess is their AI does pick them up as if you go 'Lowest price first', a lot of duplicate listings are removed from search. 

[vinylscot]

Further to @tascio1 's point, I remember on another site being advised that it was easy to get around duplicate listing restrictions by having a section of text in the same colour as the background (usually white).

By entering a completely different decent-sized section of text in a tiny font size, each listing looks very different to AI and more primitive bots. I would hope eBay can cope with this by now, as it was quite common in the early 2000s.

[lupo-store]

I report loads and cannot remember the last time any were removed

[therenewalworkshopltd]

I've done my fair share as well.  
Seems that they get removed, then five minutes later they get relisted.

It's extremely frustrating and very annoying.  

There are a couple in particular that I could give you links to, that have multiple duplicate listings, with slight changes.  They also include at least a photo with their contact details on.  Neither of them are actually selling a product, but advertising a service.  And both on private accounts.  They literally state to contact them directly and even put email address's on feedback.  They get reported, get removed (mostly) then relisted.  Sick of reporting them for them to continue doing the same old thing.

If anyone had any common sense at Ebay, the accounts would at the very minimum be under observation.  Though preferably banned as they are literally stealing from Ebay.

[jbrusby]

My area (ink cartridges)  is saturated with duplicate listings from a selection of sellers who have basically monopolised some lines, with literally hundreds and hundreds of identical looking listings (some as individual products and some as multiple item listings). I've reported the sellers through the report system many times with a detailed description of how they're operating and flouting the system but nothing has ever been done, as eBay loves a big seller. 

It makes the site a terrible experience for customers trying to find the right, or cheapest items though, and it's near impossible to get seen in those lines...private casual sellers have given up. Really the site needs a massive clearout but it's unlikely to happen. 

[lupo-store]

This is exactly my point.

ebay seem to think it’s better for them to have more listings and turn a blind eye to this as they gain more FVFs, however, the site looks more like a jumble sale and not a catalogue.

This is why buyers are put off and go Amazon (for faster delivery) or Temu (for price). 

[custom-giftsuk]

I truly have given up on asking eBay to take action in regards duplicate listings. Even blatant ones are still there. If you speak to eBay CS, they make all the right noises... agreeing with you, saying they will take action but no action ever gets taken. So its either the Trust & Safety /Risk Management Team either not doing their job (most likely) or every CS I've spoken to including members of the management team just not putting the reports forward (very unlikely)

So far I've given up on 

Sellers having duplicate listings
Sellers having multiple accounts, having duplicate listings
Sellers having multiple accounts, having duplicate listings, using different names when authentication should pick up that during account creations
Business sellers having multiple private accounts, having duplicate listings.
Sellers having blatant text on their listings advising buyers to pay directly by bank transfer / paypal to avoid eBay fees. 
Sellers having blatant links in their listing images to their website or other platforms.
Sellers having text in their listings asking for buyers to go to other platforms.
Sellers having text in their listings asking buyers to contact them by phone rather than sell through eBay. 
Sellers selling drugs/drug promotion/violent/offensive/profane/sex items.

This is just in my "section" of eBay, this isn't the wider platform. 

I have even given up on the more blatant scams that buyers are engaged in because I know irrespective of what happens, what the facts are - eBay will pretty much side with the buyer and refund them. 

I have even given up on trying to have feedback removed as buyers are now, routinely engaging in feedback extortion and even the most blatant attempts get ignored by eBay CS. I had one buyer this week who said that it didnt matter what the facts were, eBay would give them a refund and they were right. Buyer keeps item, buyer gets a refund. 

I have given up with eBay CS. Its not only not fit for purpose, it's actively working against their own rules, which means the only time eBay rules apply is when they want to put down a seller.

[custom-giftsuk]

Also I have given up on reporting buyers. Absolutely no point

[lupo-store]

I spoke to concierge this morning. I wanted them to get eyes on this to see how we good sellers are feeling.

they said that actually the moderators on here are the ones who monitor this and pass back our views to the powers at be (so please keep the feedback coming)

[custom-giftsuk]

I am sure they are keeping an eye on things.  I have zero doubt about it. Same as with the weekly community chat.  It's worth zero because even if CS do their job, which i have no doubt they do. The trust and safety/risk team are the logjam and understandable as well. If they have all these tens if not hundreds of thousands of reports every day from all over the world, they simply cannot handle even a small fraction  of the workload. Which is why ebay is betting the farm on ai picking up everything so ebay can downsize the human workforce for more profit. Unfortunately like everyone else.... that ship isn't for sailing , its a hole in the ground that you throw money in for little reward. 

The thing is once one seller gets away with something.... you will have everyone following them and once that motion starts you can't row it back because everyone is now doing it and you can't ban everyone.

[lupo-store]

This is why my suggestion to Concierge was that for 'obvious' duplicates they could remove them. If there were 4 then ALL 4 removed.

That triggers an email to the offending user saying they have 72 hours to get all in order with the duplicate policy details and offering how eBay can help them. After 72 hours there's an audit.

First offence is a 1 day suspension. 2nd is 3 days. That will sort it out immediately

Less work for Trust and Safety as they only have to do the 72 hours check.  Hopefully by then they are all in order.

[custom-giftsuk]

Yeah well.... I have been reporting stuff for years. Obvious duplicates, obvious duplicate accounts, obvious breaches of rules - some in such way that it is not only obvious but there must have been some work around of eBay rules that not only do Customer Support not understand why it wasn't removed but why it was actually allowed in the first place. 

Some items I reported in the past, not even eBay Customer Support staff would read the title or item description out loud. So them not knowing how things are allowed when its such a breach that the automatic systems should've kicked in and removed it automatically.... and then after years of reporting.... they are still there. To add insult to injury, its on multiple accounts using the same details. 

So I have no faith in eBay CS to do a job, because either they aren't doing their job, which I doubt, or there is a disconnect somewhere in the system, that even multiple members of the management team's reports go without action. 

There is zero action being taken, so its not worth sweating it anymore. It's one of the things killing eBay at the moment, if you do a search for an item, you get 20 or so duplicate listings for another item because some account has spammed their listings/accounts on the first result page (we're not even talking Chinese sellers here...) and people look at it and go... nope, not gonna bother and either go elsewhere or dont bother purchasing.

[bojangled]

@custom-giftsuk 

As pointed out in the weekly chat isn’t this what the regulatory operating fee was for ?

‘To address the rising costs associated with the increasing number and complexity of regulations, including consumer and environmental protection, as well as new taxation and customs measures, we're introducing a new regulatory operating fee.’

Jo

[custom-giftsuk]

I know of listings where if I posted the title in this thread, it would be removed under profanity rules. If I posted a picture of the item, it would be removed under profanity rules. How can an item which would get the comments removed for talking about it, be allowed on eBay and not removed itself?

It's not rocket science.  There are profanity filters which stop you using certain words and I know if I try and list that *certain* item, I'm not allowed to as it breaks the profanity rules yet other sellers can sell what I cant? I can't even attempt to copy and paste the title text into a new listing before I get a "no no" warning on profanity. This is the most simple and basic stuff and every member of CS I have spoken to over the years say it should be removed, that it breaches eBay rules yet it never is, none of them are.

eBay CS say the right things, make the right noises and never any action, unless its to remove something or some comment they dont like.