Reporting listings in violation of policy

[cobwebcottage]

Has anyone had any success with reporting listings which breach the rules? 

Is it even worth the time and effort as everyone comes back with 
'We looked into your report and didn’t find the listing to be in violation of our policy. This determination was made using automation or artificial intelligence.'

Recently tried the report for partial bottles of perfume selling for around  £100 a bottle and 14  'items coming soon' all duplicate titles and no descriptions (obviously to use the recent promo).

After receiving  'we looked in to your report' messages for all of these, I thought I would see what happened when you appeal the decision and guess what? Error page, We looked everywhere. The link is broken.

It feels like Ebay doesn't want anyone to report any listings so why bother?

[therenewalworkshopltd]

Fair enough.  I've reported them myself, as contact details.

Can't belive that they are getting away with it though.  They even have their full adress and clearly state that they will discount the fees charged on Ebay from the final payment.

Though they can't have been that long since they have had these listings, as all the feedback they do have, is actually quite old and bar a couple, for physical items.

I did have a look at their website and it's urgh.....  And some of the prices they are charged for what jackets they do have are just crazy.

[therenewalworkshopltd]

I've found that anything with a picture, is always ignored by the AI check.  But not so much when an actual person reviews it.

It's frustrating and though I find these things quite annoying, I'm not going to keep wasting my time on the phone with them, as that seems to be the only way you can get anywhere with some of them.

[btr.style]

Yeah it's one shambles of a business. From my sales sheet the jacket I was doing research for at the time was sold in September last year (a few days after listing it) and I remember sorting their listings by newly listed and at the time the earliest ones were January 2023, so over a year now. 

I guess most people who do come across those listings and give them a go will just phone them to get it sorted fully off eBay or go via their website. 

A while back they popped up on some FB clothing community spamming the cleaning service and when people were saying about it being overpriced the person started kicking off with people. I think they ended up getting banned. Not a nice person at all. 

[shopping-ferret]

Yes that is exactly it.  Ebay's AI is not programmed or sophisticated enough to detect information in photos and don't the Ebay scammers know it!!  There should be an easy way to contest ebay's decision to deny any violation.

[therenewalworkshopltd]

Well, at £55 to clean a Barbour jacket, you might as well just get another one.

I've sold reasonable condition ones for about £70 mark, depending on which one it actualy is.

And dry cleaning is about £20-30 ish, though not really recommended for a Barbour.  🙂

It does make me wonder why they decided to stop selling actual items and change it to adverts though.

Why not have both, if your going to do it.  But more than likely, they are really struggling, hence the spamming of the FB community.  And agressive defensiveness, tends to be an indicator of exactly that kind of thing.

[therenewalworkshopltd]

Update!

The content you reported was removed

Only the one listing I believe, but will report some more I think.

[btr.style]

Hallelujah. Same for me too. 

Absolutely puzzling. Reported one again this morning (as put above) with a saved note to copy and paste to the report box, the decision was not in breach of policies. 

Then since you reported some, I reported another, exactly the same reason as this morning with the same copied and pasted text. The outcome was listing removed. 

Maybe it's because someone else is now reporting them so it has more clout (the more people reporting, the more likely they are to remove stuff?)

[shopping-ferret]

I think it is pot luck whether you get a human who actually reads the report and not AI or a human who does not read it!  It may have worked once, but sadly does not mean it will work next time.  I cannot even recall how many listings I have reported and honestly, it was only the ones I pursued after a violation being denied, that were then removed.  As I explained earlier, I happened to have an email address of an agent who personally dealt with a different complaint, so turned to him again to help and appeal the wrong decisions and he did help and admitted the denial was wrong.  I also have reported the same violations again and again, stating in the report that it was blatantly wrong Ebay had ruled it did not breach policies.  I also stated that an agent needed to read my message.  Maybe mentioning the word 'agent' helped bring attention to it?  Who knows?  On Ebay there are many inconsistenciess.

[invigilator-007]

I have similar experience of clear violations not being taken seriously by ebay. I have report a seller that is repeatedly listing pornographic photos supposedly signed by the star on the photo. Images of full frontal female anatomy and also sexual activity. Sometimes there is no response after an initial automated message saying they are looking into the report, other times I get the messages back that either AI or a human has looked at the image and deemed it does not violate Ebay policies.
Is there not an appeal you can make after this as these images do violate ebay policy?
These images are being sold under the heading of a family TV series where young people may be searching for photos of their favourite TV stars that are not naked and/or performing sexual activity. I am not young but still don't expect to see these type of images on Ebay. 
This is against Ebay policies but is not being dealt with by the staff when reported.

[invigilator-007]

I come across this and do not buy from those sellers anymore. I have done in the past but even though they list the products as being in London, they are sent from China. They always turned up in a grey plastic bag with Chinese customs/postal certificate attached.
It is another form of a scam as they are hoping you will buy from them because they have put London on the item for postage and you would assume it will arrive quicker in the post than from where the item is really located in China.

[shopping-ferret]

I did have an eBay contact a while back bit to be fair he was dealing with another matter and escalated my complaint.

I'd phone Ebay and insist on a supervisor contacting you. 

[unclestein]

I listed a secondhand key cutting machine and the listing was removed straight away for violating the 'Lockpicking devices' policy.

So imagine my surprise when I saw key cutting machines (from China and the US) being offered on ebay using the same wording and listed in the same categories as my listing!

Furthermore the Chinese supplier 'appears' to be violating the 'multiple accounts' policy - it is clear that this is the same guy peddling the same listings under various accounts.

[unclestein]

unclestein

Conversationalist

‎06-12-2024 5:19 PM

I listed a secondhand key cutting machine and the listing was removed straight away for violating the 'Lockpicking devices' policy.

So imagine my surprise when I saw key cutting machines (from China and the US) being offered on ebay using the same wording and listed in the same categories as my listing!

Furthermore the Chinese supplier 'appears' to be violating the 'multiple accounts' policy - it is clear that this is the same guy peddling the same listings under various accounts.

[shopping-ferret]

Yes, this sounds the norm on Ebay.  They ask us to all help to keep Ebay safe, yet when we take the time to report other sellers who are clearly in violation, Ebay responds they have taken no action as no policy violation!  Of course this is happening more and more due to AI being employed and it was bad enough when humans were supposedly using their intelligence!!  It was obvious at least some of the time they were not even reading through the case notes and history.

I would persist in complaining and make an appeal to Ebay.  When similar happened to me, I appealed, but they upheld their decision. 

However, it really annoyed me so much and some time later, I happened to speak to a customer rep who appeared to have some clout and he kept his promise and took the trouble to help and as a result, the decision was overturned and the listing was reinstated.  As I have mentioned elsewhere, I was more upset as this was a listing which displayed the fact I had sold hundreds of items, so although it was reinstated some months later, all the sales count was deleted.  

[unclestein]

I recently reported 4 listings selling "Key cutting machines" and ebay agreed to remove them.

Furthermore they actually did it!

(This is in response  to my own listing for a key cutting machine being rejected for policy violation).