Counterfeit

[surplus-north]

I’ve been with eBay since 2004 and only recently after retiring started selling full time from last September. Everything was going great until I received notice one of my items were hidden as suspicious of being counterfeit. I reviewed the item and after further investigation I realised I’d been scammed and it was a fake. Since then I only buy from legitimate sellers and have a very select list of what I buy and sell. However since that first time it has become more and more frequent that I’m being restricted due to ‘counterfeit policy’, and now it’s a huge issue completely destroying my business and reputation and I don’t see how selling on eBay is a feasible solution anymore. I currently have 30 items de listed due to the ‘counterfeit policy’. I know for absolute certainty that they are authentic items from genuine sellers, the trouble is I buy in bulk and so my VAT receipts do not list each item separately so I can’t show proof of purchase. The most recent item restriction was for a pair of Nike trainers ( all the issues are with Nike stock ) the listing was completed filling in every possible piece of information about the item, MPN, UK US EU sizes, country of origin, season, everything and I used stock photos from the Nike.com website. So I’m at a complete loss as to why it was taken down. I know it’s legit and it was even listed under ‘item authentication’ so it’s impossible to sell without being verified so why was it taken down? It makes absolutely no sense. It’s impossible to just look at the item & it’s description and say, yeah that looks fake, because it’s Nike official photos and all the information is listed answering all questions. EBay customer care don’t care, probably on minimum wage and have no care in going out of their way to help me and suggest what it is I’m doing wrong? One girl even suggested I stop selling counterfeit and wouldn’t entertain the rationale I gave and that my items were authentic, she was incredibly rude and patronising and refused to give me her name or her managers name to complain. One time I did speak with a supervisor and they simply said I can’t tell you what is wrong with your listing as it’s a trade secret !!! Hahaha I couldn’t stop laughing. The point was they have no reason for de listing and just fob me off saying it’s a secret so they don’t have to help. I’m really not fed up with the whole thing and didn’t retire to just take on more stress. It was fun initially and a way to make some spare cash but that ended months ago. It’s a shame as I offer exceptional value and I’ve build a very loyal customer base with nothing but 100% feedback for the past 22 years. It seems loyalty doesn’t favour the honest folk, whilst all the time I can see thousands & thousands of counterfeit items sold every day by other sellers. It’s an absolute joke. Any advice or way to escalate to someone that would actually care would be appreciated. If not I’ll be looking for a buyer for £10,000 worth of authentic  trainers I currently stock. Many thanks in advance & kind regards.

[tressygirl]

Sorry for the late reply I have just seen your question.

This I'm sure is a Vero issue,  see below.

The one thing which is really unfair is the way that message for Policy Violation and counterfeit item,  is written.  I've said for years, it should be re worded, to show the correct issue.

It's not that your item is counterfeit as the message implies, it's because it's a Vero protected item .  This means because there are many counterfeit  items for this Brand, the Brand does not want their items sold online, so it's the Brand owner,  not eBay who ask for its removal.

You may well still see identical items listed,  this is because the site is vast,  with 7 billion listings on at any on time,  impossible to check each and every one,  so some invariably slip the net,  and become listed.  When they are spotted and reported like yours was,  they too will be removed.

Read about Vero's policies and regulations here:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/help/policies/listing-policies/selling-policies/intellectual-property-vero-pr....

@surplus-north 

[61stephenuk]

If this was a Vero report your notification from eBay should mention that it was reported by Nike or one of their agents, if it doesn't say this it's likely to be a competitor.

Nike are very active in the Vero program and will report items being sold by unofficial sellers, not being able to supply invoices for your items doesn't help, also using photos from the Nike site is not allowed and they actively pursue copyright claims against the sellers for these.

If your report was by Nike I wouldn't be relisting unless you can get permission from Nike or at the very least invoices from official suppliers