Brand name policy: Including replacement company brand name in title

[donnydave1]

I have some items that were manufactured prior to the company being bought out by another company. The new company continued and continues to manufacture the same items but branded with its name, having dropped the name of the company it bought out. The product line names, catalogue numbers and EANs have remained the same under the new company.

The items I am selling carry the former brand name (owing to the fact they were made before the former company was bought out). Am I allowed to include the brand name of the current company in the title and description specifics (perhaps alongside the no-longer-used one in the title)? Or, would this likely fall foul of eBay policy?

[crg_music]

I dont see there being any issue with putting the new name in as long as you list it as the name on the item. If it was previously Jones and is now Smith something like Jones pencil now Smith.

No different to listing compatible items, as long as its clear what it is and you are not trying to pass of fakes as genuine I think its fine.

Could put an explanation so people know its the same item. I dont know what the product is but some people might even prefer the older brand???

[plpmr]

adding to the advice already given -

Regarding eBay policies, you need to look at your registration as you are a business seller trading as a private seller in violation of eBay rules and the law.

[myriad*seller]

What you are proposing is keyword spamming and could get your listing removed

You can only use the ACTUAL brand name 

Using other brand names is keyword spamming

Link to the policy 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/help/policies/listing-policies/search-browse-manipulation-policy?id=4243

As per advice above

Selling items you bought to sell must only be done on a business account to comply with the law 

eBay will pass your sales data onto HMRC in January so they can request that you complete a tax return for all your sales anyway. 

[jonat_broad]

You should list exactly what you are selling (IMO) 

frankly the business that bought the brand has acted improperly by not applying new EANs to the newly branded product. The different brand name clearly makes it a different product from a stock keeping perspective

[eastern-lights]

If it were me, I would list it as Jones Smith, or Jones/Smith, or Jones (Smith), something like that. And explain in the description.

It is true it could be taken as keyword spamming, however for it to be an issue someone needs to report it and the Artificial Ignorance bot needs to agree. Even if that combination occurs all that happens is your listing is removed and you are warned not to do it again. So don't do it again. No biggie.

My experience of getting key word spamming removed is poor. I collect certain diecast models. Some sellers list on the lines of "Corgi #12345 Ford Capri Dinky Matchbox Spot-on". Difficult to be more obviously keyword spamming. I dislike it intensely, if I'm searching for Dinky I don't want my results overwhelmed by Corgi items. I came across a seller a couple of weeks ago with a couple of dozen listings like this. I reported four. Ebay bot disagreed they were keyword spamming.  What would it take? </rant>

[crg_music]

And surely it has to come down to intent ie is it malicious?, in op's situation its as honest a situation as it could be.

Pretty much all search engines seem to work with a huge net now rather than a fishing rod so its no surprise they dont really care about spamming, theres value in hits not just sales especially with promotion being pushed so hard and if a few buyers end up clicking 100 items to find what they searched for ebay probably dont care. Scroll down any listing and count the ads.

[signs_and_vintage]

I think it depends on the item too.

Siemens sold their office/home phone business a few years ago and now it's just called Gigaset, which was previously just the name of their most popular wireless DECT product line.

I doubt I'll ever sell any more in a hurry now our landline is history but I had no hesitation in listing them as 'Gigaset (formerly Siemens) etc... A60 DECT phone' etc... as it's helpful to those looking for spares or replacements. Yes it was years ago they sold out, but a lot of the kit was so well made it continues in use to this day as the same model with the changing brand name printed on the case depending on which year you bought it...

[donnydave1]

Thanks for the answers to my question.

I posed it having read eBay’s “Search Manipulation Policy”, the link to which has been provided by myriad*seller. It struck me that there are different reasons where one might, ideally, desire to add one or more other brand name(s) to the listing title, but the situation I outlined – a subsequent rebrand – was not mentioned specifically as not allowed.

It appeared that the Policy might have covered this scenario, but in absence of it being stated explicitly I had doubt for three reasons: Firstly, when such a rebrand happens, retailers (whether on their own websites, on eBay or elsewhere) often include in the product title the old name along with the new one. Secondly, when we refer to a person or place in retrospect, we might use its current name even though it has changed and was different at the time. Thirdly, when a rebrand happens, including when an existing brand takes over, we may regard the newly-branded product as identical to the former one – it’s just got a different name.

Up until now, I’d not given any thought to there being impropriety in a product made under a former name having in its title the new name, along with the name it was made under, or a product in a new name including the old name.

The notion of a rebranded product being regarded as identical to that in its former guise is merely perception the consumer may have in their mind. Objective fact is the name it was made under on the day it was made.

I know what you mean about being helpful, and I agree. However, if it’s not permitted then one’s hands are rather tied.

[4_bathrooms]

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@donnydave1 wrote:

I posed it having read eBay’s “Search Manipulation Policy”, the link to which has been provided by myriad*seller. It struck me that there are different reasons where one might, ideally, desire to add one or more other brand name(s) to the listing title, but the situation I outlined – a subsequent rebrand – was not mentioned specifically as not allowed.

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I'm going to say the best policy is to stick with the brand shown on the packaging and don't mention the new brand in the listing at all.

A few years ago I had a large number of small tool sets that were acquired through another business venture that ended up just taking up space. I listed them on eBay to get rid of the bulk of them at the bargain price of 99p/set plus postage charged at cost. Unknown to me there were two different brands in the lot - the tool sets were all identical but some had "Brand X" on the packaging whilst about a quarter had "Brand Y" on the packaging (i.e. the same manufacturer but different brands). The warehouse were just bagging them up, sticking the postage labels on and dropping them into a mail sack as that is what they were told to do. I didn't even realise until I had 5 return requests opened because buyers believed they had received something different to what was described in the listing.

I visited the warehouse and split the bulk packaging into "Brand X" and "Brand Y" then created separate eBay listings for them. Bizarrely, when I had sold out of "Brand Y" and only had "Brand X" left some buyers actually messaged to ask if I had any "Brand Y" left. Despite explaining that everything inside the blister pack was identical except for the cardboard sleeve showing the brand name most people genuinely believed they were somehow different products. I should probably point out that neither brand is or ever was particularly well-known; the reason for the different branding was so that different DIY retail chains appeared to be selling different products despite the fact they were sourcing identical products from the same supplier...