Misinformation or an Error

[dcoo5070]

Dear Community,

Really hope I can get an answer to this one!

On Sunday, I listed a Seiko watch for sale.  On Tuesday I received a notice from eBay that my listing had been removed due to non compliance with eBay counterfeit policy.

I understand the need for eBay to protect buyers but there is a problem here.  As a hobby, I repair and restore Seiko watches.  The watch that I listed is 100% genuine Seiko.  Not only is the external build quality Seiko correct, but also so is the movement and internals.  I have seen them!

There has either been an error, or there could have been malicious input.

I contacted eBay customer service and was advised that they could see nothing wrong with my listing and to put in an appeal.  They could not advise what precisely has triggered the counterfeit notice.

I put in an appeal and within minutes, this was rejected.  I have a feeling that this whole scenario may have been conducted by AI, but I can't contact a real person in order to sort this out.  Does anyone have any ideas?

Kind regards

Darren 

[dwbeautystore]

This has happened to me 4 times in the last couple of weeks.

I agree, it's AI doing it on ebay's behalf as the items are being thrown off within a couple of minutes of listing for some and others are items I've been selling with no problem for months! I decreased the price and they were suddenly thrown off as 'counterfeit'!!

I have over 7000 feedback and have been selling for 17 years. Never sold a counterfeit product or even been accused of it but suddenly they're deciding that's what I'm doing.

[myriad*seller · Accepted solution]

Sometimes the Verified Rights Owner  (VERO) reports listings, and eBay always remove them if asked by the VERO

The "counterfeit" message is sent in this case, but it doesn't mean they are alleging it is counterfeit, just that the VERO does not allow the sale of the branded items on eBay by anyone who isn't an authorised seller

Various brands have a VERO and do not allow sales of any of their products on eBay, to prevent any fakes being sold and diluting the product brand value or whatever they call it

Yes, they can prevent you selling their items on eBay, even secondhand ones!

Do not relist or you risk losing your account, you will have to sell it elsewhere. 

[dcoo5070]

Dear dwbeautystore,

I am so sorry that this is happening to you as well.  For me, this extremely annoying because like you, I know the items for sale are absolutely genuine.  But you are operating a business and this is a real problem.  I'm just doing this as a hobby.

I think what is more annoying is that nobody from eBay appears to be bothered or even contactable to try and sort this out.

I guess that with AI now integrating into our lives, this is going to become the new 'norm'.

Can you imagine what is going to happen when the NHS, local Councils, HMRC and Banks employ this sort of AI.  God help us!

Darren

[myriad*seller]

My post was for both dwbeautystore and dcoo5070

If the Verified Rights Owner says you can't sell the item on eBay then you will have to sell them elsewhere

eBay need to change the text of the email they send out so that sellers understand that some brands ban the resale of ALL their items on eBay, to prevent counterfeits, and make it clear that they are not alleging the item in question is fake... but that the VERO says you cannot list items that carry their name, so they had to remove it (or risk legal action from the VERO!) 

[dcoo5070]

Dear Myriad Seller,

Thank you so much for your reply.  Your explanation really does make a great deal of sense to me.

I had no idea that a VERO could prohibit a private citizen from selling their personal property on eBay.  The Seiko watch that I want to sell is absolutely genuine and it is in near perfect condition with all manuals, booklets. Guarantee cards, boxes etc etc, so Seiko could have viewed this and wanted to stop my sale.

I've never had this issue before, but I've never sold such a near perfect and complete watch before.

Many thanks for your advice, really appreciated.

Darren 

[vintique*violet]

Hi - Yes they do need to change the nature of their email and also verify the contact details of the VRO as this happened to me also and the message stated it was reported by an ebay member... I had a long conversation with an actual human at eBay customer service...  so it is not just done by all companies, plus my item was listed in over a 120 sellers - exactly the same, some business some private  - I think mainly some sellers take it to heart if an item is offered at a lower price, particularly if second hand. 

And to have an accusatory " counterfeit" message on your account ( when this is not true) is shocking, on many levels, as they are not removed - they are noted at Ebay and even though they say this does not reflect on your account, it will in the future due to A.I. and the repercussions of that! 

Thank you again for being so knowledgeable and helpful. 

[dwbeautystore]

AI is Skynet!! (Terminator) 😄 But we're drifting into using it blindly, it's scary stuff!

Thanks for your reply Myriad*seller. I've spoken to ebay about this multiple times now.

They've told me they have a list of companies that don't like their items being sold on ebay and some of these items will be blocked immediately. I kind of get that as it cheapens their massively overpriced brands.

However, I find it extremely unfair that my 17 years as a business seller and having sold more than 19k products means nothing when they are allowing the exact same items to be sold by 'private' sellers with very low feedback.

I've been selling Sol de Janeiro products for a couple of years now, which isn't an expensive brand. Never had an issue but they suddenly threw 2 off this week because I adjusted the price and quantity (they weren't selling because my prices are being undercut by people not paying any fees!!!) and they claimed they were counterfeit!

If you search ebay for this brand there are literally hundreds of sellers listing cheap copies of this, stating in the title that it's this product but the photos and descriptions show something completely different.

I've reported this numerous times but it's ignored!!