Category selling linit

Two north face is all. And Polo not working now. We probably have 200 Polo Ralph Lauren.

😰

Waiting on hold with eBay.

• This reply was modified 8 years, 4 months ago by MoCoyotes.

Ok, so we have it figured out and trying to solve. The root issue is something I have wanted to talk about on the forum for several months, but it was so exhausting that I just had not done so.

We are restricted for listing certain brands because of a loop we found ourselves stuck in regarding a Subaru hat.

I should preface this confusing story by saying that our listings are on 30 day listing and auto relist. I tried to change them to Good Until Sold and would have to end all the listings and relist as Good Until Sold. This would not have happened if I had Good Until Sold. We were stuck in a copyright infringment loop because with 30 day and relist each item is seen as a new and unique item.

We had a Subaru hat listed for about a year for $22.50. It was purchased from a thrift store. There are several hats which are exactly the same listed on ebay, then and now. In December we received a message that ebay ended the listing for the Subaru hat due to trademark violation. We did nothing. When that had happened a few times in the past we just do nothing and don’t relist the item. (taking a different approach now)

Then a few days later I was setting a sale and saw the Subaru hat STILL listed. So I emailed ebay asking what was going on (I should have just ended the hat). This listing had started 3 weeks before, so it was not the same listing they claimed to have ended and it wasn’t that listing simply relisted. It was a different listing that was weeks old.

eBay emailed us and advisted that we should end the 2nd hat. I did end the 2nd hat. However, the next day we received an email saying that THEY ended the hat.

I was furious because I ended the hat. But the truth is, they didn’t end the most recent hat.
I researched the hats and found that the first one they say they ended was from 2 months before. And the 2nd hat they said they ended was from 1 month before. The hat I ended was from 3 weeks before.

A day or two later we received an email that ebay had ended the 3rd hat (remember, they are all actually the same hat, but with 30 day and relist each hat appears to ebay and Subaru to be a unique hat), and we are now on a 7 day suspension. FURIOUS was I! We called ebay multiple times. They had us email the VERO team and passed us around telling us it would be a few days to be resolved. We also emailed Subaru.

After 7 days we could list again. At that time VERO finally got back to us and tried to expalin why this happened, however they were confused and didn’t understand the situation. I tried to explain to them what was happening with this loop, but they didn’t get it. Subaru also got back to us at this time and said we could relist the hat. We had explained to them that we bought the hat at a thrift store. However, we did not relist the hat.

On Janaury 22, 2 or 3 weeks later, we received another email saying that the Subaru hat was removed by ebay for the same reasons and we were suspended. OMG. We never relisted the hat. EVEN though Subaru said it was ok to relist. We have the emails. The item number of the hat they are saying they ended was the hat I ended in December. So we contacted ebay and Subaru again. Our selling ability was reinstated the next day and all was well. Subaru again gave the ok to relist the hat.

So this time, we decided that if we are gonna get hit with a copyright enfringement anyway, lets just list the hat for cheap and get rid of it so its out of our lives. I relisted the hat, with Subaru’s blessing, for $10. It sold. On January 29.

Then……last Tuesday we got ANOTHER message saying our item was removed for trademark violation and we are on a 30 day restriction from selling. The item they were claiming to have ended was the hat we sold. Again, with ebay and Subaru’s blessing to list it. Within 2 hours we had the restriction removed and were able to sell again.

Finally, on Saturday of last week while I was trying to list the NOrth Face pants referenced above, I got that message which said we had reached the limit for that category.

We spoke to ebay, and the restriction is due to ALLLLL of the trademark violations we have had in the last 6 months. ALL of which stem from this ONE Subaru hat, which we have email after email from both ebay and Subaru stating that it is not actually trademark violation and we are ok to relist etc etc

Right now we can’t list, Ralph Lauren, Tommy Hilfiger, Adidas in certain categories, Converse, and a few others. When the listings end they can’t be relisted. This ban is for 90 days until the last of our “copyright enfringments” falls away. Very frustrating because these enfringements were all okayed and verified to not be our fault. We are now waiting for Subaru to email us again saying that the hat was not copyright enfringement so that we can hopefully get this ban on selling certain brands removed.

So thats it. This long story is why I never got around to talking about it…its long, confusing, and frustrating.

Lesson is, I don’t know. Don’t get stuck in a copyright enfringement loop. List everything as Good Until Sold. Anyone know how to change all 2300 listings from 30 days with auto relist to Good Until Sold without ending them all?

Yeah, I think I have to go in and remove the option to “relist continuously until an item sells”. Can only do that 200 at a time. Then will have to manually relist each item and change to good until sold I think.

Starting listing on Etsy yesterday because of this. Rita my fiancé and partner already sells her fiber items on there (yarn, knitting etc). Because of this I feel nervous that something else could happen that is out of our control and keep us from being able to earn our living. So, finally trying Etsy.

The following is the email that Rita sent to eBay today. They responded and said to call their customer service number. No one at customer service understands however and no one there can help. Maybe we should pay the money to become the highest level store so that we can get better service. Anyone’s thoughts on that?

Hi Janice,
Thank you for getting back to me.
I’m still waiting to receive an email back from brand protection, I sent them another email today. So in the mean time I do have a couple more questions so I don’t feel absolutely helpless.

If you can see that this item was relisted with a new item number and the original number was already cleared by brand protection why am I being restricted?

If this item is no longer available because it was sold, after originally being cleared by brand protection… why am I being restricted?

If ebay assigns new numbers when you relisted an item every 30 days is this a glitch or a trap I have fallen into with this Subaru hat being flagged multiple times for the same item- again that was originally cleared… ?

How can an item be “removed” for brand protection when it is already gone and sold and then I receive seller restrictions?

My last restriction was removed concerning this Subaru hat because it had been cleared by brand protection originally but now I am on a 90 day suspension for certain brands because of this same Subaru hat… so why?

If I go back to any item that was “flagged” and email their brand protection and items are cleared will they still be on my account and looked at as a violation making my account “high risk” (this is what a Ebay Team member called my account)?

How do you become high risk when you take down flagged items or have them cleared by brand protection? Is my ebay store doomed? Are these things never really cleared?

I do what I am told. I call when I need help. I ask questions. I do my very best to follow policy and abide by rules. If there is an issue I do my best to address it immediately and get it resolved. I have hundreds of good feedback. I’m a top rated seller. I do same day shipping. I buy on eBay. I recommend Ebay. I listen to Ebay podcasts to figure out how to continue to grow my store and Be a better Ebay seller. And now here I am … restricted. With items that I can’t relist, inventory I can’t sell, a potential customer asking if a polo item will be relisted so they can buy it- but I can’t list it. I’ve spent years building my eBay store and now I am feeling an impending doom that it’s just a matter of time until I am banned… and for what? For a Subaru hat that was cleared, relisted, then flagged again. Am I missing something?

Because we are humans communicating through email I also feel inclined to say that these questions are not malicious, sarcastic, or meant to be rude in any way. I am saddened, and frustrated. I thought I could honestly be listing on eBay for the rest of my life and now I feel as though I need to prepare myself for other options. These are genuine thoughts, concerns, and questions.

Thank you for taking the time to hear me.
I appreciate your time

If we switch to an anchor store and get anchor support, does anyone think that would help to get this resolved? Financially it still makes sense to stay in the middle store, but we really want to put this behind us. Both Rita and I feel very nervous and out of control. And for months no one at ebay understands what is going on. On the phone they say to email. On email they say to call. etc. So maybe anchor store sub would solve it.

Hey Jay,

Truthfully, the number of items that will end and not relist is 250 or so. I will have to save the measurements and pictures to relist in June, as I don’t think the drafts will stay around that long.

Yeah, we can list everything else. Just not Polo, Tommy, Northface, Converse and a few others. Like I said, it’s 250 or so of our current 2350 listing so. Thankfully we sell like you do, stuff from estate sales, vintage clothes, hats, etc.

We are gonna try Etsy. Wanted to anyway and this is a reason. I’ll list the items that vintage and see if any results.

Also we have a 2nd store that has nothing listed. Should probably ask eBay if we can list that stuff there before doing so. Don’t want to get fully banned.

One of my biggest issues is frustration arising from things that seem unfair and of which I have no control……better go meditate some more! 😄

Update: Apparently this ban on selling certain brands has ended. We didn’t get a message from eBay, but then again we also didn’t get a message from eBay informing of us of this ban.

Found out when an unpaid item case ended and I resisted an Adidas jacket. I figured it wouldn’t go through but it did. I then resisted all the items that had ended as well as the North Face pants which were the item I initially started this thread about.

Gonna keep listing some on Etsy too just to see what’s up with it.