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Competitor keeps reporting my items... How do they do it?
 

Having a huge problem with competitors reporting me and others

Our listings go down... theirs stay up


any hope for defense? Seems as though when we report their listings, nothing happens.

Are we doing something wrong?

PM me with tips please

Re: Competitor keeps reporting my items... How do they do it?
 

How do you know someone is reporting your items ? and how do you know it's your competitor ? Ebay doesn't give this king of information when they cancel a listing

Re: Competitor keeps reporting my items... How do they do it?
 

because it came out of nowhere and certain sellers are staying up and while we are going down.

havent had any problems for YEARS until this month, and its affecting multiple item variations.

Re: Competitor keeps reporting my items... How do they do it?
 

What's the actual message from ebay?

Re: Competitor keeps reporting my items... How do they do it?
 

Hello xxxxxxx,
After reviewing your eBay account, we've taken the following actions:
- Selling privileges have been temporarily restricted. You won't be able to list new items or revise current listings for 30 days.
- Violating listings have been removed. A list of items that were removed can be viewed at the bottom of this message.

Re: Competitor keeps reporting my items... How do they do it?
 

Competitors really don't have that much power over your listings unless they are also doing test buys from you. Ebay tends to ignore whining competitors as long as the seller is making Ebay lots of money. But if customer complaints pile up quickly then they take action, because they see you as driving traffic away from Ebay.

Edit: This is almost verbatim from a concierge rep.

Re: Competitor keeps reporting my items... How do they do it?
 

@OP, just based on your forum name....are you dealing with apple products or no...?

Re: Competitor keeps reporting my items... How do they do it?
 

I am not, no

Re: Competitor keeps reporting my items... How do they do it?
 

this is happening on a variety of accounts. New, Old, Established, No fault history... None are immune.

Re: Competitor keeps reporting my items... How do they do it?
 

Tell me about it, I had 14 accounts taken out in one day!

Re: Competitor keeps reporting my items... How do they do it?
 

Hello, I'm a bit new here but can vouch with what the OP is saying..

Today I had multiple listings on three of my stealth accounts removed. I'm nearly 100% positive "someone" is reporting my listings, as they all involve the same items in the same categories.

Re: Competitor keeps reporting my items... How do they do it?
 

Welcome to the forums - but all 3 accounts were selling the same item...listing was identical? photos exact match?

Re: Competitor keeps reporting my items... How do they do it?
 

all different items for me

all in the same category

been losing a couple accounts every couple days

this JUST started THIS month. I have NEVER had an issue like this before. EVER.

Re: Competitor keeps reporting my items... How do they do it?
 

Rsot, one of the accounts was listing different items in two completely different categories. One was musical instuments and the other in coins.

The other two accounts (also both stealth) were selling the same items (in same category) also pulled.

The pictures are different, but I did use some stock photos in one. I try to keep the listings different across accounts tho.

Seems odd to me considering the items were unrelated and the accounts were not linked in any way (other than some items sold)

Coincidence this happens on "Black Monday". Maybe Ebay's security is working overtime? :noidea:

Re: Competitor keeps reporting my items... How do they do it?
 

They are most likely linking your accounts some how.....sometimes the link isn't so obvious....

Re: Competitor keeps reporting my items... How do they do it?
 

wouldn't links would result in a information request?

not just (at times, random) listings getting pulled?

Re: Competitor keeps reporting my items... How do they do it?
 

Not 100% sure but I don't think they would bother with that when they can just ban your account(s) but again I'm not 100% sure.

Re: Competitor keeps reporting my items... How do they do it?
 

Its probably not a competitor. eBay has been strict the past 2 months for me and many others in regards to getting their listings taken down. I've been selling these same products for about 4 years with no trouble until now. Terrible timing, absolutely killing my sales for the holiday. I have 4 or 5 strong accounts on 7/30 day suspensions. I also sell a variety of different products in several categories. They even hit my best account for selling 1 VeRO item (just 1) , registered in '02 with 1,000+ feedback all positive.

Hopefully this stops soon, but who knows.

Re: Competitor keeps reporting my items... How do they do it?
 

It looks like Ebay is taking the Amazon's way !! They just wish you a merry Christmas a bit early

Re: Competitor keeps reporting my items... How do they do it?
 

^^^^

Ebay is fine, you just need to know how to feed them information that they want. Amazon on the other hand, their 1000 dollar bank transfer is just f*** bull**** !!!!

Re: Competitor keeps reporting my items... How do they do it?
 

theres no information to provide. Ive suspensions over the docs request, though very very very rarely. First thing to go has always been the PayPal.

Pastrami, I believe we are in the same coincidental boat of possibility. Are you attacking the listings that are staying up? because I may have to hire some part time Arabians to cycle through an army of different buyer accounts on portable browsers with proxies.

Need more info guys. Holiday season could be attracting more competitors.

and... I HAVE been getting contacted by companies advertising their wholesaling in my niche...

Re: Competitor keeps reporting my items... How do they do it?
 

Agreed, amazing what a few words in the beginning of your listing can do

Re: Competitor keeps reporting my items... How do they do it?
 

Here are my 2 cents. I was selling Marantz (A/V equipment) and my listings kept being turned off. It turned out the reason was "eBay global shipping". Apparently exporting Marantz to EU violated some law. By unchecking participation in eBay's global shipping program I was able to keep my Marantz listings on with out any issues. Took some time to figure out what was the cause.

I'm not saying your case is identical, but I would dig deeper into what the actual cause is. My educated guess, your competitors have nothing to do with your listings being turned off. The problem lays elsewhere, in my opinion

Re: Competitor keeps reporting my items... How do they do it?
 

Guys, could you please give a hint as to what you type of product you are selling and other details, such as if it's "new", "new other", your handling time, etc.

I've been selling "brand new" A/V equipment for $100k+ monthly with out any issues. And I've had returns, cancellations, cases (though I'm above standard performance wise). I've also had "parallel import violation" several times, and I've had "pictures right owner notified us...". And no issues.

I'm just trying to learn what's the cause in your cases... I doubt it's competitor reporting. Something else has got to be going on

Re: Competitor keeps reporting my items... How do they do it?
 

^^Why are you here then?

The impact of these sorts of issues vary from account to account. If you've really got an account with $100k+/month turnover then you've got a very strong account, which is why you've remained untouched despite your multiple violations. You can get away with a lot of stuff if you're raking in the cash for Ebay.

Re: Competitor keeps reporting my items... How do they do it?
 

Question, I had several listings taken down because a "rights holder in Europe" complained. Do you think it was because I was shipping internationally also? I was selling a ton of the items and then tried to be sneaking and changed the actual name something different but got taken down again. USA guys rarely take things down. As far as they are concerned it is free advertising.

Re: Competitor keeps reporting my items... How do they do it?
 

I'm just trying to learn what's the cause in your cases...

Re: Competitor keeps reporting my items... How do they do it?
 

Was "rights holder" complaining about pictures? Or what was he complaining about? In my case, rights holder was complaining about pictures (I've used pics from manufacturer's website) and eBay turned off my listings. using my own photos remedied the situation.