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“Your listing was removed counterfeit item policy.”
 

Hi,

I got an email off eBay yesterday afternoon saying my listings been removed due to their counterfeit item policy.

I haven’t been restricted and as far as I’m aware, it wasn’t a vero takedown which I assume would be more serious? No email to contact anybody about this takedown. It’s the first time this has happened to us on this account.

Could it be a eBay bot or a competitor that reported us? Surely it would take more than the odd competitor for a listing to be taken down otherwise so many people would be doing it? We were doing really well. Sold over 200+. 100% feedback. Account made in 2016. No opened cases. Monthly limit 500/10,000.

We were thinking of letting the account cool for 60-90+ days and then putting it back up but changing the title, picture, description etc and only putting a very low quantity up to start with, maybe 10 and sell them slowly. Would this work or will the listing just be flagged eventually and taken down again?

Thanks.

Re: “Your listing was removed counterfeit item policy.”
 

It's basically just ebay making assumptions. If you pursue it, they'll ask you where you source the goods from.

Does the email say youll remain unaffected?

Re: “Your listing was removed counterfeit item policy.”
 

Thanks for your reply. I tried adding a screenshot of the email but not sure how to add pictures.

“Listings that don’t follow this policy in the future will be ended. In addition, there will be a temporary 3 day restriction placed on your account, and your other listings will be hidden from search during this period.”

If it was a competitor would the email have been worded differently? It’s a popular product and only a handful of sellers have the item up on eBay.

Re: “Your listing was removed counterfeit item policy.”
 

To be honest I wouldn’t list the same item again even after 90 days you’ll risk loosing your account.

Re: “Your listing was removed counterfeit item policy.”
 

Oh that's different From what I've seen, if there's a limited amount of sellers for the item, coupled with the email you received, then that says enough for me. Find another product to sell, or source it from the brands legitimate supply chain and provide proof to ebay

Re: “Your listing was removed counterfeit item policy.”
 

Thanks. There was no MC code on the email either which I found strange.

Re: “Your listing was removed counterfeit item policy.”
 

Ive been successfully selling VERO items for over 15 years many many stealth accounts some live some die. When I have a listing removed I usually wait a year before listing in that account a VERO item again. I sell other not risky items a couple of months before I resume VERO.

Re: “Your listing was removed counterfeit item policy.”
 

So i got a insider info .. there is a DDOS attack on all microsoft sellings websites. As well that person runs a bot on ebay listing who list those items as well. Literally all ebay listings got removed by ebay "counterfeit". Its a polish seller who did it. Before he run a bot and created up to 1000 listings daily until ebay stopped him. i guess now he got mad and want to take down all other seller as well. But its just a matter of time interpol is on his ass already because he let some of his personal info inside of those attacks he did ;-) cant share more. but its just temporary dont waste your accounts and list those items. Good luck

Re: “Your listing was removed counterfeit item policy.”
 

what do you mean can't say more? lol just give us info we're regular people like you. why act so secretly

Re: “Your listing was removed counterfeit item policy.”
 

this policy violation will go off after 6 months. Do not list before this time or use different account. i tested with 3 accounts and its working.
now they have new policy violation system.
1. COUNTERFEIT ITEM POLICY VIOLATION(eBay removal): 1 st IS warning, 2st 3 days restrictions, 3rd : 7days, 4th 10 days restriction 5th: ?? (maybe selling restriction indefinitely-)
2. VeRO Unauthorised Item Policy (this is vero takedown): 1 st IS warning, 2st 3 days restriction, 3rd : 7days, 4th 10 days restriction 5th: ?? (maybe selling restriction indefinitely-)

they will not mix these type of violations, they handle these separately.

Gl.

Re: “Your listing was removed counterfeit item policy.”
 

Inside info - thanks for the morning chuckle

Re: “Your listing was removed counterfeit item policy.”
 

One of my items was removed 1 hour ago with the same mail from ebay, I have more than 100 item listed, they say it was removed because multiple members of the community reported the listing lol. It's the 2nd time that I sent them the contract i have with the supplier and the receipts from my items. And again they do that **** to me

Re: “Your listing was removed counterfeit item policy.”
 

You can most likely get this resolved by going to eBay live chat and discuss it with them. Someone will look at your item and should explain why it was removed. If they are satisfied that it should not of been removed, they can reinstate the listing and you will be able to relist.

Re: “Your listing was removed counterfeit item policy.”
 

I don't care about the item, the only thing that gets me mad is that I provide proof of authentication for my items and they close some item because they listen to some "community members"..
What's the point of sending documents then [emoji848]

Re: “Your listing was removed counterfeit item policy.”
 

Incorrect! They certainly do.

EDIT: Here is screenshot of an email you would receive if eBay reinstated your listing:

https://i.ibb.co/QQ549TW/ebayremovalappealsuccess.jpg

Re: “Your listing was removed counterfeit item policy.”
 

inside info means someone who got DDOS attack on his homepage got a call from police in poland, and he told me that (he is a big ms supplier). And they asked him if he would do a statement. he agreed and request the court docs from the attacker. Inside the docs they mention as well that he build a bot to report other listings (counterfeit). (info came from other victims ect)
Some of the microsoft seller here remember that 1 month ago there was a polish seller he listed up to 1000 windows 10 pro auctions per day.
You can believe it or not.. but i can tell you to report someone as counterfeit is easy. And if someone has 100 accounts, those dont need to be even seller accounts, you easy can report someones listing. usually 5 reports per listing will be enough.

Re: “Your listing was removed counterfeit item policy.”
 

coincidentally i have had 2 of these "countefeit item" emails in the last 4 days.

Both right out of the blue on items which i had sold unmolested for months

Re: “Your listing was removed counterfeit item policy.”
 

If I may ask, what category were you selling in? Were your items counterfeit?

Re: “Your listing was removed counterfeit item policy.”
 

The "community members" they listen to, are trusted experts that work directly with vero department. Normally sellers aren't able to provide authenticity proof. So I'm surprised even with experts, ebay wouldn't listen to you.

Re: “Your listing was removed counterfeit item policy.”
 

The item is not VERO.

Re: “Your listing was removed counterfeit item policy.”
 

Doesn't matter. The VERO department takes care of counterfeits for every single brand.

Re: “Your listing was removed counterfeit item policy.”
 

i just lost today another batch of 10 ebay accounts. Mixed, vero, counterfeit (even from weeks ago). I think its now a ebay sweap as well. Makes sense now covid 19 is on hold or lets say business start back open. I lost some accounts i never ever even sold an item just sitting there with 2 listings for 40 days.

Re: “Your listing was removed counterfeit item policy.”
 

There has to be an eBay sweep going on, I've had random obscure items on my personal and verified 6 year old account taken out all within a 2 week span (never had a single VeRo complaint in the past.) I deleted all my listings in fear of getting totally banned and am considering going stealth in the meantime letting my personal account cool off, Nothing I have listed is on the VeRo list (of course that list is nowhere near comprehensive..why make it easy on sellers?) Been following the forums on here for a while, now I see exactly why there is a definitive need for stealth accounts. This is just absurd.

Re: “Your listing was removed counterfeit item policy.”
 

The same problem. Been selling for months and yesterday BOOM, -2 accounts with totally different listings (counterfeit item police). My items are not counterfeit, but eBay believes otherwise.

Re: “Your listing was removed counterfeit item policy.”
 

Besides the vero and counterfeit sales, which are obviously problematic, it is likely you have been linked - steps for account creation, list them for analysis

Re: “Your listing was removed counterfeit item policy.”
 

I got the same exact email about one of my listings, and as I checked, A LOT of people's listings got removed. I assume you are selling digital items just like me
I uploaded the exact same listing, except I put a space in the middle of the brand's name so it cant be identified by some ebay bot

already sold a lot

Re: “Your listing was removed counterfeit item policy.”
 

So if i got first the: COUNTERFEIT ITEM POLICY VIOLATION(eBay removal): 1 st IS warning, 2st 3 days restrictions, if i wait 6 months my account will be clean again? and if I get a suspension after the 6 months they will again just send me a warning?

Re: “Your listing was removed counterfeit item policy.”
 

List the same product on the different account

Re: “Your listing was removed counterfeit item policy.”
 

If your listing was counterfeit once no point to wait long time, just list it on different account and you will be fine.

Do not sell on one account!!! Remember

Re: “Your listing was removed counterfeit item policy.”
 

There is definitely some kind of an eBay Sweep happening. I have been selling on a legit account fully registered under the name of my Limited Company with VAT registration since 2017, over £1M sales on this account in total and over £500K in the last 12 months and I never had a single listing removal. However I had listing removals in June and also now more in July. Through countless eBay Support Chats and phone calls I was able to have all of my listings reinstated and Policy Violations removed from my account however I am now getting very worried and will not be sourcing any more new stock for a while. For the record I sell pre-owned designer clothing and accessories.

Also what's really annoying is that due to these removals my standing in the search results has really taken a hit and I get a lot less traffic and sales now then I should be getting. eBay ofcourse deny any wrongdoing and confirm my search results positioning should not be affected.

Re: “Your listing was removed counterfeit item policy.”
 

Interesting to hear. I have my personal business account that's been going strong 12+ years with 20k+ feedback and 40k items for sale.

Yesterday got a "Your listing was removed: Counterfeit item policy". First one of those in probably 8 years. My goods are tangible and authentic but for some reason I got hit. If it's a trend on Ebay right now, that's a bit distressing.

Re: “Your listing was removed counterfeit item policy.”
 

I've seen plenty of very large sellers, that have a ⊗⊗⊗⊗ in their listings. Have you guys ever considered that maybe there is a reason the listings were flagged?

Re: “Your listing was removed counterfeit item policy.”
 

Whoever told you that - and had you believe it was responsible for the removal of OP's listing needs to do time in solitary confinement.

It makes no difference if you wait 6 or 60 days. If you list the same item and you're restricted again within 12 months of the first restriction, it'd be for 7 days, then 30, 180, etc before you get suspended.
If you only got a 3-day restriction, it is unlikely that you'd be suspended without first exhausting the various restrictions listed above.

Re: “Your listing was removed counterfeit item policy.”
 

How did you arrive at a figure of 12 months for the Policy Violation to be completely expired from the account history? I have asked numerous eBay reps on the phone and via chat and nobody could tell me what the expiration date for such violation is.

Re: “Your listing was removed counterfeit item policy.”
 

I have very carefully studied the listings that got hit in my case and found the possible reasons why they were removed based on what customer support told me on the phone etc. I will not go over all but I will go over some of the listings I had recently removed.

Please also let me underline that all these removals I had were NOT "vero" removals. They were counterfeit policy removals.

Listing One
This was for a high end designer item which was in very poor condition and it got hit because the price was too low. However the price was obviously low to reflect the very poor condition... I argued this on the phone and eBay said that it was not clear enough that the item is in poor condition but agreed to reinstate it, although my description clearly explained all the imperfections and the photos also showed the damage. So I had it relisted and changed the item title to include say the following as the first 3 words "DAMAGED - POOR CONDITION" and then the brand and type of item etc.

Listing Two
The listing was for a product from 1983 which is in brand new condition in orginal box and packaging and tags etc... Again after speaking with eBay they reinstanted this listing. As for the reason... I am "reading between the lines" but I had the original paper catalog from 1983 and I took some photographs (not scans) of the pages that showed this product. You would think eBay would be happy as something like this confirms the authenticity... but instead they said that it is a copyright infringement... Also they said the item is vintage and cannot be therefore listed as new with tags since there is no longer any warranty for this item with the manufacturer etc etc.

Listing Three
Very similar reason to listing two but slightly different. I listed 12 items which are from Spring Summer collection of 2002 for a certain brand. They are in new condition but are missing the original boxes. I listed them as brand new with tags and they all got removed. eBay again has allowed me to reinstante these listings and I had to list them as "Used in 10/10 condition - never worn". I suspect the reason is the same, the items are indeed new but since they are very old, they dont have warranty etc etc.