Multiple Accounts Targeted by Competitor Stating Items are Counterfeit.

[solefoodbk]

Originally Posted by kirkland

Also, phaz0rz is right. In my experience infractions don't necessarily cycle out anymore. That used to be the case, but Ive had an account whose last restriction was April 2025 and that just got hit with another VERO last month which cued a 10d restriction

In my experience though, their tally count is also often very shoddy, so YMMV. Ive had one email penalize me restricting me for 7d (with warnings that the next restriction would be for 10d), and yet the next restriction I got was only for 3d. They appear to have lost count of my other infractions, and this has happened across a #of accounts for me (I have about 20, so not an insignificant sample size)

This could be why the one poster who previously got a restriction only received the "you may not be aware" message with their next infraction. eBay is super inconsistent with how they count these alleged infractions

When was the last time you got one of those emails though? Last month? Because none of my reports specify VERO. In hierarchy I presume that specific report weighs the highest because its an external brand doing it.

My old account I used from about 2015-2022 I have emails from when I got those reports. Most of the time I had no warning before a temp restriction. It would say in bold no warning was given as well. These new reports I have everything is worded differently.

[kirkland]

Originally Posted by solefoodbk

Maybe as a collective we can figure out whats going on because I will be sharing some very odd details that maybe make you all question things relating your account if it's happened to you as well.

1) I am using Claude to build me an app to basically automate my business.

2) Since July/August I have been using API, more heavily last month.

3) Now this is the interesting part. I had to fix all my listings as I suggested in my previous post. I did a test with one of my listings to see if this process worked, and the very listing we tested, is the exact same listing that got removed last month.

4) More insight, I have had two additional occasions from eBay reporting this brand. It is all this brand, with one exception of a different brand but that was a item I sold recently.

5) The biggest puzzle I do not get, and most concerning. They're reporting listings I already ended. I saw this happen years ago from a brand doing it. I just used ChaptGPT to check another account who sells this brand, turns out that listing was removed. ChatGPT could still see it though because it uses a different way to search.

6) All the listings being reported are all OLD ITEM NUMBERS. One of the listings that got removed tonight had two additional cycles. Meaning I ended that listing, did sell similar -> ended that listing with my process and listed it again to fix the custom variations.

So basically all the listings for me getting flagged are old item numbers nothing even currently active in my shop. Which means even if I end the listings they can still bomb me and f*ck me over. I really didn't expect to find this, Claude did when I asked for it to review everything going on.

Update: I had one listing removed on last month, and this was "removed" using eBay's words. The two other times I have been hit they used the word "hid", and all listings subject to this attack are connected to a sale. I haven't found a pattern within that yet, but all following listings (22) are old item numbers and all old sales. I did relist these items so they were active in my shop just under a different item number. I am pretty sure there is some type of pattern going on now. I just don't understand what yet caused this.

I am not going to spam this anymore but I found additional things, namely that each following run that happened in total 4 times, goes back in order from date of creation. Just to use made up dates, example 1) march 20th, 2025 2) april 5th, 2025 and so on. Each batch of reported listings that all were old item numbers, went in order from dates created. The last reported listings that hit me tonight were most recent dating to around the early 2026 when I created the listings. I'd never have spot these things, I asked Claude to specifically look for patterns. It already has most of my sales data as is.

The question remains if anything I'm saying can compare to anyone else. If others who are facing this can either check themselves or use an AI to do it, that could move this at least from no understanding to partially understanding how eBay is doing this.

I know as well they increase security around this time and knowing they use AI and likely experiment with it, they're probably not even knowing all the wrong listings getting flagged. F*cking eBay.

Those old listings that ended, had they ever made sales?

Because bots will scroll not just current listings but also the history of “sold items” that apppewrs in eBay search. Happens all the time

Why are you mentioning the Claude part jw? I don’t see how that would tie into any of this

[kirkland]

Originally Posted by solefoodbk

When was the last time you got one of those emails though? Last month? Because none of my reports specify VERO. In hierarchy I presume that specific report weighs the highest because its an external brand doing it.

My old account I used from about 2015-2022 I have emails from when I got those reports. Most of the time I had no warning before a temp restriction. It would say in bold no warning was given as well. These new reports I have everything is worded differently.

In the last few months.

There is usually additional wording at the bottom that allows you to suss out who originated the report

Eg if you believe this report to be an error / for more information pls contact ipsienavee@sony.com or something

[solefoodbk]

Originally Posted by kirkland

Those old listings that ended, had they ever made sales?

Because bots will scroll not just current listings but also the history of “sold items” that apppewrs in eBay search. Happens all the time

Why are you mentioning the Claude part jw? I don’t see how that would tie into any of this

Yes this is the part that confuses me. Whenever this stuff happens I get extreme anxiety. Without sharing too much, I had one listing removed last month, then I have had two different "batches" occur. The first one was about 4-5 days ago, the most recent was yesterday. These two times = 4 total batches. The first cycle went from 2025, the second was roughly 12/2025 - 03/2026.

The most interesting part, for me at least is that all these listings except the first one that got reported are all my old item numbers. Every listing that has seen a violation report is something I have sold on the account. No listings without sales have been reported. So the first removal was an actual active recent sale + active listing. Then every other listing being reported was a item I have active in my shop but they removed the old item number not the one active. So even if I ended all my listings (which I did for this brand) they could still continue to flag my listings because it wasn't the active ones being attacked.

What it appears to me is this system is taking my most recent sales from this brand then took the creation date in order which is how they were flagged. Not going by the actual sale date. It has only happened on variation style listings, I had ChatGPT to do a crawl for the brand and I have found 55,000 search results 3 days ago, now its 54,000. Back in March 2026 it was 63,000.

This tells me eBay has incorporated something, likely a new AI automation they didn't fully test like f*cking morons and it's on a flagging spree. Someones account I watch no longer sells any of this brand, he removed them all, and I can see via his feedback there are a lot of broken links to pages. Meaning eBay is deleting them.

He had 1,000+ sales in August I know by the feedback so he was running hot, I saw his sales decline last month, and now much more so. It makes me feel slightly better knowing this is a site wide thing, or at least within my category it is.

Just gotta weather the storm. I will be not listing these items back for another month, and even when I'll be doing it slowly.

One other thing, majority of the listings being removed are listings I used stock photos for.

My speculation guess this has something to do with them updating their systems in August removing the variation listing. This began in June. So far all my reported listings from creation date does not exceed April 2026.

[solefoodbk]

Originally Posted by kirkland

In the last few months.

There is usually additional wording at the bottom that allows you to suss out who originated the report

Eg if you believe this report to be an error / for more information pls contact ipsienavee@sony.com or something

Right the last report like this was 12/2025. It shows the email and company. These recent issues I have don't show any of this.

And out of all the listings so far flagged its all the same brand, with 2 exceptions. One listing used this brand in collaboration with another but the keyword was still there, and one other entirely different brand. Otherwise all the reports are the same brand.

Because the last cycle of reports include those two exceptions that tells me with 100% confidence its not the brand reporting me and hiding it. They wouldn't be flagging a different brand if it was VERO. Also no mention of VERO, no trademark, nothing.

I mentioned Claude because all the patterns I said I'd never have found if not for having Claude review my listings. It is not a coincidence, eBay has taken my recent sales of this brand then put some process in place that scans in order of creation date. Otherwise they could just flag all my recent sales with this brand if they wanted. There is some type of design to this, its not random is my point.

[SaiJin]

Originally Posted by solefoodbk

Maybe as a collective we can figure out whats going on because I will be sharing some very odd details that maybe make you all question things relating your account if it's happened to you as well.

1) I am using Claude to build me an app to basically automate my business.

2) Since July/August I have been using API, more heavily last month.

3) Now this is the interesting part. I had to fix all my listings as I suggested in my previous post. I did a test with one of my listings to see if this process worked, and the very listing we tested, is the exact same listing that got removed last month.

4) More insight, I have had two additional occasions from eBay reporting this brand. It is all this brand, with one exception of a different brand but that was a item I sold recently.

5) The biggest puzzle I do not get, and most concerning. They're reporting listings I already ended. I saw this happen years ago from a brand doing it. I just used ChaptGPT to check another account who sells this brand, turns out that listing was removed. ChatGPT could still see it though because it uses a different way to search.

6) All the listings being reported are all OLD ITEM NUMBERS. One of the listings that got removed tonight had two additional cycles. Meaning I ended that listing, did sell similar -> ended that listing with my process and listed it again to fix the custom variations.

So basically all the listings for me getting flagged are old item numbers nothing even currently active in my shop. Which means even if I end the listings they can still bomb me and f*ck me over. I really didn't expect to find this, Claude did when I asked for it to review everything going on.

Update: I had one listing removed on last month, and this was "removed" using eBay's words. The two other times I have been hit they used the word "hid", and all listings subject to this attack are connected to a sale. I haven't found a pattern within that yet, but all following listings (22) are old item numbers and all old sales. I did relist these items so they were active in my shop just under a different item number. I am pretty sure there is some type of pattern going on now. I just don't understand what yet caused this.

I am not going to spam this anymore but I found additional things, namely that each following run that happened in total 4 times, goes back in order from date of creation. Just to use made up dates, example 1) march 20th, 2025 2) april 5th, 2025 and so on. Each batch of reported listings that all were old item numbers, went in order from dates created. The last reported listings that hit me tonight were most recent dating to around the early 2026 when I created the listings. I'd never have spot these things, I asked Claude to specifically look for patterns. It already has most of my sales data as is.

The question remains if anything I'm saying can compare to anyone else. If others who are facing this can either check themselves or use an AI to do it, that could move this at least from no understanding to partially understanding how eBay is doing this.

I know as well they increase security around this time and knowing they use AI and likely experiment with it, they're probably not even knowing all the wrong listings getting flagged. F*cking eBay.

Long time no see, mate.

[aussie_ebayseller]

Originally Posted by Boogie_Woogie_MAn

I got another thee of the same warning today "Other than what was communicated to you previously, no additional action is required from you and no further actions are being placed on your account."

I've had this over ten times now on one account. Do you think the same message will just continue as it's a user report, or do you think it'll progess to 3, 7, 10 day ban etc? I know it's impossible to say buy them seem to treat user reports different to vero.

From my experience, honestly the VERO sort of listing takedowns are pretty minor and so they dont usually progress to anything serious like 3 day 7 days bans etc.

[solefoodbk]

Originally Posted by SaiJin

Long time no see, mate.

I come back for nostalgia and pain. I prefer nostalgia

[solefoodbk]

Well, for me I haven't gotten more reports. The one brand that eBay targeted has finally has seen uptick in listings for sale.

Gotta imagine in a few from years all these AI advancements are going to make bot detections far more normalized. Newer accounts will face more security, all current accounts should be taken with extreme care. I stopped trying to run through accounts since 2016, seems even more and more important every year.

This was the first time eBay actively reported my listings since 2020. Totally random.

[kirkland]

Originally Posted by solefoodbk

Yes this is the part that confuses me. Whenever this stuff happens I get extreme anxiety. Without sharing too much, I had one listing removed last month, then I have had two different "batches" occur. The first one was about 4-5 days ago, the most recent was yesterday. These two times = 4 total batches. The first cycle went from 2025, the second was roughly 12/2025 - 03/2026.

The most interesting part, for me at least is that all these listings except the first one that got reported are all my old item numbers. Every listing that has seen a violation report is something I have sold on the account. No listings without sales have been reported. So the first removal was an actual active recent sale + active listing. Then every other listing being reported was a item I have active in my shop but they removed the old item number not the one active. So even if I ended all my listings (which I did for this brand) they could still continue to flag my listings because it wasn't the active ones being attacked.

What it appears to me is this system is taking my most recent sales from this brand then took the creation date in order which is how they were flagged. Not going by the actual sale date. It has only happened on variation style listings, I had ChatGPT to do a crawl for the brand and I have found 55,000 search results 3 days ago, now its 54,000. Back in March 2026 it was 63,000.

This tells me eBay has incorporated something, likely a new AI automation they didn't fully test like f*cking morons and it's on a flagging spree. Someones account I watch no longer sells any of this brand, he removed them all, and I can see via his feedback there are a lot of broken links to pages. Meaning eBay is deleting them.

He had 1,000+ sales in August I know by the feedback so he was running hot, I saw his sales decline last month, and now much more so. It makes me feel slightly better knowing this is a site wide thing, or at least within my category it is.

Just gotta weather the storm. I will be not listing these items back for another month, and even when I'll be doing it slowly.

One other thing, majority of the listings being removed are listings I used stock photos for.

My speculation guess this has something to do with them updating their systems in August removing the variation listing. This began in June. So far all my reported listings from creation date does not exceed April 2026.

Im not too sure I follow tbh. Ive had sales removed that are as old as 3+ months. Like I said I think their bots primarily scrape the active search results for current listings as well as search results for actual sold items. That makes sense as they appear to be third party bots so they only have access to public data. So they cant scrape individual seller profiles to find results if they dont have any record of it being in the search results (for example, having a listing for some blatant VERO violation but being OOS - that listings would have 0 sales history, and being OOS would usually not show up in search for active listings , so the scraper would have no way to find it). Sorry if I not understanding your specific dilemma, tbh Ive never gotten any email that ever specifying "VERO" its always just the third party report

Like you said the mass reports do tend to arrive in waves and calm down over a period, im not sure if their frequency of deployment changes or if they are simply recalibrating the sensitivity of their algo. There are also certain "tricks" you can do to stay out of the limelight, some have been disclosed in years past on the forum others are just tricks you kind of develop over time. Dk if id feel comfortable sharing them on an open forum as they'd prob get patched up quick. Hope some of this helps

[kirkland]

Originally Posted by solefoodbk

Well, for me I haven't gotten more reports. The one brand that eBay targeted has finally has seen uptick in listings for sale.

Gotta imagine in a few from years all these AI advancements are going to make bot detections far more normalized. Newer accounts will face more security, all current accounts should be taken with extreme care. I stopped trying to run through accounts since 2016, seems even more and more important every year.

This was the first time eBay actively reported my listings since 2020. Totally random.

Seems like you just got demolished by a targeted sweep. Not sure Ive noticed many changes to these bot algos outside of the fact that they started scraping sold listings in the past 2 years. Like I said they always come in waves. theyre always vicious and make you think "Damn I'll never be able to sell this again" but over time they do let up. Super frustrating