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Strange listing removal
 

Recently, I had two specific items removed from listing. The removal notification did not cite that it was for VERO. The removal mentioned "duplicate and counterfeit policy". While I understand that about eBay's risk management, it is the way the message was worded that had me curious. The message made notice of the similarities in the way the listings were made that made them remove the items. Is this from metadata being pulled and wording from previous accounts I have used, or is this simply a lot of people move this type item and it is a risk management technique? The two items at hand are very popular cosmetic items. A lot of Chinese involved and American sellers.

I know I tend to post a lot about listing removals, but I like to discuss and figure out how these bots work for future stealth users to use as knowledge.

Re: Strange listing removal
 

Seems straight forward, they didn't like your item....what's your question?

Re: Strange listing removal
 

Captain Obvious strikes again. The question at hand is whether it is related to keyword and meta data from a previous account listing (linking) or is this a broad range message to the items in particular.

Re: Strange listing removal
 

Pick 1 or all of them......in the end you aren't going to know why, you can try different things and see if they work but it could be any one or combination of things.

Re: Strange listing removal
 

I'd be interested to see the message they sent when they took down your listing

Re: Strange listing removal
 

What is a "bot"?

Ebay is a just a website, run by millions of scripts. There are not any robots at Ebay taking down listings all day. Something about your listings/account triggered a review, and action was taken in the form of a listing removal.

How, and when, and why, would you be able to put your own metadata in an Ebay listing? Do you know what metadata is?

Re: Strange listing removal
 

To answer your question, it sounds like your listings were taken down as part of a sweep. Commonly counterfeited categories are cleaned out by Ebay from time to time. These types of problems go away when you stop selling black market makeup. :P

Re: Strange listing removal
 

It's a friendly warning. If you keep listing this item the next time they will restrict your account for 7 or 30 days.

Re: Strange listing removal
 

I cannot directly answer this, because nobody knows exactly what the inner workings of eBay are. But in my experience with eBay, there ARE some things that will send up some red flags:

• Listing an item below the market price.
• Using a product description copied from the manufacturer.
• Using a product description copied from another seller.
• Using stock photos.
• Using photos copied from Google or another seller.

Re: Strange listing removal
 

Yes, when I say "Bots" I am referring to the slang term of running scripts with parameters to filter listings that may break policy.

Also, yes, I do know what metadata is. I am specifically referring to EXIF. Although, I always use new photos and they are put through a new iPhoto drag and drop under a new partition/user. While this may still leave some of the data, I am curious if it is truly changing the metadata left from my phone.

Re: Strange listing removal
 

Here is the exact message.

http://i65.tinypic.com/nz6o9.png

Re: Strange listing removal
 

You may be right about this specific removal. I have had a hard time competing with Chinese sellers and the market has tumbled rapidly.

My description was a direct copy from the manufacturer, So this could be it. Other than that fact, all listing information was completely new and my own.

Re: Strange listing removal
 

The beginning of the second part of the message basically says, "Your selling an item that is phaked A LOT and has been taken down A LOT and, "We aren't sure if your item is legit so were gonna take it down".

Re: Strange listing removal
 

Trust me, the account will not have that item ever listed again for the remainder of it's life.

Re: Strange listing removal
 

I took it as that way. But the part that made me want to dig deeper, is the fact they only took two specific items. I had come to the conclusion that these items are getting way too hot and searched. So, as a few others mentioned, they took a lot down.

As for the product, all of my customers are happy and I always sell legit.

Re: Strange listing removal
 

lol it's funny, because I have 2 accounts, where the only thing I list, are things below market prices, with a description copied from the manufacturer, using stock photos I copied from google.

Re: Strange listing removal
 

But it is most likely not a regularly counterfeited item.

Re: Strange listing removal
 

How much feedback / selling history does your account have?

I get this type of notice when I try to list some riskier items on an account that doesn't have a whole lot of selling history. Not that this will never happen to a more established account, but it becomes less likely. Also possible that your listing was brought to the attention of a human ebay rep by being reported by another ebay member.

Jeffweico is also correct in his points about what may cause one listing to be more likely to get red-flagged vs another.

It also comes down to the item. Some brands are simply riskier than others, mostly due to the number of counterfeits of a certain item floating around in the market. Ebay will be more vigilant in removing items that have an extensive history of customers complaining about replicas.

Re: Strange listing removal
 

The account has 100 percent feedback with around 20s feedback score.

This item is very high risk because of overseas sellers. I was simply worried I may be doing something wrong with my personal listing habits and data. Since the account is obviously not banned, I have concluded this warning is generic in nature to the items themselves and not specific user data.

Re: Strange listing removal
 

Your reading to deep into the email, the item you sell has a history of causing disputes for the authenticity of the item.
Becaus your account does not have much selling history of the item you have been flagged

Re: Strange listing removal
 

Why don;t you try to sell the same item from another stealth account?

Change some things up like wording and images. See what happens then.