Ebay removed my item?

Frugal_Moose

Very strange this but last month I sold 4 Sim cards which were on the "3" network that I had removed from Nokia 7600's I purchased from Amazon. All the items were purchased and the transactions are completed with positive feedback all round. I have received an email yesterday and cannot understand what rights I have infringed unless you are not supposed to re-sell the sims??? (pasted in below)
They are threatening me with suspension if I relist any similar items, so wont be selling any more in future and advise others to beware.

Dear **************,

**PLEASE READ THIS IMPORTANT EMAIL REGARDING YOUR LISTING(S)**


We would like to let you know that we removed your listing:


*********** Brand New Sealed 3 Sim cards



because the intellectual property rights owner notified us, by a signed statement, that your listing or the item itself infringes their copyright, trademark, or other intellectual property rights owned by them.

We have credited any associated fees to your account.  We have also notified the bidders that the listing(s) was removed, and that they are not obligated to complete the transaction.

If you relist this or any other similar items on eBay, your account is likely to be suspended.  

If you believe your listing was ended in error, or have questions regarding the removal of this listing, please contact the intellectual property rights owner directly at:

Hutchison Whampoa Limited
3IPprotection@three.co.uk

eBay is available to answer questions, but since it is the rights owner that requested the removal of your listing(s), we encourage you to contact them first.

For more information on eBay's cooperation with rights owners through the VeRO Programme, and a list of rights owners that have created About Me pages, please visit:

http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/policies/questions/vero-ended-item.html

http://pages.ebay.com/help/community/vero-aboutme.html

Thank you for your cooperation.

Regards,

Customer Support (Trust and Safety Department)
eBay Inc

soolin

There is a problem with selling on sims but usually the auctions don't get reported and don't therefore get pulled.

Probably one of your competitors has made a VERO complaint which has resulted in the email you got.

As has already been said, the Sim card remains the property of the telephone company and most carry terms and conditions which prevent them being sold on. The free ones from Orange recently actually stated that anyone found in breach of the T and Cs by selling them on would have the Sims deactivated.

You were unlucky, most people seem to sell them time and time again with no problems.

Soo

robin7667

I got exactly the same email

I think everyone that has been selling these sim's from 3 have received these emails.

Dont know what to do????

bazza1603

Hi,

Its because they are Three Sims. Its Threes attempt to stop people buying cheap threepay phone packages and spliting them up for profit.

Regards

Barry

soolin

I got exactly the same email

I think everyone that has been selling these sim's from 3 have received these emails.

Dont know what to do????

If you risk trying to re list these items whoever reported you before may well be watching your account and get you stopped again. I don;t know exactly how many warnings you get on your account before ebay NARU you so only you can decide if the risk is worth it.

Is there any where else that you can sell them that is not linked to ebay, that might at least get you a profit on any current stock you are holding?

I got a warning once and a withdrawn auction for ladies black lace gloves of all things! I appealed on the basis that my auction was pulled as being of an adult nature when it clearly wasn't and after about a week I got a curt apology saying the auction was removed in error, however, I don;t know whether the warning stayed on my account or not and it did make me nervous for a while.

Soo

xela_17

As someone who works in an intellectual property firm I assume that the reason it was pulled is that you are infirnging 3's trademark rights. This is probably because you are selling the '3' simcards and some people may think you are affiliated with 3 and so they will trust you more thna they would if they didn't think you were affiliated with 3.
I'm only guessing here as it's diificult to know without seeing the letter the owner sent to ebay. Maybe you should do as ebay suggest and contact the owner directly. They could then send you a copy of their letter.

HTH