listing removed for circumvention of fees!

windswept

OK, I have 50 + items listed in my shop and a few bin's dotted about, last night I listed an item (skateboard helmet) on a 10 day BIN. I have just got an ebay e-mail telling me it has been removed for breaching the rules-for circumventing fees!:mad: ( you do get your fees back, which surprised me).
All because I requested that buyers contact us before ordering as there are different colours and sizes and we don't keep them as stock, they come direct from the supplier. we would have to have about 60 helmets listed to cover all the combinations. Do they think that by inviting buyers to contact us, we are suggesting an off-ebay deal or what?
Also, has someone reported us? I assume so , because there seems to be only one other shop selling these particular helmets, a power seller btw, although he has the cheaper variety, not the full graphic ones that I put on. has he had my listing pulled? Is he jealous of a little competion?:rolleyes:
Perhaps it's my own ignorance of what "circumvention of fees" really means , or does it means whatever they say at any given time?
It's obviously my fault for being scrupulously honest in the listings!

nightswimmer

Did eBay tell you that was what the removal was for (asking buyers to contact you)?

windswept

Their reason was pretty vague actually, they had just highlighted bits from the listing description the description was choice of colour and size followed by the sizes. I don't know if it was the wording they objected to or what .

FloFlo

I don't think you can state that you have other sizes and ask buyers to contact you. I also don't think you are allowed to sell items you don't already have in hand. I'm sure that someone who knows more about ebay rules than me will come along.

nightswimmer

windswept wrote:

Their reason was pretty vague actually, they had just highlighted bits from the listing description the description was choice of colour and size followed by the sizes. I don't know if it was the wording they objected to or what .

That's weird. There is nothing in the examples given for circumventing fees that covers what you have described.

http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/policies/listing-circumventing.html

The closest is this "Multiple Item Listing (Dutch) Avoidance - Listing a single item and offering additional identical items for sale in the item description. In these situations, the seller typically instructs buyers to indicate the number of items they want, and states that they can get the same price as the item in the listing.".

I would suggest contacting them and asking them to be more specific, but I doubt you'd get a proper response.

What does your competitor do, do they also ask people to contact them first?

windswept

You are allowed to sell items not in hand, as long as you can supply them within 30 days, I did check this before listing them you know.
I am a bit worried to list another , first of all , what size do I put? also, what's to stop a potential customer from ringing me to ask about other sizes? ( that would be technically circumventing fees, as I would then sell them one off ebay). I have the facility to take card payments so why do ebay allow you to state that you take cards? there's nothing to stop people ringing me and ordering everything in the shop (off ebay).
Are the 10% fvf from shop sales not enough for them?
As the only other seller can malicously report me, I assume if he did again we would be suspended. He must be annoyed that I listed on his "turf", which I would normally not list on at all.

nightswimmer

FloFlo wrote:

I also don't think you are allowed to sell items you don't already have in hand. I'm sure that someone who knows more about ebay rules than me will come along.

You're allowed to list pre-sale items, so long as you guarantee the item will be dispatched within 30 days and clearly indicate on your auction listing the fact that it's a pre-sale item and may take 30 days to be dispatched, etc.

neilwoods

Sounds like because you have asked the buyers to contact you before ordering, they may think you are trying to sell outside of ebay.

Would be better for you to list all possiblities of helmet colour and size and to state what size and colour when ordering.

But i can see why you would need contacting before ordering as your supplier may not have that a certain helmet in stock, so would leave you open to all trouble then. Maybe you could make it clear in the listing why you need to be contacted beforehand (unless you allready havent)

Could be other seller getting ur listing pulled but considering the time it takes for it show up in the search, more likely ebay themselves.

nightswimmer

Was your listing for just one helmet, or was it a multiple item listing with several for sell? If the later then I just found this in the User Agreement:

5.1 Listing Description. ...[snip]... All "Dutch Auction" or "multiple item listing" items must be identical.

Seems very harsh if that is what they have pulled you up on though.

windswept

Not a multiple listing, and it gets better!
If it was indeed my competitor, ( just look at the top of skatebord shops), his listings' wordings are similar to mine in which he states the sizes available! ( only for the target helmets).
He also has in big red letters at the top of his listings " we are mail order, ring us to pay by credit card", or words to that effect, if that's not advertising off ebay sales I don't know what is! I only state payment options in the small box at the bottom. of course I have no idea whether we were reported, maybe not, but it seems a bit suspect that I have had no problems before I encroached on his turf , he is a powerseller with over 11k f/b.

windswept

Having spoken to a few fellow business ebayers over on the boards, it's seeming more and more likely that this powerseller has reported the listing, what a t***t! He isn't even selling exactly the same thing, his are childrens, mine are teen-adult in completely different designs. I have checked his listings in detail and he is breaking so many rules!
It seems pointless me reporting HIM, as there is no certainty of his listings being pulled, I may however, get a powerseller friend to report him.