Your listing was removed: VeRO Unauthorised Item Policy

i_love_it

Had a listing removed after being incorrectly accused of selling a counterfeit item. 

Beyond annoying as the item is a dress I own, around 8-10 years old and never worn so new with tags. 

Listed with my own photos and description, re listed several times. 

Suddenly the Brand have apparently reported it as being counterfeit. 

Any experience of this and what I can do, annoyed at the accusations and the loss of the listing.

zackary71

What brand is it ? Certain brands don't allow their items listed, in order to protect their 'desirability'. I guess if you have an original receipt, you could appeal. I wouldn't worry too much - I had a listing removed recently as it fell foul of the new knife policy....a Pie Slice with a serrated edge !!

atigger

I experienced a similar situation when I sold a Montblanc pen.  I appealed and spoke to a legal representative for Montblanc.  They agreed the item was genuine and the listing was re-instated.

soolin

@zackary71  a lot of the time despite the wording on the ebay message it isn't counterfeit , it is just against the policy of that copyright owner to allow the items to be sold. It happens a lot and unless you can get the company to agree that it is both genuine and they allow you to sell it, then it is probably not worth risking re listing. 

i_love_it

Within the VeRO warning email from eBay was an email address for the brand so I emailed it, was sent a form to complete which got ignored initially, followed it up and re sent all the required details in a further email to the brand. 

Got a reply from them saying they had reversed their decision and had let eBay know. 

However the policy violation was still showing on my account . 

Had a phonecall with eBay and explained the response I’d got, had to forward the response email to eBay who then forwarded it to the VeRO team who then removed the violation and re listed the dress. 

Rather convoluted process but got there in the end. Hope it sells.  

EBay’s explanation was that it had been flagged as me not being an authorised seller of the brand despite me being a private seller, I did have it promoted, which I’ve now removed the promotion but kept it listed. 

martindow

i_love_it said:

EBay’s explanation was that it had been flagged as me not being an authorised seller of the brand despite me being a private seller, I did have it promoted, which I’ve now removed the promotion but kept it listed. 

Being a private seller or business is irrelevant isn't it?  Vero allows businesses to protect their brand names by limiting sales to those that they choose.  Private sellers, even of used items, also need to be approved by the brand.  In most cases they will refuse and I think that you were quite fortunate to receive the positive response that you did.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

martindow said:

i_love_it said:

EBay’s explanation was that it had been flagged as me not being an authorised seller of the brand despite me being a private seller, I did have it promoted, which I’ve now removed the promotion but kept it listed. 

Being a private seller or business is irrelevant isn't it?  Vero allows businesses to protect their brand names by limiting sales to those that they choose.  Private sellers, even of used items, also need to be approved by the brand.  In most cases they will refuse and I think that you were quite fortunate to receive the positive response that you did.

VeRO allows brands to protect their intellectual property rights, however a brand can not say you can sell here but can't sell there. Trademarks are exhausted at the point of sale with the EU*, Coca Cola can't stop you buying cans from Tesco and selling them at a car boot and Gucci can't stop you selling, as either a private or business seller, their genuine items on certain platform. 

Goods outside of the EU are different, often called grey imports and Tesco with Levis was the famous case on that one (Tesco lost as the goods were being purchased from outside the EU). 

The problem is that eBay blindly accepts any VeRO request so they don't get sued. 

*We had retained EU law up until the end of 2023, from 2024 that no longer applies, I'm not sure if that affects trademark exhaustion.