Taken 2nd 'Ebay Vero Tutorial' this month!

boombap

I was selling a piece of clothing that was somewhat related to an actor in Dr Who and (foolishly in hindsight) had the words 'Dr Who' in the title.

The item was removed from eBay (VERO) as BBC had reported it - even though the item clearly had nothing to do with Dr Who.

I wrote to BBC asking them that if I were to remove the 'Dr Who' reference from the title would they have a problem with me listing the item. I also pointed out that the actual item in question had nothing to do with the program.

This is the response that I received from BBC yesterday:

Thank you for your email.

I am not in a position to advise you how to profit from our brands, suffice to say that you can research what trade marks are registered at:
http://www.ipo.gov.uk/tm.htm

As you claim your items have “nothing to do” with the programme DR WHO there is obviously no need for you to make any reference to these programme titles in your listings.

We reserve the right to ask eBay to remove items which we feel infringe our rights.

Yours,

Brand Protection team
BBC Worldwide Ltd
London
UK


I was, and still am, very shocked at the tone of the email - it's from the BBC - a public funded body!

I did pen a great response, saying how I hoped that the irony of the BBC's profit coming from members of the public such as myself wouldn't be lost on them. I chickened out of sending it as I thought to antagonise a blatant jobsworth would mean that they would watch my account and pull me up on anything that they could.

Good old BBC!:mad:

S.

PS - interestingly, BBC do not as yet have a page stating their policies on under the VERO members section.

soolin

To be a bit contoversial if it wasn't anything to do with Dr Who why put that in the title unless of course you were key word spamming?

boombap

You're right Soolin - I was a bit naughty and guilty of key word spamming to a certain extent (although not in the same league as someone selling a Next dress and putting Top Shop, River Island, Dorothy Perkins in the title).

But I'm sure you'll agree that it's a bit harsh to get hit with a VERO for it.

Regards,

S.

soolin

A vero is merely a single warning on your dashboard, key word spamming can often be much more serious.

boombap

That's crazy. I'm never gonna be able to get my head round eBay!

soolin

squee wrote: »

That's crazy. I'm never gonna be able to get my head round eBay!

I've not understand it for years!

Just remember that now every complaint, every item removed *might* go down on your seller dashboard, once that gets hit you are stuffed.

boombap

Yeah. My dashboard was in 'good' (green) standing and then I got a policy violation due to 'adult material' which took my dashboard down to 'poor' (amber) - it seemed to skip the status inbetween the two.

Thanks to the latest VERO I'm now on 'failing' (red) so don't think my account is much longer for this world.

Oh, and by the way, the item which got me in trouble for 'adult material' was a cotton tote bag!

S.

Pips_Mum

Glad, well not glad but you know what I mean, that this is happening to others.
I too have gone from green to red on my sellers dashboard after Ebay removing listings. Its not fair as both items are genuine items and I have argued both and waiting for replies.
Do they pick up on the items by the titles or do they actually read the listing do you think?

jasmineswhiskers

squee wrote: »

Oh, and by the way, the item which got me in trouble for 'adult material' was a cotton tote bag!

S.

soolin

Pips_Mum wrote: »

Glad, well not glad but you know what I mean, that this is happening to others.
I too have gone from green to red on my sellers dashboard after Ebay removing listings. Its not fair as both items are genuine items and I have argued both and waiting for replies.
Do they pick up on the items by the titles or do they actually read the listing do you think?

Read my long post above, it doesn't matter that the iem was genuine, they are sending badly explained emails when they quote VERO at you. To sell branded 'problematic' goods you need to get the company permission in writing so if ebay VERO you again you can supply written evidence that you have permission to sell. Realistically though the very reason some of these companies sign up to VERO is to stop ebay sellers devaluing their brands.

AS for adult goods, don't even get me started! About 6 years ago I got a warning on my account for being in breach of the adult policy for selling a video of 'Dirty Dancing', I also get another for a pair of fingerless goth gloves (But I appealed that one and the warning was removed'. I also had one recently for a book on electronics..but actuallly got an apology (I almost fainted) from ebay saying that one was a mistake.