Hello everyone,
Here is a loooooooong sequence of events after ebay decided to restrict my selling account on July 15th. In a nutshell it seems that a jealous competitor/s used any means necessary to have my listings pulled down, even to the extent of making false accusations about my items. I was selling original hand signed memorabilia, limited edition prints, and second hand and household goods. In their wisdom, ebay decided to cancel everything. In my quest to find a reason, the only thing ebay have mentioned is that they don't allow the sale of replicas or unauthorised copies on their site.
It didn't matter to ebay that every single one of my hand signed items were accompanied by genuine authentication (some even had photo ID at the time of the signing), it didn't matter to ebay that half a dozen sellers in Australia are selling the exact identical LE prints that I was, and all of them were supplied by the same company I was, with identical LE certificates. I even faxed the ASIC and ABN documents of the printing company that supplies re-sellers with their stock, yet ebay have not responded. It didn't register to ebay that my used items (eg. cupboard, tent, trailer, plates, blanket, telescope, etc) from around the house had nothing to do with memorabilia.
I have found that the Trust and Safety Department do not reply to emails, faxes, phone calls, and every time I am on the phone to them I seem to be getting the runaround. I have even requested ebay's Sydney based lawyer details however no reply from ebay.
In my last fax I suggested that I would be happy to cease selling original hand signed memorabilia until I have third party authentication, if ebay would be so kind as to allow me to sell standard prints and household items. That was almost 2 weeks ago.
I have been in contact with Fair Trades and was informed that by allowing other sellers to sell identical prints to the ones I was, ebay are discriminating against me. As discrimination is illegal in Australia ebay either should shut down the other sellers (and lose tens of thousands of dollars in commissions per month), or allow me to sell the same items. I have documented every step of the way in the hope that this information may offer help to others who have been wrongfully restricted from selling. It may even be helpful as a preventative in the future (if any ebay decision makers happen to read this).
If anyone can help I will be most grateful.
Please read on to see the history of events.
Many thanks,
Tero
Hi ebay community, I really need your help with this one. Ebay has cancelled all my listings without a legitimate reason and after numerous calls and emails to them, my questions have been sidestepped or ignored. The comments from the ebay replies have been contradictory and illogical (as I will explain shortly). I honestly feel that I have been victimised by ebay. Trying to communicate with ebay is proving difficult (the lengthy waiting for their replies and in some cases no reply option in the my messages inbox). At this stage I really need all the help I can get as this is my fulltime job and income. This will be a lengthy message and I sincerely hope somebody will read this and be able to offer advice.
Briefly, I was selling memorabilia (original hand signed as well as photo reprints), my listings specifically described the item in great detail whether an original or reprint, and I also stated that a certificate of authenticity (COA) is supplied with every original item and a certificate of limitation for the limited editions. The original items were guaranteed 100% authentic or 100% money back no questions asked if customer not happy. Out of hundreds of sales not one buyer ever complained, instead I received perfect feedback every time. I had the same guarantee on the framed photo reprints and again every buyer was 100% happy.
I even faxed copies of the certificates of authenticity to ebay (all COA's are supplied to me from the companies and agents that witness the signatures then and there while the items are being signed).
1. Now for the first contradiction that ebay has stated. The following is a 'copy and paste' from the official ebay email to me (I keep copies of all communication for evidence if required down the track):
"Please understand that we do not accept documents such as certificates of authenticity as proof of that items are authentic."
Please someone explain to me the logic behind the above statement. Speak to any memorabilia expert or authentication service, hand writing expert, or legal entity, and they will all verify that the most important thing is the certificate of authenticity because that is the one document that proves the value and authenticity of the item. I have already contacted numerous associations and all agree the importance of the COA.
2. Now figure this one out (this just one of my questions ebay are ignoring). There are numerous other ebay sellers selling the exact same identical items that I was selling, they were sourced from the same supplier as mine, they have the same certificates of limited editions as mine, yet ebay are allowing the other sellers to sell these items (even the gallery images are identical to mine). There is only one place in Australia to get these particular items, that's why they are identical to the ones I had on ebay. Why am I singled out? Isn't this discrimination, and isn't discrimination illegal in Australia?
3. Now how about this one. In Turbo lister ebay has an area called 'item specifics' where the seller is given a choice of selecting authentic or reproduction signatures on photos and memorabilia alike. This indicates that ebay does in fact allow reproduction images to be sold on ebay Australia. The following statement is slightly misleading to me, as it contradicts the item specifics as mentioned above. Note that this is a copy and paste from an official ebay trust and safety email:
"We do not allow the sale of any replicas or unauthorized copies of items on our site."
If I was selling a copy Rolex then Yes, that is a no no. Forged signatures are obviously illegal, as are any unauthorised copies. To me, if a reproduction signature is allowed in item specifics, then it shouldn't fall under the category of replicas. And besides, I always made it clear in my listings that they were photo reprints.
4. Now here is the one that takes the cake, and this is the one question ebay has persistently ignored me on. In addition to selling memorabilia, I was also selling second hand and used household items. Ebay cancelled all these items as well, they even pulled down the camper trailer I had listed, and my old generic brand shoes (mind you the shoes are in excellent condition). Items like these have nothing to do with memorabilia so what logic is there to cancel them. Ebay have not given any reason whatsoever as to why they cancelled these listings.
At this stage I'd like to point out a few facts:
1. If anyone wants or needs any verification for any items I had listed, or proof to back up what I have said, I am more than happy to provide it. I have names, numbers, addresses etc. but I won't just hand them out unless you are an authority in the field.
2. I did list 2 items last year for a local shop, that ebay pulled down. I then realised these 2 items (cricket memorabilia) were in violation of ebay policies. Since then I have never listed any cricket items again.
Moving along, I have thoroughly researched all ebay sellers in Australia who sell the exact identical items as the ones ebay cancelled of mine, and have compiled a list of their ebay ID's, their stores, and addresses. I do not want to (and I shouldn't have to) send this list to ebay, however if it comes to it I have no option but to inform ebay. After all, why should I be discriminated against for selling genuine authenticated memorabilia and allow other sellers sell the exact same items.
Should I contact the ACCC, consumer affairs, press or other media, or any other entity for help? Has anyone had a similar experience, or can somebody advise on what I can do to have my account re-instated? Ebay will not tell me what they require from me, yet they come back with illogical comments as mentioned above.
All I want is to be allowed to continue selling memorabilia and used second hand and vintage items. I want to give ebay what they want to be happy and will do whatever it takes, even if it means exposing ebay's own contradictions as well as other sellers. I have no other choice, as truth is the best policy. And after all it is ebay's own user agreement that we have to protect the ebay community.
Kind regards and sincere thanks in advance,
Tero
Thanks so much fellow ebayers, it's great that there are so many caring people out there. I will take the advice from every reply and work closely with ebay in a calm and professional manner.
Yes I understand a COA can very easily be faked, even designed and printed out on a home computer. Fortunately I have receipts and other details of every memorabilia item from my suppliers.
I do feel that I am being treated unfairly for the simple reason that ebay are allowing numerous other sellers in Australia who are selling identical items from the same suppliers I source mine from. Sorry folks but just this fact alone in my opinion is bordering on discrimination. I would understand if the items were slightly different in some way but when the items are exactly the same in every way possible, with the same company issuing the COA's, something isn't right. In addition, there are companies selling original signed items on ebay right now, and these companies have supplied me with their products and their COA's. If ebay says that mine are not authentic, then the companies that supply me must also be fakes. This is obviously not the case but this is what ebay are stating. And if this were the case, then ebay would have to cancel dozens of Australian memorabilia sellers (keep in mind that these sellers have hundreds of listings in their stores which would obviously mean a massive loss of revenue to ebay).
I realise that sadly, there are immoral sellers on ebay who would fabricate anything just to get rid of the opposition (what goes around comes around). I do recall one ebay member (who also sells memorabilia by the way), who was quite aggressive with his accusations. I politely replied and even wanted to speak to him directly on the phone but never heard from him again.
Ebay have thankfully not banned me altogether, just restricted my selling activity. With the excellent comments from your replies I have faith that ebay will do the right thing and re-instate my account fully (after I give them the proof that they need). From a leader in their field I was expecting them to tell me what they require as proof, which would have saved so much time and emails.
Perhaps I need to go to the Police and ask if there is a way in which they can confirm the authenticity of my items after sighting the item as well as the COA, and the details of the supplier. Another option would be a JP to verify the COA's. Any thoughts on this?
When I do call ebay on Monday, one of my very first questions will be to ask them how they want me to list my items. At the end of the day I love ebay and want everyone to be happy. I have been selling on ebay since 2004 and for the first 6 years I had 100% feedback score. I go to great efforts to always do the right thing by everyone which shows in my feedback comments. I also think it is fantastic that there is competition from other sellers on ebay and I don't understand why other sellers selling similar or identical items should be afraid of losing out. I truly believe that there is plenty of abundance for everyone.
If any of you would like to know what happens just let me know and I will post the follow ups.
Thanks again,
Tero
Yes, the DSR in question is regarding the postage time via Australia Post. We live in QLD country, our postcode is 4306, and even Brisbane is just over an hour drive from us (in good traffic, 2 hours in congestion). Strangely Australia Post classifies this area almost the same as Dalby regarding delivery times. There is no Australia Post post office here, just a licensed agent at the local corner store. Funny things have happened with my parcels at this post office, one time they were renovating and the tradesmen used 2 of my large boxes as their lunch table. Australia Post took 3 weeks to discover this, needless to say the buyer wasn't impressed how long it took to deliver his parcels.
I did have 2 items cancelled last year which I have never listed on ebay again. I listed these 2 items on behalf of a shop owner as a favour (expensive lesson and never again).
So there you have all my crimes. Interestingly just before ebay cancelled my listings I received an email from ebay congratulating me for improving my seller standards (ie. the postage times). I started sending items express post and paying the extra postage cost myself. Note that where we are Auspost do not have an express service so it still takes many days depending where the parcels are being sent to (it even takes 2 days to send an express parcels to Brisbane, and I can drive to Brisbane in just over an hour). Anyway, how on Earth does ebay expect me to improve my seller ratings if I am not allowed to sell.
I thought that ebay would be happy with all the positive feedback from my customers, since nobody has ever had any concerns about my items not being 100% authentic.
Thanks for your input, I am grateful for your help.
Kind regards
Tero
Been reading the ebay email over and over and none of it applies to what I was selling. There was one line though that would apply if my items were fakes, the comment goes like this:
"We do not allow the sale of any replicas or unauthorized copies of items on our site."
I am also a firm believer that replicas or unauthorised copies shouldn't be allowed on ebay as this may cause liabilities down the track. I know this statement doesn't apply to my items because they were all authorised by the persons who signed the memorabilia items. I also had photo reprints which are in fact allowed on ebay, as ebay have created item specifics and categories for them. Add to this the other sellers selling identical items to mine, sourced from the same supplier as mine, with identical certificates as mine.
The only conclusion I can make of this is that there is an unscrupulous seller who is jealous of losing sales, hence making false accusations.
Thanks again for your help, as every bit adds up to the final outcome, and my goal is to have my account re-instated so I may continue selling genuine authentic memorabilia items.
There is a term that I live by which goes like this:
"For evil to prevail all it takes is for good people to do nothing."
It doesn't mean that anyone is evil, I mean of course that I will do all I can to make things right. It may or may not help my situation at the moment but my hope is it will prevent ebay from doing the wrong thing to sellers in the future. I believe working as a team is the best method for success and I am positive that I am not the first one that ebay has discriminated against. Having said that I am always open and willing to communicate with ebay however I can't say the same for ebay (yet). It is increasingly difficult to contact Trust and Safety.
I wonder how many other sellers have been wrongly accused?
Take care and God bless,
Tero
PS. I am very grateful that ebay have allowed me to keep my account even though I am unable to sell at the moment, which shows that ebay are trying to do good - there is always a golden lining
Have been on the phone to ebay on and off for the last 2 days and just to let you all know that some customer support staff are indeed more helpful than others (although all are hopefully doing their best to help the ebay community).
My numerous emails to ebay have not been replied to, except the last one from late last night where the reply said "your emails will not be read." I thought all ebayers should know the truth in case they have similar issues in the future. As much as ebay are the market leaders it is my opinion that they should show a better example and reply to every email with information, with much more detail, with answers to my questions. If people look up to ebay then ebay have a moral duty of care to show the right example.
I have up til now been speaking to the customer support staff who screen the calls and give the textbook reply, needless to say without much advancement. From now I will insist on speaking to a supervisor instead.
It could be said that ebay are withholding vital information by not giving full details as to why they cancelled all my listings (they did say there are violations, but did not state for the record what those violations are). I did however receive a statement from the Fair Trades Department who define the meaning of Discrimination" as follows:
"Discrimination is any practice that makes distinctions between individuals or groups to disadvantage some and advantage others."
It is a fact that (and I know I have said this 3 times before) ebay are allowing other sellers to sell the exact identical items from the same supplier with the same certificates of limitation, yet they do not allow me to sell these identical items. I am definitely disadvantaged and ebay have definitely made distinctions to disadvantage me from selling these items.
I also can confirm that ebay have categories and item specifics for reproduction signatures, which the aforementioned items are. They do not require authentication because they are not original, and every single one of my listings had clearly stated that they were reprints/reproductions. Therefore ebay have no legal right to cancel these listings, other than acting on competitors who rort the system by using bogus throwaway ebay ID's.
I'll post this now and continue my call with ebay in the morning.
Thanks kindly,
Tero
21/07/2011
Ebay tel: 1800 088 741
Ebay fax: 02 9475 0629
Attention Trust and Safety Department
Name: Tero ...............
ebay ID: t****5
email: ............................
Tel: .....................
Dear Sir/Madam,
Please find enclosed documents to irrefutably prove that the listings ebay wrongly cancelled do in fact follow ebay policies and do not require authentication because they were all reproduction signatures. I have also included the details of my supplier for the reproduction prints.The only reason ebay gave to me is that "ebay does not allow the sale of replicas or unauthorised copies" after suspending me account. Ebay definitely allows the sale of reproduction signatures as proven by the categories in ebay, as well as allowing other Australian sellers to sell exact identical items from the same suppliers as mine (I have included item numbers of other sellers as proof, as well as the supplier's details).
I feel ebay has discriminated against me, the Fair Trades Department describes the term discrimination as:
"Discrimination is any practice that makes distinctions between individuals or groups to disadvantage some and advantage others."
Ebay have "item specifics" sections to choose original or reproduction signatures, the following list contain all the listings that were correctly listed under reproduction signatures. In addition (if ebay would have taken the time to view the listing content), you would have seen that all items were clearly identified as reprints/reproductions.
I am asking ebay to reinstate my user account to 100% and allow me to list the items and continue selling.
I also had several original signed items which ebay cancelled due to unscrupulous competitors who falsely accused my items as being non authentic. For these items I will provide ebay with third party authentication.
Ebay have not replied to all my emails nor are ebay communicating with me. I have requested the details of the ebay solicitors in Sydney and still no reply. Please respond to my emails, I can also be contacted on the details at the top of this page. I look forward to your immediate response.
Kind regards,
Tero
22/07/2011
Ebay tel: 1800 088 741
Ebay fax: 02 9475 0629
Attention Trust and Safety Department
Part 2 - Household and second hand items
Name: Tero ...............
ebay ID: t****5
email: ............................
Tel: .....................
Dear ebay member/s,
Thank you for acknowledging my recent fax (dated 21/07/2011), which contained information on ebay allowing other Australian sellers to sell identical memorabilia items from the same supplier as mine were, yet not allowing me to sell these items. The Fair Trades Department classified this as discrimination.
This next document is part 2 which contains information on ebay cancelling my listings of second hand and household items. I will again for the record, state that the reason ebay gave for restricting my selling is as follows (quote and unquote):
"ebay does not allow the sale of replicas or unauthorised copies"
I will make it crystal clear that the household and second hand items I had listed have nothing whatsoever to do with replicas or unauthorised copies. I have also included the list of items in question. Please study this list of items and you will see that they were all listed in the appropriate categories as well as following ebay policies.
There will be a part 3 (in the near future) which will include third party authentication of my original signed items. This will take some time as it is very costly and lengthy to send each individual item to America for authentication. Unfortunately ebay has forced me to carry out such a costly process, all because of jealous competitors accusing my items of not being authentic.
As a gesture of good will and the acknowledgement of ebay's responsibilities as an internet leader, I am more than happy to refrain from selling original signed items until such time I have completed my task of third party authentication of all said items, and receiving ebay's approval to sell them.
I am asking ebay to reinstate my user account to 100% and allow me to list the second hand and household items and continue selling.
Kind regards,
Tero
25/07/2011
Ebay tel: 1800 088 741
Ebay fax: 02 9475 0629
Attention Trust and Safety Department
Part 3 - Original hand signed items
Name: Tero ...............
ebay ID: t****5
email: ............................
Tel: .....................
Dear ebay member/s,
Thank you again for your time and effort with this matter.
The following list contains the original hand signed memorabilia items that ebay cancelled, Details of the second hand household items and the prints that ebay cancelled can be found by referring to the previous faxes part 1 and part 2.
I am currently in the process of having the authenticity of the items in the following list verified by a third party authenticator. This will take considerable time not to mention a very costly process. Once completed I will fax the third party authentication to ebay for ebay's approval, along with documents from the Australian Police as well as legal representation to irrefutably prove that all my items are authentic.
In the meantime, I am more than happy to cease selling the original signed items in this list, until such time I have completed my task of third party authentication of all said items, and receiving ebay's approval to sell them.
All I ask is for ebay to allow me to sell the second hand household items and the prints, using the account that was restricted (tero2005).
Regarding postage times, it is important ebay understands that we live in an area that Australia Post classifies as QLD country. I take all my parcels to a licensed post office (not Australia Post). They are an agent for Auspost, and a snack bar, and a country takeaway store. This adds delays to postage times, even Australia Post incorrectly quotes delivery times from our postcode (4306). To give an idea of how laid back the post office is, 2 of my large parcels were used as a lunch table for the tradesmen during renovations some time ago. It took 2 weeks for the post office to find the parcels, needless to say the customer was not happy with the delay. This was out of my hands and was morally wrong of ebay to allow the customer to leave a poor rating for the postage time.
Kind regards,
Tero
