Limited listing

Have you gotten a negative recently, or are you selling designer names? Folks have been known to get limited for those reasons (and I'm sure Ebay has more)

Yes, I'm selling brand name cosmetics. I don't know what to do to get the restrictions off. I asked Ebay but haven't got a reply back yet.

If you haven't sold them before and now suddenly you are, that might have sent up a red flag (who knows why). I guess al you can do is wait to hear back from them.
Wierd tho, this is the kind of thing they would do to a newbie, not someone with over 200 FB

I am selling the same thing and had the exact same thing happen to me about 6 months ago. You will not get any answers out of ebay. But this is what I found out...

It is a site-wide investigation and supposedly is for all sellers they pick and it is supposed to be random. They will not communicate anything with you about this - it is a safety and trust issue.

There was an article in the paper and on CNN about a month ago about a huge ring arrested for stealing high-end cosmetics. So they figure if you had purchased any of it (I haven't and you probably haven't either) that they will limit the amount of stuff we can list. That is the way that I understand it.

Anyway, I purchased my cosmetics and have too much invested to only list a few here and there - so ebay has forced me to go elsewhere to sell my product.

I have listed my stuff on my own website on ecrater. I did this the last week of December and I now have almost 600 items listed. There are no fees and ebay gets no money on the sale (unless the buyer pays with paypal-at least no Final Valuation Fees anyway).

It was easy to set-up and I had my store open within an hour. My sales have been good, the only drawback is that you have to promote your store where on ebay, they do it (but we pay them big bucks to do it).

Hope this helps.

-Laura
Wholesale Outlet Warehouse

I received an email from Ebay today bottomline:
After reviewing your account, it has been determined that the
restriction is appropriate and therefore will stay in place. [The
restriction will stay in place indefinitely, unless you wish to appeal,
in which case you will need to write back to us in 6 months time. At
that point we will review your account and a decision will be made
whether to lift the restriction.]

6 MONTHS!! Which frustrates me is they removed an auction because I had offered worldwide on a Lancome Lipgloss without box so by Germany law I wasn't allow.....HOOOOW was I suppose to know about Germany's law. There's a so much rules!!
It would have been nice if they gave me a warning then restrict me if I did it again. Because of the restriction I can't even go in to change any of my listings.

Thanks so much Laura (wholesale Outlet Warehouse)for your reply. It clarified more than Ebay did.
I'm really thinking of throw up the towel with Ebay. Can't make any money with limits!

I don't understand. They are restricting you why? I saw no reason, only "it's appropriate, go away, don't bother us, write us again in 6 months, now go %@#& off".

hahahah sorry it was so long but if you want to read it here it is: what really upsets me is that they still haven't answered my question, WHAT is my restrictions??!!

hank you for writing to eBay. I am happy to assist you further with
your listing concerns.

Due to a number of breaches of eBay policies, your account has been
prohibited from listing certain trademarked items at this time.

You are not permitted to sell items on eBay bearing the name or logo of
a company if the product has not been endorsed by that company. In
addition, the sale of counterfeit items, unauthorised replicas and
unauthorised copies is prohibited by law, therefore we cannot permit
these items to be listed on eBay.

This policy also helps protect buyers from purchasing counterfeit or
fraudulent items and helps protect the intellectual property rights of
third parties. In addition to this, in order to maintain a safe trading
environment, selling limits are occasionally placed on accounts based on
previous violations related to Intellectual Property.

As always, our goal is to keep the eBay marketplace a safe place to buy
and sell. Under our User Agreement, we may remove listings if they
breach one of our stated policies. Further, we may warn or suspend
sellers whose activities breach our policies.

I encourage you to read the information available on our Help pages
about why we may remove items from the eBay site. Copy the following
links into a new browser windows:

http://pages.ebay.ca/help/policies/counterfeit.html

http://pages.ebay.ca/help/confidence/listing-ended.html

http://pages.ebay.ca/help/policies/replica-counterfeit.html

After reviewing your account, it has been determined that the
restriction is appropriate and therefore will stay in place. [The
restriction will stay in place indefinitely, unless you wish to appeal,
in which case you will need to write back to us in 6 months time. At
that point we will review your account and a decision will be made
whether to lift the restriction.]

Please note that future violations may result in the suspension of your
account.

In regards to why your item 250218923103 was removed, according to
German law, new, original cosmetic products may only be sold in their
original packaging. The offering of new perfumes or cosmetic products
without the original packaging or caps (including so-called Testers,
Showcase, or demonstration products) on the German eBay site or
available to Germany is not permitted.

Since your listing offered shipping worldwide, your auction was ended.
Please be aware of this fact when listing your item and choosing your
shipping options.

Please note that eBay does not permit members to list items that
infringe on the copyright, trademark, or other intellectual property
rights of rights owners.

Selling replicas and/or imitations of perfumes is not allowed on eBay.
Any use of a copyright protected trademark or brand name in your
auction, in which that product is not offered, is not allowed.

When the rights owner notifies eBay that an item infringes upon their
rights, eBay takes no position on the authenticity or authorized nature
of the listed items. However, when a rights owner assures eBay that a
reported item is infringing, eBay takes appropriate action. In the
interest of protecting all eBay users, we remove such listings to avoid
any association with potentially infringing or unlawful items.

You can find further information on this subject at the following links:

http://pages.ebay.ca/help/policies/replica-counterfeit.html

Further information on prohibited, questionable, or infringing items can
be found at this link:

http://pages.ebay.ca/help/sell/questions/prohibited-items.html

Please note that eBay may not give you any legal advice. If you have
concrete questions on legal provisions, or the legality of your item,
please contact a lawyer or legal advisor.

If you have any further questions or concerns, I will be happy to help.
I appreciate your patience and understanding regarding this matter, and
I thank you for your cooperation in this matter.

So that's the email I received after sending them about 4. I'm just really P*ssed! I invested money in this and it was going so well then BAM out of no where this happens. I really don't know what to do. Maybe I should open a store on the website (i have no idea how to do that). Soooo frustrated!!!

I see. It says it plain and simply. VERO.

Be happy you have been "restricted" and not suspended.

Maybe it's time to find something else to sell. I'm not trying to be unsympathetic or sarcastic, but that's the truth. You probably have to take your stock "elsewhere" to a place where lawyers don't run the show yet. eBay was once like that, but then got taken over by lawyers.

From what I have read on the boards they will not lift the restrictions. Sometimes there are things going on behind the scenes-investigations with law enforecement, etc. and that is the way it is period.

I too was trying to list a Lancome item. I did not list worldwide shipping. The way I knew it was LANCOME being the problem-was that I listed the item without the word Lancome and the listing posted fine. I went back to Revise and and Lancome - no go.

I am doing fine selling on ecrater, aka my own website-this actually was probably the push that I needed to get away from feebay.

Good luck,

-Laura
www.wholesaleoutletwarehouse.com

I've always wanted to open my own store on the web. I just thought because Ebay attracted so much people that I would have a better chance on there. I sold clothing before but it didn't do as well as the cosmetics. I think I'm gonna research into opening a store on the web now. Is too much a headache.
I like that "FeeBay" sooo true!

Your own store, as in a stand alone website, is a lovely dream but can take years to be financially viable if you don't have a ton of money to dump into SEO, advertising and promotion.

Unless you are into website building, cart customization etc., then there is even more more money out the window! You will have to pay someone else to do it.

Give eCRATER a try. Nice clean place, seems to be well run, put the money you were spending at FeeBay into promotion for YOUR store there and you surely can't beat Free. You can take Google Checkout there, cut PayPay out of the loop while you are at it.

No reason you can't do both once your suspension is over, put the safe stuff on FeePay and put a flyer in with every order offering an introductory discount at your website for the same merchandise.

Henrietta,

That is exactly what I am doing and you have great advice. I was going to do my own website but that takes so much time and effort and I had read somewhere about ecrater on one of the boards. At first, I didn't do it - I tried vendio - what a mess that was and it cost a few hundred for a few weeks. I pulled out of there quick and into ecrater.

I love it and have had sales since the beginning. I do exactly as you described, keep a few key items on ebay and put a business card (that I had printed for free) in each box and a huge note in red is typed on my invoice too.

You do have to self-promote - but if you do it right, you will have slow and steady sales along the way. You can lower your prices a bit too since there are no fees.

One thing I can't do tho, is cut Paypal out of the loop....I would LOVE too but unfortunately the majority of my buyers use it. I have to admit, I love when a sale comes through using Google Checkout - no money to feebay!

I also did get my own domain name, that way if along the way, something weird happens with ecrater, like they decided to charge, or were sold, etc....I can change to another venue and just transfer my domain and I don't lose my customers from all the previous information distributed. They would just see a new look, but never know that I changed.

Happy selling to everyone, hopes things pick up soon...end of the month is tough.



-Laura
www.wholesaleoutletwarehouse.com

Thank you Henrietta and Laura for all your advice. I starting to look into Ecrater. Getting a bit frustrated. I received another email from Feebay and nothing. It just seem like they use the same template for all my questions. A line or two different but nothing they haven't said to me....rules, go to this link..blah blah blah....Is it so hard to come out and tell me how many listings can I list since being restricted.
Thank you everyone for replying. I'm taking notes... Greatly Appreciated!

I'd suggest spending $10 at GoDaddy for lancomesucks dot com and then putting up your story.

This would appear to be legal in the US because ebaysucks.com is a real site. I have no idea of the legalities anywhere else though. Looks like it probably breaks some law somewhere though, and you best know where because you are of course an expert on every law of every country. As well you should be if you sell on eBay.

quote:

Your own store, as in a stand alone website, is a lovely dream but can take years to be financially viable if you don't have a ton of money to dump into SEO, advertising and promotion.

Unless you are into website building, cart customization etc., then there is even more more money out the window! You will have to pay someone else to do it.

Not after we release our store feature later this year.

quote:

One thing I can't do tho, is cut Paypal out of the loop....I would LOVE too but unfortunately the majority of my buyers use it. I have to admit, I love when a sale comes through using Google Checkout - no money to feebay!

We plan on helping with this too. It makes perfect sense that if a seller is trying to break away from eBay they want to do it completely and the only way to do that in the payment area right now is either to use G's Checkout or get your own merchant account, and that's somewhat expensive unless you are doing a decent amount in sales each month or already have a merchant account.

I went through the same thing with being limited on my selling capabilities when I first started with Ebay. I purchased some BabyGap items from BabyGap on sale and decided to sell them on Ebay.
I ended up giving the items as gifts because try as I did (via communications and requesting that Ebay look at my solid feedbacks) they would not lift the limits or tell me what I did. I figured it had to be the BabyGap items although I see them being sold continually on Ebay!

No warning, no guidelines, no chance to prove they were legitimate products...just listings (paid for) but not listed. I found 'accidentally' found out I had selling limits when I chatted on line with Ebay wondering why my listings were not being displayed. Ebay did not even have the courtesy to let me know I was limited.

I recently had my limits lifted, but quite frankly, I am leery about what I can and cannot sell. They said limits may be placed again or complete denial of the use of Ebay if I break the rules again.

Frustrated I wrote back -- how in the world does one know they are about to commit an Ebay offense if one doesn't know what they do wrong and have no defense?

I have an expensive, name brand watch I would like to sell, but find myself wondering if, because it is new, it will get me in the same
predicament?

Not a way to build a business, for sure. At this point I am barely breaking even selling inexpensive items with all the fees!

I wanted to build a solid home business on Ebay, maybe I should look into one of the suggested sites that I read about in this thread.

Keep hounding the Trust division, but expect the same email responses until they finally lift your restrictions!

Don't you love how Greedbay makes us feel like criminals?

Put your watch up on ecrater-and a few other things and see what happens. It costs nothing. If you describe it right, it could come up in a Google Search and there is also a community set-up there where there are buyers in place...not a lot, you still have to market but it is worth a shot. It will cost you nothing-you have nothing to lose but a little bit of time.

-Laura

I got to revise some of my auctions today even my Lancome ones....odd when they wouldn't let me 2 days ago. Maybe they lifted some restrictions. Maybe from all the emails I've been sending...They must find me annoying. I just want straight answers. No copy and paste answers. Is that so hard.

quote:

Originally posted by vistolas:
Yes, I'm selling brand name cosmetics. I don't know what to do to get the restrictions off. I asked Ebay but haven't got a reply back yet.

It's because you sell what is termed as the "flea market" item. This limiting of your listings is just a taste of what's coming.

Run fast, run far.