eBay Rant - My Item Got Pulled!

[HLAuburn]

While doing some baking the other day, I discovered a brand new Pampered Chef Rectangle Stone that I had received a couple years back and never used. So I put it on eBay, thinking it might make a great gift item. Well I had 2 bids, and then they YANKED it! I think maybe it was b/c I "borrowed" the picture from the Pampered Chef website, but my sister says I'm now on a watch list, and even if I change the pic, I could get canned!

What's the deal? This stuff is so random...there's 10 others on there just like it! I don't get it.

Anyone need a Pampered Chef Rectangle Stone?

 

[DianeV]

They should have given you some idea on why it was pulled. If it was simply using that picture you could relist it with your own picture

 

[HLAuburn]

Thanks!
The reasons were kinda vague, and said they may include one of the following...and then it listed "using company's picture and or description" and "fake item" (which of course it isn't), and a few other things. The pic thing is the only one that applied that I know of.

I'm just worried that if I relist w/ a new pic and they pull again, my eay account will be yanked...forever!

Makes me mad!

 

[eeyoreiscool]

You can take a picture yourself and put it on the listing. Ebay won't care then. They just don't want to be responsible for copyrighted items on their site.

 

[cgcw]

I had an auction pulled because I used the term "like Fisher Price" in my title. It didn't take long for ebay to cancel my auction and send me an email.

What I've found out after the fact, is some of the big companies have copywrite areas with people who browse Ebay and report just such things. When I thought about it, how would Ebay know I had that title unless they were made aware of it....just do to the size of Ebay. So, I'm pretty certain that's how they found out. Maybe Pampered Chef has some area doing just this?

Not wanting to relist the item without the "like Fisher Price" in the description, because like you, I was afraid that they would pull my account, I sent them an email. It took a good 10 days before they responded that as long as I removed what was wrong, I was free to relist the item.

Knowing what I went through, I would relist your item with your own picture and not worry about it. I know that's how I would handle it if another auction of mine was pulled for something similar.

Pampered Chef......hmmmm, I bet I have a ton of it around here. I'll have to start looking and listing.

 

[DVCajun]

I wanted to reassure you that you're not on a "one more thing and you're outta here" list. I've been selling on ebay since 1998 and over the course of the years I've had a few listings listings pulled. Once I tried to list a faux Gucci. Well, duh. Another time I was listing a bracelet that had a Dick & Jane image in it and they pulled it. Another time they thought I was trying to avoid ebay fees because I said I did custom work. So they pulled that listing too, which actually really ticked me off because all it needed was a sentence that said I would create a private ebay auction to handle the custom work.

Anyway, my point is that they aren't quite as strict as you seem to think. They may or may not pull one of your future auctions for a problem, but unless you're a habitual offender, and I mean like you're running a faux Gucci STORE on ebay, you'll be ok.

The thing I don't get is that they aren't consistent. Like, they pulled my Dick & Jane bracelet, but another seller sells stuff with Dick and Jane images all the time and they haven't done a thing about it. All I can do is make sure that I don't make the same mistake twice and I've never had a problem.

 

[poohlover]

One of my auctions just got pulled...AFTER it had sold!!! It was a belt buckle with a bear claw & some stones on it that my DH had bought on EBAY! He didn't like it anymore, so we figured we'd try to sell it.

They said the bear claw...was an animal part & you can't sell that! something to those words.

Just couldn't understand how it got pulled MINUTES AFTER that auction closed. It had been listed for 7 days without any problems.

 

[Cindy B]

I had coupons get pulled because there were cigarette coupons in the stack. I don't smoke, but I know others do... so I found that odd.

Another time unused Disney tickets got sold. (they were the old hoppers not the MYW)

Another time it was something else, I think it was computer related.

Anyway, we've been selling since 96-97, and we haven't been booted.

 

[bicker]

Here's the relevant portion of the eBay policies:

You should avoid "borrowing" text or images (including photos) from another listing on eBay, a manufacturer's web site, product catalogs, or other sources without specific permission from the owner. Contrary to popular belief, simply because images and text may be found somewhere on the Internet does not necessarily mean that they are unprotected by copyright laws. Copyright laws apply to the Internet, and manufacturers or other copyright owners may object to the use of text or images that they own or created.

You should write your own descriptive text for your listing, and take your own photos.

 

[cami89]

The thing I don't get is that they aren't consistent. Like, they pulled my Dick & Jane bracelet, but another seller sells stuff with Dick and Jane images all the time and they haven't done a thing about it.

I wonder if your "competition" reported you Makes you think so when the items are the same and you've not listed it in any objectional way, you know!?!?

 

[cami89]

If you don't have a camera or can't take photos of your own, I might suggest looking up closed auctions for this item and writing the seller to ask if you could use their photo (provided it is one they took and not a stock, company photo). I've had people ask to borrow my photos and I usually do not object provided my listing has closed already and they save the photo to their own hard drive and upload it themselves.

I've used stock photos of things before - Halloween costumes, toys, computer games, etc... - but I've always saved the photo and uploaded myself - I don't direct link. Maybe this is the difference or I've just gotten lucky, but I've never had a problem

 

[bicker]

Be careful with that approach, because to eBay it will still look like you're using someone else's photo. They specific mention a prohibition about using text or images from another eBay listing. Surely, with permission, you should be allowed to do so, but if you are going to do so, to avoid confusing the folks at eBay, you should prominently indicate that you obtained permission.

 

[ohiominnie]

While doing some baking the other day, I discovered a brand new Pampered Chef Rectangle Stone that I had received a couple years back and never used. So I put it on eBay, thinking it might make a great gift item. Well I had 2 bids, and then they YANKED it! I think maybe it was b/c I "borrowed" the picture from the Pampered Chef website, but my sister says I'm now on a watch list, and even if I change the pic, I could get canned!

What's the deal? This stuff is so random...there's 10 others on there just like it! I don't get it.

Anyone need a Pampered Chef Rectangle Stone?

Wow! THat's just crazy to me because one time I saw an auction for "human crap." Yes. They were selling feces. The description went on about how it will vary depending on the previous days diet. How it will be shipped, triple bagged, etc etc. There were actually BIDS!

I found it because I was plugging in items I had around the house in search to see if it was worth selling them. Finally, I decided I had a bunch of "crap" in the house so I searched for it and found it. I reported the auction to ebay but they told me it did not violate auction terms (so much for not being able to sell body wastes)

 

[welovedis]

For the seller who used the words "like Fisher Price", the reason it was pulled was probably for keyword spamming. You used the key words 'Fisher Price' in the title of something that isn't technically FP & it can be pulled for that.

To the OP, you can take your own pics & relist or ask a seller of a completed auction that is the same as your own if you can use their pics.

There are hoards of people who seem to do nothing but report auctions, especially of their competition. Also, companies make sure that their copyrighted images don't appear in auctions, whether they are saved to your computer or linked from their site.

 

[Miss Kelly]

Wow! THat's just crazy to me because one time I saw an auction for "human crap." Yes. They were selling feces. The description went on about how it will vary depending on the previous days diet. How it will be shipped, triple bagged, etc etc. There were actually BIDS!

I found it because I was plugging in items I had around the house in search to see if it was worth selling them. Finally, I decided I had a bunch of "crap" in the house so I searched for it and found it. I reported the auction to ebay but they told me it did not violate auction terms (so much for not being able to sell body wastes)

 

[Cheshire Figment]

Last week I bid on an item (MS Word 2000) in a sealed package. It was at $20 with a BIN of $40. I had a friend out of state who needed it but was not an eBay user. I contacted the seller, explained the situation, and asked if he would ship to another name and address even with PP. After the seller agreed I did the BIN and PP. It was shipped the next day.

Two days after the auction ended I received a message from eBay that they had cancelled the auction and I should not complete the transaction. Not only was the auction pulled, but the entry disappeared from the Items Won listing on My eBay. My friend did get the item in the mail, but I was unable to leave feedback for the sellar since according to eBay the transaction never happened.

BTW, the seller had several items pulled, but still had other items remaining for sale.

 

[SueM in MN]

I wonder if your "competition" reported you Makes you think so when the items are the same and you've not listed it in any objectional way, you know!?!?

A couple of years ago, I bought a lot f doll items on ebay and knew some of the sellers pretty well. Several of them had a particular competitor who they knew were reporting them.

 

[kelleigh1]

I happen to be a Pampered Chef consultant and yes, there are pretty strict Copyright rules. Even as a consultant we are limited by what we can use in items which we print and how we need to word everything.

 

[krdisneybound]

A few posts back someone referred to the fact that E-bay should contact the person whose auction is being pulled.

They don't give you notice that it is being pulled. They just end it and refer you to the particular rule that applies to the action.

Once I was away on vacation, took a pic of the items in the hotel room, someone copied my picture and used it the same day and I reported them to E-Bay right away. Their item was pulled within about an hour. E-Bay is pretty quick to react.

It ended up being a friend of mine. Had they e-mailed me, I would have given permission and not thought about it. But I didn't know the name they were selling under and didn't know it was them - until they got in touch with me. It was very awkward for them and they did in fact use my pictures after that and I didn't think twice about it again.

 

[ceecee]

I have had auctions pulled for using "like Lego" relisted without and it went thru fine. Using a company photo one time an item got pulled. AND someone reported me for using their photo.......when it was MY photo from 6 months eariler (my microwave was in the background!).