One of the most popular shopping platforms nowadays is eBay, and so many sellers flock to this marketplace to list their items and gain profits. While sellers can list almost anything, there are times when listings get taken down. Often, when this happens, sellers are left wondering about the reason behind it.
For every online selling platform, rules and policies are present. They serve as a guide to all users, including sellers, to ensure the safety of all transactions. On eBay, the set of guidelines includes how sellers like you should list properly without violating any policies.
It is understandable that for every seller, each listing is important. Not only do you spend time and effort drafting the details, but it also contributes to the earnings that your whole closet can potentially generate. This is why it is not good news when one or more of your eBay listings get removed.
To avoid this from happening, you can familiarize yourself with the possible reasons why your listing gets taken down on the platform and arm yourself with some valuable tips so it won't happen to any of your listings.
Why It Happens
All sellers are responsible for ensuring that all of your listings comply with the policies in place. It should be authentic, not prohibited, and its description doesn't infringe on the rights of others. To better understand why your listings get removed on this marketplace, eBay has provided the possible reasons for taking down a listing. To answer the question 'why,' one of the following reasons below could be the answer:
- Your listings violated one of eBay's policies.
- Your item is prohibited or restricted.
- Your listing violated a law.
- There is a rights owner who has requested the removal of your listing.
- Your listing is duplicate and needs revision to meet the platform's rules.
- Your listings have been active for a year or more and have not made any sales.
When you've violated one of these reasons, you will likely receive a message on the app and the email linked to your eBay account. Make it a habit to check your spam folder so you won't miss any notifications from the platform.
eBay removed my listing while similar listings are still active.
It is normal to wonder what went wrong and why when the platform removed your listing while others with similar items are still active on the platform. There are many reasons behind it, and you should be aware that this happens often. To better understand the situation, here are some scenarios where you might find similar listings on eBay while yours was removed:
- While your listing looks very similar to the active listing, there may be different small details between the two that are not too obvious.
- The seller of the active listing may be the rights owner or an authorized retailer.
- Your listing was reported to eBay, and the others were not.
- A VeRO program participant may have requested eBay to remove your listing but not the others. These types of removals are not eBay's decision.
Verified Rights Owner (VeRO) Program
This program is where intellectual property owners gather and could report listings that cause an infringement on their intellectual property rights. With the help of this program, eBay can ensure that illegal items which affect the trust and respect of property owners' rights, including all platform users, are removed.
Some of the reasons why VeRO participants report your listing are as follows:
- Your item uses a logo that belongs to the rights owner.
- Your listings contain audio, video, or other media without the authorization of the rights owner.
- The images or text in your listings has a rights owner who does not authorize their use.
Relisting Removed Items
When one of your listings gets taken down, it is understandable for you to think that it was removed incorrectly, especially when you are sure that you did not violate any of the guidelines in the safe and proper listing of items. Often, the urge to relist the item immediately kicks in, and you might think that proceeding with it is okay. But the truth is, this is a risky move on your part without reaching out to eBay first. This is the very reason why the 'Relist' button on removed items isn't available.
When your listing is removed, the first thing you would want to do is speak to eBay and find out the exact reason they did that, regardless of whether you are confident they mistakenly took it down. Relisting without settling the issue first with the platform can result in more trouble than it is. Aside from the suspension of your eBay account, this may also result in legal action.
If, in case, the reason behind the removal of your listing is due to a request of a rights owner, their email will be provided on the notification sent to you by eBay so you can contact them and settle the issue with them. However, if you haven't heard back from them after five business days, you may contact eBay directly so they can help.
Once the issue for the removed listing is settled, either with eBay or the rights owner, you may proceed with relisting your item. However, note that you will have to list them again from scratch.
On the other hand, if the reason behind the removal is due to a stale listing where it didn't make any sale for a year or more, you can improve your listing before you can place them back up for sale.
To improve your listing, the Best Match feature of eBay can help you improve your listing to attract more potential buyers and eventually result in conversions. It can help you with the following:
- Create complete and accurate listings
- Select the proper selling format
- List in the correct category
- Include high-quality pictures of your item
- Provide all your selling terms
- Keep a positive selling history.
Keep Your Listings Active
To avoid getting your listing removed due to violations and failure to follow eBay's policies, you must have good practices to follow. We have compiled these helpful tips so you can keep your listings active.
- Be aware of trademark laws.
- Avoid selling replicas and counterfeit.
- Be careful with brand name misuse.
- Avoid using Logos without authorization.
- Be wary of mentioning warranties on your listing.
- Do not use or copy photos, text, media, software, movies, or paintings as these may result in Copyright infringements.
Note: Continuous violation of these provisions may result in a range of consequences, such as being restricted from selling to full suspension from eBay.
Crosslist with OneShop
Keeping track of your listings can be challenging, especially when you have tons of them. Add the fact that you have to ensure they are all compliant with the platform's policies, and surely it becomes a laborious task to do. This is why automation software like OneShop is designed to help sellers like you have more time at hand in managing your listings.
If you are also selling on other platforms, juggling all your active listings at once can be time-consuming and require a lot of effort. Hence, we have developed an intelligent bot that can cross-list to other platforms and perform automation tasks hassle-free.
OneShop understand the importance of keeping each listing active while ensuring that they are reaching a broader audience to make sales. This is why cross-listing to eBay will also be available soon on OneShop. Meanwhile, if you are also selling on Poshmark, Mercari, Depop, and Tradesy, you might want to test the waters and give our app a go with our 7-day free trial. All you have to do is sign up here.