eBay would be forced to enact a three strikes policy if a new law is passed, it warned sellers. A reader forwarded an email they received from eBay’s Government Relations (GR) department containing the information.
In the notice, an eBay Seller Advocacy Specialist on the GR team said the SHOP SAFE Act had been reintroduced in September 2023 and included several provisions that, according to eBay, would allow big brands to punish small sellers – including a three strikes policy requirement:
“One provision in the current draft of the bill with serious consequences for small businesses on eBay is a Three Strikes Policy, which would require all platforms – including eBay – to permanently ban sellers with three alleged counterfeit takedowns from their platform. This means that many eBay sellers could potentially be targeted with false VeRO takedowns by large brands that want to control who sells their products online.”
The advocacy specialist said eBay was looking for sellers based in Kentucky who sell branded products who would be willing to voice their concerns about dealing with brands that flag their listings when they know they are not counterfeit and accuse sellers of using brands’ stock images. “If you are interested and available in discussing SHOP SAFE and VeRO,” she said, “please let me know a couple of dates/times that work best for you for a quick call, and we can discuss from there.”
eBay and other marketplaces have been fighting the SHOP SAFE Act for a number of years. In 2022, eBay credited the nearly 25,000 members of its Main Street lobbying program for defeating the bill that year. Craigslist, Etsy, HobbyDB, Mercari, OfferUp, Poshmark, and Shopify were among the other companies lobbying Congress against the SHOP SAFE Act in 2022.
In July of 2023, eBay posted the following video on YouTube to bolster its argument that the SHOP SAFE Act would harm small businesses:
the scammers from china all probably be exempt from the 3 strike rule
Of course, they are because they bring in the revenue and profit for eBay, Amazon, Walmart, etc.
The text is HERE ….. https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/senate-bill/1843/text
eBay itself allows and condones fake items, items that have Trademark and Copyright issues (the listings say “REPRODUCTION” in the listing and the companies IP is NOT in the public domain – so getting them on board is all itself a fake.
eBay is also known to take money from Vero members to remove items and sellers they dont want selling their goods on the site (and eBay – if you are reading this – you can GLADLY take me to court (since you chickened out the LAST TIME when I dared you) and we can talk about G-Shock, Denon and Skullcandy (for starters) so you cant rely on them to be honest about what they ARE or ARE NOT doing to police the site.
NO WHERE in the bill does it say (reaffirming Lanham and the First Sale Doctrine) that you need “permission” to sell anything – the bill says as long as its legal (doesnt violate any C&T laws) – which irritates eBay to no end.
As well “we do not recognize you as a seller of our items” also has NO legal standing, neither does MAP violation(s) unless you have signed an agreement saying you would abide by it.
““(i) Determined after a reasonable investigation, and reasonably periodically confirmed” – eBay does no such investigative work and never will. eBay spends ZERO dollars on sellers, and it wont change NOW.
This is a mess for the worlds biggest crooks as it takes up time and resources otherwise spent on giving shareholders their 25 cents a share back … what WILL the SJM do?????
China bans eBay from looking at Chinese IP addresses. So if they ban one account, they can just open another one.
My one experience with a VERO was from a jewlery company called Lokai. My Listing was for a Star Trek TOS film and print of a Character named Lokai! The company claimed that I had Stolen Their Name!
The jewelry company is less than 10 years old.
The Star Trek Character is from 1969!
I Lost!
Just one more reason why I Left ebay after 25 years!
(And they Just sent me a ‘congratulations’ email about that!) FU ebay!
This is VERY troubling…. “Three Strikes Policy, which would require all platforms – including eBay – to permanently ban sellers with three alleged counterfeit takedowns from their platform.”
ALLEGED… this means you only have to be ACCUSED 3x (not found guilty). Any unscrupulous seller can put their competitors off the platform by ‘alleging’ items are counterfeit….
Vero was created after eBay was sued and lost in court against VItton, but quickly learned that every cloud has a silver lining.
Instead of letting them beat you (eBay) up, have them beat up on sellers (since eBay hates sellers) and then charge to be part of the program – in return giving them “root access” to search. If a buyer cant find something with search, how can a manufacturer? Easy, just give them “root access” to all eBay listings.
Oh and it costs (or used to) to be part of the program. In return, the maker opens a Platinum level store and eBay lets them kick sellers who they dont like in return – its win/win. eBay gets the store and sales from it, it gets prestige by being able to claim that THAT brand is now “on eBay”, and the brand gets to “clean up eBay”.
VERO, even today is abusive (as someone who had to deal with them many times – I have experience)(in my case they never bought an item from me to “figure out” if it was real – it was just easier to simply tell eBay that it wasnt and call it a day)(eBay went along with it until I got a lawyer involved).
Back to the direct point – eBay has already received 3 strikes – maybe its time THEY got kicked?
1) judgement against them by the Steiners (whom they harassed, stalked and tried to put out of business)
2) a judgement against them from the US government for allowing the smog cheating devices
3) a judgement against them for allowing the sales of pill making equipment
Certainly LOOKS like they deserve a “taste of their own medicine”.
eBay is %101 corrupt and will use this as a way to bother more sellers ….. funny though .. its the exact thing you DONT want when you are loosing buyers and sellers on your site, but who ever said eBay had any brains? (they dont its all smoke & mirrors aka Jaimes magic)
The Nike corporate dirtbags must be cackling with glee right about now.