I recently discovered 15 Chinese Ebay IDs who are "collaborating" by submitting multiple listings for the same items at the same price. Their store database is almost identical and sell nearly 1000 of the same items. Technically they have 15,000 Ebay listings and this is all through one company or individual which puts my honest, paltry 65+ Ebay listings in the lowest ranking on Ebay's search engine. Their user IDs are fake and are purportedly selling from Sydney, China, US and Germany. In some instances, even the Ebay user IDs have been created on the same day and the same physical location in Sydney! They tweak the photos and headings, use JPGs instead of product descriptions to avoid the Ebay BOTs but are still silly enough to list these duplicate items at the same price.
My sales for February have been significantly lower and although this is traditionally by low season, I can't explan the drop in my "bread and butter" items. My listings were near the top of search listing a few weeks ago and have dropped to about 20, even though my prices are competitive. I could move my item to other online selling sites and use the fees I would ordinarily pay to Ebay to pay for additional advertising for my website.
These guys are seriously undercutting my business as they are selling similar products and I will need to close my Australian Ebay store if Ebay does not address this. I realise that 15 sellers and a potential 15,000 listings is just a drop in the ocean, but it's my drop. I see this happening everywhere on Ebay and have asked the US discussion boards for their advice. In the US, when a seller is banned, their IP is also banned but this is not the case in China. Sadly, these sellers will reregister as soon as they are removed.
I submitted very comprehensive evidence to them on 2nd March 2016, called a "human" today and they said I'll have a response in the next 24~48 hours.
I'm sure the media would be interested.
