Item for sale taken down by Ebay after complaint by Brand, advise required

[phillip40bx]

Howdy all,

I am a Ebay member of over 15 years and have a 100% feedback rating.

So I was most surprised and concnerned when

Ebay contacted me today and have taken down a pair of PG Lite Mens shoes apprently due to my wording that they have a Velcro strap on them, now I have had this item for sale 3 times before without a problem.

Ebay has answered more or less as one would expect them to.

This is part of what their message to me said.

"Thanks for contacting eBay about the removed listing.

I understand that you just include the brand name of the strap of the shoes you are selling and you are concerned as to how it violated our policy.

Upon checking the details of the removal, I can see that it was not reported by other members. We removed your listing since Velcro Industries B. V. requested for it. When participants in our Verified Rights Owner (VeRO) Program notify us that a listing infringes their intellectual property rights, eBay is legally obliged to remove the listing."

I have a supecion anotehr EBay member who made an offer after 3rd auction lisitng ended, which I did not accept as it was below what I was after for the item. Which as a Auction not a Buy it now item, I am wel entitled to do.

Why has it become a problem now and has this member compained to the company who contacted Ebay, I do not know, and Ebay says not.

Would someone mind looking at my description of these shoes and compare with oteh ritems of exactly same brand and description and tell me why this may happen, as if the word Velcro is a issue, then there are 100's if not 1000's of items on Ebay Australia let alone worldwide that are also in vilotration of this.

I wil contact Velcro Indurstries and ask them whow they came across my item out of 1000's and what is the problem. As this has legal issues for most sellers on Ebay.

Example, people who sell Netgear products who are not accredited Netgear resellers.

"PG Lite Cairns-S (3E) Mens Slip on Velcro strap on Black Shoes Size 12 As New.

1 x New pair of Black Men’s Casual Slip on shoes made by PG Lite. With Velcro Straps.

Cairns-S (3E) style.

Size 12.

Worn only once to try on, still in original box as you can see from Photos."

Here is aone item listed in USA the same brand and type of mens shoes for sale now in Australia and in USA.

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/PG-LITE-Mens-brown-leather-comfort-shoes-size-13-velcro-strap-/1722967185...

And here is a list for Velcro mens shoes.

http://www.ebay.com.au/sch/i.html?_odkw=PG+LITE+Men%27s+velcro&_osacat=0&_from=R40&_trksid=p2045573....

Thanks in advance

Phil

[phorum_junkie*]

It doesn't matter who reported your listing, although used widely as a general term Velcro is obviously a registered brand name and if the rights owners are VERO members then ebay have to take down any listing that they are asked to which uses that name if the fastening is a generic brand and not Velcro.

You can contact Velcro or anyone else if you want to waste your time but you would be better off thinking of a way to describe the shoe fastenings without the use of the word Velcro.

[kopenhagen5]

List them without using the word velcro and see what happens.

[pennyforum14]

I can understand your frustration, but if the term Velcro is a trademark of Velcro Industries, which I strongly suspect it is, then they are perfectly within their rights to request the item be taken down.  They may not have realised the shoes were second hand, you should be able to contact eBay and point out that it is a used item, which does in fact have a velcro strap, and ask them if you can relist the item using the description "nylon grip fastener" instead.

[digital*ghost]

Unfortunately, you are not the only seller this has happened to recently - there may still be many active listings, but as unfair as it seems for it to look like you get penalised while others get away with it, it's really up to Velcro to report the rest.

Velcro, while a commonly used generic term for the hook and loop tape fastenings, is actually a registered trademark, and only velcro tape that's actually made by Velcro can be called velcro... 

It's the same thing for products like Ugg boots, Stanley knives, Thermos and the like. 

[bettyboopsadaisy]

Sorry you have had this issue with your shoe listing.

I wonder what ebay would suggest as a replacement word to describe the style of fastening on these shoes.

As far as a know there IS no generic term to describe it. Unfortunately, like Biro, Velcro may be the brand name but it has also become the name for the thing itself, if you know what I mean.

[pennyforum14]

There is an alternative term is as I quoted above, nylon grip fastener. I have seen this used before for velcro type straps.

[4green2000]

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@kopenhagen5 wrote:

List them without using the word velcro and see what happens.

---

vel hook tape , grip tape,grip strap,self grip strap,fast gripping strap,fast hold hook tape ?

[janeababe]

What does Velcro think you're going to do? Steal their mass fortune by listing one pair of 2nd hand, but in excellent as new condition, shoes???

For goodness sake, talk about utter ludicracy!!

Try Listing  them as VELLCRO.... perhaps the extra L will be enough to ward off the nasty monsters, and buyers might put it down to a simple spelling error. It should still come up in the usual searches, one would expect...

Who knows... it might work LOL


Good luck with it all.....  It must be terribly frustrating for you.

[nevillesdaughter]

Also hook and loop tape.....

Marina.