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

[merfar2107]

Apparently it (the term 'onesie') belongs to a company named 'Gerber', and unless you have that as the brand you can't even list it (onesie) anymore, yet there are hundreds from China using it!

[zanadoo_56]

---

@janeababe wrote:

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.

---

Something I read years ago about trademark names.  If the name sinks into common usage the rights to the trademark can be lost.  Velcro may indeed be concerned that the shoes don't have Velcro brand fasteners, but they may also be concerned about the loss of their trademark if the fasteners can't be proved to be made - or not made - by Velcro but still referred to as such.

There was an instance where an American president referred to 'xeroxing a document' and got an angry response from the company. 

In the UK it is not uncommon to refer to vacuming the carpet as hoovering the carpet.  As time goes by it may be that Hoover will no longer be a trademark.

When it comes to protecting a company it's not just whether the item for sale is authentic or not.

[janeababe]

.....perhaps you read it here, back in August last year when this topic was *NEW* 

I once had a listed item removed by ebay.

It was a super-nintendo with games.  Ebay removed it because it had the potential to copy games for distribution (apparently)

Completely absurd, but I couldnt convince ebay otherwise. (this was pre 2007)

Ebay is Ebay and dumb is dumb.

You cant change either!!!