Listings removed after the rights owner reported it as counterfeit

[the_alchemist_australia]

Hi all,

Long time stalker who comes here for information usually as I know there is a lot of reliable advice.

I have had a lot of listings removed due to being counterfeit and sort of at a loss as to how to approach the situation.

I am a jeweller and electroplater so I gold plate items in a variety of metals.

Due to demand I started gold plating Pandora jewellery. Customers asked for the items so I would purchase them from a Pandora retail outlet and gold plate them putting the cost of the plating on top and selling them on eBay.

I know about how bad it is to sell counterfeit items and so I would provide a copy of the original purchase receipt from Pandora to the buyer as well as put it in the listing as well.

So my conundrum being that my listings being called counterfeit seems to be that I gold plate an authentic Pandora item and that then makes it counterfeit?

My listings were clearly explained and never misrepresented as being solid gold etc.. And always a very in depth explanation as to the process. I have many happy buyers and repeat buyers as well. Nothing but praise really.

I have of course contacted the email address given to me by eBay being a non for profit organisation called "React" stating to act on Pandora's behalf but I have not received any replies. I have also contacted Pandora directly at their head office today to try and get more information as to if what I am doing is wrong.

Basically if they are saying I am selling counterfeit items and I have all the receipts to prove I purchased them from a licensed Pandora outlet then are one of the Pandora shops I am buying from selling me fakes? I would highly suspect that is not the case but maybe worth pursuing?

I know there is no way to offer any 'legal advice' on here and I should probably seek that this coming week myself to see where I stand on this matter but what is your take on this.

If I buy an authentic jewellery item and gold plate it then resell it, does that make it counterfeit?

Interested in your views really and thanks for your time as always.

Cheers

[springyzone]

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@the_alchemist_australia wrote:

I used to have a listing up for a gold plating service and the title was "14K Gold Plating Service for Silver Charms Emma & Roe, Swarovski, Pandora & more" and it never was removed but I took it down when gold prices went up. Was thinking of trying it out again but with all those brand names in the heading I wonder if any one of them can then get it removed?

I have just now made a new listing with the title "Gold Plating Service for Silver Charms 10K, 14K, 18K, 24K, Rhodium, Palladium".

No mention of the brand names but plenty of pictures to show what I have done in the past.

Thinking now to do one for each item group such as charms, safety chains, bracelets etc etc.

I will still not mention brand names but may put in there bracelet included as an option in the drop down or charm included.

Not sure but I would like to be able to still do what I was doing as I love it and most people also loved it that purchased from me.

Doing custom listings for people now to buy things they are requesting and not using any mention of the Pandora name so I am hoping that is ok. The only thing that shows it is Pandora is the picture. OMG I need beer!

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I think you could do as someone suggested and expand your FB page with lots of photos of the sort of work you do. Without mentioning brands as such. I would imagine if people bring their own items to you to be plated, that would be a completely different thing to you plating them & selling them under brand names.

I think you will miss a certain amount of trade though. I'm sure there have been people who have been searching through the Pandora ads at times, come across yours and had a light bulb moment and thought yes, that appeals.

But they may not necessarily have thought of the idea themselves if left to their own devices & may never look for someone who does gold plating.

I'm sure you could build up a good steady business in your area though, through FB groups and word of mouth.

[the_alchemist_australia]

Just want to thank everyone that offered their advice as it helped me to see things from different points of view. Also having the thread here really helped me when I was feeling down and overwhelmed by it all. You can talk to friends and family about it but when they have never been an eBay seller you may as well be speaking another language.

Social media marketing is a great idea, just need the time to do it as it is only just me. But I do know it works.

But also I wanted to give an update of what has happened.

After receiving no response from the Vero rep or Pandora, I sent another email to the Vero email address given to me by eBay and asked if they could please respond to my emails as I am genuinely concerned that by saying I am selling counterfeit goods which I have purchased from authorized retail outlets that the retail outlets must have sold me counterfeit items and that I have all the receipts and would certainly like to know if this is the case.

A lawyer from React group replied to say my case was currently under review and they could contact me with the outcome.

So I replied again and thanked them for communicating with me and offered to forward all receipts to them.

But also asked that if what I am doing is wrong, then just tell me and I will not do it rather than just calling the items counterfeit which in turn has tarnished my reputation as a jeweller across all products I sell.

No reply to that as yet but woke up this morning to a message from eBay saying "We have reviewed this case and restored your listing(s). We're sorry for any inconvenience this has caused you."

So over 130 listings back and I actually never contacted eBay about this situation as they don't generally help me with much unless you are lucky enough to get someone on the phone that has been around for a while or dealing with the USA reps who are awesome.

But anyway I would never have thought this would happen and was not even considering it as a possible outcome.

Not sure if this is the end of it though as they may be going for another angle and then I will probably be suspended through having another violation but that is life on eBay I guess.

Thanks again to everyone for taking the time to help me, I can not tell you how much I appreciate it!

[lyndal1838]

That is terrific news.

It goes to show that the little man can win out against these big multinationals if you go about it the right way.

[lm-entertainment]

what a fantastic outcome! :] congratulations! 

i would never have seen that as happening either.. it's a rare thing for listings which are removed to be reinstated - most of the time they just tell you to relist the items yourself (which usually results in having to create the listing from scratch). 

i hope that's the end of it for you! :]

[digital*ghost]

Pleasantly surprised by the outcome to this one - well done! 

[the_alchemist_australia]

So to wrap it up (hopefully!) this just happened;

So I hope things are now sorted!

Cheers peeps!

[maranock]

Wow, great result.

[chameleon54]

Amazing.....A win for the little guy.   They made a movie called the castle once. They could make another one about you.

Congratulations

[clarry100]

Well... Like others I'm pleasantly surprised at this outcome. Congrats and we'll done.
+1 for persistence and a correct and professional approach to the problem.
From the communication shown above it would seem you are back in your original business complete with the blessing of Pandora themselves.
Great stuff! Every cloud has indeed a silver (or in this case gold) lining.

[lm-entertainment]

absolutely brilliant!! :] great to hear it. hope your sales flourish!!