THIS IS WHY EBAY IS SHIT

[Funkyworm]

Tonight i put some mx 1000's  up for sale on here as when i logged on to ebay they had been removed:

This is the reason given:

You recently listed the following item(s):

151069990671 - Old School BMX Dia Compe MX 1000 Calipers, Haro Hutch DP Rickman Gt Skyway


Unfortunately, we had to remove your item because the way it was listed breaches our policy:

You have mentioned the brand names "Haro Hutch DP Rickman Gt Skyway" in the listing. Sellers aren't permitted to use any irrelevant brand names in a title or description of the listing as it results in poor search experience. Members must not use any brand name other than the brand name of the company that manufactured/produced the item being offered in the listing, or the celebrity who has owned or officially endorsed the item being offered. You can relist your item by removing the irrelevant brand name from the listing.

I've noticed this is the first time you breached our policy, please take some time to read our help page below. If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to reply to this email.

Adding brand, celebrity, or manufacturer names to a listing that was not made by that company, person, or manufacturer isn't allowed.

Making comparisons or including unrelated terms in your listing may confuse buyers who may not be clear about what is actually being offered. This can result in an unsuccessful transaction and may also lead to a buyer claim being filed.

To avoid any problems in the future, please use only terms that describe your item accurately.

Regards,

eBay Trust & Safety













MY REPLY:

Hi, Is this a joke?

These are 30 year old specific parts designed to be used with bike frames from the companies listed (in the title) many of which no longer exist.

 if anything these descriptive brand names help re affirm what the particular item is in order to help the potential buyers make a educated purchase & to find a relevant product more easily. This in no way could would confuse buyers As you have stated especially as there was a clear photograph & description to match within the advert

I often wonder if ebay sets out to confuse me as every time I log on to the site my front page is full of Nike Blazer trainers, I’ve searched for Nike Blazer trainers once in 2011 & it’s quite annoying as i don’t want to buy any now as they went out of fashion in 2012, (so this confuses me).

 Id much rather you filled my front page with (old school bmx products) as I use this search term (((every single day))) & surely this is much more relevant to my ebay experience ?

 Also within my advert was the search term (OLD SCHOOL BMX) anyone buying in to items labelled (OLD SCHOOL BMX) would be doing so with plenty of prior knowledge of the parts they are buying as the only people interested in this subject matter are generally 40 yr old men re living their youth & buying the parts to re build bikes they had when they were kids & are by definition very knowledgable about the subject matter brands & Parts in question. There is however some confusion as to when old school bmx ended (but thats another story).

You also state that "Sellers aren't permitted to use any irrelevant brand names in a title or description of the listing as it results in a poor search experience" I would ask you to please explain why  the brand names Rickman Haro GT & Skyway would be deemed irrelevant  in this case (as explained above ) the parts in question dis compe mx 1000 calipers are designed to work in harmony with frames from these brands.

I have 100% feedback & a trusted seller so why would i set out to confuse or deceive. surely this is a mechanism you put in place in order to safe guard  buyers from such tyrants ? Talking of tyrants you should look at the people who overcharge for goods (thats confusing)......

So overall I can see how your (confusion) argument may stand up within other sections of the site but not in this case. Come to think of it if i was looking to buy tampons & someone put panty pads within the description but clearly had a photo of tampons I’m sure that i wouldn’t get confused & I’m a bloke. This is exactly the reason people are moving away from ebay & are selling on private sites within a trusted community of members.

 This action has prompted to me sell the item concerned on one of these sites & Ebay will not be getting a cut. It might be an idea in future to research & educate yourselves before sending out such emails & taking such a carte blanche approach to item deletion as this shows a complete lack of understanding of the items on your site & your customer base, i would argue too that this shows an attitude of utter contempt towards both your sellers their reputation & products not to mention the mental capacity of your adult buyers & their ability to make an educated purchase on you site without your help,

MC018 Your eBay listing has been removed: Brand Name Misuse (799533648)


Why don't they just say that someone from GT contacted them & is claiming intellectual property theft as I used GT in the title

[brettypeeps]

you can have a title that says "To fit Haro Hutch DP Rickman Gt Skyway"

[Devilock]

Go & have a bath.

[nosepickben]

Great response. Well done. All bases covered there dude. 

[Dark Diggler]

"You also state that "Sellers aren't permitted to use any irrelevant brand names in a title or description of the listing as it results in a poor search experience" I would ask you to please explain why  the brand names Rickman Haro GT & Skyway would be deemed irrelevant  in this case (as explained above ) the parts in question dis compe mx 1000 calipers are designed to work in harmony with frames from these brands."



What a load of bollocks

[Funkyworm]

you can have a title that says "To fit Haro Hutch DP Rickman Gt Skyway"

No, you can't , you are not supposed to use any brand name other than that of the item itself (it's just the luck of the draw) if you get pulled up on it.

if this was the case it would have been much easier for ebay to just say this instead of using their condescending (know it all tone), & i don't think you got the tone of my reply pointing this out ? Beside's i thought it might give the night shift at ebay laugh, gotta be shit working there...

[boofy44]

just put new old school and you can sell fake or re-chromed/painted with repro stickers stuff with no
come back and people pay well over the odds.

[fischflo]

i wonder if that ebay person (robot ) has a point when it's saying that the multi term use " results in poor search experience".
Maybe she means, that people who look for one of those things (terms) get pissed off if they keep getting lists of results full of things they weren't specifically looking for.
... must read your reponse again...

[GavinDavis]

Ebay is a massive pain in the arse! God knows why they pull items for multiple title use as it woulr clearly make them more money if the item was to bid at a higher amount at a broader audience?

[fischflo]

.... on the other hand you can argue ---- and that's what you do in a way --- that for the specific olschool bmx scene the (THAT) multi term use is ok ... as the results won't be overwhelming anyway .... more a win/win strategy or approach.

i can't tell .... i hardly ever look over therefor bmx 

[Gnarlyscoots]

I have to agree with Ebay here to be honest. I hate typing in say, Dia Compe, and having to sieve through the junk that people have typed Dia Compe into the heading of just to get viewed there too.

It may seem relevant to you that these items be used in conjunction with the said brand named frame sets but, why just not type in Dia Compe? If that's what someone wants, why would they type in Rickman 

[Funkyworm]

I have to agree with Ebay here to be honest. I hate typing in say, Dia Compe, and having to sieve through the junk that people have typed Dia Compe into the heading of just to get viewed there too.

It may seem relevant to you that these items be used in conjunction with the said brand named frame sets but, why just not type in Dia Compe? If that's what someone wants, why would they type in Rickman 

I for one have been glad people use multiple brand names in item descriptions  as long as the the item was properly described, so I don't see the issue. When i got back in to bmx i'd forgotten about half the brands & products that were out there & upon seeing these names in title descriptions actively went on to look for & research those items as well & in turn buying these said items & making people & ebay money as a result.

I also was hoping that the tone of my reply was not only to the point but a complete piss take & witty retort  (maybe it wasn't that good)

[Retrodan72]

There are hundreds of reasons why eBay is shit, this is way down the list. 

It's full of thieves and flippers. Long gone are the days of actually bidding on something you want, and winning it - unless you're prepared to pay stupid amounts for something that frankly isn't worth it.

Don't get me wrong, I buy off eBay regularly, but I can't remember the last time I did it via an auction, there are too many people that use snipes now, unless its got a BIN price, I'll swerve it.

[griff]

bloody keyword spammers 

[Funkyworm]

i just thought the bit about tampons was funny, of & the passage about when old school ended ?

[Jaan]

I've got to say that listings like yours make my teeth itch. Be honest now, were you doing a public service by listing all those manufacturers or were you trying to maximise the visibility of your listing?
I fookin hate checking my saved searches like "JMC" only to find 90% of the results aren't JMC as some numpty has listed "Repop comp III JMC Haro Skyway Raleigh Torker Robinson S.E."
If I want to search for a Comp III or MX1000 that's what I search for - I don't put in "Rickman"
Sorry bud but listings like yours is why I think eBay is shit - I for one support what they're doing to make searching more effective.   

[Funkyworm]

I've got to say that listings like yours make my teeth itch. Be honest now, were you doing a public service by listing all those manufacturers or were you trying to maximise the visibility of your listing?
I fookin hate checking my saved searches like "JMC" only to find 90% of the results aren't JMC as some numpty has listed "Repop comp III JMC Haro Skyway Raleigh Torker Robinson S.E."
If I want to search for a Comp III or MX1000 that's what I search for - I don't put in "Rickman"
Sorry bud but listings like yours is why I think eBay is shit - I for one support what they're doing to make searching more effective.   

Of course you are trying to raise the visibility to a degree but go on there now & type (Haro freestyler) & the first thing that appears is a pro-lite craig campbell. At the end of the day by listing it as (old school bmx) only items with (old school bmx ) will be included in the returned search findings (cutting out 3/4 of all the bmx items listed . Roughly around 2000 items max will appear & if you add a single brand & part name in to the search it's cut drastically.

 (old school bmx JMC) for example just returned 14 items, (((wow)))  that was hard work searching through all of those keyword spammers , it took all of a bout 5 seconds....  I get your point Chris but when it's such a small amount of (extra) product thats appearing is it really an issue (is your ebay experience spoilt)?.  My point to ebay was that yeah i understand what they are saying but the parts (were) talking about are specific & t's a specialised market whereby the (searchers) are not fooking stupid &  they know what a dia comp mx 1000 is so by adding a couple of extra brand names to the title by is not going to (confuse them) as they stated in their email to me.

it's not the policy it's the way it's implemented that i was pointing out in what i thought was a witty way with a few things thrown in for you radsters & that would make the ebay police laugh.......

[Jaan]

Couldn't you respond without the sarcasm?

Ok, JMC might not be the best example but the bottom line is irrefutable - descriptions like yours  dilute the accuracy of search results.

[Funkyworm]

Couldn't you respond without the sarcasm?

Ok, JMC might not be the best example but the bottom line is irrefutable - descriptions like yours  dilute the accuracy of search results.

Chris i agree with your point but personally i just don't think the (spammy) items that pop up are such an issue & I certainly don't agree with ebay who are saying that by adding these (key words or additional brands) that this confuses the buyer ((((in this particular marketplace of old school bmx))) & my point to them was please (((give us some credit))) these rules do not apply here, we know what we are buying so it's ridiculous to take my item down for these reasons especially as theres a fook load other items up there right now with the same kind of descriptions that haven't been taken down so the inconsistency is also a pain in the ass.

[Gnarlyscoots]

Now type in 'old school bmx GT' and you get 441 returns.

The very first item to appear  >>  Falcon Beta-s Bmx Old School Rare Bike Vw Retro Burner Hutch Haro Gt  <<

This tw@t has even put VW in the heading so it will appear to people looking at cars/motors etc.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Falcon-Beta-s-Bmx-Old-School-Rare-Bike-Vw-Retro-Burner-Hutch-Haro-Gt-/261235819202?pt=UK_Bikes_GL&hash=item3cd2de42c2

Where's the fookin' GT in/on that item?  That's the point Ebay are getting at. It has nothing to do with GT what-so-ever and shouldn't have GT in the listing title.

[Jaan]

I appreciate your frustration Callum and eBay's handling is typical of a gigantic monopoly with the whole "it's my way or the highway" approach. They should have informed you first, but in the interest of fairness they can't apply different search rules depending on what your selling so as much as it pains me to side with a behemoth like eBay I'm going to this time 

[Funkyworm]

Now type in 'old school bmx GT' and you get 441 returns.

One of them being for 'NOS old school bmx SM wheel discs GT'

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NOS-old-school-bmx-SM-wheel-discs-GT-/111087056033?pt=UK_sportsleisure_cycling_bikeparts_SR&hash=item19dd4df4a1

Where's the fookin' GT in/on that item?  That's the point Ebay are getting at. It has nothing to do with GT what-so-ever and shouldn't have GT in the listing title.

fook do you work for ebay or summut ?? My point was clear  (Adding brand names at the end of listings that have been clearly described with pictures does not confuse buyers or products in this market place) so Ebay please give us all some credit . Did you even read my reply it was a light hearted fooking wind up with this point thrown in. The people at ebay have probably read it thought to themselves what a tool & gotten on with their shift , which is how it was meant to have been taken.

I've found with ebay that If you want a clear specific item return on a search it's best to put in a clear specific item description in the search bar in the first place, something like (redline forklifter stem) & generally you'll find most of the spam pretty much non existent , the more generic or lazy the the search criteria such as (GT OLD SCHOOL) the more spam that will appear, simple really.

Sorry if this seems to have offended you (for whatever reason) this was supposed to be a light hearted post if some of you have decided to take it upon yourselves to have a go at me over issues you have with previous posts youve seen on ebay then fair enough but it's a bit harsh & if you had taken the time to actually read my reply you'll see i was simply having a laugh at ebay & their policies (sticking up for us all & our ability to make our own mind up when making a purchase as they seem to think were all stupid ) & pointing out to them that their listing policies are not always really relevant & certainly not serious enough to remove an item from sale but actually promote sales.  All i was trying to do was sell some brakes that were in a shit condition when i got them on a bike i bought (which actually was a rickman) so to me it seemed relevant to mention that in the advert & was trying to recoup some funds by selling them on  .... Haw very dare i FFS

[Gnarlyscoots]

Callum, in the first instant, no one at Ebay will ever read your reply. The first instant would have been a computer generated mail after you added a keyword like GT for instance. Your reply, though valued to you, would just get binned off. They make their policies and that's it. You won't have someone sitting there going through all the 1000's of replies to a 'removal of post'.

Not digging at you in any way, I was merely pointing out my approval of Ebay's policy in this instance mate 

[mattfx81]

What has possibly happened here is a collector from the bmx politically correct society who has too much time has reported the advert.

[leehunt1]

nice weather we are having at the moment..