A Mini-Guide to VERO Strikes and Punishments on eBay

[Deleted member 791392]

Hey so when I first started eBay I got several VERO penalties because I tried to list LEGIT Windows COA keys. However no matter what I did they would be removed so I finally gave up on that and moved on to listing a different item I had. Everything was going going well until about 3 months later (today - 7/18/2014) when I got slapped with another VERO strike due to a silly mistake in one of my newer listings. This strike led to me not being able to list for 30 days. So after doing a bit of thinking I made this little list of punishments for VERO strikes based on my personal experience:

1st VERO Strike: They remove the violating listing, ask you to not list it again, and require you to take a course on copyright rules.
2nd + 3rd VERO Strike: They remove the violating listings and ask you to no longer list those items.
4th + 5th VERO Strike: They remove the violating listings and take away your listing privileges for 1 week.
Anything past 5 VERO Strikes: They remove the violating listings and take away your listing rights for 1 month.
Anything past the strike that gets you a month of no listing is unknown to me.

I'm assuming that a permanent suspension may occur, or possibly another month without listing rights for several violations after your first one month listing ban.
Eventually with enough VERO strikes you will be suspended from eBay.

PLEASE NOTE: These strikes and punishments come from my account which is older than a year and had 50+ feedback when the first strike was attained - (250+ feedback when the 5th strike happened)

IF YOU HAVE LESS TIME ON THE ACCOUNT OR HAVE LESS FEEDBACK THAN MY ACCOUNT IN THIS CASE, YOU MAY BE BANNED PERMANENTLY FROM EBAY (On the violating account) FOR EVEN THE FIRST VERO VIOLATION - EVEN LISTING A SINGLE HIGH RISK VERO ITEM CAN LEAD TO A BAN ON A NEW ACCOUNT (They really are strict with new accounts)

Also I have a question for the BHW community, does anyone know how long it takes for an account's VERO penalties to reset back to the 1st strike? I'd love to find out as I'm sure this info would be helpful to quite a few people, myself included.
If you have any knowledge of VERO punishments please post below and I'll add the info to this list.

UPDATE 1: It seems that the longer you let a listing remain up on eBay the higher of a chance it has of being flagged for VERO. So I recommend you limit the length of your high risk VERO listings to 5-7 days. So that they don't build up too much attention and get removed for violations.

UPDATE 2: I have found that if you get another VERO violation while you are under a no listing ban, your new VERO violation will only remove the listing, not add time to the current listing ban from your former VERO violations.

UPDATE 3: The first VERO flag you receive will most likely be by a copyright holder who found your listing and flagged it to eBay. As soon as a real human flags one of your listings eBay will use automated robots to check the rest of your listings for keywords like software, DVD, audio tapes, CD, and similar words that will lead to those listings being taken down by eBay's automatic system. So my advice is as soon as you get a single VERO case immediately remove any other items you know may even slightly violate VERO, and wait a few days before you relist them and go on with your selling. Just repeat this process for every time a new VERO case is opened against you.

 

[snahfu]

when buyers dont leave positive feedback, does that mean ebay will still consider my account an account with zero feedback?

Most of my buyers are happy, but they just dont leave feedback.

 

[toml3030]

when buyers dont leave positive feedback, does that mean ebay will still consider my account an account with zero feedback?

Most of my buyers are happy, but they just dont leave feedback.

Feedback means nothing in the big picture. All that matters is how many people complain that you're selling fakes and what your overall defect rate is.

 

[yanov10]

How the this member: you-goods (search in eBay)
Can manage to sell without be banned?
He sell in very low price it cant be the original keys.

 

[andtimo]

How does mechanism for spotting VERO items work? Do they have some automated algorithm for keyword search and price match or they have employees who monitor listings? Or they just review the items, that were reported by somebody?


I had one item taken down around a month ago, because I was stupid enough to put brand name into the listing title. I relisted it with no mentions of brand name and it has not been taken down since then. Yesterday, I had another listing taken down - had no brand name in title, but had brand name in item description and the brand logo was clearly seen on the pictures. I still want to sell this item and have no problem in taking away all brand name mentions in description, but I wonder if having the logo clearly seen on item pictures will be an issue?


Any input on this subject will be greatly appreciated! Thank you!

 

[tong444]

Feedback means nothing in the big picture. All that matters is how many people complain that you're selling fakes and what your overall defect rate is.