[HELP!] - Competitor keeps taking my listing down (item is legit). How we I take HIM down?

Hi guys,

I have recently listed an item on eBay. The item in question requires certification before legally being allowed to be sold. I have paid for and received the certification which costs upwards of $20,000.

Now that I have received the certification and am legally allowed to list the item for sale, I am experiencing problems keeping my listing up. There is one main competitor and I am confident that he is behind the continued problems I am facing.

He has placed orders and refused to pay unless certificate is shown -- obviously him as the eBay delivery address was the registered address for his business.

He has called up and pretended to be a buyer and then has left intimidating warnings about contacting authorities because the item is illegal (which real consumer does that, anyway, on the first day a listing is up).

He has reported the listing numerous times, for the smallest of errors - that resulted in getting the listing taken down until changes were made to ensure it was literally 100% compliant with eBay policies.

I have overcome all of the above and was able to keep my listing online, for the first time, for several days. However, today I received an email that it has yet again been taken down. Unfortunately, this time the fix does not appear obvious.

Apparently a Government body has contacted eBay, requesting to have our listing remove as it was put into a hazardous / explosion category. The item poses no such hazard and unfortunately eBay are not helpful at all when it comes to receiving more information. On top of that, they removed the listing and all sales records - so now I have several PayPal payments + bank payments but absolutely NO eBay records.

I think the "Government body" contacting eBay must be a lie, as we have our certificate number clearly labelled on the listing and this is all that is needed for this item. The competitor turns over a big amount each year on eBay, is it possible he has someone on the inside helping him get us removed?

Now, what I would LOVE your help on:

--> How can I give this guy a taste of his own medicine? I am convinced that unless I can also get his listings taken down, he will not stop playing games - as he clearly thinks he is the only one capable at this point.

--> Is there anyone here who knows of an eBay employee who would be willing to help? The listing itself is absolutely legitimate and legal.

I would appreciate any and all help!

Kind Regards,
Krzysiekz

My first reaction would be to call ebay.Talk to them about your problem , contact their appropriate department to solve any problems that cause your listing to be taken down.I know they are slow and many times they cant even answer properly to simple questions but its worth it trying.
If you want to take down your competitor , do what he did to you.You know his listings on ebay , his accounts etc.Create some stealth accounts and pretend to be the buyer and make him feel the same he did to you.Keep reporting him , ebay will notice it no matter if he is power seller if too many complaints come in for the same listings.You could also do some real damage to him by ordering and then opening disputes claiming the box was empty , or with cc chargebacks which paypal cant control and always end up in favor of buyer no matter what.But these practices could be considered ethically wrong and illegal , anyway thats up to you if you want to stress it out so much.
If i were you i would talk first with ebay through phone etc to find a possible solutions and if they couldnt help me i would damage a bit the competitor with the practices mentioned above just to scare him of a bit and get him off track.Then i would contact him and i would suggest to stop reporting my listings otherwise all of his accounts and listings would end up removed and limited.

In my experience, when it comes to this kinda situation eBay ain't gonna do jack for you, their CS is useless if not worse (IMO). There are fake VERO takedowns, and its hard to fight it unless you know the rules of the game. Google bogustakedowns, that site will give you some directions.

I feel your pain, Good Luck !

Good luck. I have been there. In my specific case, I did nothing and waited for the other seller to fumble. Eventually if they are too stupid so that they cannot handle competition, then they will likely fail.

ebay is no help

tabberone. explains all the steps to fight veros, if they pull item that isnt copywrited then company that pulled it can loose their patent. plus make their lawyers work.