OT: Ebay Removed My Derek Jeter 1997 Topps Auto Card

[thetruthisoutthere]

A little while ago, Ebay removed my Derek Jeter "1997 Topps Rookie Of The Year" autograph card.

This is the second time this has happened to me.

It happened to me once before on September 21, 2013 when Ebay removed my Derek Jeter "2001 Fleer Monumental Moments" autograph card.

Below is a link to the discussion I posted on AML when it occurred the first time.

http://live.autographmagazine.com/pr...oments-autogra

First, below is the message I received from Ebay.

After reviewing your eBay account, it appears that you have violated eBay's Trademark Violation - Unauthorized Item policy. As a result, we've taken the following actions on your account:
- Selling privileges have been temporarily restricted. You won't be able to list new items for 7 days.
- Violating listings have been removed. A list of items that were removed can be viewed at the bottom of this message.
- We have credited all associated fees except for the final value fee for your listing(s).

The listing that was removed appeared to violate eBay policy or a rights owner's trademark. Please remember that you are responsible for the quality and authenticity of the products that you offer on eBay. It is against eBay policy to list any counterfeit items.

For more information please see our Replica, counterfeit items, and unauthorized copies policy:
http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/...unterfeit.html

To ensure that we comply with the law, we take precaution when it comes to the sale of items that are being infringed to avoid having possible issue in the future. Whatever changes you make to a new listing will be taken into consideration, but this doesn't guarantee that it will not be removed if it was reviewed again. We acknowledge that you?re a responsible seller with no negative intentions and this reminder was never to question the authenticity of your item. We also want to make sure that there will be no confusion or hesitation with your buyers and they?ll be at ease when browsing through your items, which in return, helps you become a more reliable and trusted seller.

Please consider the following the next time you list an item:
- Your listing was brought to our attention by members of the community, who expressed concern with the authenticity of your item.When we receive a report we will investigate and make the most appropriate decision, keeping the interest of the community in mind.
- It would also help to include a proof of authenticity from one of eBay's approved authenticators.

You as sellers are responsible for making sure that yor items are authentic. Keep in mind that we're unable to authenticate your items, so you have to be able to stand behind your products and all the information you provide in your listings, including pictures.

During this restriction you can still:
- Send email
- Obtain shipping addresses
- Leave Feedback
- Perform other administrative tasks

After 7 days, your account will no longer be restricted. However, please be sure your current and future listings follow these guidelines, keeping in mind that additional violations of this policy could result in the suspension of your account.

Below are photos of the Derek Jeter "1997 Topps Rookie Of The Year" autograph card. Please note that this is a Topps-Issued autograph card.

Jeter1997-1.jpg

Jeter1997-2.jpg


So why is Ebay targeting me?

They hate the fact that I continue to expose the sellers of forgeries on their website!!!!

Someone is sending me a message to stop???!!!

But more importantly, and in my opinion, there are people on Ebay's EMR team who are targeting me. I have a good idea who they are, but, of course, cannot prove it.

Could it be the fact that I continue to expose forgeries certed by one of Ebay's "Trusted" Third Party Authenticators?

I know the names of some of the members of EBay's EMR team, and I know two of them who want me to stop.

So while EBay and the certain dirtbags on their EMR team remove my authentic and legitimate listings (and ban me for seven (7) days), Ebay continues to profit from the sales of forgeries.

[Big Dave]

I guess they took your challenge.


Sep 21

Christopher Williams
Maybe "that person" over at Ebay would also like to remove my Derek Jeter "1997 Topps-Issued Rookie Of The Year" autograph card?
Well?
I know you're reading this.........
Well?

[thetruthisoutthere]

Originally Posted by Big Dave

I guess they took your challenge.


Sep 21

Christopher Williams
Maybe "that person" over at Ebay would also like to remove my Derek Jeter "1997 Topps-Issued Rookie Of The Year" autograph card?
Well?
I know you're reading this.........
Well?

You're absolutely right, Dave.

I have a good idea who they are.

[7nohitter]

Wow....to think Ebay has the time to monitor individual accounts and auctions....this is very interesting Chris. Will you post more cards, or this card again, to test this theory?

[thetruthisoutthere]

Originally Posted by 7nohitter

Wow....to think Ebay has the time to monitor individual accounts and auctions....this is very interesting Chris. Will you post more cards, or this card again, to test this theory?

Until next Saturday, I am not able to list any items on EBay.

Immediately after my Jeter autograph card was removed, I attempted to test the waters, but I was blocked from listing it due to the "7 Day Ban."

It's impossible to speak to an EBay rep since the left-hand doesn't know what the right-hand is doing on EBay.

I am not the only one who has been target of Ebay. Many of my friends on AML have had their legitimate items removed from Ebay.

Ebay wants us to back off.........not going to happen.

[GrayGhost]

Is there ever and end to this stuff? Even the big companies like ebay are messing with stuff and certain people are blackballed, because they may be "controversial"? Pathetic.

[Runscott]

About ten years ago I got into a forum argument with someone who took a job at ebay, and I then started having listing violations right and left. These were illegitimate issues, so quite obviously it wasn't a 'member of the community'.

If, as an employee, you did such vindictive things at any major corporation in the U.S., you would be fired and quite possibly end up in jail. Ebay seems to be immune.

[thetruthisoutthere]

Originally Posted by Runscott

About ten years ago I got into a forum argument with someone who took a job at ebay, and I then started having listing violations right and left. These were illegitimate issues, so quite obviously it wasn't a 'member of the community'.

If, as an employee, you did such vindictive things at any major corporation in the U.S., you would be fired and quite possibly end up in jail. Ebay seems to be immune.

+1

[Runscott]

Chris, I'm wondering - since this actually impacts your business, thus your livelihood, even if on a very minute scale - couldn't you take ebay to small claims court? At that point, they would kind of be forced to research the two incidents, would identify the employee who seems to have a personal vendetta against you, and he would probably be fired. Does that seem logical, or am I missing something?

[thetruthisoutthere]

Originally Posted by Runscott

Chris, I'm wondering - since this actually impacts your business, thus your livelihood, even if on a very minute scale - couldn't you take ebay to small claims court? At that point, they would kind of be forced to research the two incidents, would identify the employee who seems to have a personal vendetta against you, and he would probably be fired. Does that seem logical, or am I missing something?

Scott, it's a hobby for me, not a business.

Definitely not a business.

It's not really a big deal that I can't list for seven days, but the fact that someone at Ebay is targeting those that expose the scammers simply isn't right.

Ebay has twice removed two autograph cards (Fleer-Issued & Topps-Issued) of mine. When I re-listed my Jeter Fleer-Issued autograph, it was not removed and eventually sold.

Then I listed my Topps-Issued Jeter autograph card, it was removed and I was banned from listing for seven days.

Now check out the below Mantle forgery. It was removed twice. Ebay seller SellingMyPast re-listed it a second time and nothing. Up to a year ago, if a seller tried to re-list an item twice after it was removed, they would have been suspended for 30 days.

Also, Ebay seller SellingMyPast is using an old Scoreboard COA in an attempt to sell his Mantle forgery.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mickey-Mantl...item19e47d4c3a



selling-1.jpg

[Big Dave]

But he has a story on why it was removed, and now everything is good.



Note: this ball was put up for auction on Ebay on 10/29 and was to end 11/3* but was removed 2 hours before auction was to end by ebay for* trademark violation. I*contacted ebay and after*a lengthy conversation with several folks*authenticity of ball*is no longer in question**and ball is being allowed to be relisted. I know several folks had placed a bid on ball and since I do not know who you are so I can let you know*removal of listing has been corrected*I can only hope you are still looking for a Mickey Mantle autographed baseball. I am sorry for any inconvenience this has caused you folks who had bid on ball.

[Runscott]

Originally Posted by Runscott

...even if on a very minute scale

Anyone else have thoughts on my question?

[Leon]

Originally Posted by Runscott

Anyone else have thoughts on my question?

It impacted his sale but the rules for ebay supercede anything else on ebay. And I am sure, they have as I do on this board, a catch 22 clause for the ones that could be tweeners. Most times, I would think that Taking ebay to court would require deep pockets to win. Not sure if that answered your question though.

[Runscott]

Originally Posted by Leon

It impacted his sale but the rules for ebay supercede anything else on ebay. And I am sure, they have as I do on this board, a catch 22 clause for the ones that could be tweeners. Most times, I would think that Taking ebay to court would require deep pockets to win. Not sure if that answered your question though.

Thanks Leon. I'm talking about situations where there is no ebay rule violation, but an employee with a personal vendetta has created a violation. It's basically improper use of company information by an employee and I would think that the higher-ups would frown on that. Winning the case is not the issue - it is making ebay go to the trouble of having to send someone to small claims court, thus having to go through the process of figuring out which employee caused them the grief. And firing that employee.

People tend to think of corporations as entities in themselves, which they are; however, they are also obviously composed of a lot of individual meat-based people who make stupid individual decisions, often illegal, that the other people in the company would not approve of. Basically, this wasn't ebay that did this to Chris - it was a person. Same in my situation - someone who likes to have fun at the expense of others, had fun at my expense. Nothing truly evil - just using company resources to make my life a little difficult for a few moments.

Turnabout (turned up) is fair play.

[Big Dave]

Any litigation involving eBay must be done California, per their user's agreement.

The expense would far outweigh any benefit.

[Runscott]

Thanks, Dave. So then it comes down to bringing the offending employee to your home state, if you have enough evidence. That, along with his association with ebay and having committed the crime while under their employment, should be enough for him to lose his job.

[Mr. Zipper]

As a publicly traded company, you'd think eBay would have some sort of Ombudsman or Compliance Officer to escalate alleged improper/unethical employee behavior. Perhaps with a little digging, the identity of that type of person could be uncovered. (The regular complaint process is not appropriate because the issue is with an employee -- not with a transaction.)

This page at eBay, Inc. details the Board of Directors and also features the eBay Employee Code of Conduct and Ethics: http://investor.ebayinc.com/governance.cfm

If it was me, I'd try to find an Ombudsman. If that did not work, then write to every member of the Board of Directors until I got a satisfactory response.

[Runscott]

Chris, After posting my story about an event that happened with an ebay employee 10 years ago, guess what? I got an auction pulled last night for no reason whatsoever - they listed a reason, but it was irrelevant. Now I'm wondering if the same person still works for them - I know he visits this forum. I had hoped that was all over with, but maybe not.

[drcy]

..

[thetruthisoutthere]

Originally Posted by Runscott

Chris, After posting my story about an event that happened with an ebay employee 10 years ago, guess what? I got an auction pulled last night for no reason whatsoever - they listed a reason, but it was irrelevant. Now I'm wondering if the same person still works for them - I know he visits this forum. I had hoped that was all over with, but maybe not.

Coincidence, Scott?

Nope.

[earlywynnfan]

I'd like to go on record as saying ebay is wonderful, they handle everything perfectly, and I couldn't be happier with them!

I'm going back to posting. Nothing to see here, move along now.

Ken

[mighty bombjack]

Originally Posted by drcy

I don't know what went on with the Jeter auction and am not accusing anyone of anything, but someone with power and influence at eBay intentionally having authentic items falsely removed as fakes as part of personal vendettas sounds prosecutable to me. Mastro's in prison in part for shilling and I wouldn't be surprise if that's considered a lesser offense. Though no doubt the amount of money involved helps determine.

Maybe I'm naive, but what crime is being committed here? Doesn't ebay have the right to refuse service to anyone, like those signs you see hanging in shops? They are a company selling a service, and they don't have to sell that service to everybody, do they? Perhaps the answer is different for publicly traded versus individually owned businesses, but I'm not aware of how.

I wonder how often they've been sued by NARU'd users.

[mighty bombjack]

Originally Posted by Runscott

Chris, I'm wondering - since this actually impacts your business, thus your livelihood, even if on a very minute scale - couldn't you take ebay to small claims court? At that point, they would kind of be forced to research the two incidents, would identify the employee who seems to have a personal vendetta against you, and he would probably be fired. Does that seem logical, or am I missing something?

I am not a lawyer, and anyone can file suit for anything in this country, but nobody has the inherent right to use ebay. They are a company selling their service. It seems that ebay would simply say that a user was negatively affecting their business, and then it would be on the plaintiff to prove discrimination, no?

[Runscott]

Originally Posted by mighty bombjack

I am not a lawyer, and anyone can file suit for anything in this country, but nobody has the inherent right to use ebay. They are a company selling their service. It seems that ebay would simply say that a user was negatively affecting their business, and then it would be on the plaintiff to prove discrimination, no?

I don't think companies can enforce their own rules differently against different people. But what I've tried to emphasize is that this is about a single vindictive employee, not the entire company. I think that if the company knew what was going on, they would fire the employee. But maybe not - perhaps they have an entire department of vigilantes who go out and try to drive undesirable sellers batty through random rule enforcement.

[Mr. Zipper]

Originally Posted by Runscott

But what I've tried to emphasize is that this is about a single vindictive employee, not the entire company. I think that if the company knew what was going on, they would fire the employee. But maybe not - perhaps they have an entire department of vigilantes who go out and try to drive undesirable sellers batty through random rule enforcement.

Speculation obviously, but I agree.

I don't think eBay is officially targeting anyone or has a policy to intimidate and harass critics.

But is it possible there are bad elements in the hobby that have their "man on the inside"? Could there be a rogue element within eBay in the pocket of certain sellers?

Over the past 6 months or so, based on the consistent pattern of a) mass-produced bad material no longer being regularly removed as it once was, and b) bad things suddenly happening to critics, it seems clear to me.

[drcy]

...

[Runscott]

Originally Posted by Mr. Zipper

Speculation obviously, but I agree.

I don't think eBay is officially targeting anyone or has a policy to intimidate and harass critics.

But is it possible there are bad elements in the hobby that have their "man on the inside"? Could there be a rogue element within eBay in the pocket of certain sellers?

Over the past 6 months or so, based on the consistent pattern of a) mass-produced bad material no longer being regularly removed as it once was, and b) bad things suddenly happening to critics, it seems clear to me.

Your scenario makes sense - I hadn't thought of anything like that.

[chaddurbin]

Originally Posted by Runscott

Chris, After posting my story about an event that happened with an ebay employee 10 years ago, guess what? I got an auction pulled last night for no reason whatsoever - they listed a reason, but it was irrelevant. Now I'm wondering if the same person still works for them - I know he visits this forum. I had hoped that was all over with, but maybe not.

i've only known one long time board member that worked for ebay/paypal, he moved from the east coast out west to work for them. not sure if we're talking about the same person, but he doesn't work there anymore. he also doesn't seem to be the type to pull auctions just because he had a disagreement on the board (i don't think he's even in that dept).

[Runscott]

Quan, you might as well cut bait, but...

...to satisfy your quest somewhat, I will say this - given some other interactions with this guy, he just seemed to have a devilish streak in him. Nothing generally hugely malicious, but I'm certain he enjoyed getting people riled up. I should have ignored him. I didn't, and he struck. No surprise, but I obviously can't allow that to be a trend.

[drcy]

...

[thetruthisoutthere]

Originally Posted by drcy

eBay is a big company. Just because someone works for the company doesn't mean he has the ability or authority to remove auctions.

Some can. That is a fact.

[Runscott]

Originally Posted by thetruthisoutthere

Some can. That is a fact.

Yep. My story wasn't a hypothetical - it was a fact.

[thetruthisoutthere]

Originally Posted by Runscott

Yep. My story wasn't a hypothetical - it was a fact.

Absolutely, Scott!

We have an idea who these one or two people are.

Unfortunately, as they say, it's not what you know, but what you can prove.

[thetruthisoutthere]

Before Ebay allowed me to start listing again, I had to take a 13-Question test (a tutorial).

My opinion on the test I took; it was a bunch of crap!!!!!

[Mr. Zipper]

LOL

Beyond belief. Sellers of mass quantities of poor cookie cutter forgeries go unchecked, and an honest seller is taking absurd tests to get back into eBay's good graces. We are down the rabbit hole.

[baseball tourist]

Interesting news story out of Canada re cross border lawsuit against Ebay for cancelling a lucrative collectable auction.

http://www.cbc.ca/m/touch/canada/mon...tory/1.2421778

[Big Dave]

Good for the appeals court in ruling for the brothers. Hope they kick ebay's ***.

[Runscott]

Originally Posted by baseball tourist

Interesting news story out of Canada re cross border lawsuit against Ebay for cancelling a lucrative collectable auction.

http://www.cbc.ca/m/touch/canada/mon...tory/1.2421778

At least ebay actually had a reason for ending the auction - a wrong reason maybe, but one that could be logically defended. Pulling an auction because they (or an employee) are angry with someone and then tacking on a semi-random reason, is total bullshit.

[thetruthisoutthere]

Originally Posted by Big Dave

Good for the appeals court in ruling for the brothers. Hope they kick ebay's ***.

+1

I agree with, Scott, too, but Ebay could use, and deserves, a spanking.

[steve B]

They do, but....

1)he article is unclear. Did they list shoes they didn't have? I don't think that's allowed.

2) Seriously? Their middle name is Mofo? Doesn't that just scream fake name to anyone?

3) On the other hand, that is one UGLY shoe. Anyone bidding nearly 100K for a pair that isn't even game used gets what they deserve. Heck, you can probably buy an entire low level independent league team for not much more.

Steve B