Nappy Listings removed from ebay

[Stellasmum]

Hi all, I'm new to this forum and a new cloth nappy convert. I have been buying a few different types of nappies from ebay to try and have been trying to resell 2 of them that don't fit my chunky baby girl.
My problem is that a nappy manufacturer keeps removing my listings - one for a second hand Sandra's pocket nappy and one green kids pocket, saying I am violating her intellectual property rights. She will not tell me how I am doing this and how I can change the listing to make it OK.
I am interested in seeing whether anyone else has been having this problem, as I am making a complaint to ebay and possibly the ACCC if i don't get anywhere, and thought there might be others affected out there who could support my complaint???

[InSaneOne]

hi i can't help you with the ebay thing as i am a relative novice myself when it comes to ebay. however if you want to sell the nappies i would be happy to buy them from you. how much do you want for them both?

[Rhoxie]

That's really odd :confused:- I've seen plenty of 2nd hand green kids pockets on ebay and as far as I know there isn't a problem reselling any 2nd hand nappy.

That said I have never seen a sandras stuffable on ebay - I have seen plenty in for sale forums on nappicino, natural parenting, EB and the like though and they tend to go VERY quickly :D

[Stellasmum]

Thanks for your reply. Sure I would be interested in selling the nappies to you - but that wasn't my intention. I want to follow through with my complaint so that this person (no one in relation to green kids or sandras by the way) stops unfairly taking down any other listings which may compete with hers.
Anyway, enough said - the nappies are 1 lime green s-m PUL sandra's pocket nappy and 1 pink fleece green kids pocket. If you are interested then email me and I'll give you more details. I'm not sure how you go about this though - sorry this is only my second post!!
Sharyn

[MrsMiggins]

Hi Stellasmum

Just a thought...

The only times I have come across that reason for removing a listing are when sellers are on-selling products they have bought off eBay previously, but are using the seller's picture. If you have copied the picture of the nappies from the previous seller's ad, that is against eBay policy & you may have your listing removed.

If that's not the reason, then I'm not sure what else it could be. The seller is being very unco-operative if they are ignoring your requests to know what is wrong with your ad in any case!

[Stellasmum]

[quote=Rhoxie]That's really odd :confused:- I've seen plenty of 2nd hand green kids pockets on ebay and as far as I know there isn't a problem reselling any 2nd hand nappy.

I know, I bought it from ebay in the first place. But very recently another ebay seller has begun to remove the listings of almost any other pocket nappy (I know of at least 2 others whom this has happened to) and with the only explanation being that it 'infringed her intellectual property rights). I can't see how this can be as they are different products. Its not even like I'm making and selling them, i'm just trying to resell 2 nappies second hand. I am keen to stop this as I like buying nappies to try from ebay and want to be able to resell them if they don't fit.
Thanks for the tip about other places to sell them - as I said I'm new to all this (ie cloth nappying) and this is the first forum i have ever joined! If you could give me some links to the places mentioned - i'd be grateful.
Thanks, Sharyn

[Stellasmum]

[quote=MrsMiggins]Hi Stellasmum

Just a thought...

The only times I have come across that reason for removing a listing are when sellers are on-selling products they have bought off eBay previously, but are using the seller's picture. If you have copied the picture of the nappies from the previous seller's ad, that is against eBay policy & you may have your listing removed.



Thanks for that - I took my very own pics - and made my own ads - I did not use anything from anyone's website. And it is not the manufacturer of either of the nappies that I am selling that has complained it is an entirely unrelated 3rd party. This is why I am frustrated as I cannot see any reason why they have been removed. After the first time she removed them I emailed to ask and got no response. Eventually I relisted them, only to have them removed again. I cannot see any other motive than to have any competition removed. I don't usually get cranky easily, but this one has me really frustrated and I want to do something about it. I believe this is not in the spirit of fair trade!
Sharyn

[MrsMiggins]

That is strange!

eBay wouldn't remove a listing without good reason, so it's odd that the seller won't correspond to you regarding it.

I would suggest maybe having a very good look through the eBay rules for sellers & just see if you may have inadvertently breached some little rule.

[Rhoxie]

aahh -- I think I know the seller you are talking about - I think quite a few nappy makers and sellers have had problems with her. If it's the one I'm thinking of she has caused a few nappy sellers to change the name of their product.

Have you tried to complain to Ebay ? as she is an unrelated 3rd party and you are selling a genuine 2nd hand product it does deserve further invesitigation on their part.

I'd also recommend joining nappicino (a forum for cloth nappy users and makers) and raising your problem in their forums as no doubt a few of the other cloth nappyiers have had the same problem

www.nappicino.com

http://www.naturalparenting.com.au/

[mum2paige]

That's interesting - how can someone unrelated remove someone elses listing?

About 4wks ago I bought 2 second hand Green nappies off ebay. After I'd paid for them, I got an email saying that the listings had been removed and I didn't have to complete the transaction. I was a bit worried that there was something dodgy going on, but all was fine and the nappies arrived great as promised.

Anyway, when I got that email I had a look at ebay's policies to see what the seller may have done to have them removed, and the only thing I could see was that she linked to the Green Kids website (which you're not allowed to do).

[veve]

hi

thanks firstly to all posters in this thread for not publically mentioning any sellers names (as this is a public forum.. and all grievances should be aired on ebay)

I have a feeling that the reason you have been having difficulty with the ebay listing is your wording in the presentation of the nappies... lots of 'nappy' words have been copywritten by various sellers including basic terms.

My advice would be to look carefully at other nappies for sale on ebay and check the wording of these...

I have many friends who have had similar issues with ebay nappy selling - many giving up and selling them or trading them on the nappycino forum.. or to friends in real life...

I doubt very much if there is an issue with the words 'greens nappies' - I doubt sasha and ruth are worried - as they often sell their seconds and own old nappies on ebay too ... (I dont know if you can LINK to the website.. you might need their permisson for that .. but use of the word 'greenkids nappy' I dont think would bother them ) - but I have a feeling that if they had an issue .. they would have contacted you rather than remove your listing ??

so I guess you have a few options - re list with different wording and see how that goes... sell them on here... or check out the nappycino site

( I love greens.. and if it wasn't pink I would be interested!!!)

good luck .. and I hope you find the perfect nappy for your bubs soon!!

feel free to PM me if you have any more ebay trouble!!

xx
Jenny

[sopolicha]

( I love greens.. and if it wasn't pink I would be interested!!!)



Oh Look Out! Veve is on the nappy scab again!!


I can't believe someone would actually do that. Doesn't ebay have final say? Shouldn't they be providing you an answer?

I think I know who you are talking about though.

[Seekrit]

I can't believe someone would actually do that. Doesn't ebay have final say?
I think maybe the person could be scaring them with legalalities. I guess ebay may prefer to be safe than sorry.

I can't believe someone would do that either. While no one can be sure who is being spoken about - surely the things said as backlash from this can't be good for business....

[Stellasmum]

That is strange!

eBay wouldn't remove a listing without good reason, so it's odd that the seller won't correspond to you regarding it.

Ebay say they have a legal responsibility to remove listings if someone says it violates their intellectual property rights - they don't check the claim at all - they say its not their job to investigage and that I have to take it up with the seller. I think the seller knows the system and is taking advantage of this ebay 'loophole'.

[Stellasmum]

I think maybe the person could be scaring them with legalalities. I guess ebay may prefer to be safe than sorry.

I can't believe someone would do that either. While no one can be sure who is being spoken about - surely the things said as backlash from this can't be good for business....

Very true on both counts! Ebay err on the side of caution - they don't handle the products and know nothing about them and have no choice but to take the word of the seller.
And regarding it not being good for business, I agree - I was once a customer of this person - and am not anymore!!

[Stellasmum]

About 4wks ago I bought 2 second hand Green nappies off ebay. After I'd paid for them, I got an email saying that the listings had been removed and I didn't have to complete the transaction. I was a bit worried that there was something dodgy going on, but all was fine and the nappies arrived great as promised.

The exact same thing happened to me with a green nappy I purchased around the same time - the listing was cancelled after I had paid and I too was worried there was something wrong. All was OK when I recieved the nappy. At the time I assumed the seller had done something wrong, but then it happened to me! It made me think there must be lots of others out there who this is happening to and I thought if we got together we could make a more substantial complaint to ebay.

[RaryGirl]

Hi all

I also had this problem when I listed a Green Kids nappy on ebay - the auction ended and the buyer paid straight away - so I posted the nappy that day. The next day I got an email from ebay saying I infringed intellectual property rights and cancelled the transaction. The poor buyer thought I was doing something dodgy - emailed me asking ??? and then thanked me for the great nappy when she got it in the mail a couple of days later.

I emailed ebay to ask exactly what I had done wrong - as I identified the nappy by the correct brand name, didn't try to say it was something it wasn't, but all ebay would do was refer me to their terms and conditions.

It's all very confusing! I must say though - if all this lady (who is complaining) does is read other peoples nappy ad's and then complain to ebay - she must have waaaaaaay too much time on her hands. :banghead:

[RaryGirl]

The exact same thing happened to me with a green nappy I purchased around the same time - the listing was cancelled after I had paid and I too was worried there was something wrong. All was OK when I recieved the nappy. At the time I assumed the seller had done something wrong, but then it happened to me! It made me think there must be lots of others out there who this is happening to and I thought if we got together we could make a more substantial complaint to ebay.

Sharyn - I think you are the mum that purchased the Green Nappy/inserts off me through ebay!

[Stellasmum]

hi

thanks firstly to all posters in this thread for not publically mentioning any sellers names (as this is a public forum.. and all grievances should be aired on ebay)

I have a feeling that the reason you have been having difficulty with the ebay listing is your wording in the presentation of the nappies... lots of 'nappy' words have been copywritten by various sellers including basic terms.

I have many friends who have had similar issues with ebay nappy selling - many giving up and selling them or trading them on the nappycino forum.. or to friends in real life...

I doubt very much if there is an issue with the words 'greens nappies' - I doubt sasha and ruth are worried - as they often sell their seconds and own old nappies on ebay too ...

so I guess you have a few options - re list with different wording and see how that goes... sell them on here... or check out the nappycino site

Jenny

Thanks all for your replies. My husband was getting tired of my rantings about nappies, so its nice to talk to people who understand!!

About the above, I agree with not naming names - thats not my intention - I just want to sort out a way to make sure everyone get a fair go!

I believe the seller in question has a patent on a particular type of nappy, but as far as I understand this prohibits others from making and selling the exact same nappy - but not from selling other brands which are different. She does not have a trademark or copyright on the words, and so should not be stopping others from legitimately selling other brands of nappies of that type.

And as for your comment that this has happened to others - that was my suspicion, and that makes me want to take up this issue more and more, I think its really unfair and I don't want to sit back and let this seller bully others into going elsewhere.

And let me stress again - it is not green kids that had the issue with the ads - it is another nappy maker who sells on ebay. And i tried slightly different wording - they were still taken down.

Thanks for your tip about nappicino - i will try them too.

Thanks all for your help

[Stellasmum]

Sharyn - I think you are the mum that purchased the Green Nappy/inserts off me through ebay!

Hi, I guess it was me! I Love the nappy by the way, I will be buying more of those soon!! But what were you doing selling such a great nappy with a baby on the way???!!
Sharyn

[RaryGirl]

Hi, I guess it was me! I Love the nappy by the way, I will be buying more of those soon!! But what were you doing selling such a great nappy with a baby on the way???!!
Sharyn

I bought one to trial (used my niece as a guinea pig) - but it just didn't fit her tubby body. My DD was a tubby bub too, so I thought I'd sell the nappy and if #2 turns out to be skinny (not likely) I can justify (to DH) the purchase of more nappies.

I'm glad you're happy with it - was so very worried after ebay pulled the listing that something would happen and you wouldn't receive the nappy (good old snail mail) and then you'd think I was doing something really dodgy. :no:

[veve]

ok - I think I might close this thread now ... I think that stellasmum is now aware of the support that is out there- and is no longer feeling alone (dont worry hon... it happens LOTS!!)

I hope you sort out the nappy issues - and either find a buyer here or manage to re word your add on ebay ...

if anyone is interested in the nappy .. please PM her privately

good luck

thanks
Jenny