Sony had my PlayStation 4 eBay listings pulled for a VeRO violation (Parallel Import Violation)

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GBAstar

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This morning I received a VeRO policy violation from eBay regarding three PlayStation 4 related listings. They pulled each listing from eBay and my selling account will receive a strike because of this.

Here is the bulk of the e-mail:

hello [seller],
After reviewing your eBay account, it appears that you have violated eBay's Parallel Import Violation - Unauthorized Item policy. We realize you may not have been aware of this policy, or that this may have been a simple oversight, but unfortunately, we had to take the following actions on your account:
- Violating listings have been removed. A list of items that were removed can be viewed at the bottom of this message.
- We have credited any associated fees to your account.

Your listing was removed after the rights owner notified us that your item violated their rights.

Importing certain products from other countries without the rights owners permission may violate their intellectual property rights. Because of this, eBay removes these items when we are contacted by the rights owner.

We encourage you to contact the rights owner directly to better understand their position, as well as the countries or regions that they are concerned about. You will then want to exclude these regions in your listings and will also need to state that you won't sell to buyers in these areas.

For more information on our VeRO program, please visit:
http://pages.ebay.com/help/community/vero-aboutme.html



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.

We encourage you to contact Sony Computer Entertainment Ltd directly if you have any questions.

You can send an email to:
[email protected]

For more information on how eBay protects Intellectual Property, or for additional information if you believe that your listing has been removed as a result of an error or misidentification, please visit the following Help page:
http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/programs-vero-ov.html

If you have additional questions, contact our policy experts. Get started by clicking the link below:
http://ocsnext.ebay.com/ocs/cusr?query=1337&domain=email1414




They pulled three listings; 1) PlayStation 4 Console with extra DualShock 4 Controller 2) DualShock 4 Controller 3) PlayStation 4 Camera


I contacted eBay customer service and was redirected to Trust & Safety. The lady I spoke with said in these instances they don't know exactly what the seller did, just that they (eBay) were contacted by a VeRO member (in this case someone on behalf of Sony) and at their request they pull the listings. The VeRO member doesn't even need to give a reason, just a command.
I was instructed to contact the VeRO member directly using the contact information in the e-mail and I have done so. I quickly sent an e-mail asking for clarification and have yet to hear a response.


I was wondering if any of you understand trademarks and VeRO better then I as my understanding is very limited. I created a thread on the eBay forums and was told it could have to do with international laws and the fact that Sony doesn't want these consoles to be sold outside the United States (I ship internationally).
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Wow, I didn't know Sony was still prevent international sales. Or maybe it's because it's a new system? 

 
Vinny said:
Wow, I didn't know Sony was still prevent international sales. Or maybe it's because it's a new system?
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I'm going to guess that at the request of whatever agreement they have with European retailers that they are going to try and prevent sellers from the United States from exporting consoles to the EU before the release date of 11/29. But that doesn't explain why my listings for the DS4 and PS4 camera were pulled too.

As I mentioned above it wasn't Sony who pulled the listings it was some small time company that I linked to who must be acting on their behalf.

I just don't understand trademarks enough to understand the VeRO aspect of the policy violation.

 
I question if there's any real trademark/legal issues here, just Sony wanting to maximize profits. I think the VeRO thing and using another company is just Sony's way of saving face. The last time they did this, there were a lot of pissed off people. 

 
I would probably guess an embargo of some sorts, is there another site you can sell through? I bet people in Japan must be itching, they have to wait a few more months.

MushaOne said:
Aww, poor scalper. What a shame. :booty:
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GBA gave away hundreds of dollars worth of stuff for months to active and lurking CAGs, your comment is what a shame really is =/

 
skiizim said:
I would probably guess an embargo of some sorts, is there another site you can sell through? I bet people in Japan must be itching, they have to wait a few more months.

GBA gave away hundreds of dollars worth of stuff for months to active and lurking CAGs, your comment is what a shame really is =/
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I only have one PS4 left and it's not like I'm going to take a loss on it no matter what I do with it. I might even keep it as a second unit for my office.

I just can't believe they pulled the DS4 and PS4 camera controllers as well. And where are they going to stop? I mean are they going to target PS4 games?

I'm waiting to hear back from the company acting on SCE's behalf.

http://www.intelligencetechnologies.co.uk/

It seems like a two bit company; not sure if they are just throwing their weight around or what. What really bothers me is these VeRO Complaints get taken really seriously on eBay. It's worse then a bunch of bad feedback and low DSR scores combined. Just two or three in a short time frame will get you booted from the site so I can't risk relisting any of these items until I get it straightened out. The scary thing is the eBay rep really did say that the company filing the complaint doesn't even need to list a reason. If they ask for a listing to get pulled it will get pulled.

 
Vanacloud said:
wtf is VeRO
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http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/programs-vero-ov.html

How eBay protects intellectual property (VeRO)

We're committed to protecting the intellectual property rights of third parties and to providing our members with a safe place to buy and sell. We created the Verified Rights Owner (VeRO) Program so that intellectual property owners can easily report listings that infringe their rights.

We require that a rights owner be registered through VeRO before reporting items to us. Rights owners sign legally binding documents when reporting items to eBay


The VeRO program
The Verified Rights Owner (VeRO) Program allows intellectual property rights owners to ask eBay to remove certain listings that offer items or contain materials that infringe on their intellectual property rights. These rights can include trademark, copyright, and/or other legal rights.

For example, a rights owner may ask eBay to remove an item being sold that uses the rights owner's trademark (such as a logo on a designer purse) if the item is not an authentic product of the rights owner. This program helps protect eBay members from buying or selling items that may be counterfeit or otherwise unauthorized under state and/or federal law.

Why was my listing removed?
Before a listing is removed, the rights owner must give us information that ensures that the person reporting the item is authorized to do so. It also allows us to correctly identify the listing to be removed. If your item is reported, you'll receive an email notifying you that a VeRO participant requested your listing be removed.

We require the rights owner to provide us with an email address so you can contact them directly for more information about why your listing infringes their intellectual property rights. You can find the rights owner's email address in the email you received when your listing was removed.

For more information about the VeRO participant, visit their About Me page.

What you can do next
If you have concerns or questions about why your listing was reported, please contact the VeRO participant directly using the email address we provided.

You may want to contact us if:
You can't find the rights owner's email address.
You sent an email to the rights owner, but they haven't replied after 7 days.
The rights owner replies to your email, but you still believe they made a mistake in reporting your listing.
 
Thank you.  Wow, been a ebay selling for nearly half a year now, never heard of this thing existing.   Why would ebay keep this policy a secret to sellers?  Sure i skip the terms and stuff but ebay never emailed me about this policy.  It sucks that you had to go through that GBAstar, but this policy really puts me on perspective on what to sell and WHERE the item is actually going to.

 
I received a response from someone at intelligencetechnologies.co.uk and all they said was:

The Canada/US item is not licensed for distribution in Europe.

Best regards

Intelligence Technologies
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Not really helpful at all.

 
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