The first week of every month, we have scab removal day where myself and two others scour the internet looking for drop shippers, IP thieves, and other marketplace scabs.
I cannot express enough the necessity for brand and rights owners to actively combat those who would steal your images, brand and sell counterfeits.
Last week we did a test buy of a eBay product and received a knock off using a cheaper variation of our product.
Stay vigilant my friends, and share what tools and experience you have with IP theft.
One approach that I’ve seen that works well is kind of like a funnel.
First, you message a stock message to everybody you want to get rid of.
Then in a couple days you send another message to the remainder.
Then in a couple more days you start looking closer at the ones who are left and then determine the best course of action. Maybe you start off with a copyright claim, if they appeal that and stay on the listing, then move on to doing a test buy and filing a counterfeit complaint.
You go from low effort actions to high effort actions, so that if a seller drops off from a low effort action you can minimize the time spent in dealing with them.
Checked out that store; man, what a mess. Too bad that the average consumer isn’t well enough informed to know that you probably don’t want to buy a set of expensive knives from someone selling rugs and truck cranes.
Hopefully you’re not the only one reporting them.
I am always perplexed when I see folks that are ROs espouse a conviction that “ANY sale is a good sale,” as it seems obvious to this particular dunderhead that that’s a pretty short-sighted viewpoint to take when there’s a vested interest in protecting Brand Integrity.
VeRO & Project Zero alike have been very good to us, but in my experience there’s no substitute for having competent & experienced Members At The Bar @ one’s beck and call.
In our experience, the pound or ton of prevention makes curing the disease SO much easier. Every word and logo is trademarked, every picture copyrighted at the onset, so our claims are fairly bulletproof when submitted.
Stupid thieves are too lazy to even change the data in the descriptors. Last year we entered some random number/letter combo into one of the product detail page for model number. Now we get the low hanging fruit by just searching for that online because they use bots to copy the info and do not know the product enough to know what is relevant.
Just so you know, this years batch uses the iconic elementary school upside down calculator operation 58008 for the lol’s, like the immature people we are, here at the office.
Shh… Don’t tell HR…
A side effect of Amazon pre-approval requirements is that purchasers of liquidation stock and other b-goods are on Ebay in greater and greater numbers, and there are far more scabs for brand owners to remove.
There are many Ebay buyers who fail to understand the risks of buying these products are worth more than the money they save buying them, and lack the knowledge to recognize when they have bought counterfeit or misrepresented product.
This is in spite of the number of more intelligent buyers who have ceased buying brand new, in production product on Ebay. This is evidenced in Ebay’s earnings reports and admitted by Ebay management.
But I fear it is the discovery that they paid more than street price for product, rather than they did not get what they bought.
These sellers will move elsewhere once you have run them off Ebay, and will stubbornly cling to their business strategy.
In our case most of the listings are by overseas sellers drop shipping similar items but using our IP and Amazon listing details to make their pages.
I love the idea of using one of the “Saul Goodman” lawyers that will file an IP infringement against a foreign seller who then gets an injunction against the ebay seller account freezing the account and money until we (the lawyer) is paid. My moral code prevents me from doing more in depth research to find said lawyer but the vigilante part of me thinks it would be fun just to watch them burn.
When I saw this thread pop back up, I thought it was related this this. LOL
Hello,
Effective April 14, 2025, we’ll no longer offer prep services for sharp products and our packaging requirements have been updated to ensure the safety of our associates and customers. You’ll be required to own the end-to-end packaging of all sharp products before you send them to us.
To meet the updated packaging requirements and prevent exposed sharp edges or points during handling, you must package all sharp products in secure, cut- and puncture-resistant packaging, such as hardened plastic or blister packs. To view the updated packaging requirements for sharp products, go to Packaging sharp units.
To give you time to adjust to the new packaging requirements, a sharp product that arrives at our fulfillment centers before April 14 will still be accepted as long as the sharp edges are boxed or bubble wrapped to meet our current minimum packaging requirements. Sharp products that don’t meet our current minimum packaging requirements will be disposed of immediately at your expense and without reimbursement.
After April 14, any sharp products that don’t meet the updated packaging requirements when they arrive at our fulfillment centers will be immediately disposed of at your expense and won’t be eligible for reimbursement.
Nope, not unless I want to employ IP protections in those countries. I can however go after their US account balances like Ebay, Amazon, Etsy, etc, but that juice is not worth the squeeze as the volume of sales is tiny.
