darkSpyro

This has come up in more than a few topics, so I figured I'd give some information on how to best report eBay listings that violate eBay policy with regards to Skylanders-related auctions. Now, instead of just griping about eBay auctions on random message boards, you can actually take action and do something about it!

A few notes:

• In order to report an eBay auction, you must have an eBay account and must be logged in.
  
• Nothing guarantees that any reported auction will be removed. eBay makes money from people selling stuff - so, ultimately, removing auctions = less sells = less money for eBay. But they do remove auctions - just don't get upset if it takes a few days or they don't act on everything you report.
  
• The more people who report an auction, the faster it gets moved up the queue for review.
  

There are two main types of Skylanders-related listings that I see often that clearly violate eBay policy (and good taste). The first are some of the Presale listings. To know what to look for when reporting, you should familiarize yourself with the offical eBay Presale Listings policy. You can find it here: http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/pre-sale.html

While there are multiple aspects of this policy that apply, the main and most important one, related to Skylanders auctions, is this one:
Quote:

Guarantee that the item will be available for shipping within 30 days from the purchase date. Be sure to clearly state this information in your listing.

As Activision doesn't have any kind of release schedule for figures, it's nigh-impossible for sellers to be able to guarantee that they'll be able to ship within 30 days. In fact, if you read most presale auctions, you'll find terms like these:

Quote:

BECAUSE THIS IS A PRE-ORDER I CANNOT GIVE AN EXACT DATE OF WHEN THESE WILL COME OUT AS ACTIVISION WILL HAVE THE RELEASE DATE. I WILL NOTIFY YOU WHEN I KNOW THE RELEASE DATE AND WILL SHIP IT OUT ASAP AS SOON AS I GET THEM IN STOCK.

Quote:

THIS CHARACTER IS CURRENTLY SCHEDULED FOR RELEASE IN late February to March time frame.

The manufacturer could move this release date if they need to. We will keep you posted if release dates change

Quote:

I do not have this item in stock yet. This item is scheduled for release sometime in March; no one knows the exact date yet. Once I get it in-hand I will immediately ship it to you. I have no control over when Activision decides to release this figure, so they could very well push the date forward or back a few weeks or months.

Each of these terms clearly violate eBay's terms for a presale. So, what to do about it?

Once you've identified an auction that violates eBay policy, look for the "Report item" link that's on every auction. You'll find it to the far right hand side of the listing, right of the "Description" and "Shipping and Payments" tabs.


Once you click that link, you'll be taken to a page with some drop-down menus. In the first menu, select "Listing Practices"


Then "Inappropriate Seller Terms"


Then "Presale"


Then, click "Continue"


Finally, click "Send Report"


Presto! You'll be taken to a screen thanking you for reporting the auction.

The second relevant policy that applies towards a lot of the illegitimate eBay listings is the "Search and browse manipulation" policy.

Again, familiarize yourself with the policy: http://pages.ebay.com/help/pol...nipulation.html

Now, you've seen those auctions with titles like:
Quote:

New Skylanders Figure Ignitor not silver, gold, glow in the dark, crystal chrome

Quote:

EYE BRAWL BRAND NEW RARE IN HAND - Skylanders GIANTS FREE SHIP not thumpback hot dog ninjini

And one of my favorites:
Quote:

DON'T waste Your $$ On Ninjini, Thumpback Or Any Of The Other Skylanders...

The auction listings are written in such a way to be deceptive and show up in searches where the item doesn't apply.

This is covered clearly in the Search and browse manipulation policy linked to above.
Quote:

Allowed: All the words in your listing have to be accurate and refer only to the item for sale.

Quote:

Not Allowed: Comparisons between products aren't allowed. For example, you can't say things like "shirt not pants" or "video not Nano."

So, as before, if you've identified one of these offending auctions, you can use the same "Report item" link as shown above. Obviously, you'll need to select a few different options from the drop-down menus:

You'll still select "Listing Practices" from the first option:

Next "Search and browse manipulation"

Then, "Keyword Spamming"


As before, click the "Continue" button:


This one is a bit more tricky than reporting an invalid presale - you have to leave a description as to what's wrong with the auction. With the Presale terms, it's easy to know "Hey, this doesn't say it'll ship in 30 days.", even if you know NOTHING about Skylanders. But, if you're a random eBay employee and know nothing about Skylanders, if a listing has three different characters in the title, it's all gibberish to you. So, leave them a description as to what's wrong with the listing:

Finally, click the "Send Report" button and, as before, you're done!

Go Alice!

Very good UncleBob! That helped me when someone stole my picture for Ninjini.

Quote: Matteomax

Very good UncleBob! That helped me when someone stole my picture for Ninjini.

Did you have the copyright terms clearly listed on the page displaying your picture? If not, the free usee of the internet got you.

The only thing that bothers me is when people have statements in their title such as gold, silver, stone, etc, just to get that listing to appear during those searches. I don't want something that ISN'T a gold Skylander to show up if I'm searching "Gold Skylanders." All of the other violations such as pre-orders extended beyond 30 days I care less about.

Quote: Zook

The only thing that bothers me is when people have statements in their title such as gold, silver, stone, etc, just to get that listing to appear during those searches. I don't want something that ISN'T a gold Skylander to show up if I'm searching "Gold Skylanders." All of the other violations such as pre-orders extended beyond 30 days I care less about.

I know that feeling

Very thorough guide. I hate the keyword spamming auctions. They bring up so many false positives for the rare items.

Ditto. I see it all the time, in many different things.

Tip to sellers: If I'm looking for "X" and you're trying to sell "Y", tricking me into looking at your auction by saying "X" doesn't increase the odds of me buying "Y" - in fact, it makes me more reluctant to do business with you, as you have already engaged in deceptive business practices.

I also can't stand this one...

SKYLANDERS GIANTS GLITTER HOT HEAD CHASE SILVER/PEARL "CUSTOM PAINTED" MEGA HOT

http://www.ebay.com/itm/SKYLAN...ht_17731wt_1141

If you custom painted it...it's NOT a chase variant.

Quote: Zook

The only thing that bothers me is when people have statements in their title such as gold, silver, stone, etc, just to get that listing to appear during those searches. I don't want something that ISN'T a gold Skylander to show up if I'm searching "Gold Skylanders." All of the other violations such as pre-orders extended beyond 30 days I care less about.

Is that directed to me? If so, I will probably take it off my listing..

Has anyone noticed the number of Ninjini "presales" have gone down?

^ Yyyuup. HALELUJAH.

And, DID SOMEBODY REPORT an auction that had a bunch of preorders for all the unreleased figures? Including the GLITTER HOT HEAD I PAID FOR????

As I was making this yesterday, I reported a TON of auctions. Virtually every Ninjini auction that was posted.

Ugh, BE CAREFUL on what you report. You should make a post and ask if anyone is bidding on this item before you report it.

I disagree. If the auction is violating the terms, then it should be reported.