This article focuses on the reason for eBay account suspension – VeRo policy breach. You will find out what VeRo is, where and how you can breach VeRo policy, how to avoid VeRo suspension and how to resolve the issue.
eBay VeRo
Dropshipping on eBay is connected to some limitations; you have to supply goods only from wholesalers or manufacturers, you should be responsible for the goods until they reach the customer, and you should follow the Verified Rights Owner Program (VERO), which means you should have an authorization letter allowing you to sell the goods from your online store.
In simple words, dropshippers are not allowed to sell goods without the right to resell. All fees and policies that eBay has are applicable to all sellers and are very similar to the rules of other target marketplaces.
However, all these dropshipping conditions on eBay are nothing, as you receive access to a huge audience of customers. There are numerous categories and subcategories that you may choose for dropshipping. And you have all the other benefits of dropshipping in general.
Dropshipping differs from other business models in that it involves the splitting of activities between a dropshipper and a supplier. Dropshippers do not have inventory, warehouses, and personnel; they only need a computer to organize an online store and find the best-selling products and suppliers for them.
After placing the order, the dropshipper sends it to the supplier for production, packing, and delivery. Dropshippers do not control production facilities; it is a supplier’s main task. Not all suppliers work with dropshippers; normally, it only works with those who can’t sell well by themselves.
The dropshipper can quickly change product niche as there are no stocks. The profit is determined by the difference between the sales and the supplier price, and this margin is normally not big because of high competition. That is why dropshippers try to list hundreds of goods in their online stores.
Where you can catch VERO?
All dropshippers should search for profitable product niches and best-selling items. For that, they contact the suppliers directly or search them on source marketplaces. Unfortunately, some suppliers increase their sales or make their business produce fake branded items, replicas and counterfeit. If you have decided to dropship on eBay, you should definitely avoid such suppliers. Normally, if a supplier can provide you with an authorization letter, he is clear of all VERO problems.
However, not all companies are participants in VeRo; you may find the whole list on the eBay seller center. It is made in Alphabetical order for easy navigation (English alphabet) and includes information on how each company represents their trademark and understands their copyrights. However, you should also check the appearance of the goods to ensure they do not contain logos or are similar to the most popular branded goods.
You also can’t use terminology, logos, symbols, or phrases that are used for the identification of the specific brand (this is a trademark violation).
You always need to use the words “compatible” or “for” with a brand name if you sell something some accessories to a specific branded product. There is one rare case of VeRo violation, which occurs if you do not have the right to resell the goods, and this causes a breach of warranty. You need to double-check all descriptions and rephrase them if necessary.
More and more dropshippers do not make listings by themselves.
This manual and time-consuming work can be redirected to the automation dropshipping tools. They can fulfill orders, repricing, listing, tracking, importing product descriptions, searching for best-selling products, and much more.
Unfortunately, most software tools do not check the property owner’s rights, and they can list items that break the VERO program.
We strongly recommend using only the recommended software that chooses items from databases that are free from legal issues.
For example, Easync can discover profitable products and search for reliable suppliers without breaching eBay’s VERO policy. You can rely on this software to fulfill your needs without eBay bans.
How does eBay scan your listings for VeRo?
You may think that eBay will not find one or two products with authorization problems, as the quantity of sellers on eBay is enormous. Unfortunately, eBay uses artificial intelligence to check each product from your listings and compare it with the existing eBay VeRo list.
However, some cases have been known, such as when some sellers on eBay made a one-day auction to sell counterfeit products before the VeRo violation was found and reported. Some sellers try to sell items under fake names, even though the logo and labels state different information or include photos of the items sold that are not real.
We do not recommend any of these illegal actions; all of them lead to permanent eBay account suspension without the possibility of reopening it with the same documents and the same IP address.
The VeRo program now includes 40.000 owners of different kinds of intellectual property. The list is regularly updated, so you need to check it from time to time.
Automated scanning tools find all intellectual property that is protected; you should be careful with descriptions, photos (do not use stock photos!), logos, etc.
If the breach is found but you think you are right, it won’t be easy to persuade the right owner company that you follow the VeRo policy. Only in several cases may eBay remove restrictions on seller accounts. It is recommended first to contact the company making a VeRo claim on you, and then only eBay.
Some companies are more proactive than others and find the VeRo breach themselves—Nike, Chanel, Microsoft, Nordstrom, Velcro, and Norelco. Hundreds of major companies monitor violations daily. The authorized sellers are checked by IP (IP compliance).
How to understand if you have eBay VERO suspension?
During registration, all eBay sellers should indicate valid contact details, as eBay makes calls to check your identity and send important emails. If your listings have been removed from your online store because of a breach of VeRo policy, you will receive the corresponding letter. In the letter, you can read all the details of your suspensions and what steps you need to take to overcome this issue.
You can also check your account information for details on the suspension. Be careful; all emails should come from the official eBay account and are doubled in your seller account; emails from other addresses are scams. If you can’t contact the right owner within five days and resolve the issue with him, you need to contact eBay to avoid permanent suspension.
Normally, the first catch of your listings, because of the VeRo issue, leads only to a notification from eBay to check the VeRo program. All further times are punished more seriously. Normally, first-time suspension is for one to two days, the second is for two to three weeks, and the third time can be indefinite.
There is an obligation for all dropshippers to sell only authentic goods on eBay without infringing on the seller’s rights. The rights are also applied to the logo, audio, video, description, image and all other information (intellectual property) about the goods which is done not by you. Moreover, other eBay sellers or customers can report rights violations, so you should not deliver goods that differ from the description you have in your online store.
However, you can also fight with your competitors in this way, especially if they use your logo and intellectual property. In this case, you need to submit a Notice of Claimed Infringement to your local eBay office or [email protected].
There are special local separate offices for such cases in Austria, Germany, Spain, France and Italy. It is also possible to contact via phone or fax (please check the contact details on the eBay website). To guard your intellectual rights, you may become a verified rights owner who allows you to share information about your brand, trademark, copyrights and more with the eBay community about your rights.
How to avoid VeRo violation?
You should avoid any problems with VeRo items in the beginning. You need to avoid copying images, photos, descriptions, and photos. All your content in the online store should be authentic. You can ask suppliers to provide you with test products and to make your photos or videos.
Some marketplaces have an extra service for making them for you for additional expenses. You should use brand names carefully; if you are not an authorized seller, avoid them. You should not try to invent solutions to hide VeRo items; all your descriptions should be accurate and not misleading.
There are also some products that we recommend to avoid because of this policy. High-risk items are – 3rd party printer ink, water filters, otter boxes, Beach Body DVDs, CPaps or other prescription devices, anything with CBD in the name, and the Monster energy drinks logo.
Do not try to find the best deals that are hard to believe and are normally connected with counterfeit.
We recommend selling more common items without indicating specific brands to avoid these risks. Moreover, if you sell one item with a suspicious history and receive a return, this will impact your account history with a much more dramatic effect than ten negative reviews.
You may follow the special mentorship Facebook group (The Sellers podcast on Patreon), where thousands of people share their experience in selling items, including interesting VeRo cases.
Strict following of VeRo policy can be complicated for dropshippers. That’s why we have already highlighted the importance of using the right software; some of them, like ZIK or AutoDS, have automated VeRo checks. The most advanced eBay listing software can help you check if your chosen items are free of VeRo rights or not.
All these programs will notify you that your listing contains keywords in the description, such as a suspicious manufacturer or some copyright image. You need to check the listing with a problem and resolve an issue or delete a product if the case is serious. We remind you again that you can sell the accessories for popular branded goods unless the manufacturer is on the VeRo list.
If you use software tools for product research (like ZIK analytics, AutoDS or EasyNC), your results will display a notification regarding possible VeRo problems. We do not recommend these products in your listings at the beginning. Normally, the name of such items does include the specific brand, but you may have a notification on color or the word “military” (VeRo word) based on the known software cases of VeRo violations.
It could be the case when the name “red” does not mean a specific brand, but artificial intelligence will understand it incorrectly and provide you with a strike. We can’t list all potential words here, as this list is regularly updated. One example is the words “ivory” and “coach”, which are understood as brand names. However, do not fully rely on these red flags provided by the software; you should always rely on your understanding of popular brands and check the VeRo list.
If you do not have such software, you can manually check the VeRo List. But you should definitely avoid selling goods from popular brands and all products from brands you have ever heard of. You may also use free tools like eBay VeRo list Checker PriceYak to check any violations. After some time, you will educate yourself and memorize the companies that may cause VeRo violations in your product category.
How to overcome VeRo violation?
If you receive a warning from eBay about a violation of VeRo policy and your listing is removed, you can try to change the product description in a way that does not breach trademarks or copyrights. Then, you can make a new listing. You also need to contact the VeRo participant (in some cases, the companies can contact you earlier than eBay) if he made a claim. In Notice of Claimed Infringement (NOCI), contact details are normally included.
If you contact the company (VeRo participant), you need to apologize and state that you have no intention of illegally selling their goods. The Company has the right to contact eBay and ask them to clear the suspension if you persuade them about your pure intentions.
If you do not have contact with the Company, you need to contact eBay to say that it was a one-time mistake. Normally, eBay encourages you to resolve the issue directly with the Company and can provide you with contact details.
You may have two options for contact and try to resolve the issue. But there is no other way how to fix this problem, only to be sincere and try not to repeat the mistake again.
Suppose you have repeated cases of VeRo violations. In that case, you will have a permanent suspension on eBay, and the company rights owner may start a civil or legal action that may lead to significant financial losses.
How to become a VeRo Participant?
For dropshippers who do not simply resell goods from other retailers and wholesalers, it might be interesting to learn how to protect their intellectual rights on eBay. To do so, you need to become a member of the VeRo program. For registration, you will need to provide all legal documents proving that you are the owner of the trademark. Also, you need to describe your copyright policy.
After your membership is finished and you prove your ownership by all required documents, you can start issuing NOCI if you see that other sellers use your brand.
You can provide NOCI via email or fax. eBay guarantees that they remove the claimed product from the online store and list accordingly within 24 hours after they receive your NOCI. Even though eBay has its advanced instruments for checking listings, your proactive actions are appreciated. Filling out NOCI is not difficult and does not take much time.
Conclusion
VeRo policy was created in 1988 on eBay to keep the platform safe from counterfeiters and non-legitimate sellers and to make the marketplace safe for customers. However, the VeRo guidelines and its implementation create incorrect VeRo suspensions for beginners in dropshipping.
After a while, when you become familiar with all the rules and use the correct software, you can avoid VeRo restrictions and cannot be afraid of VeRo suspension. The automation software helps significantly to check all your listings for VeRo violations. By the way, not only eBay protects trademarks and copyrights, but other platforms like Shopify and Facebook also have similar policies. It may even happen that some companies are not part of official VeRo policies, but their trademark rights are also protected.
So, it is essential to check your listings manually or use automatic software – eBay VeRo Checkers. And, of course, you need to avoid selling goods from popular brands. If you want to sell branded items, you need to receive authorization from the manufacturer. With this authorization, you have to sell the items under the price and conditions that the manufacturer sets (that is why the price on the same branded goods on different marketplaces is the same), but instead, on eBay, you will have a note that you are an authorized seller and you receive more trust from customers. In this case, you can also offer a warranty. It is not difficult to follow eBay policies for dropshippers; you just need to understand how. We hope that this guide helps you with understanding VeRo violations and how to avoid them and overcome them.
Eugene Stepnov – Head of Marketing at Gologin. Formerly, He was the COO of Flatlogic and the co-founder of Kuoll. His main expertise is in promoting complex web SaaS products that lead in mar tech, affiliate marketing, dropshipping, cyber security, and web development.
