First time ever having listing removed by Ebay!!

thevintagebungalow

thevintagebungalow

VFG Member
Hi all,
I'm so irritated! When I woke up this morning to check my listings and email, I got a lovely one from ebay. They had removed one of my listings for keyword spamming. I used the work "Twiggy" in my title and they pulled it. What upsets me is that there are over 100 other vintage dresses listed with Twiggy in the title, what's the deal? Did some mean person with no life report my listing? I think that something needs to be done. Vintage clothing is a field where words like Audrey, Marilyn, Twiggy or Lucy denote a style of fashion it doesn't mean it was owned by that person. Anyone with a brain knows that. Geesh! Also, that listing was the only one of 11 that was showing the least bit of interest. I had multiple bids with a couple days to go and 18 watchers. The rest of my listings are sitting like lumps on a log. They had to pull the one listing that was doing well... Okay, thanks for letting me get that off my chest, I feel a little better now!:violins:
Carrie
 
Carrie - that SUCKS! I had my first listing pulled today, as well. Perhaps, eBay automatically pulls key words. Mine was a hand bag listed as "Lucite Tortoise Shell...." not genuine TS. It was the third time I listed it and today they decide to pull it ???
 
Its hard to say with not seeing the listing to know how it was described or what it showed to try to give constructive advice about it. But "Twiggy" is tricky because its not just someone's name, but a brand. There was "Twiggy" makeup, etc. - so "Twiggy" doesn't necessarily follow the same mold as "Audrey".

It could be they are just cracking down, yours got noticed or there was something else in the listing that made someone take notice (we are allowed one reference, not references to several different things)
 
Yes i can.

Something can be Marilyn. But not Marilyn AND Audrey.


For example:
A pretend listing.

Yes:

"This psychedelic dress with unicorns on it has no tags, but is very reminiscent of what Phyllis Diller wore in a tv show at the time... "

You are listing factual information (unicorns, style, and one reference. to phyllis diller)

Can't do this:

"This pyschedelic dress has no tags, but is very reminiscent of what EmilioPucci, Biba, Annacat, and Ossie Clark were coming out with in the late 60s and 70s. It looks like something Sienna Miller, Phyllis Diller, or Shakira would wear!!! The buckle looks very much like amber colored or rootbeer bakelite or lucite from the 50s 60s or 70s. We are really not sure. Great for the rockabilly or hippie chick!

That is keyword spam.

(references to 4 designers, 3 celebrities, decades thrown in just to come up in searches even if it doesn't have to do with the actual item)
 
Deborah - i think with yours all of the things in the title are "hot" keywords and you have to back them up or they are one too many.

"rare" is a big red flag. Usually if someone says it is - it isn't.
so just be careful and use it sparingly.

It isn't Tortoise shell as we know. I might use "rootbeer" which is searched.
Fake tortoiseshell a lot of times has more variegation. I would say in the listing that it reminds you of a tortiseshell pattern but is really more swirled.
 
This is really sad. In order to have a listing pulled, then someone has to report it. Why would anyone care enough to take the time to report these things?

And the other listings just add insult to injury. There is one seller that uses "Twiggy" in any listing that is remotely 60s looking, and I've never known for her things to be pulled.

Like i said, sad.

Lizzie
 
It really is sad, isn't it? Knowing that someone had nothing better to do than report a listing that had a keyword they thought was "keyword spamming". Who has that kind of time??? I did not reference a single other person or star or era in my listing. I simply thought the dress looked like something Twiggy could have worn so I put it in my title. If it was an automatic thing, every other listing would have been ended as well. So do you think it's safe to put Marilyn or Audrey or Lucy in the title still???
 
I had my Alfred Shaheen kokeshi print dress pulled earlier this summer. Someone must have reported it because it was because of a gif animated email and an Ebay newsletter link. I just relisted stating at the top what had happened and started it at the last bid.

I think you can say Jackie but not Jackie O. You can say Lucy but not her last name. Since Twiggy is a one worder, I guess they can pull it...like Cher. I have listed lots of items with Twiggy and never had them pulled. Someone just reported you, I suspect.

Deborah, earlier in my Ebay career, I had a tortoise comb and brush set pulled. You have to say "faux tortoise" or "tortoise style." Terrible, isn't it, when it was the real thing?
 
My night just got a little better.....My neighbors threw away a really cool 50's Danish Modern style lamp last week (it was literally sitting next to the trash can to be picked up the next day). Treasure hunter that I am, I had to have it.... I just sold it on ebay for $175. Yeah!!!! Of course, now I am feeling guilty about making money off of their "trash" (they know I took it by the way and were thrilled because they thought it was the ugliest thing ever). I will have to get them a gift certificate to eat out or something. Anyways, sorry to get off subject but it seemed like I started the day with a big disappointment and I'm ending it on a high note. Feels good!
 
Thanks so much, Chris! Rootbeer - that's a new one for me... My intention was "tortoise shell" as descriptive of the pattern ie an adjective to lucite. To be honest, I didn't even research it, I truly thought that was a accurate description:BAGUSE:

And you're so right about "rare" - I have to think outside the box - although through the years I have not come across one like it, purse collectors and vintage gurus may have seen dozens...

Again, many thanks!
 
The problem with vintage handbags and the "rare" term is that they aren't finite. And even if it was one of a kind....no one would recognize that it was because of no documentation, nor mystique to it to make it "rare and desirable" just because one hasn't seen another.

On the other hand a maker like Coach names its different bags and has certain colors for certain years and can create their own rarities or there are rarities by proxy. They can choose to make a color or style for a very short amount of time and thus create demand. Or rarity by proxy is for example, you don't see too many pure white ones/pale cream. For several reasons. They just don't stand up and people probably got rid of them because they look much nastier than the other colors with heavy use. And also when you dye that type of leather lighter than the natural color of the leather or actually when it is in its "wet blue" state in the leather process, the color just doesn't stick as well. (contributing to what it looks like when it is well worn, but it probably caused them to wake up and not make any more because it just didn't make as much sense).

I think that ebay can be a humbling experience also because you can search for something and find a few other things similar to an item one thinks is rare. They may not be exactly the same but close enough to someone wanting to carry it for fashion. Or they could be identical (and maybe the only 3 left in the world but to someone who sees that many at once they might think there must be more)
 
"ebay can be a humbling experience" How true!

Carrie - good for you!!! Now that's what I call a good return on an investment (a short trip to the garbage can...)

Linda - why can't you say Jackie O ??? That's absurd! (in my world, anyway...)
 
The reason is "Jackie O" is equated with saying "Lucille Ball" or saying "Jackie Kennedy". It has really become "her full name" in some circles.
But when you think about it - and i think it was Jonathan who mentioned it - Jackie wasn't Jackie O, she was Jackie Kennedy when the styles people describe as "Jackie" occurred. She had a radically different fashion style when she was Jacqueline Onassis.
 
You just never know with ebay these days who is watching and has so much spare time on their hands that they can write in and report.

I have put Twiggy in a title a couple of times and not had it pulled...

I have certainly had other items pulled though for one reason or another.
 
I complained to ebay about the listing being pulled and they sent an apology letter and after a "careful" review decided the "proper course of action was not followed" and I may now relist as is - whether I will or not is different story, but at least they looked at it.

Carrie - I hope you complained.
 
Actually, I have not complained yet. I wanted to, but I had a heck of a time figuring out who to contact and how to go about it. How did you do it? I actually relisted the dress with an explanation of what happened and ended up getting $40 for it which I thought was fine. I would really like to contact ebay and complain still. Who knows how much it would have gone for if they hadn't scared my bidders away!
Carrie
 
I had trouble figuring out which category to use in the "contact us" (or "email" us) - I just chose one that was unrelated and then explained what had happened. It took them two days to respond. I don't understand why they don't check these things out before pulling an auction - innocent until proven guilty just doesn't seem apply here.
 
Twiggy is a rather frustrating one because it's <B>so</b> hard to find the Twiggy Boutique pieces from the Sixties, made harder by the incessant KWSing of her name. But it should be across the board. If they're going to be removing one listing for putting Twiggy in the title, they should remove ALL Twiggys which aren't Twiggy labelled pieces.

Liz
 
One rule for some another for every one else, if they remove one Twiggy then they should remove them all, will they no, that would mean they loose the commission form too many sales. so they try to act in a PC way without effecting the profit margin.
 
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