MC018 Listing policy violation alert: Brand Name Misuse

[tonbo0422]

So I make (my wife makes) bracelets. She uses top-grade materials, and the bracelets end up looking just like "Pandora"-brand bracelets.

We don't mean to deceive anyone at all, but I myself came up with the listings title: "Pandora-killer Charm Bracelet, Personally Made with Love"

The wording in the description is as follows:

"Spoil yourself with this better-than Pandora bracelet, hand assembled with loving care, at less than a fraction of the cost of a Pandora bracelet, made with gorgeous Murano glass beads and amazing Tibetan charms and  without seriously lightening your wallet. 

Wouldn’t you want to wear a Pandora bracelet without paying the Pandora  brand prices? No one will be able to tell the difference unless you tell them yourself - that's my guarantee or your money back!

Here's an opportunity to show off a stunning bracelet that will have everyone  thinking you spent a fortune but only you will know the real cost! "

So that's that. So I sell a couple, but then I get the "Listings violation" Cease & Desist warning. I'm not out to gyp anyone. It's VERY PLAIN that I am not selling genuine Pandora bracelets -- at least to me. However, they look identical -- of course, on purpose, since they pretty much use the same kinds of beads for the real Pandora bracelets and the only real difference is the silver in the actual bead-holder, namely the bracelet. But this is not a case of putting up a Chinese knockoff Louis Vuitton bag and titling it "Louis Vuitton bag, amazingly cheap!" and then carefully avoiding revealing in the description, or leaving it ambiguous, that it is NOT a real Louis Vuitton bag, hoping everyone will THINK it's the real thing, and then ripping them off.

That was NOT OUR INTENTION AT ALL. The reason we used "Pandora" anywhere in the listing is that yes, of course it's meant to look like a Pandora bracelet -- if you've ever seen that jewelry juggernaut Stauer selling their "We found this amazing cache of emeralds even the Cartels don't know about" -- implying, of course, the drug cartels, since no one associates "cartel" with precious stones. But they get away with it, lock stock and barrel.

We MEAN the bracelets to look like Pandora. That is the WHOLE POINT. Get a Pandora-looking bracelet -- only a jeweler will know the difference -- at a fraction of the price of a real Pandora. hey, that's what zircons were invented for! But no matter what you call a zircon, it;s not a diamond. We are not PRETENDING these are real Pandora -- only a fool would think that these bracelets, priced at $29,99, could POSSIBLY be real Pandoras. We star all over the place that they're not. So How the h%$l can we promote a Pandora-lookalike bracelet without invoking the brand name Pandora? If I'm selling a Coca Cola refrigerator magnet, OBVIOUSLY not made by Coca Cola, the company, and I call it a "Coca Cola refrigerator magnet," am I violating listing policies? Technically, by eBay's rules, MOST DEFINITELY am I violating .

Where does this end? How else am I supposed to market this look-alike bracelet, which in NO WAY is intended to bamboozle the buyer into thinking they're getting the real thing? What evasively-worded hoops must I jump through in order to get an edge?

Need I mention that thousands of Chinese sellers include Pandora in descriptions of the beads they sell -- but THEIR listings are not taken down.

If even mentioning brand names in your auction, whether or not you're actually SELLING items from that brand name -- say, something like "Originally issued on the Parlophone label, this record is the A&M version . ." am I violating Parlophone's rights here? If not, WHY not?

Now, back to the original question: how do I NOW make my listing stand out against the thousands of other listings? No one is going to find it if it just says " Beautiful hand-assembled bracelets for sale."

Your advice would be greatly appreciated.

Nick

[recped]

My advice is simple.......

Don't use the word Pandora to describe some which is similar but NOT made by Pandora.

As for other sellers.....well I just got home and while driving there were people speeding excessively and the police were not pulling them over, does that mean it's ok for me to speed? Can I use that as a defence is I get a speeding ticket?

You may be able to get away with the Pandora comparison within the DESCRIPTION but not in the Title where it's clearly keyword spamming.

[mr.elmwood]

That was NOT OUR INTENTION AT ALL.

I disagree, it was your intention, why else do it? You were keyword spamming to direct Pandora type sales to your listings. Now, you are complaining you will not get those sales? From whom were you taking those sales?

Come up with your own brand name. As eBay has said for years "Market Your Brand".

I know of two ladies who did that, the Jangle Sisters. Created their own style, brand, eBay listings, they do house parties. They work it like no tomorrow.

All genres spur imitators. The trick is, to rise above.

I would not even say Pandora in the description. Not worth it with already getting a warning.

[cumos55]

By comparing to Pandora... and saying your item is better,  means that you are putting down Pandora as a bad product.

Successful sellers on eBay sell their own product.....  and succeed because their product is good.... good in spite of what anyone else might say....

How would you feel if someone with a same or similar product told everyone else on eBay that their product was better than yours.  Let the buyers decide which is better.

Would you not report that seller who is putting down your product....That is what happened to OP.

OP was caught in Pandora's Box

From the internet...

The phrase "to open Pandora's box" means to perform an action that may seem small or innocent, but that turns out to have severely detrimental and far-reaching consequences.

[rose-dee]

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@tonbo0422 wrote:

We don't mean to deceive anyone at all, but I myself came up with the listings title: "Pandora-killer Charm Bracelet, Personally Made with Love"

Now, back to the original question: how do I NOW make my listing stand out against the thousands of other listings? No one is going to find it if it just says " Beautiful hand-assembled bracelets for sale."

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You may just have been lucky that you weren't flagged for a listing violation before now.  You've run up against eBay's "Search Manipulation" policy.  This rule states that you are not allowed to compare your product to a brand name in any way (either negatively or positively) unless your product is that authentic brand.

Why?  Your first sentence partly answers that question.  In effect, you are deceiving buyers who search for the real thing (Pandora brand bracelets) into getting search results that include the "look-alike" but not authentic items. 

I'm not often one to agree with many of eBay's rules, but this one does make sense if eBay wants to encourage sellers of true brand-name items and encourage buyers of those items to find them easily.  Permitting open comparisons to brand names is unfair to buyers and also unfair to the owners of those brand names.  By listing as "Pandora-like", or using the brand name "Pandora" in any other way in your title, you're gaining an unfair advantage over other similar sellers of non-authentic items.  In effect, you're benefitting from the brand recognition and reputation of someone else's products, i.e. from another company's marketing work. 

Think of it this way:

As a buyer, if you were looking to purchase a brand name item and found that when you searched by that name on eBay you got results that included a lot of non-authentic items, it could be frustrating and irritating to have to wade through the list to determine which were authentic and which were not.  If I'm looking for an authentic Chanel handbag (not that I could afford one!), I don't want a whole list of "wannabees" to be mixed in with the real thing.  EBay is correct in stating that this negatively affects the buyer experience. 

As a seller of a brand name item, I would not want sellers of non-authentic items to be essentially placed on the same level in searches as the authentic brand.  It's not a question of selling "fake" or "knock-off" brand items.  It's a question of piggybacking on the popularity of a recognized brand.

Yes, if you follow eBay's rule in this regard (as you must if you intend to keep selling here), your items will be lumped in with all other generic items.  What to do?  To answer your question above, I would completely agree with Mr. Elmwood.  Make your own products unique with a unique brand name and market them as such. 

As a brand name owner myself, I can attest to the fact that this works, although it takes time to build a reputation.  I now see a lot of people searching specifically by my brand name, so I know it's beginning to stick in people's minds. 

For reference, here is the relevant portion of the eBay policy:

[Not Allowed] -- Comparing the item you're selling to a popular product. For example, you can't say "the Zune MP3 player is just like the iPod."

Here is the link to the whole policy. I'd recommend carefully reading through all the sections, as there are a number of ways of violating brand usage besides the one mentioned above:

http://pages.ebay.ca/help/policies/search-manipulation.html

[faircrochet]

I don't know about ALL chinese sellers of pandora-like beads etc, but I do know there are definitely SOME who have started billing their beads as "fitting Europeon-style bracelets" because they ran into trouble using the name pandora.  It's not just you.