VeRO brands on Amazon products: why some items bring eBay takedowns

Why do VeRO brands on Amazon products cause trouble on eBay?

VeRO brands on Amazon products cause trouble because the brand owner, not eBay, decides what to report. When a rights owner who belongs to eBay's Verified Rights Owner programme finds a listing that it believes infringes its rights, it can report it and eBay may remove it. Amazon product pages are full of material that belongs to brand owners: photographs, written descriptions, logos and brand names. Copying that material, or using a brand in the wrong way, is the usual path from an Amazon product page to an eBay takedown.

The fact that a product sells openly on Amazon tells you nothing about whether its owner tolerates resale on eBay, or whether you may use its images and text. This guide explains how VeRO works, the kinds of infringement behind most reports, the product types that tend to draw them, and how to check before you list.

What is eBay's VeRO programme?

The Verified Rights Owner (VeRO) programme lets owners of intellectual property, such as trademarks and copyrights, report eBay listings that infringe their rights. eBay's rules say an infringing item is not allowed on eBay. If only the way an item is listed infringes, for example a copied photo, the seller may be able to edit the listing.

When a report succeeds, eBay may remove the listing, warn the seller, restrict the account or suspend it. You can appeal through eBay's internal appeals process, and you can contact the rights owner at the email address given in eBay's removal email to ask for a retraction. These points come from eBay's VeRO programme page, and our explainer on the eBay VeRO programme covers the process step by step.

What kinds of infringement lead to reports?

Reports are not limited to fakes. Many takedowns concern genuine products whose listings reuse the brand's own photos or text. Read our guide to the eBay counterfeit policy for the rules on replicas and brand names.

Which Amazon product types tend to draw VeRO reports?

Any brand can report, and there is no complete public list of which brands do. Some types of product draw reports more often than others because their owners watch marketplaces closely:

• Designer fashion, bags, watches and accessories, where counterfeits are common and brands police their names.
• Branded beauty, fragrance and personal care, often sold only through approved retailers.
• Licensed character and film merchandise, where both the brand and the licence holder may report.
• Branded electronics and their accessories, including "compatible with" items that lean on a brand name.
• Private-label brands sold mainly on Amazon. Small brands that built their own listings, photos and copy often watch other marketplaces for copies of exactly that content.
• Software, games, films and books, where copyright owners are active.

eBay publishes profile pages for some VeRO members setting out what they do and do not allow. A brand not having a profile does not mean it will not report.

Why is an Amazon listing not permission to use its content?

Amazon product pages are built from content that belongs to someone: the brand that took the photos, the seller who wrote the bullet points, the publisher of a book cover. That content is on Amazon under Amazon's own terms and the owners' agreements with Amazon. None of that extends to your eBay listing. Every Amazon purchase and every use of Amazon's site is governed by Amazon's Conditions of Use and Sale, which you should read yourself.

Example (hypothetical): a small kitchen brand sells a silicone baking mat mostly on Amazon. It paid for studio photos and wrote its own description. An eBay seller copies both into a listing. The brand searches eBay for its photos, finds the listing and reports it as a copyright infringement. The mat may be genuine, but the listing used content the seller had no right to, so the report holds. Had the seller used its own photos and words, there would have been no copyright claim to make.

How do you check a brand before you list it?

1. Search eBay for the brand's VeRO participant profile. If there is one, read it in full: some brands say they report any use of their images, others any resale of certain lines.
2. Search eBay for the brand. If you find few or no listings from sellers like you for a popular brand, ask why. An empty market can mean active reporting.
3. Look at how the brand sells. Brands that sell only through named authorised retailers are more likely to act against others.
4. Check your photos and text. Use only photos and words you created or have permission to use.
5. Check your title. Name a brand only when the item is that brand's product, and never as a comparison.
6. Keep a list of brands that have reported you, and do not list them again.

Our step-by-step guide to an eBay VeRO brand check goes through each step with examples. Dropizon checks brands against a VeRO list before drafts are published and flags live listings whose brand matches. Treat any such check as a first filter, not clearance: a brand can start reporting at any time.

What does eBay's policy say about sourcing from Amazon?

VeRO is not the only rule that touches Amazon products. eBay's drop shipping policy says dropshipping, where you fulfil orders directly from a wholesale supplier, is allowed, but listing an item on eBay and then buying it from another retailer or marketplace, such as Amazon, that ships directly to your buyer is not allowed. The wording is on eBay UK's drop shipping page. Whatever your supply route, you are responsible for delivery within the stated time and for the buyer's satisfaction, and for the rights in every photo and word in your listing.

What should you do if a listing is reported?

1. Read the removal email carefully. It names the rights owner and the type of infringement.
2. Check every other listing for the same brand or the same copied content, and fix or end them before they are reported too.
3. Decide whether the report was right. If you copied photos or text, accept it and replace the content before relisting, where the item itself is allowed.
4. If you believe it was wrong, contact the rights owner at the email address in eBay's removal email to ask for a retraction, and use eBay's internal appeals process if needed.
5. Never relist the same item unchanged. Repeat reports put the account at greater risk.

Our guide to an eBay intellectual property takedown includes how to write to a rights owner.

How do you lower the risk across a whole store?

• Favour unbranded or lightly branded goods from suppliers who give you rights to their photos.
• Write your own descriptions from the manufacturer's facts rather than copying.
• Take or license your own photos for your best sellers.
• Run a brand check on every new product, not just the ones you think are risky.
• Review the brands in your live listings regularly, because brands join VeRO and change their stance over time.

A checklist before you list an Amazon product

• You have looked for the brand's VeRO participant profile and read it.
• The item is genuine and you can show where it came from.
• Every photo and every line of text is yours or licensed to you.
• The brand appears in the title only because the item is that brand's product.
• Your supply route follows eBay's drop shipping policy.
• The brand is not on your own list of past reporters.