Facebook Marketplace Removed Listing

Item already sold, so it's more of a retrospective.

Listed a pair of Airpods Pro on marketplace, it was initially put under review but was quickly approved - probably an automated process. A day later it was removed due to policy violation, the exact reason was unclear but reading between the lines it seems someone or the algorithm thinks that it's counterfeit - perhaps it's too cheap to be genuine. So the ad was relisted with updated wording to make it clear that it's used second hand, previously was described as preowned like new.

Just like the first time, it was in review then approved, but hours later removed again. Good thing is someone was already in touch while the ad was visible, so the sale went through without any drama.

Still puzzles me why it was removed, there are other AirPods, new and used, listed on the marketplace, so clearly they aren't rejecting everything. I wonder what triggered the removal, did someone report it? Or is there a secondary process to re-visit earlier approved listings?

I have sold many high value items on marketplace over many years, so it's unrelated to seller history or value of the item.

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Comments

  • +1

    Probably because people suspect that it’s fake. It’s very hard to tell the real ones from the fake ones, which is why I genuinely never buy one from marketplace or eBay.

    • Agreed, I wonder how businesses like CeX differentiate, as they re-sell a range of Apple products.

    • -1

      I've had the same problem several times.
      Like OP Ive tried to reword the adverts without success.
      But their Ai does rely heavily on key words and the "main" photo.
      So after rewording the advert it may help changing the main photo and/or resizing it.

      So in reality thier "Ai" is not so intelligent.
      And unfortunately you cannot argue with thier "algorithms and bots"

      • So in reality thier "Ai" is not so intelligent.

        Pot calling kettle black. FFS

        I before E except after C is not a hard and fast rule. FFS²

  • +1

    Thanks for contacting Facebook support……..
    Actually, we do not have any support agents available to assist you.
    Thanks, have a good day ahead.

    • Thier agents are simply "bots"

  • It might also be tied to the announcement of APP3, which means (I bet) a TON of APP1 and APP2 owners want to upgrade and have listed theirs for sale, which also means a ton of scammers would be trying to take advantage. I bet in a few weeks that might calm down a bit when it’s easier to tell the fakes from the reputable sales again (as much as is possible).

    • +1

      Just looked into it further, it's very easy to report something "appears to be counterfeit", chances are once reported it's treated as such. Tried to request a review the first time, there's no option to explain it's not a violation, but only an option to request exemption from the violation.

      It's pretty useless, there's no text field, only radio buttons. Can't tell them it's not fake and can't explain why it should be exempted, there's no new information, of course their decision stays.

  • Sheesh
    I’ve reported a few clearly scam posts lately (eg selling a second hand $8000 gym for $600 or using photos from another listing for a monkey bars set asking for a deposit ‘to cover delivery’ for also listed at about 20% of what it would typically sell for second hand but neither of these led to listings being removed

  • I had a heap of barely worn and brand new clothes for sale on there. Roughly half of them were taken down for being 'counterfeit'

    • Were they randomly taken off at different times?

      Then likely reported by human.

      • No they were initially accepted, then within a few minutes of being listed I'd get the notification they'd been taken down due to being counterfeit.. I'm unsure what exactly triggered it for some but not others.

    • +2

      The same thing happened to me when I listed a bunch of unused shoes. Vans and New Balance mostly. They definitely weren’t counterfeit. I think it flags your account after they’re removed because I’ve never been able to list them.

      • +1

        It's strange isn't it? What I did notice (could be pure coincidence) certain brand names triggered. For example anything Adidas I attempted to list would just decline a few minutes later. But all of the Under Armour items I listed were accepted. I did sell a few pairs of shoes but had no trouble with those.

        • Yes same here. Certain brands only.

  • People are reporting your listings.

  • Was it removed from Marketplace or from a selling group. There is a difference.

    • Marketplace.

  • +1

    It is quite common for companies that sell the same item new to report all the second hand ones as counterfeit. It reduces the secondhand market and gets people to buy new.

  • +1

    There are a lot of scammers on marketplace.
    Two red flags that stand out:
    Price is too low to be real.
    Posted from a profile that is less than a year old.
    I almost got scammed myself and got directed to a residential address that had a sign outside saying, "if you came here from a FB marketplace ad, we're not selling anything, you got scammed"
    I refused to transfer any money until I saw the item in person so I just lost a bit of time, but the seller tried to push me to bank transfer $200 to them.
    I reported the ad but days later it popped up again.

  • Yeah, I had a similar issue when i listed my AirPods 2. I tried appealing it but it didn’t do anything. Ended up selling on eBay

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