You got the counterfeit listing removed. A week later the same seller has three new listings, same photos, same prices, same product. The takedown worked and the problem did not move, because you reported the listing and the seller is the problem. Marketplaces remove listings one at a time, but they review sellers on patterns, and the report that triggers a seller review is a different filing from the report that removes a listing.
The distinction matters because the platforms will not connect the dots for you. eBay, Amazon, and Etsy each have repeat infringer policies, but none of them publishes the number of reports that triggers action, and none of them aggregates your reports automatically. The pattern file is your job, and it is the filing that actually ends a counterfeiting operation.
A listing report needs the listing URL, the infringement, and the evidence for that one item. A seller report needs the pattern: the original listing URL and takedown date, the new listing URLs, the connection between them, and a request to review the seller under the repeat infringer policy. Pattern evidence moves faster than a single listing complaint, because it gives the reviewer the whole history in one report instead of a series of disconnected tickets.
Build the file as you go. Every takedown, note the listing URL, the date filed, the date removed, and the seller name and ID. When the same seller reappears, the file already contains the history, and the new report writes itself. The sellers who survive longest are the ones whose victims file one listing at a time and never connect them. The file is the connection.
eBay's VeRO program removes listings on valid reports, and repeat offenses lead to suspension. Multiple notices inside 90 days almost always escalate to a seven-day suspension, and three unique brand complaints in a quarter almost always lead to a permanent ban across linked accounts. In 2023 eBay proactively removed 3.2 million listings it believed were counterfeit or infringing and suspended more than 27,000 seller accounts for IP violations. The enforcement exists. It runs on reports, and it runs on the reports that name the seller.
Amazon's system works the same way in principle: Brand Registry reports remove listings, and sellers who accumulate violations lose the account. The counter-notice path is the complication: a seller who disputes a copyright claim triggers a 10 to 14 business day window, and the listing can be restored unless a court action is filed. That is why the seller report matters more than the listing report on Amazon too. A seller with a history of counter-notices that failed is a seller the platform already knows about, and your report adds to a file that already exists.
Buyers can report sellers too, and their reports carry a different weight. A brand report says the product is counterfeit. A buyer report says the product that arrived is counterfeit, with photos of the item, the packaging, and the discrepancy against the genuine product. That evidence is harder for a seller to dispute, because it is about the physical item rather than the listing text.
If you bought a counterfeit, keep the evidence pack: screenshots of the listing, the listing URL, the payment record, and photos of what arrived. File the refund claim first, through the marketplace's own process, and report the seller in parallel. The refund gets your money back. The seller report gets the next buyer protected, and the pattern file you build is the same file the brand will need when it files its own report.
Keep reading: Read the Catalogue, Not the Listing. Counterfeiters Have a Shape., Repeat Infringer Policies Have Tiers. Reports Should Aim at Them., and Dupe or Counterfeit: The Legal Line Is About What the Buyer Is Told cover the nearby cases in this series.
File a seller report with the pattern: the original listing URL and takedown date, the new listing URLs, the connection between them, and a request to review the seller under the repeat infringer policy. Pattern evidence moves faster than a single listing complaint.
Platforms do not publish the number. On eBay, multiple notices inside 90 days almost always escalate to a seven-day suspension, and three unique brand complaints in a quarter almost always lead to a permanent ban across linked accounts.
Yes. A buyer report carries the physical evidence: photos of the item received against the genuine product. File the refund claim first through the marketplace, and report the seller in parallel with the same evidence pack.
Every takedown: the listing URL, the date filed, the date removed, and the seller name and ID. When the seller reappears, the file already holds the history, and the new report writes itself.