We're committed to providing a safer place to buy and list items, as well as assisting third parties in protecting their intellectual property rights. When someone uses other people’s intellectual property—such as copyrighted material and trademarks—in an unlawful way, it's considered infringement, which is against the law and eBay policies.
Before listing items on eBay, be sure to read and follow our rules below.
Rules that affect what you can list on eBay
Restricted
The following items are restricted or prohibited because they may infringe on intellectual property or other proprietary rights of third parties. Click each link for more information.
- Academic, beta, and OEM software
- Certain branded accessories, packaging, warranties, or other items offered without the accompanying branded product
- Media, including:
- Digitally delivered goods
- Movie prints (35 mm, 70 mm)
- Perfumes and cosmetics
- Recordable media
Not allowed
The following items aren't allowed on eBay. Click each link for details on our policies.
- Beta software
- Bootleg recordings
- Items that may enable unauthorized copies, including:
- Replicas, counterfeit items, and unauthorised copies
Rules that affect how you can list items for sale
Restricted
- Using someone else's picture or item description without their permission. Be sure you have permission to use pictures or product information created created by someone else.
Not allowed
In a listing, eBay members cannot:
- Encourage or enable others to infringe copyrights, trademarks, or other intellectual property rights of third parties
- Improperly use eBay intellectual property including use of the eBay name or logo and linking to the eBay website
- Include authenticity disclaimers or deny responsibility for the items offered in their listings
- Use images or text copied from other websites or internet searches in your listing or product pages, unless the owner or creator has given you permission
Activity on eBay is required to:
- Follow all applicable laws
- Respect the rights of third parties
- Follow the eBay User Agreement
- Follow this eBay policy
If activity doesn’t meet these requirements, eBay may take action consistent with applicable laws and the eBay User Agreement, and may even be legally required to do so. Such actions may include, as an example only: administratively ending listings or cancelling transactions, hiding or lowering the placement of listings in search results, lowering seller rating, restricting buying or selling, forfeiture of fees, loss of buyer or seller protections, restricting access to member communication and rating tools, removing feedback, and account suspension.
eBay VeRO Programme: Reporting listing violations
We created the Verified Rights Owner (VeRO) Programme so intellectual property owners could report listings that infringe their intellectual property rights. It is in eBay’s interest to ensure that infringing items are removed from the site, as they erode the trust of our buyers and good sellers.
Here are some of our basic guidelines on what to do:
If you're the Verified Rights OwnerOnly intellectual property rights owners can report eBay listings that infringe their copyright, trademark, or other intellectual property rights. If you are a rights owner, you can file a report from the VeRO: Reporting an Infringement page.
If you're not the rights ownerEven if you're not the rights owner, you can still help by getting in touch with the owner and encouraging them to contact us.
Some rights owners who participate in the VeRO programme have created a participant page so you can find out more about their products and legal positions. Though not all VeRO participants have a page, those that do can be found at our VeRO participant - opens in new window or tab pages.
If your listing was removedIf you believe your listing was removed in error, learn more about how eBay protects intellectual property (VeRO). For more information, visit the following page: