Counterfeit football shirts/ jerseys seem to be everywhere currently. Search for any common shirt on eBay and you'll probably find a number of fakes of them. The same goes for Depop - but what can we all do about it? Report them!
Before I start the how-to guides I just want to reference something - In general 1 report won't have a listing or a site taken down, it's more a collection of reports from various sources that leads to that, in most cases.
There are 2 things we are looking at reporting here -
- Fakes that are being passed off as authentic
- Shirts that are listed as not authentic (which is still illegal)
Here's my guide on how to report both! Let's take the fakes down!
Reporting Fake Shirts On eBay
Let's kick things off with eBay, a Mecca for fake shirt sellers due to the speed and ease of getting sales.
If the listing states it's not authentic
This is the easiest one of all to report as eBay has a special option for this! They are usually quick to take them down too. I have removed anything from this example that can identify the seller. It took me around 1 minute to find a listing that said it had "a couple of fakes" in a bundle.
Find the listing and then follow these steps -
1 - Scroll down to the description and find the "report item link" as shown below
2 - Follow these settings
- Copyright and trademark
- Counterfeit item or authenticity disclaimer
- Disclaimers about the authenticity or legality of an Item (Ignore I have the wrong one selected below)
In the description you do not need to be detailed, just point out where it says they are not authentic. eBay will generally take these listings down in a few hours.
If the listing states its authentic and it's not
These are harder to get taken down as it is almost your word against there's. eBay, in their defence, are not football shirt experts and have to take a balanced view on these things. The more people that report them the better as this builds up a better picture of sellers for eBay. Whist I understand the frustrations of these listings not being removed you have to play the long game with them!
The steps are almost the same as above.
Step 1- Identify that the item is fake
This is best done from the photos rather than from messaging the seller. You'll need to be clear on this in the description.
For this example, I've reported this monstrosity of a fake 1990 snowflake away shirt.
I know this is a remake of the 2017 Adidas remake of this shirt. The 2XL size tag (on other photos) shows it is a fake rather than an Adidas original.
2 - Report the item
As above, scroll down to the description and hit the blue report item link on the right of the screen.
3 - Fill in the report
As above select the following options
- Copyright and trademark
- Counterfeit item or authenticity disclaimer
- Counterfeit, fake, or replica items
You only get 160 carters for the description so get to the point quickly. You need to be really accurate and clear as to why it is a fake. There is a chance the shirt you have reported will stay for sale. I believe eBay uses the reports to collate information against sellers rather than just taking down specific items.
Reporting Fake Shirts On Depop
Depop has a guarantee of your money back if you buy a non-authentic product on their site, but that does not mean there are not lots of them for sale. Fortunately, it's really easy to report them to Depop from the app. This does not guarantee that they will be removed, sometimes they are, sometimes they aren't!
Step 1 - Identify why it is a fake
For this example, I've found this "retro" Manchester United shirt for sale for £35, this is an obvious fake for anyone who knows what they are looking at. The seller has 5 different fakes all for sale and some sold items too.
2 - Open the report
Tap the 3 dots on the top right of the screen
Then tap "report item" at the bottom of the screen.
3 - Fill in the report
Select the top option for "Counterfeit item or other intellectual property infringement" as shown below -
Then select the top option for Counterfeit again on the next screen.
4 - Write the report
With Depop you get more words than eBay. Explain why the shirt is a counterfeit as clearly as you can. This is all they have to go off so it is difficult to get a clear picture of why with some shirts if they are not knowledgeable about football shirts.
Click send and you are done.
I have had some shirts taken down on Depop and others left up. I cannot find a correlation between the reports and why some get taken down and not others. The more reports they get the better they will get at taking them down. The more fake shirts they can remove from their platform the better!