An eBay VeRO copyright complaint is a report from the owner of a photo, video or piece of text, filed through eBay’s Verified Rights Owner program, saying your listing uses their content without permission. The platform then removes the listing, emails you the name and contact details of the rights owner, and leaves you three options. You can prove permission, ask the rights owner for a retraction, or replace the content and relist. Most of these reports end at replacement, because eBay lets you revise a listing that was removed for how it was described rather than for what it sells. Where you own the content and the report is wrong, a US-based copyright report can also be answered with a counter notice under 17 U.S.C. 512(g), and eBay reinstates the listing after 10 business days unless the rights owner tells eBay it has gone to court.

What eBay Treats as Copyright Infringement

The rule sits in eBay’s Images, videos and text policy. When creating listings, store pages or product pages, sellers should take their own images and videos and write their own descriptions. Sellers may also use images and product details from the eBay product catalog, which eBay says is provided by eBay customers and third parties. If you upload text, video or photos created by someone else, you need explicit written permission from anyone who has rights to that content. Without it, eBay states your item may be removed by the owner of the content through the VeRO program.

The policy names three content types as restricted unless you hold that written permission.

Images, videos or text copied from websites or internet searches.
Information from product packaging. Measurements, weight and other specifications you need to describe the item are generally acceptable. Other packaging text should be avoided.
Scans or text copied from catalogs or advertisements.

The same page lists the actions eBay may take when a listing breaks the policy. They are removing the listing or other content, issuing a warning, restricting activity or account suspension. eBay calls that list examples only, so treat it as a floor and not a ceiling. The Intellectual property policy repeats the same four actions and separates two kinds of problem. A listing whose content infringes can often be revised. A listing whose item infringes cannot be fixed by editing, because no listing for that item is allowed.

The question that decides the case

The first thing we establish is whether you hold the original files that prove the content is yours. A seller who shot the photos has camera files, capture dates and usually a dozen other frames from the same session. A seller who did not shoot them has nothing to show. That seller’s fastest route is replacement, and every later decision in the case follows from this one answer.

The law behind the policy

Photos and product copy are protected by copyright from the moment they are fixed, in every major market eBay serves. US law at 17 U.S.C. 102(a) protects original works fixed in any tangible medium, and section 101 lists photographs inside pictorial, graphic and sculptural works. The table sets out the statutes that shape a copyright report on each major eBay site. It is general information, and a qualified attorney should advise on your own facts.

Region	Law	What it means for listing content
United States	Digital Millennium Copyright Act, 17 U.S.C. 512	Sets the notice and takedown process, the counter notification under 512(g)(3), restoration in not less than 10 and not more than 14 business days under 512(g)(2)(C), and liability under 512(f) for knowing material misrepresentation.
United States	Remedies and time limits, 17 U.S.C. 504(c) and 507(b)	Statutory damages run from $750 to $30,000 per work, up to $150,000 for willful infringement. A civil claim must be brought within three years after it accrued.
United States	Fair use, 17 U.S.C. 107	Weighed on four factors, including whether the use is commercial and its effect on the market for the original. Reusing a competitor’s product photos to sell the same product scores badly on both.
United States	First sale, 17 U.S.C. 109(a)	Lets the owner of a lawfully made copy sell it. It covers the physical item. The photos and text describing it stay protected.
United Kingdom	Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, section 16	Copying a work and communicating it to the public are acts restricted to the copyright owner, listed at section 16(1)(a) and (d).
Germany	Urheberrechtsgesetz, section 72	Ordinary photographs (Lichtbilder) are protected even where they fall short of a photographic work. The right belongs to the photographer and lasts 50 years from publication.

How an eBay VeRO Copyright Complaint Shows Up

Most sellers learn about a copyright report from an email and a listing that has gone missing. eBay’s Seller Center intellectual property page says the email includes the name and contact details of the rights owner who submitted the report. The VeRO program page describes the other side. eBay reviews the Notice of Claimed Infringement for completeness, may ask the rights owner for more detail, removes a listing found to violate rights and notifies the seller with an explanation.

Copyright reports reach eBay through two doors. Rights owners in the VeRO program file through the VeRO Portal. Anyone can also send a DMCA notice to eBay’s designated agent, and the VeRO page lists what that notice must contain. It needs a signature, a description of the work, where the copy appears on eBay, contact details, a good faith statement that the use is unauthorized and a statement under penalty of perjury that the notice is accurate. The VeRO page sends non-US items not available in the US market, and non-copyright concerns, through the VeRO Portal instead.

Read the email for three facts before doing anything else.

The rights owner’s name, which tells you whether this is a brand, a photographer or another seller.
The listing numbers removed, which tell you how far the copied content has spread.
The type of right claimed. A copyright claim points at your photos or text. A trademark or patent claim points at the item or the brand name.

Photos and Text From Other Listings

Copying another seller’s photos is the copyright report we see most often from resellers. A seller finds an identical product already listed, saves its images and drops them into a new listing. The other seller, or the brand that supplied the shots, reports it.

The Seller Center states that any photos, videos or descriptions should be original, and that a seller using content someone else created should be sure to have written permission. Its practical guidance is short. Use the eBay catalog to find photos or add a description. Do not use stock photos without permission, and do not use modified or edited stock photos. Even when taking your own pictures, avoid copying someone else’s image.

Content in the eBay catalog is different

Catalog content carries a built-in license. The Images, videos and text policy explains that when you list, you give eBay and its customers permission, through the User Agreement, to use your images, videos and product details. Your content may be added to the eBay product catalog and used by other sellers in their listings. If another seller uses your image or text and it is not part of the catalog, eBay says you may contact that seller and ask them to remove it.

The line is clear. Images you pulled from the catalog while building a listing are permitted. Images you saved from another seller’s own listing page are not, and that seller can report you for them.

Business models that trigger it

Resellers copying other sellers’ photos. The habit saves ten minutes per identical product and costs the listing once it is reported. Photograph each product yourself, even with a phone and a plain background, or build the listing from eBay catalog images.

Sellers copying manufacturer catalogs. Wholesale and retail arbitrage sellers often lift the brand’s images and copy because the product is identical. The brand owns both, and brands sweep for them.

Sellers using freelancers. A virtual assistant or listing contractor builds listings with images found online. The seller often finds out only when a report arrives, and eBay holds the account owner responsible. Require freelancers to use only your photos or catalog content, and require a written assignment of rights for any photos or text they create for you.

Stock photos and edited images

Buying a stock image, cropping it or running it through an editing tool does not make it yours. A stock license counts as permission only if its terms cover use in marketplace listings, so keep the license and read the terms. Removing a watermark or swapping a background leaves ownership where it was, and a stripped watermark makes the copying obvious to the rights owner.

A worked example

This example blends patterns we see often, with no client details. A seller of home fitness equipment hires a freelancer to list forty products. The freelancer pulls images and descriptions from the manufacturer’s site for speed. Three weeks later the manufacturer reports twelve listings in one day.

The seller has no proof of ownership because none exists. Defending the listings would fail, and a counter notice would be a false statement under penalty of perjury. The right response is replacement. Photograph every product, rewrite every description, revise the listings through the Resolution Hub and end the ones that cannot be reshot quickly. Then put a written content rule and a rights assignment into the freelancer’s contract. A short note to the manufacturer confirming the content has been replaced across the whole store is worth sending. A retraction is unlikely here, so the work that pays is stopping the next twelve reports.

Open each content source to see whether eBay treats the photo or text as permitted and what the rights owner can prove in a copyright report.

Brand names in titles raise a separate set of rules, set out in how to mention brands in eBay listings without VeRO trouble, and a run of design reports is covered in repeat patent reports on eBay and the selling restrictions. Sellers facing a batch of photo reports from one brand can hand the review to our rights owner complaint desk, which maps every affected listing before anything is filed.

Catalog Content Without Permission

Manufacturer and distributor content is the second big source of complaints. The Images, videos and text policy answers the common question in its own FAQ. You can’t use images or videos from a manufacturer’s website, even if it is publicly available.

Brands enforce this for two reasons. Their product photography costs money and is protected, and their product copy is part of their marketing. A brand managing its presence on eBay sweeps listings for its images and reports them in batches.

The compliant options

Your own content. Photograph the item and describe it in your own words. Dimensions and weight can be stated as facts.
eBay catalog content. Where the product is in the eBay catalog, eBay permits its images and product details.
Written permission. If a manufacturer lets its resellers use its images, get that permission in writing, file it and note which images and listings it covers.

A distributor’s product feed is not permission from the copyright owner unless the distributor can show it holds the right to grant it. Ask for the license terms in writing before the feed goes into a listing.

Packaging text and specifications

Sellers often copy the back of the box into the description. eBay allows measurements, weight and other necessary specifications from packaging and tells sellers to avoid any other packaging text. Write the description yourself and carry over only the facts a buyer needs.

Removal or Revision of Content

A removed listing is the first consequence, and for content cases it is usually fixable. The Intellectual property policy says that if a listing infringes because of its content, such as an image used without consent, you may be able to revise the listing and remove the infringing content.

What revision can and cannot do

The Seller Center sends sellers with no evidence of error to remove the content that caused the issue and revise the listing through the Resolution Hub, following eBay’s listing policies. Most copyright cases end there.

Revision does not erase the record. eBay states that if a rights owner has already reported a listing, ending or updating it won’t remove the violation, because the issue existed when the report was made. Ended listings are still visible on the site. An appeal is judged on the original version of the listing, the one that was reported, and your changes are reviewed as a separate case.

First report compared with repeat reports

The Seller Center states that repeated violations may have escalating consequences, ranging from selling restrictions to permanent suspension from eBay. The VeRO page says the same about selling restrictions or account suspension. Neither publishes a count, so do not plan around one.

Situation	What eBay does	What the seller should do
First copyright report on one listing	Removes the listing and emails the rights owner’s details	Replace the content on that listing and every listing that used the same source
Second report from the same rights owner	Removes again, with the record of the first report still open	Show where all content comes from and how it is checked before listings go live
Repeated reports across rights owners	Escalating consequences from selling restrictions to permanent suspension	Audit the whole store, document sources and fix the listing workflow
Account restricted or suspended	Restrictions may extend to linked accounts	Do not open or use another account to keep selling

That last row matters. eBay’s Multiple accounts policy does not allow registering new accounts or using other existing accounts to avoid selling restrictions, and it says restrictions on one account may be applied to linked accounts. Our guide to repeat VeRO removals and restrictions covers what follows once reports keep coming.

Resolving an eBay VeRO Copyright Complaint With the Rights Owner

The Seller Center describes three routes. If the rights owner gave you permission, file an appeal with evidence from the rights owner, or send documentation of the authorization to the VeRO support team at vero@ebay.com. If the listing was removed in error, contact the rights owner and ask for a retraction. The VeRO page says a rights owner retracts by emailing the VeRO team from an authorized address. If you have no evidence of error, remove the content and revise.

Our method

Name the content and its source. Identify exactly which images or text the report concerns and where each came from. The answer is your camera, a freelancer, the eBay catalog, a manufacturer site or another listing.
Decide replace or defend. If you cannot prove ownership or permission, replace the content across the store and move on. If you can, gather the proof.
Gather proof of ownership. Original image files with their capture dates, other frames from the same session, drafts of your description, or the written license or assignment.
Request a retraction. Send the rights owner a short message. The Seller Center says it helps to include your eBay user ID, your eBay email address, the removed listing numbers and product images where possible. Attach the proof and ask the owner to email eBay retracting the report.
Consider a counter notice only with counsel. The rules and the risk follow below.
Close the source. Whatever the outcome, fix the workflow that let the content in, so the same owner has nothing left to report.

Toggle the proof you hold to see whether to defend or replace the photos or text in an eBay copyright report and what the work involves.

The counter notice route

The Seller Center states that counter notices can only be submitted for US-based copyright reports, and it points to 17 U.S.C. 512(g)(3) for the required content. The statute asks for four things. You sign it, identify the removed material and where it appeared, state under penalty of perjury a good faith belief that it was removed by mistake or misidentification, and give your name, address and phone number with consent to the jurisdiction of the Federal District Court for your district. eBay states that after a valid counter notice the listing is reinstated after 10 business days, unless the rights owner reports that it has filed a court action. Section 512(g)(2)(C) frames the same window as not less than 10 and not more than 14 business days after the counter notice is received.

A counter notice is a legal step with real exposure. Under 17 U.S.C. 512(f), a person who knowingly and materially misrepresents that material was removed by mistake is liable for the resulting damages, including costs and attorneys’ fees. If the rights owner sues instead of backing down, statutory damages under section 504(c) start at $750 per work and reach $150,000 for willful infringement. We treat a counter notice as an attorney decision. We recommend it only where you created the content yourself or hold a clear license, and the report is plainly wrong.

Retraction request or counter notice, which one fits

Factor	Retraction request	Counter notice
Where it works	Any eBay site	US-based copyright reports only
Who decides	The rights owner	The statute, unless the owner files suit
Timing	Whenever the owner emails eBay	Reinstated after 10 business days absent a court action
Legal exposure	Low	Statement under penalty of perjury and 512(f) liability
Best use	Honest mistakes and licensed content	Your own content, a clear record and an owner who will not respond

EU and UK routes

The Digital Services Act, Regulation (EU) 2022/2065 of 19 October 2022 has applied since 17 February 2024. Article 17 requires a clear and specific statement of reasons when a hosting service removes content. Article 20 gives sellers access to a free internal complaint system for at least six months after the decision, and Article 21 lets them take the dispute to a certified out-of-court settlement body.

UK sellers rely on the retained Platform-to-Business Regulation 2019/1150. Article 4 requires a statement of reasons on a durable medium when listings are restricted, at least 30 days notice before termination of the whole service, and a chance to clarify the facts. Article 11 requires an internal complaint system that is free of charge and handles complaints swiftly. Both routes help when you own the content and can prove it. They do little for content that was copied.

If the rights owner refuses, our guide to a refused VeRO retraction covers what to change before the next contact.

Deadlines and Timing

Revision. No published deadline. Revise as soon as the new photos and text are ready, because a missing listing loses sales every day.
Counter notice. Reinstatement after 10 business days per eBay, within the 10 to 14 business day window of 512(g)(2)(C).
EU internal complaint. Available for at least six months after the decision under DSA Article 20.
UK termination notice. At least 30 days before a full termination takes effect under P2B Article 4(2).
US lawsuit window. Three years after the claim accrued under 17 U.S.C. 507(b), which is why an unresolved report can come back.

How to Prevent Another eBay Copyright Report

The prevention rule is short. Shoot your own photos and write your own descriptions for every listing. The routine that makes it stick has three parts.

Photography

Photograph every product yourself. The Seller Center’s own example is a pair of sneakers shot from different angles.
Keep the original files with their capture dates, filed by product.
Do not recreate another seller’s or a brand’s distinctive shot, which eBay warns against even for your own pictures.
Keep third-party logos out of your images. Logos raise a trademark claim, covered in our guide to the eBay VeRO trademark complaint.

Descriptions

Write each description in your own words, with the facts a buyer needs.
Use packaging specifications only where you cannot state them another way.
Keep drafts or version history so authorship can be shown later.

Freelancers and agencies

Put the content rules in the written brief.
Require a written assignment of rights for every photo and description created for you.
Review the first batch before it goes live, then spot check one listing in ten.

Content source log

Field	What to record
Product and listing numbers	Every listing that uses the content
Image source	Own photo, eBay catalog or licensed, with the creator’s name
Original file location	Folder or storage path for the original files
Date created	From the file data or the shoot record
Text source	Own writing, eBay catalog or licensed
Permission or assignment	Document name and date, if anyone other than you created it
Reports received	Date, rights owner and outcome

Building the photo and writing workflow from scratch is covered in original photos and descriptions for eBay listings. The wider VeRO process starts with responding to an eBay VeRO takedown. Reports aimed at the product itself are handled in the eBay VeRO patent complaint guide, and fake goods claims in the eBay counterfeit and Authenticity Guarantee guide.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I use another seller’s photos on eBay?

No, not without their written permission. eBay requires your own photos, eBay catalog content or content you have explicit written permission to use. A seller whose own non-catalog image you copied can contact you or report the listing.

What happens after an eBay copyright notice?

eBay removes the listing and emails you the rights owner’s name and contact details. Repeated violations can bring escalating consequences, from selling restrictions to permanent suspension.

Does eBay describe a counter notice?

Yes, for US-based copyright reports only. After a valid counter notice under 17 U.S.C. 512(g)(3), eBay reinstates the listing after 10 business days unless the rights owner reports a court action.

Can I use manufacturer catalog images?

Only with explicit written permission from the rights owner. eBay states you can’t use images from a manufacturer’s website even if they are publicly available, although images from the eBay product catalog are allowed.

How do I fix a copyright complaint?

Replace the reported content with your own photos and text on every listing that used it, then revise through the Resolution Hub. If the content was yours and the report was a mistake, send the rights owner your proof and ask for a retraction.

Does ending the listing make the copyright report go away?

No. eBay states that ending or updating a reported listing won’t remove the violation, because the issue existed when the report was made.

Can I open a second eBay account after a copyright suspension?

No. The Multiple accounts policy does not allow using new or other accounts to avoid selling restrictions, and restrictions can be applied to linked accounts.

Get Help With an eBay Copyright Complaint

Replacement settles most copyright reports. When you own the content and the report is wrong, the counter notice decision needs counsel, which we coordinate along with the retraction request and the store review that stops the next report.

Bring the email to our rights owner complaint service or our eBay suspension and reinstatement service. You can submit your case for a free assessment or book a consultation before you file anything.

Other platform cases sit under our marketplace reinstatement services.

How to Resolve an eBay VeRO Copyright Complaint on Photos