Exaggerated use of Alembic name on Ebay

[David Houck]

It appears to me that this guy is just playing a little too fast and loose with the Alembic name in this listing.  Of course it does occur to me that maybe he just doesn't know any better.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=38079&item=3731742672&rd=1

[bassman10096]

Dave:  I don't know if it will help much, but Ebay is actively (though obviously not too thoroughly) cancelling auctions that use the names of other makers in titles to gain more search exposure.  I know this because I had an auction cancelled myself and ran across someone else whose relisting of an item mentioned this had happened to him, too.
 
The reason Ebay cites is a rather unclear rule against Search Manipulation.  It's ironic, since my cancelled listing was the first (honest, it was) time I had used a string of names in my ad.
 
I don't know if Ebay would stop the ad you pointed out, though.  There is a fuzzy loophole in the rule that may allow comparison to a single other maker where there is a legitimate similarity.  I don't know who judges whether a comparison is legitimate and not misleading.
 
Bill

[thebass]

Yes, brand name abuse should be blocked, but who would be able to check this ? You will find brand name abuse everywhere in ebay, mostly just to trick the search engines. And how could you prevent phrases like ..brand x, not like Alembic, Fodera, Ken Smith .... It's sufficient for the search engines, but none could argue that the seller is trying ti sell under another brand. Alembic is not even the worst, you should try this with Fender or Warwick, it's ridicoulous ...

[bassman10096]

Though I'm already a confessed violator of this:  I agree.  It's frustrating to get Ibanez's in your Fender search.  The more popular the name, the worse.  But where it gets me the worst is on a search for a relatively uncommon brand, like Status.  More than once, I've turned up search results where not a single item listed actually met the name I searched for...