eBay VeRO Notice: How to File a NOCI Report
If you've searched "how to report counterfeit eBay," you've probably already found a lot of general advice — and a lot of it skips the part that actually matters: eBay doesn't let just anyone report a listing as counterfeit. It runs a specific program for it, called VeRO, and the form you're actually filling out is called a Notice of Claimed Infringement, or NOCI. This guide walks through what that process really involves, including the parts most overviews leave out — the exact declaration you're signing, why individual buyers and sellers can't just self-file, and what happens after you submit.
A note before we start: this is a preparation guide, not legal advice, and it's built from eBay's own NOCI documentation rather than secondhand summaries. Where something in eBay's process isn't publicly confirmed in full, we say so rather than guessing.
What VeRO actually is
VeRO — Verified Rights Owner — is eBay's program for intellectual property owners, and their authorized representatives, to report listings that infringe a trademark, copyright, patent, design right, or other IP. It is not a general "report this seller" button available to any buyer. Per eBay's own NOCI cover letter, the program is open to "an owner of intellectual property rights or an authorized representative" — meaning you either own the trademark/copyright/patent at issue, or you have documented authorization to act on behalf of someone who does.
If you're not the rights holder and don't have that authorization — say, you spotted a counterfeit of someone else's brand while shopping — eBay directs you to a separate general content-reporting channel instead, not VeRO.
One more thing worth knowing upfront: eBay states that when a VeRO report leads to a listing's removal, it shares the reporting party's name and email with the accused seller "to support transparency and facilitate resolution." Use an address you're comfortable having disclosed — not necessarily your personal inbox, if that matters to you.
Step 1: Register with the VeRO Portal
Before you can file a NOCI, you register as a rights holder through eBay's VeRO Portal. eBay's cover letter for the NOCI process points registrants there as the primary channel.
We'll be upfront about a gap: we haven't been able to independently confirm the exact fields eBay's portal asks for at registration — the portal itself wasn't accessible for a direct walkthrough during our research. Based on what every comparable program requires at this stage, expect to provide your identity, contact information, and proof that you own or represent the IP in question. Treat that as a reasonable expectation rather than a confirmed checklist, and let the live portal's own instructions be the final word once you're there.
Step 2: File the Notice of Claimed Infringement (NOCI)
This is the actual report. The informational requirements are eBay's own — laid out in full in the NOCI form itself — and shouldn't differ meaningfully whether you're filling out the Portal's web version or the standalone form.
Here's what it asks for, and who's actually responsible for each part:
| Field | What it's for | Who provides it |
|---|---|---|
| IP Owner Name & Email | Identifies the rights holder; the email will be shared with the accused seller | You (the rights holder) |
| Website (optional) | Context for who you are | You, if applicable |
| Reporter Information (name, company, address, email, phone) | Only differs from the above if you're filing as an authorized agent rather than the owner directly | You |
| Proof of Reporting Authorization | Required if you're filing on behalf of someone else and haven't already provided this to eBay | You — this has to be real documentation of your authority to act, not something that can be generated on your behalf |
| Declaration | The legal certification — see below | You, personally, with signature |
| Listing URL(s) / Item ID(s) | The specific eBay listing(s) at issue | You supply the exact listings |
| Reason Code | One code selected from eBay's fixed list, matching your actual claim | You confirm the code matches your situation |
| Description of infringement | Free text explaining why the listing infringes | You, in your own words, or reviewed carefully if drafted for you |
| Registration information | Trademark/patent registration number and issuing office, if your right is registered | You — this can't be invented on your behalf |
| Jurisdiction | Where the IP right is protected (e.g., "United States") | You |
Picking the right reason code
eBay's NOCI form uses a fixed list of reason codes, and picking the wrong one is a common cause of rejected reports. For a typical counterfeit-physical-product case, the applicable code is almost always 1.1 — "item is a counterfeit product which infringes a trademark." If your complaint is really about copied listing content (photos or text) rather than a counterfeit physical item, codes 4.2 or 4.3 (copyright infringement in listing images or images-plus-text) are usually the better fit.
Two categories are worth flagging specifically:
- Patent claims (code 5.1), when reported from the US, Australia, or Canada, require an actual court order adjudicating the item as infringing — not just your own assertion that it infringes a patent. That's a meaningfully higher bar than trademark or copyright claims, so if your situation is patent-based and you don't already have adjudication in hand, expect this route to be out of reach for now.
- eBay explicitly does not process VeRO reports based on selective-distribution agreements or MAP (minimum advertised price) violations. If your issue is that an unauthorized reseller is undercutting your pricing terms rather than infringing your IP, VeRO isn't the mechanism — no amount of rewording the report will change that, because it isn't an IP claim at all.
The declaration — read this before you sign anything
This is the part most "how to report" overviews skip past, and it's the part that actually matters. Here is the exact text of eBay's declaration, quoted directly from eBay's own NOCI form:
"I hereby declare and warrant that I am submitting this notice in good faith and that the information and allegations contained herein are accurate and complete. In particular, I declare and warrant that the content reported or the materials contained therein are not authorized by the rights owner, any other person authorized to do so, or the law. I further declare and warrant that I am authorized to assert the alleged infringement.
If reporting from within the United States or its territories, I further declare under the penalty of perjury that the foregoing is true and correct."
Read that literally, not as boilerplate. If you're filing from the U.S. or a U.S. territory, you are personally attesting — under penalty of perjury — that everything in your report is true. This isn't a formality eBay includes for legal cover; it's the mechanism that puts real weight behind every NOCI filed, and it's why a NOCI can't be delegated to an automated tool or filed on your behalf without your direct review and sign-off.
It's also why "probably a knockoff" isn't the same bar as "I've reviewed this and believe it in good faith." Before you certify, look at the actual listing, compare it honestly against your own product or IP, and make sure the reason code you're selecting actually describes what you're seeing.
Step 3: Submit
The VeRO Portal is the route eBay's own documentation points to as the primary submission channel. We haven't been able to independently verify the exact in-portal submission flow, since the portal itself wasn't accessible for a full walkthrough during our research — but registration through the Portal, followed by filing the NOCI, is the path eBay's own materials describe. (You may see references elsewhere online to a submission email address for the standalone NOCI form; we weren't able to confirm that against an eBay primary source, so we're not repeating it here as current. Go through the Portal.)
No specific removal timeline is published anywhere in eBay's own materials, and no guide — including this one — should promise you one.
What happens after you file
A few things worth knowing so you're not caught off guard:
- The accused seller will typically learn your name and email, per eBay's stated process, once a report leads to removal. This is disclosed by eBay as a deliberate transparency measure, not a bug.
- There's no guarantee of removal. eBay reviews what you submit and makes its own determination.
- If the seller disputes it, be prepared to respond with your actual evidence — the same documentation (proof of ownership, proof your work predates theirs, the basis for your reason code) that supported the original report.
Before you file: get organized
The single biggest lever you have over whether a NOCI succeeds is how complete and specific it is — the exact listing URL, a clear reason code, and evidence that actually supports your claim. That's tedious to assemble by hand, especially if you're tracking multiple listings across marketplaces.
A straight answer about our own scope, since this is an eBay guide: Craftwatch does not scan eBay yet. The eBay integration is built and waiting on marketplace approval; until that lands, we'd be overstating things to imply otherwise, so we won't. What we search today is Etsy.
That can still be relevant here, because stolen product photos are often reused on more than one marketplace rather than just the one you happened to find — so if your images have turned up on eBay, it may be worth checking whether they're on Etsy too. Craftwatch's free counterfeit exposure check searches Etsy for listings that may be using your images and builds a plain-English report with side-by-side comparisons and a similarity explanation for each candidate, so you're starting from an organized case instead of a blank form. No card required, no commitment. You still review everything and file it yourself — the certification above is yours to make, not ours.
To request one, email nonemanbandbusiness@gmail.com with your shop URL, or read more at craftwatch.nonemanband.com. One thing we don't cover yet, whichever marketplace you're on: framed wall art, prints and printable/digital art — photos of framed artwork are dominated by the frame and the wall, so our matching isn't accurate enough there for us to stand behind a result.
Craftwatch, by NoneManBand, is a preparation tool, not legal advice. Whether a listing actually infringes your rights, and which reason code fits your situation, is a judgment only you — or an attorney, if you engage one — can make.