Hey grahamg, I had the same problem when I was selling designer shirts and handbags. It's just a tactic that unethical sellers use to help cut down on their competition..as all they have to do is hit the 'report' button located at the bottom of every listing and ebay will normally just pull it without checking...According to an actual ebay employee that I talked with about the problem stated that ebay depends 'heavily' on it's members to 'police' the community by reporting fakes...What is actually suppose to be policy is that if a item is reported a member of the ebay crew is suppose to take a look at that auction and then based on what they see, make a decision as wether to pull the listing or not..If a report is made by a vero then the auction is pulled 'no questions asked'..However they said that most of the time if a member reports an item they just usually pull it and move on to the next..
That being said, I overcame the problem by sending a physical package notifying ebay of my 'intent to sell' under 'first right of sell', designer goods and sent copies of the invoices of purchase from legitimate suppliers plus copies of the tags and phone numbers of the suppliers. I also put a short notice on my listing that I would take legal action against anyone who fraudlently messed with my auctions....that pretty much solved my problem...
I cant say that that will work for everyone, but it helped me..