There are many forms of proof that don't require them to see the item, which is why they do yank lots of auctions. The easiest way is to prove that they lifted an image from someone else's auction by just telling them which auction it got lifted from.
Sure, but when you have someone selling reprints as originals, why does it take multiple complaints to have the auction killed? The auction is being reported as Significantly Not As Described (SNAD) which will require the buyer to go through the hassle of repacking and returning the item, per ebays buyer protection requirements. Of course:
If the buyer is uninformed and doesn't file the SNAD, ebay still gets their cut.
If the buyer can't be bothered with returning (probably not the case here, but often in smaller $ transactions) eBay still gets their cut.
If the buyer fails to file within 45 days, because they are hospitalized, die or other problems, ebay still gets their cut.
If the buyer fails to get signature confirmation when returning, eBay still gets their cut (and the buyer is out the full amount).
I just think ebay is too disincentivized to yank auctions.
The reply to this was that there is so many reports filed across the system that there is a backlog. This makes sense actually. eBay has at least a couple of million items listed each day. We found ONE thing wrong and the button humping seems to be off the charts. There is a line of complaints that they process. Priority is reasonably given to phone calls.