eBay account indefinitely restricted...am I really as screwed as I think I am?
This is my first post here so my apologies if I am in the wrong category. I have been selling on eBay for around 3.5-4 years. I started off selling items from around my house and later turned eBay into somewhat of a full time job. I first got into reselling with True Religion Jeans. Eventually, I moved up to other brands. For the past year and a half or so, I have been buying and reselling high end designer items such as Louis Vuitton, Michael Kors, and Gucci bags (mainly Louis Vuitton). I have 99.4% positive feedback with a score of 439 (the one negative feedback I received was due to a pair of True Religion jeans I sold and I had to cancel the order because I was out of town due to a family emergency - buyer wasn't too happy about that). Fast forward to this past weekend, I got an email stating that one of my listings was removed due to a "trademark violation." I believe the listing was scheduled and not yet live but it may have already been listed - I don't quite remember. With my experience, I knew the item was authentic and proceeded to relist it (in hindsight, this is probably one of the dumbest things I've ever done). With about 36 hours, I received an email saying that "Your eBay account has been restricted." This was absolutely terrifying considering that eBay is my only source of income. I was a top rated seller on this account and much of the feedback I received from buyers noted that my items were authentic. Furthermore, many of my items were authenticated by a certified authenticator (As I gained more experience, I used their services less and relied on my own, sufficient knowledge). I called eBay and they basically told me nothing could be done. What was particularly surprising to me was that the representative I spoke to told me that eBay basically has a team of authenticators specifically trained to authenticate Louis Vuitton...but if that's the case then why would they require outside documentation for returns on such items (I've purchased LV on eBay for resale and when I open a case saying it's ⊗⊗⊗⊗, they ask for official documentation). Anyways, after that happened, I received an email from PayPal about a day later saying that my account was limited and I am no longer allowed to use PayPal. I have a couple thousand dollars in that account which is now going to be locked up for 180 days. Luckily for me (I hope), I've always had two accounts but with different names. My other account has a feedback score of 750 with 100% feedback (I received one negative feedback over a year ago but the comment was removed due to irrelevance). I just changed the name and address on the account again so it doesn't match my restricted account and did a test listing on it and I was able to successfully list. Do you think I can use this account for now and continue to sell? Also, as for PayPal...what do I do? Will any account I try to set up in the future be denied if I have to input my SSN? I have another account in my father's name but I do not want my business sales/income to affect how much he owes (due to brackets, he will owe a greater proportion than I will). If I link his PayPal account to my other eBay account for payments, could I use that to get by temporarily? Due to the nature of my business (reselling designer items), I'm afraid that I've hit a dead end in the road for my eBay sales but I kind of need that income to help cover my tuition costs. I was even scheduled to do an interview with a member of eBay's Government Relations department for small businesses in my area. ANY feedback or input is greatly appreciated with this situation. I'm desperate for any sort of remedy (or something close to one).
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