eBay just cost me over $1800...

[ouako]

So I had two accounts under the same name. These were personal accounts, not stealth. The accounts are actually the reason that I am here now haha.

Today I received a TON of notifications of emails. I opened my email to see :


Immediately I went and checked the cases, because anything against me had always been solved. Some people would not close a case, and it would eventually go to eBay and I would get the money back. So I opened one of the emails...



Well, thats odd. Every single order that I have ever sent on this account has had a tracking number. Each item was under $750.00, so I did not need signature confirmation. So I opened the case details.



As you can see where I highlighted, I had even provided the tracking number in the case. This has been a customer that I always worked with. They even said they have never had an issue with us. So I kept moving on. Maybe eBay checked the order, and I did not add the tracking number there?



Well, thats not it. Everything was provided to show that the item is there. The tracking number even shows it was delivered on the 25th. This happened with every case that was open on this account. (I sell a software, and a lot of customers are not very computer savvy.)

SO

I go onto my other eBay account. On this one, we sell digitally delivered items. Game codes, desktop backgrounds, word articles, ect.



Oh god. So I check these same cases. Each one was a customer thinking that they were getting a physical product. We clearly stated in each listing that the products were digitally delivered, and that nothing would be posted. Hell, we even paid for the extra sub-line and put "DIGITALLY DELIVERED PRODUCT - NO POSTAGE". Guess people do not read.

So to make things even better, I call eBay. I get on the phone with a guy named Anthony, who explains to me that he can see the cases, however he deals mostly with customer returns. He checks everything he can, and tells me what he knows. Great guy. He tells me he can pass me to someone who knows more about my cases, so we proceed with that. I get to a lady named Desi. And it gets worse.

She checks my account and sees that each item I sold was digitally delivered. She tells me that I had to state it in the listing. Which as I said above, we do. eBay had suspended our selling accounts, and removed our listings. That means the representative cannot view the listing either, so they automatically close it in the buyers favor.

So I have her look into the cases where I had a tracking number, and the customer even states the product is working great. She puts me on hold for 2 minutes, comes back, tells me 2 more minutes, and does this for 10 minutes. When she finally comes back, she tells me that since my selling privileges are suspended, I have no protection under Seller Protection. She says that any case that is opened against me will result in the buyer getting their money back.

I ask her how that is even fair, and she tells me that I can just send the person an invoice on PayPal and hope that they pay.

Today have been rough. I have lost a TON of money in the past few days. You do not even want to see my paypal, but I will show it below for fun...



This is just from today. You do not even want to see the past days...


Rant over.

[rsot]

@OP, you need to edit out those case numbers in your post...

[theshoefairy]

This is absolutely DISGUSTING! I HATE Ebay!

[yankee]

Ebay does this to make sure that people selling clearly counterfeit items AND causing ebay problems do not want to come back and sell the same garbage on ebay again.

Other sites such as amazon confiscate and destroy your product and refund all buyers also. Some sites send your money to the government as Lost Funds so you have to wait years to try to claim it if you can prove it is yours.

My suggestion is dont sell stuff that pisses marketplaces off and this wont happen.

[slokor]

Not the first time Ive heard of such a situation when selling such goods.
Id listen to what Yankee said above - hes right on the money.

[ouako]

Originally Posted by branesergen

Why didn't/dont you pull the money from PayPal? The account is pretty much toast unless you use it in every day life so let it go negative and cancel the CC attached to it. As soon as both of my accounts went down, the 1st thing I did was clear out PayPal.

Sadly this is my personal PayPal and I use it for everything :/

[shad0wd0wn]

It's happened to me in the past,although it was stealth.. and the total refunded was 30k~ euros.. luckily it just put me in the negative and nothing else linking, but I can understand the frustration.

[Play]

Sorry to hear what happened.

I'd steer clear from high risk items on future accounts.

In the meantime have a read of the stealth guide if you want to get back on eBay.

[Elliot]

Whatever the case with what you were selling and the reasons they suspended you, I can't help but get a nervous buzz and a sick feeling just seeing those screen grabs. Been there, done that, been crushed beyond belief in the same way. More than once. Oh what a terrible, terrible feeling to open your emails and to see all your forward progress completely erased and directly transferred into irreversible, soul crushing damage. I really feel for you.

When it happened to me the first two times (when it happened in a very big way) I was living paycheck to paycheck, deposit to withdrawl, and had no margin or savings to fall back on while I got up and running again. This makes it all even more difficult and the initial shock of the emails so much worse.

I suspect there's a lot of other people here who also get somewhat physically sick just seeing the screen grabs and having some sort of mini flashback too.

You definitely came to the right place, that's for sure. Hang in there Bud!

PS: You DEFINITELY need to block out more of your info in those screengrabs.

[SaiJin]

Digital goods --> Big risk to sell.

Are your accounts still up and running? That many opened cases usually lead to eBay suspension.
If they are still up, I'd let them cool down, open some back up accounts which I see you already have the eBay Stealth, and reconsider what you are selling.

OR, sell less per account with more accounts.

[offset]

Originally Posted by shad0wd0wn

It's happened to me in the past,although it was stealth.. and the total refunded was 30k~ euros.. luckily it just put me in the negative and nothing else linking, but I can understand the frustration.

And next? You left so huge debt, just because it's stealth account ?

[aking]

Even though you sell digitally delivered items, I would still ship something like a thank you card with their order invoice just so you will have tracking.

Also, I would not sell so many at once. Maybe sell 2 or 3 and then wait to list more until the transactions are complete and your buyer has left feedback. That way your loss will not be as big.

[rsot]

Looking for follow-up from OP

[aspkin]

Geez, eBay nightmare for sure!

I've seen much worse though, count yourself lucky OP that you didn't lose more.

So what's your plan now OP? Are you going to try and get back to selling? Or have you had enough?

[Sunspot144]

Not covered by buyer protection while account is suspended... hmmm... weren't the transactions made while you had an active account? And ebay is just the seller interface... paypal is what covers your seller arse.

Valid proof of delivery alone is enough to reverse those refunds with tracking info... ebays got the ability to appeal their own... well, "decisions" to PP...

I'd fight this tooth and nail TBH. 9-to-5ers could care less about you, all they want is their paycheck and to go home.

[applebaum]

Just curious but how old were the accounts?

Even though you clearly stated that the goods were Digitally Delivered, did you follow the eBay policy for selling such goods? I have seen it posted on others listings (have never sold digital goods myself). Seems some people literally copy and paste it onto the listing.

I feel sooooooooooooo bad for you right now. We are all here because of issues with eBay. The people here will give you solid advice and assistance to get your business back up and running.

[gavindersk]

next ull get perm banned that your a risk to the ebay community, despite the buyers are the ones that ****ing scam us sellers.

[Sunspot144]

You can bypass ebay's decision on this by going to PP and showing them the transactions have valid proof of delivery. Ebay made a decision to reverse the transactions based on what they thought they should do, but as a seller selling with or without ebay it doesn't mean the transactions themselves aren't covered by PP's buyer protection.

In this situation it's like ebay is your business partner who did something you disagree with, so since you own 50% of the shares you can say FU ebay you are wrong and go over their heads.

[robjobs]

always going forward send the item even if it's digital ebay needs liability with the delivery of the item. they can't just go off of you emailing details to your customers for so long. this is coming from someone who's done 150k+ in digital sales on ebay. always physically send it out.

[dallis]

I'm not entirely clear that this is due to 'scamming buyers'. It seems to me the OP has created much of this problem for himself due to product selection and a lack of self-protection.

[ouako]

Originally Posted by Sunspot144

Not covered by buyer protection while account is suspended... hmmm... weren't the transactions made while you had an active account? And ebay is just the seller interface... paypal is what covers your seller arse.

Valid proof of delivery alone is enough to reverse those refunds with tracking info... ebays got the ability to appeal their own... well, "decisions" to PP...

I'd fight this tooth and nail TBH. 9-to-5ers could care less about you, all they want is their paycheck and to go home.

Currently sending appeals for each of these transctions. This is outrageous. I am going to call eBay again and see if there is an update on these cases

Originally Posted by aspkin

Geez, eBay nightmare for sure!

I've seen much worse though, count yourself lucky OP that you didn't lose more.

So what's your plan now OP? Are you going to try and get back to selling? Or have you had enough?

Luckily I have 3 stealth accounts I purchased, and I am slowly growing them with products I make at home. Once they are matured, I will be selling these products again, and making sure to keep no funds in the paypal if it gets banned. That way they cannot take money they is not there, or take it from a person who does not exist.

Also working on a few accounts to sell garage-sale items, so I am okay for now Thank god for the eBay stealth guide!

Originally Posted by rsot

Looking for follow-up from OP

Still dealing with the jerks at eBay. I have sent invoices to each customer explaining what is going on. I have also filed appeals for each of these cases.

[rsot]

Originally Posted by ouako

Still dealing with the jerks at eBay. I have sent invoices to each customer explaining what is going on. I have also filed appeals for each of these cases.

Rough but yes - good to hear you are keeping at it