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Account restricted, got some questions
 

After a few months of dropshipping on eBay with fairly decent success my account was restricted for breaking the dropshipping policy and says I will lose the top seller rank. I'm not sure what was the cause for this since I keep customers happy and inform them if there are any delays. I have 100% rating and all claims/returns were dealt with without eBay having to get involved. I even had vacation mode active during the new year period. So here are my questions and I apologize if this has been asked a million times. I just can't find the exact answers for my situation.

I have done research on what this restriction will do to my account but the wording of the message seems different. I get the top rate is impossible but does this include the 70% less traffic? What about promoted listings? It has only been a couple days since this message and I'm still seeing the same amount of sales. Does it normally take awhile for eBay's system to fully restrict you?

Next, should I bother continue selling from this account if sales don't slow down? Can my account get hit with anything else if I continue this business model? When I talked to customer support I was told and need to stop what I'm doing. But if there's no further consequence and nothing slows down for me then why not continue?

Finally, eBay's biggest issue with this is obviously because I don't hold or control actually stock. I do have an agreement with a couple vendors to hold stock for me and to tell me if there are any future problems beforehand so I can manage the listing properly. So really I do "own" and "control the stock". Of course a verbal agreement is not good enough for eBay so is there some sort of form I can submit to them to prove this type of relationship?

Thank you for taking the time to read through this and I appreciate any answers/information provided.

Re: Account restricted, got some questions
 

Simple words drop shipping means permanent BAN

Re: Account restricted, got some questions
 

eBay doesn't allow dropshipping anymore.

I assume you didn't get the update on this? It changed a few months ago or so.

Re: Account restricted, got some questions
 

unless you show us the email Ebay sent you,we cant tell what did you do wrong?
Ebay has a few ways to catch 'retail arbitragers',who takes customer money and then ask another retail to do the shipping using customer money.
like your buyer may report you when they see the package comes from WMT,COSTCO,AMZN,WAYFAIR,TGT,SAMetc.
Ebay also compare what you listed as where the goods are located in your listing and the tracking which shows otherwise,say you are in Montana and the goods are coming from a warehouse in CA .which is widely known as AMZN warehouse !
Ebay expects you to ship from the zipcode you stated in your listing.
If you are dropshipping,which is asking the wholesaler/distributor.manufacture to ship for you,then you should use their zipcode for the item location/
Another issue is retailers do not ask wholesalers to drop ship items like paper clip,ruler,stapler/
Are y ou using someone's stock photo?

Re: Account restricted, got some questions
 

Thank you to everyone that has responded so far.
Here's the email I got:
We’ve determined that you haven’t followed our selling practices - drop shipping policy.

There is evidence on your account that you are purchasing items from an online retail or marketplace site after you sell the item on eBay and having that retailer ship the item directly to the customer. While in violation of this policy, the account will not be eligible for the Top Rated program until it is in compliance.

I didn't get banned or notice any other restrictions other than losing Top Rated. The person I talked to knew flat out I was dropshipping but no ban followed. I do have all my items with the correct zip code locations in China. The vendors I deal with I have very good communication with and have never been burned and they always correct a mistake.

I can't imagine I'm causing any trouble with ebay since all costumers have been happy and I've had many repeat customers. I've been mostly unnoticed by ebay until now which must of been the amount of unshipped items I had. At this time 75% of those items have been shipped. So it's not like I'm causing harm to anyone or their platform. I never had to cancel an order because of my mistake. Never required returns and replaced the item free. I respond to all customer messages within a couple hours and always let them know what's going on. I'm sure ebay can see I'm actually providing good customer support.

Do any of you actually hold any stock in China? Ever had to show ebay this to to get out of a restriction? I want to get the proper paperwork since I do have agreements with some vendors.