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Trying to figure out how I lost this MC011
 

Wondering where I screwed this up. (post edit, I guess it's obvious, so use as a cautionary tale)

This account is Thailand based, selling on USA ebay site only. Opened on USA ebay.com site with all real info. Run it from Thailand.

At first all things went ok. Selling a few items a week, trying to keep prices profitable. But in June 2024 I got the idea to sell some cheap stuff and ship it directly from a 3PL warehouse in China to increase volume and get some feedback faster. Not drop shipping! I own the stock in that warehouse and dispatched using the fast EMS shipping option. I was losing money doing this but not much and just wanted to increase my feedback a bit faster. Every customer received every order earlier than promised and it was 100% tracked.

Suddenly got restricted to $103/month or "23 limit on quantity of items". Useless. They said I violated the "China Shipping Mandate" - NOBODY and I mean NOBODY in English speaking eBay forums - even agents working for eBay - knows what the heck that is. I had to find a Chinese ebay forum and finally discovered they want you to use their own shipper in China, not your own, if you ship anything from China. There is nothing in the ebay.com on-boarding docs or help or forums that even mentions this.

Alright, now I know. Finally a CS rep said no problem, your account looks good to me - just ship properly for a month or two and the limits will be removed. From then on I shipped only directly from Thailand (goods location setting in Thailand of course). I tried to nurse this account along, month after month given these restrictions but it was clear something is wrong - as if the account is shadow-banned. My listings sell just a couple items a month MAX

Every couple months I "request selling limit increase" -> always denied. Message support, finally got one to say the reason it's not working is because my sale volume isn't large enough! Well, no **** bro. But he said keep going, your account otherwise looks fine.

Suddenly - as it always is - MC011 out of the blue last week.
https://i.ibb.co/1GCkY40z/ebay-mail-2.jpg

Even though they don't actually say, I suspect it was for a $18 clothing item I bought off Taobao, which I had sent to that same Chinese warehouse -> then sent to me in Thailand, kept in my stock in Thailand for months -> shipped directly to the customer from Thailand.

I provided all the documents to show proof of all this. ID/Passport, proof of address, credit card statement showing the shipper from Thailand to the USA customer. Purchase invoice from Taobao.

Nope, permanently restricted:
https://i.ibb.co/zHF6Q4cK/ebayemail3.jpg

One clue is the response to my ticket:

We have completed an additional review of your account and show that your account was originally restricted because it was in violation of eBay policy and your behavior posed a risk to the eBay community.

https://i.ibb.co/sdkBHvp7/ebay4.jpg


I guess the account was still holding a black mark from the "Chinese Shipper Mandate" thing, and showing that the origin of my goods as China was just too much for them to hear and popped the cork, despite only shipping from Thailand.

Anyways, I hate Ebay. They write all the rules, only share a few with you, hold you to restrictions and requirements that they won't divulge for security reasons, and play with your livelihood. At any moment you can be wiped out "permanently" no matter how well you performed (my account service metrics are as good as they could possible be).

All these problems are solvable if they would have a competent rep pick up the damn phone who can solve reasonable issues.

Alright, rant over. I guess its time for more stealth.

Re: Trying to figure out how I lost this MC011
 

they just think you are an asian seller posing as US seller

to avoid such problems indefinitely it would take a 100% match between country of registration and all addresses and same item location country when listing items

Re: Trying to figure out how I lost this MC011
 

That's pretty much what I'm thinking. They don't block Asian sellers - there's a 140k+ person facebook group for Ebay sellers in Thailand and local language reps (can't seem to do anything about my account)).

But for the last year there has been a 100% match between my registration and all shipping from addresses so thought I would actually get out of jail on that one. Only exception was showing them that my supplier is in China after this MC011 :smash:

I could have, and probably should have, used an invoice from a local Thai-based marketplace seller instead.

Re: Trying to figure out how I lost this MC011
 

do you really mean you bought a $18 dress from Taoboa and have it shipped to your Chinese warehouse and then to you in Thailand and you ship to your buyer in USA?
also why is your country flag US on this forum when you are in Thailand,?
It seems Ebay caught you doing retail arbitrage as you are not shipping from your own country?
Did you enter any tracking number on your order?

Re: Trying to figure out how I lost this MC011
 

It is possible by repeatedly requesting selling increases, you got "eyes" on the account - CS agents aren't always that great at providing info and help on the account sadly. Not the only issue but perhaps contributive.

Re: Trying to figure out how I lost this MC011
 

I dont think asking for selling increase is the reason,the worst is they will deny it.
He probably have too many cases of shipping not from Thailand.

Re: Trying to figure out how I lost this MC011
 

asian sellers are treated differently , ebay even have a separate performance policy for them so in their eyes you probably want to circumvent rules by registering in a wrong country

Re: Trying to figure out how I lost this MC011
 

There are Asian sellers and there are Asian sellers,the best Asian sellers are the Chinese as they actually have the stock on hand !
The second best are the Hong Kong sellers,if they cant find it locally,take an express train into China,get a massage,lunch at the same time

Re: Trying to figure out how I lost this MC011
 

That's right - I buy a lot of stock from 1688 or Taobao with a Chinese bank account and send to my 3PL warehouse in Shenzhen. I used to have an office with full time staff working for me there but got rid of it during the pandemic.

From there, shipping to the customer directly is easy and the advantage of this is we can keep the stock level relatively low because resupply is so fast. From that 3PL I can ship 2 day worldwide fedex (for a price) or 15 day China post (almost free, lol) or any other option - there's a lot of flexibility. I can also move goods to another 3PL in the US or ask them to prepare Walmart/Amazon labels from there. It's nice - I don't personally have to touch stuff.

When I have aged stock, I'll move it to Thailand, where I'm located, and that's why I wanted a Thai-based eBay account. So I can sell off excess stuff at whatever the market price is.

I think I should have replied to the MC011 with a cash receipt from another Thai seller and left any mention of China out of the equation.

That being said I'm American despite living overseas for a little while. My main business is still US based, I have a USA S-Corp and US bank accounts, and I keep a lot of stock in US warehouses. Ebay really didn't like it when I opened an account from Thailand with my US business details though.

My dream of living on a boat and dispatching orders from 3PLs via my laptop has not yet arrived :typing:

Re: Trying to figure out how I lost this MC011
 

That's right - I buy a lot of stock from 1688 or Taobao with a Chinese bank account and send to my 3PL warehouse in Shenzhen. I used to have an office with full time staff working for me there but got rid of it during the pandemic.

From there, shipping to the customer directly is easy and the advantage of this is we can keep the stock level relatively low because resupply is so fast. From that 3PL I can ship 2 day worldwide fedex (for a price) or 15 day China post (almost free, lol) or any other option - there's a lot of flexibility. I can also move goods to another 3PL in the US or ask them to prepare Walmart/Amazon labels from there. It's nice - I don't personally have to touch stuff.
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shipping from your own warehouse in Shenzhen is shipping from China,
Creating ⊗⊗⊗⊗ WMT/AMZN labels is retail arbitrage,your buyer could have reported you or Ebay is reading your tracking number.
what kind of tracking are you using on those ⊗⊗⊗⊗ WMT/AMZN labels>
why do you want to pretend to beAMZN,WMT when you have your own stock?

.

Re: Trying to figure out how I lost this MC011
 

Bro. You either didn't read or have a strange comprehension of events as described.

a. All commerce is some kind of arbitrage. I buy low and sell high. Just like you, or else we don't exist. I buy from wholesale guys in China because they have the right price. Because it came to me first from China doesn't mean I'm shipping to the customer from China. Same as you, if you are a seller - I'm sure some or all components of what you sell came from another country.

b. For this ebay account, I ship to the customer from my own warehouse in Thailand. The items show up in my packaging with my insert, and in this case packed by myself. They are all 100% tracked. I use a shipping agent called https://fastship.co/ that helps Thai sellers get their goods to the US. I explained that to ebay and showed them my invoice.

c. eBay wanted to know where I myself got those goods (they asked for my purchase invoices) so I explained to them how I got those goods to me.

d. IF you are selling through Amazon FBA or Walmart's WFS you have to place an FNSKU label or GTIN barcode on every item, otherwise they don't accept them into their warehouse or they charge extra fees. When I buy goods in bulk, either I pay somebody to put the label on the items or I do it myself. That business isn't related to my problems with eBay, I'm just explaining why having a full service 3PL is not only a good move but prerequisite if you do business in many parts of the world.

Re: Trying to figure out how I lost this MC011
 

What do you guys recommend?

Ebay's algorithm flags you -> challenges you with an MC011 -> you promptly show them you are following their policies and your account is still immediately "permanently restricted from selling because of activity we (ebay) believe was putting the eBay community at risk",

https://i.ibb.co/5XFSVBfX/Screenshot...0-13-54-05.png

This account is a year and a half old and was cut off at the knees down to these numbers after a few months because we exceeded the 90% limit for the SpeedPAK direct shipping mandate https://export.ebay.com/sea-en/polic...ipping-policy/.

What do you do? I think this account was probably toast at that stage and is unrecoverable. But still wonder if I should try and fight it through the other channels like calling or the Facebook Ebay team, hoping a human will review the case and notice that I'm working damn hard to please these customers. Or maybe better just move on.

Re: Trying to figure out how I lost this MC011
 

----------
You should be grateful someone is reading all these complicated logistics just to ship some lousy Chinese stuff .
Do not waste your time trying to get your account back,start a new one.

Re: Trying to figure out how I lost this MC011
 

agree with agent here - the posts are quite long dozen12x12 - many forum members may not be motivated to read and give insight...

Re: Trying to figure out how I lost this MC011
 

I always suggest instead of buying from China and pay shipping,why not go to your local wholesale districts and find the same items,you will be paying true wholesale price instead of buying from individual Chinese sellers on ALiexpress.
If EBAY wants to see a receipt,ask the wholesaler to give you one,with proper stationary showing his company name,address .

Re: Trying to figure out how I lost this MC011
 

Appreciate the thoughts. Was trying to be comprehensive as it feels like the account got whacked by Ebay on a technicality.

I go to the factory when I'm in China and buy goods at wholesale. After that I buy through their online wholesale platforms. I don't use Aliexpress. I don't dropship. I don't ship from Amazon->Ebay etc.

That's what I'm trying to explain here - but takes more than a sentence or two to explain the supply chain and how/why I can do this.

Re: Trying to figure out how I lost this MC011
 

ebay do not care about supply chains , amazon may but ebay have bots working

humans are there to assure you that the bots always get it right by pretending there are no bots

Re: Trying to figure out how I lost this MC011
 

That's right - I buy a lot of stock from 1688 or Taobao with a Chinese bank account and send to my 3PL warehouse in Shenzhen. I used to have an office with full time staff working for me there but got rid of it during the pandemic.

From there, shipping to the customer directly is easy and the advantage of this is we can keep the stock level relatively low because resupply is so fast.
-----------
Shenzhen is in China,you are shipping from China and you are in Thailand,the bot caught you,you need to explain to a human customer service guy.
Ebay is not the only sales venue,you can always sell on other venues.

Re: Trying to figure out how I lost this MC011
 

Strange... the MC011 email says:

It seems like they DO care about supply chains. I also don't know if that is what triggered this as they did not see shipping from China anywhere in my customer tracking numbers.

It seems like we're all in the dark.

Re: Trying to figure out how I lost this MC011
 

Ebay does not like 'retail arbitrage'-taking Ebay buyer 's money and go to another RETAILER to buy the item and ask him to ship the item to your buyer.
You have to upload a supplier paid invoice to prove you do have the merchandise in stock.

Re: Trying to figure out how I lost this MC011
 

There is hardly any history on the account, and based on your shipping practices mentioned, you should not be surprised this happened.

Re: Trying to figure out how I lost this MC011
 

Why should I not be surprised? The account has followed the published rules.

If I knew of a broken rule, I don't think I'd need to visit a forum about Ebay stealth or suspensions :noidea:

Re: Trying to figure out how I lost this MC011
 

Account creation is one thing, knowing what would trigger eBay bots is another.

You wrote this knowing what you're doing, right? The fact you second question yourself, do you honestly think eBay won't pick up on it too?

From my experience shipping is number one thing eBay cares about once a shop starts running. Having considered all the stuff that recently happened with China and USA, again, you shouldn't be surprised. Plus the stuff you're shipping from China I would presume is very low value. Again, another red flag.

Simple question: would someone who never sold on eBay before do the things you did on an account with hardly any activity? No, they wouldn't. That is why.

Re: Trying to figure out how I lost this MC011
 

I told the forum here that I source the goods from China and ship to myself here in Thailand. But no way Ebay could see that until I told them in my MC011 response.

I'm just trying to reverse engineer how things went haywire.

I ship FROM Thailand TO the customers - hopefully nothing I said confused that issue - it's configured that way in the account and the listings all show that. Tracking numbers show Thailand -> US shipping. All shipped on time, all getting carrier scans on time, all tracking numbers input on time, all delivered ahead of time. 100% feedback, 0 complaints. 100% real info on the account, all bills paid on time. Still the account was kneecapped.

My point is that eBay had no clue until I showed my sourcing invoice, which they asked for. So just because you guys know more about the wizard behind the curtain of my business doesn't mean they do.

But a) why would sourcing from overseas matter in the first place (it doesn't), b) what triggers a MC011, c) what should I have provided to them instead, if that was indeed the issue? All they asked for was proof that I own the goods by way of an invoice which I gave.

The forum footer says "Stop the guessing games and learn how you can quickly and easily get back on eBay today!" but, while all replies and engagement are appreciated for sure, there seems to be a lot of general negativity and guessing.


No, what am I doing? Are you pointing the shame finger at me for... what? Sourcing goods in China? Shipping from Thailand?

I'm a professional seller with many sales channels and a sophisticated supply and fulfillment chain - why WOULDN'T I do these things? And why don't you too? I don't think selling on ebay is limited to noobs or that new ebay accounts are expected to be ma & pa operations.

Point is... it may be more productive for forum members to sync up rather than accuse.

Someone made a comment I must have been caught doing "Retail Arbitrage" -> No: I bought the goods in bulk months before the sale on ebay and proved it to them with the invoice. Retail arbitrage is when the seller doesn't control or possess the item they sold.

Some say you should know that it's a "red flag" to ship cheap stuff from overseas, or a "red flag" to ship expensive stuff on a new account - so no wonder you were suspended - But that knowledge is not contained in any known eBay on-boarding or help document and isn't coming from the eBay support people as far as I know - it's just forum wisdom that these things can trigger issues.

So while it's understandable that my case raised suspicions or limits in eBay HQ, none of this seems to rise to the level for a full on account restriction/termination.

Here's hoping that ASPKIN forum members want to figure out what makes ebay tick and get accounts unlocked/stay unlocked instead throwing accusations around. :cheer:

Re: Trying to figure out how I lost this MC011
 

Ok then continue to do the things you're doing and you'll likely be suspended again on your next account.

I'm not accusing of anything, and not sure exactly what you want others to say. If you think your business model and practice is smart, then good luck lol

Answer: You have a brand new account living in Thailand, using USA ship from. Your activity is selling a bunch of cheap things quickly to do something, yes. Again, someone who has never used eBay before would not be doing what you're doing on a new account. Therefore hence why you got flagged by bots which are designed to detect unusual activity. Your activity is unusual for a new account.

You referenced eBay on-boarding or help document. This has nothing to do with stealth. Ebay would not tell you in their policy what they are looking for to find users who make new accounts. Which is what you are doing, and you got caught.

Ebay can suspend whoever they want, whenever they want, and do not need a reason. A reason enough is you getting flagged by the bots and your activity.

Re: Trying to figure out how I lost this MC011
 

It is so hard trying to follow what he is doing-
he buys from China,and used to have his office in Shenzhen,and ship from there,then he also ships from Thailand,then he also ships from US warehouse under WMT/>> LABEL??
Now he said all he does is ship from Thailand.
So,now Ebay wants to see a vendor invoice, he should have no problem coming up with one,he should be reinstated?
Better talk to a customer service rep not a bot or AI

Re: Trying to figure out how I lost this MC011
 

Good on you agent to even try and understand and analyze the poster's activity. Posts are too long for many ppl to read through - short and sweet would help for clarity but solefoodbk is on it as well so you can be sure some good advice is being given :)

Re: Trying to figure out how I lost this MC011
 

Well... sorry for the overshares. Will try to keep it simple next time around.
:peace:

Re: Trying to figure out how I lost this MC011
 

All good - hopefully solution found and congrats on 25 posts

Re: Trying to figure out how I lost this MC011
 

Maybe Aspkin can set up a new forum where some legal experts for a fee would look into cases like his and offer advice or help him recover his account.
I am still confused ,he said he is now shipping from Thailand with tracking and all his Ebay buyers are happy but then in the past he was all over the map,in China,in Thailand ,in US ?and the Ebay message is vague,what did he do wrong?

Re: Trying to figure out how I lost this MC011
 

I have never heard of this Ebay Speedpak policy until I read this thread.
He said he thinks he is suspended due to violation of this policy,but if I understand this policy,it is about Greater China-HK,CHINA and Taiwan,and Thailand is not part of GREATER CHINA,so if he is shipping all his orders from Thailand,why is he in violation?
Unless Ebay starts counting from day 1 when he used to ship from China?

Re: Trying to figure out how I lost this MC011
 

Interesitng business proposal but also potential for more problems and complaints hah

Re: Trying to figure out how I lost this MC011
 

If this free forum readers are not into reading and analysing long thread,then someone who is paid will be willing.
if he can just shorten it and tell us his ebay experience and omit all the how wonderful he is ,it makes easier to follow .