Buyer account suspended and refused refund for money charged

[taffyswirl]

Hi all! My mom’s account was recently suspended for no reason. My dad and brother are sellers and they’re both as perplexed as we all are over the suspension.

She hadn’t used her account in about a year as she doesn’t use it regularly and just recently bought some jewelry. One of the sellers she purchased from did offer to lower the price for feedback and she agreed to do so, but I don’t think that would warrant a permanent suspension. He simply asked if she would leave feedback and she said yes, then he said he’ll lower the price if she left feedback and she agreed to do so. She also received emails about bid cancellations on auctions, however she never participated in any auctions. The bid cancellations were all about the items she purchased, however she used the “buy now” option and never placed any bids.

I contacted eBay about the whole situation and they refuse to tell me anything, only that her account was a risk and it has to do with her purchases. The problem we’re having now is that she used quite a bit of money in eBay gift cards to purchase the jewelry and now eBay is saying that the money cannot be refunded, and even if it does get refunded back then the gift cards wouldn’t be usable. I chatted with eBay for a while and a supervisor said he would send a review for the gift cards, but that the account is indefinitely suspended.

I’m extremely confused over the suspension and very frustrated about the loss of her money especially because eBay has completely screwed her over in this situation. She uses her account to buy jewelry, clothes and house items whenever she feels like it so there’s nothing suspicious going on.

Sorry for the long post, but if anyone has any information it would really help!!

TL;DR: My mom’s account with permanently suspended with no reason and there doesn’t seem to be any violation of guidelines. She spent money using eBay gift cards and now eBay is refusing to give her back the money.

[james_112233]

Her activities triggered a bot.

As scams become more advanced on eBay the threshold/tolerance becomes lower for legit users. Anything out of the norm and you're hit with a limitation.

I would try speaking to an advisor at different times of the day hoping someone lifts the suspension.

Were your other accounts banned ?

[rsot]

Welcome to the forum - all the best as you master stealth

https://youtu.be/TLcuTISVs3s

[agent006140]

it is her mother's account .not hers.
There are a few things which makes Ebay take notice-
first is bid cancelled,and you said your mother did not bid but use Buy it now,so who cancelled the bid,is it the seller?Is the listing an auction but with BIN option?Could it be seller remorse as the BIN price is too low?
Also how did your mother pay for those Ebay gift cards?
Another possible problem is that it sounds like multiple people in the same household are active on EBAY,do they share PC,do they use each other device to log on and log off?
Has your mother ever let someone uses her device to log on ?,

[agent006140]

so she used her gift cards to purchase jewelry,did she get her jewelry?

[GreenBean]

Be careful of your account and that of your father.

They may be in trouble too.

First rule of eBay is they make the rules. They do not care if you do not understand them.

All the best as you find out more about stealth.

[taffyswirl]

None of our other accounts were banned. I’m hoping they don’t ban my dad and brother because they’re both sellers on eBay. We don’t share a computer or any of our accounts, so she’s the only one using her own account. She had the gift cards for a while and never used them until she found them again recently. She likes to buy things like jewelry and clothes all the time so it’s nothing serious or dangerous.

I don’t know how the whole bid cancellation thing happened. She never did any bids and I asked eBay about it but was basically shut down. I tried to talk to them and they completely shut me down and refused to say anything or refund her money. She did get one of the jewelry pieces yesterday and she’s waiting if she can get the rest of them, but right now we can’t do anything and it’s up to the sellers if they want to keep her money or be fair and give her what she bought. :/

[agent006140]

I have read that there are many scams -someone will steal your cc and the use it to buy gift cards,quickly resell them at a deep discount.
when you find out at the end of the month when cc statement arrives and file chargeback,the scammer already have sold thes cards and moved on with the money,so who is the bag holder?
Those who have bought the giftcards find they are no good.if this is so,then your mother -where did she buy those gift cards?are they any good?

[ebizz]

It definitely has something to do with the use of gift cards to purchase jewelry. Both are high risk.

I’m sorry this happened to you. The best way is to find a way to contact the seller directly and make sure you get your entire purchase. If you have any left over balance on your account , it’s toast.

[rsot]

OP, eb agents aren't necessarily the brightest to deal with it either - doesnt help the situation anyhow

[itolduandso]

AFAIK, Amazon or Ebay prohibit arrangements where buyer gets additional benefit for leaving a positive feedback. The seller offered you a discount in return for a feedback and that may have triggered triggered that. Your mother's account may be the innocent party in that, but not knowing the rules doesn't excuse either party. Normally, however, I believe there would be a strike for the first misstep of this kind before account is suspended.