Got banned for opening a separate Buyer-only account. What to do to avoid.

[itolduandso]

Friends, got a problem with eBay. I got banned when trying to open 2nd account. I want to have 1 account for selling and 1 account for buying only. Ebay says it's OK and I can have 2 accounts with ebay. So how do I do it to avoid ban.

Here is the story.. I don't want to be too long, but want to offer minimum information as to what happened to me...

20 years with ebay
I have seller account for 20 years in above-standard standing. I did about 5 digit sales per year for last few years and 99% feedback. Last year I had to leave the country. Before I left I put vacation status on the account to keep my listings in the account but set them inactive.

The new (second) account
After a few months overseas, I wanted to sell a few things on eBay. Now because I didn't want to remove vacation status of my account, I decided to setup a new account.

The NEW account was setup complete with a new email but with exact matching information I already have on my OLD account ... so home address, real cell number, real credit card, linked with the SAME paypal account already linked with my OLD ebay account, the address matching up with cards, paypal etc.... Everything perfect.

The next thing I did I created a test listing of an item that doesn't exist and I put there (THIS IS TEST ITEM - DO NOT BID - TEST ONLY). The reason I did it because I was trying to figure out which country the listing is going to show up, since ebay country domain changed to where I was and not my home country. I was still confused so I left it sit for a day or two.

New account suspended
Two days later, I was finally determined to go list some items. BOOM. The NEW Account was suspended. (The OLD account still alive). I appealed suspension, called Ebay customer service, told them what happened etc.. I said I can provide my photo ID or whatever you need.

EBay support said, the account will be restored because it was an error and there wasn't any issue on my NEW account. They even looked at my OLD account and I asked them if it was OK to have 2 accounts and they said YES.

New account reinstated and then permanently suspended
Happy back to business but not long. TWO HOURS later, the NEW account suspended again, this time permanently.

What the heck. I thought.. So I fired up the chat ebay support... crap... anyhow, I don't want to bitch here, these people somewhere in Philippines or where working crappy conditions with kids, dogs, parents in one room and without training and proper tools or motivation or access to higher support .. SO that's what you get with outsourcing.

Anyhow, so support told me they don't have access to my account anymore because it was permanently suspended and they can't do anything and not even tell me the reason..

OK I get that.. But then I told them I already have an old 20 years account and there wasn't any issue. .. .Long story short, the customer rep told me basically to suck it up and "look for another venue" to sell my wares.

Give it some time - another try
OK, so fine, I thought, I will let it sit for a while. About a month later, I decided to give it another try and setup a new account again. This time, I did everything, except I didn't list any item. Just fill in all details and let the account sit.

Again suspended but nobody knows why
Nope, 1 days later the account was suspended again. I contacted ebay Phone support and they said, no issue with the account.

I contact again ebay chat support to verify with another person and they said the account is fine and they can reinstate it IF I WANT .. seriously. So easy and so lovely is this support, one would think... .But hold-off, not so fast. I didn't continue beat the same bush. I probably have a red mark there at Ebay saying I am a criminal and need to be shut down, I guess. So I decided to return back to my home address before I try to do anything foolish again.

Question - I there anything I can try to do without going fully ballistic here, I am not really into creating stealth accounts etc because all I want to do is to purchase things with a new ebay account.

P.S. My OLD account is active and fine (so far so good, but you never know how long will it take for ebay to figure out they should ban it too). I do also have a THIRD account on ebay, about 2 years old, used in the ebay forum (to anonymously complain mostly about ebay). I was thinking to try to turn that into a full ebay account as another option.

Rant only:
I don't understand this company. Been with Ebay for 20 years, since the humble beginnings when it was almost free to sell on it.Why on earth is Ebay preventing me to open a new BUYER-only account if all I want is to purchase stuff. Even Amazon allows to do that, it's OK to have 1 seller account and as many as I like buyer-only amazon accounts.

[Stealth Needed]

Fraud detection is a joke and you were marked for fraud the minute you got a new IP address on vacation lol. It's dumb.

[james_112233]

Their algorithms marked you as a security risk.

It's really difficult to land on someone that can help and will take a dozen tries.

Keep trying to get reinstated because your primary account is solid. Someone will help you bypass it.

[rsot]

OP, I hope you haven't used similar info of any kind across these new accounts and your old account...

[itolduandso]

Originally Posted by rsot

OP, I hope you haven't used similar info of any kind across these new accounts and your old account...

In contrary my friends. I was as honest as it can go with ebay. If ebay asked me what my deepest secrets are I would have served all of that bare on a silver platter to ebay.

In the best interest of that I used exactly same information on my new account as it is on the old account, meticulously copied word by word, spent 2 hours meticulously going through all ebay menus and options and all to make sure I didn't miss any information I could possibly fill in.

What's my lesson? With broken heart I gave up on that Ebay be-nice utopia for sure. Playing fair is likely not worth it with ebay, but most importantly, one should not get too visible whatever one is doing, always stay under radar screen and in the middle of the pack, so it's important to present things to ebay in such a way they don't cause suspicious and nobody has a reason to doubt.

Like in a failed marriage, it can survive but lost trust is lost trust. There isn't "going back", eBay, you hear me? You lost me eBay. One more time you try to mess with me and the game will be over.

One more chance then, Ebay. After that will be

[HurricaneHuntr]

ebay is never fair.

[cafonabob1]

I had the same thing happen recently. Top rated power seller account with managed payments and 0 defects, 0 late shipments, 0 cases closed without seller resolution, 100% positive feedback and 4.9 DSRs out of 1000+ sales.

I opened buyer account so I can buy things from my competitor without them knowing (intentionally used same IP, same computer, same information, even sent in same reseller certificate so I don't need to pay sales tax).

Buyer account I purchased about 20 items (~$3000) over a month. Didn't open any returns or cases or anything like that.

MC999 permanent ban on buyer account. I called eBay she said she would send in an appeal.

Seller account is still fine. Terrified that now the seller account is going to be suspended because it is linked to the other account.

[jackwilliam11]

Originally Posted by itolduandso

In contrary my friends. I was as honest as it can go with ebay. If ebay asked me what my deepest secrets are I would have served all of that bare on a silver platter to ebay.

In the best interest of that I used exactly same information on my new account as it is on the old account, meticulously copied word by word, spent 2 hours meticulously going through all ebay menus and options and all to make sure I didn't miss any information I could possibly fill in.

What's my lesson? With broken heart I gave up on that Ebay be-nice utopia for sure. Playing fair is likely not worth it with ebay, but most importantly, one should not get too visible whatever one is doing, always stay under radar screen and in the middle of the pack, so it's important to present things to ebay in such a way they don't cause suspicious and nobody has a reason to doubt.

Like in a failed marriage, it can survive but lost trust is lost trust. There isn't "going back", eBay, you hear me? You lost me eBay. One more time you try to mess with me and the game will be over.

One more chance then, Ebay. After that will be

Hey,

It's clear you've put a lot of effort and honesty into trying to make things work with eBay. Unfortunately, it seems like the situation has left you feeling disillusioned. It's understandable that trust is crucial, and if that's eroded, it can be hard to regain.

Your analogy of a failed marriage resonates – rebuilding trust can be challenging, and sometimes it's best to move forward rather than dwell on past issues.

It sounds like you're willing to give eBay one more chance, but you're setting a boundary that you won't tolerate any more issues. Remember to prioritize your peace of mind.

Take care,
Jack William

[Hank]

Jeez, another AI bot. They're contributing more to this forum that the regular posters...indeed some of the AI posts are more accurate and informative than the regular posters offerings (looking you rsot..time for this junkbot stooge to be retired )

[rsot]

Originally Posted by Hank

Jeez, another AI bot. They're contributing more to this forum that the regular posters...indeed some of the AI posts are more accurate and informative than the regular posters offerings (looking you rsot..time for this junkbot stooge to be retired )

Thanks for the mention morning chuckle

[agent006140]

OP said he/she left the country (USA) and while overseas open another account and listed an item for sale,saying do not bid,testing only??
Then it got suspended.
She kept saying she just want a buyer account,but this is not the case,she listed item for sale?
Check Ebay rules on opening new account in another country,what country and is there a local legit address?
Ebay could think someone overseas is stealing your account.

[degsey69]

Welcome to the forum jackwilliam11, best to leave the CHATagt alone, that only useful when it’s one AI communicating with another, such as writing a resume and submitting it for a job vacancy.