Hello everyone,
I've been on this forum for two months, although this is my first post. I have also purchased the guide and soon intend to purchase a stealth account. I think this is a good forum, it is our defense mechanism against the dictatorial systems of Ebay, Etsy etc...
I'm going to talk about Ebay, which is where I lost my account about two months ago. I wanted to clarify that Ebay is not always ruthless with all sellers, with me they were permissive for a while, until one day they give you a swipe and liquidate you, like a lion you have been playing with..
My account had good limits, it was a professional account, because I am an individual entrepreneur in my country.
These were my limits
https://i.imgur.com/V7C2egT.jpg
I started selling smartphones and game consoles, but this was risky and could also be a problem.
It was risky because I was working with a computer wholesaler through dropshipping, and this caused me some problems that I will describe a little later.
Regarding the aspect of selling some computer items, I don't know what it is like in all countries, but in Spain there is a professional figure that allows you to buy laptops, smartphones, tablets and video game consoles without paying VAT. That was my advantage. Then you had to pay that VAT to the tax office, but I never did this; In this regard I have had no problems until now, and I carried out this activity from 2017 to 2020.
The issue was that you bought a PS4 from your wholesaler, you saved about €60 in VAT, then you could compete on Ebay, but even so the profit margin was small for the risk you were taking.
And in fact, there was a risk, because during the COVID pandemic the number of scammers increased more than normal, and I had several disputes on Paypal, some buyers claimed that their purchases had not been authorized, so they notified their bank saying that they were not authorized. They had authorized that charge, they opened a dispute in Paypal and Paypal requested proof, tracking numbers etc...
I provided tracking numbers and even proof of documents signed by the recipient of the order. But this did not help since the packages were not sent in my name and I lost three disputes, in total about 800 dollars.
So I left this business, which was risky for the buyers and for the tax authorities, it was like playing with a tiger. This is how I got my first limit increases on Ebay, because for Ebay everything was legal.
Later I discovered Shopmaster (a software to connect Aliexpress to Ebay) and started selling Aliexpress items, using stock images and Aliexpress description. Some time later I received an email from eBay informing me that my account was being used for dropshipping in violation of eBay policies. This was an automated email that I assume was sent to many accounts. I guess my account was flagged.
My account was not deleted, I continued selling, and I even dared to request increases in sales limits, because they had not increased for a long time. They asked me for documents, I handed them over, and I seem to remember that they granted me raises on at least two occasions. I'm pretty sure they knew I was dropshipping with Aliexpress, but they didn't ban me. Until one day I requested another increase in limits and they did not grant it, they even suggested that I change my business model. I was struggling sending emails, but to no avail. Until I gave up. My sales limit was frozen for many months.
Until one day they started uploading every now and then, I guess they felt sorry and removed the flag from my account.
But one fateful day, a buyer from Chicago bought an item from my store, it was a lighter whose brand was Zorro, a brand that I didn't even know. Turns out, it was a purchase so that a law firm could prove that your store was selling counterfeit items, although I didn't even ship the item, because it was out of stock on Aliexpress. The law firm is called Hughes Socol Piers Resnick & Dym, Ltd. (HSPRD), and they are dedicated to denouncing Ebay stores and similar marketplaces.
So, I received an email from Ebay informing that my store had been reported through these lawyers, who represented Zorro Productions. I contacted the lawyers and never received a response from them. They asked some reported Ebay users for financial compensation to free them from the complaint, but they never responded to me. After this, months later my store was suspended.
There was no point in trying to plead my case to Ebay. I was reading the case of these lawyers by accessing the PACER reports. If anyone has questions about this, you can ask me. Some stores that were reported along with mine (there was a case number in PACER) paid compensation and the stores were restored, although I have not seen any activity in the stores since that time. This is a bit strange.
If anyone is curious we can talk about this. The text has been longer than expected.
I hope someone has the patience to read it, and that we continue to survive!
