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Security feature that triggers MC999
 

I'm sure this will help out a lot of people. A while back I was making stealth accounts, which I'm a veteran at doing, but a couple of months ago 1 out 10 accounts created would trigger a MC999 and I would have to call within 48 hours etc. So after testing with countless accounts, I had a eureka moment as to why I kept getting MC999.

The reason is IP address. When creating an account, not only do you need a new ip address, but that account must be tied to that ip address.

example
Created with 1.1.1.1 Listed with 1.1.1.1 = success
Created with 1.1.1.1 Listed with 1.1.1.2 = MC999

It seems IP address has more weight than cookies or browsing history. Ebay treats your ip address as a fingerprint to identify who you are. I think ebay started this because it's easy to change your ip address i.e iPhone tethering or spoofing your ip address, but by doing that you'll never have a consistent IP, so they use this tactic to catch people.

After figuring this out, I was able to create 10 account and list without triggering any MC999. In fact, a 1 and 2 days old accounts were able to list $150 buy it now as their first listing and without any browsing history. All that matter was my IP address was always consistent.

I hope this helps out anyone who may have the same problem I had.

This is not necessarily the case. The last 2 accounts that I had MC999's were using the same IP address as the account was created. I received MC999 an hour after initial item was listed. I called up to ebay to get this cleared and answered a few basic questions.

More than likely, the reason for my immediate MC999 was because eBay could not match the stealth address I created on file within their database.

The point is, there are other factors in why MC999 gets triggered...not just IP. Cookies/browsing history, address, name, etc. are all put into the equation.

Please be careful with this type of information. It is not always true.

While IP is important, it is FAR from the only thing that triggers the MC999.

Many members have already PROVEN that it is in your best interests to have the cookies and build a browsing history, new banks, new ccs and new addresses.

And many people have dynamic IP addresses due to their ISPs. It would be rather difficult to keep or get back an IP address that has been assigned to another person at random by said ISP.

There are MANY factors that trigger the MC of doom.

How many IP address have used Ebay at one point or another since Ebays creation? Probably a lot. And ebay never throws out info and you can never tell when it was last used. :nono:

IPs are recycled, everyone who has had internet has had someone elses IP at one point or another.

You're right, there are other factors as well. Just pointing out a consistent IP address does help out a lot.

Real address
Consistent IP
Matching cookies
Unused Phone number

After testing several scenarios Those four seems to be what you'll need to more fail proof.

I'm not saying change what's working for anybody, only talking from experience and from my experience I never had to build browsing history with any account. It may be a factor if you're not able to have a consistent IP, which may explain my troubles couple of months ago, but before that and now I don't need any browsing history to start listing.

As for as getting back the same IP, I know it can be difficult for some, that's why I believe ebay uses this fact for security. For me, comcast/xfinity issues a dynamic ip, but the ip is based on my mac address. So for example if I have Mac A I'll get IP A. If I change it to Mac B then I'll get IP B, but if I change it back to Mac A I'll get back the same IP A.

The odds of getting a IP address provided by an ISP that was previously used by an ebay user that got suspended is extremely low. If there was a chance, ebay wouldn't be able to use that for security measure because it wouldn't be reliable. That's true in my case because MAC addresses are unique to each computer and router.