Forum

Very odd restriction on eBay..
 

Need a bit of advice here folks:

(Advance warning. It's a bit of a novel. Meant to make this short, and it just didn't happen.)

In about October, we'd had a unlucky 30 day run of bad buyers, and were hit with the eBay suspensions that took down so many others. We called eBay, talked with them about our business model, took some time off, called some more, and eventually were reinstated about October 28th. Since then, we've run a 100% clean ship, not a single negative feedback, low DSR, a few cases (inevitable) but no decisions against us where eBay had to step in. In short, we were rolling. This entire time, the Selling Manager Pro front page said "You have sold 0 of a possible 0 items, and listed 0 of a possible 0". We asked the eBay CS rep about it, and were told "Don't worry about it....That doesn't matter." And, to be honest, they were right - we were selling $5K+ a week and listing way more than that without any restriction. We soon forgot all about it.

Fast forward to about a week ago. I logged in one morning, and found that I could not list a single item. It almost looked like eBay had arbitrarily decided to enforce the thing that "didn't matter". So, I called eBay CS, hopeful that I would get this sorted out quickly. I spoke with a rep, who seemed quite nice, and who offered to forward me to the "eBay Seller Vetting Department" to get it sorted out.

My brain said "Ummm.....uh.....um...."

I googled said Vetting Department real quick, realized what was going on, and hung up before anyone could answer the phone on the other end.

It seems likely that if I had waited, I would have been asked to verify ID, invoices, and all kinds of other crap that is none of eBay's business. I've always run an honest business on eBay, and have rarely ever had issues in years of selling. I've not received a single message from eBay saying "We've restricted X or Y" and not a single MCXXX violation either. Nothing that would suggest that my listing ability is limited, except that same message on the front page of Selling Manager Pro.

At this time, my items that were listed remain listed. The unsold ones relist themselves faithfully at the end of their 30 days. I'm able to sell to my hearts content. But I can't list any new items.

What should I do?

Any and all thoughts, ideas, suggestions, or help will be most appreciated and returned in kind if I am ever able.

Re: Very odd restriction on eBay...please read!
 

In your situation I would keep the old account ticking along as best as can be done, but really start to get a couple of stealths going

Re: Very odd restriction on eBay...please read!
 

Once an account is in that state, usually it's best to let it rest EVEN if they reinstated it.

If you have the stealth guide already, it's important that you follow it step by step and start building your back up accounts now.

It doesn't matter if you run an honest business or not in eBay's eyes.
Even if a saint were to sell on eBay, eventually they'll get banned for no reason.
It'll do you well to keep this in mind.