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Impending Suspension?
 

Hello All,

I own a Jewelry and Pawn shop. Way back in 2001 I had an eBay account. I horribly procrastinated with shipping which lead to negative feedbacks and an ultimate suspension. I then began foolishly trying to create new accounts which resulted to anything I created being suspended.

Fast forward until now. I have a friend, Frank, who offered to let me use his eBay account for selling. When I started he had just created the account. 10 items / 1k per month. I had this increased to 5k per month after the first month and verifying some credit history type items. A month later I called again and vetting increased it to 110 items and $8500.

Shortly after that increase I received an email stating the account had been suspended due to being linked to another account. I called Frank and come to find out he did have another account that he only used for buying. We successfully worked to restore access to that account and sure enough - nothing wrong. I called Vetting and after they reviewed it they restored the selling account. To do so they had to override the system.

All was fine up until today. My next review on the 20th would have placed me at Top Rated and Silver Power Seller status. 100% Positive feedback, 1 day handling times, all satisfied customers. If any account was perfect this one was.

Two days ago the account had aged past 90 days. However, they are still holding funds. So I called, first Paypal, then eBay. The overseas rep at eBay stated even though it had been 92 days it hadn't been three months and starting tomorrow no funds would be held. That didn't sound right to me so I transferred to Vetting.

Once I got to Vetting things took a very interesting twist. The rep at Vetting was very nice which was surprising but she found that Frank hadn't been truthful and they had linked this perfect account to 5 other suspended accounts.

The underlying issue appeared to be an account from 7 years ago that had a balance of $240 and change owed on it. I of course offered to immediately pay that but she stated that eBay's policy is that if an account has been linked to one other suspended account they can investigate it but beyond one and you're basically screwed.

She looked at all the notes and said she was documenting everything. I then asked her what my options were and she very sympathetically told me I needed to find somewhere else to sell things and that I was no longer able to sell on eBay.

I figured by the time I got off the phone my listings would be pulled and account suspended. But... no.

I'm going on 4 hours now, no suspension, no listings pulled, I even tried listing a video game which is a category restricted area and wala no issues and its showing up in search results.

So, now my questions:

1. Is there a chance that since they haven't yanked the listings and suspended the account, if I stay off their radar the account might stay up?

2. Do I have any options if they do suspend the account?

3. Could there be any validity to the 90 days really being three months and after a few more days there will be no more funds holds?

4. Am I at risk shipping items customers have purchased of having Paypal do one of their 180 day funds holds?

5. How much time needs to go by before I can figure this rep either felt bad for me or the system glitched and this account won't be suspended?

I have already paid for the stealth information so I can create a stealth account but it seems like having a "real" account with no issues makes more sense long run but perhaps I am being naive. Thanks in advance for any help.
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Re: Impending Suspension?
 

In the movie "The Social Network" they was a quote to zukerberg to lawyer up.

I am now telling you to stealth up.

Re: Impending Suspension?
 

you are being naïve. Even if all was well tomorrow with this account, you will need several stealth accounts,
you own a pawn shop. Nothing is going to compliment your business more than several ebay accounts. The only reason not to do so would be laziness or Ignorance. You are not ignorant now that you are on this forum, so what will it be?...............................

Re: Impending Suspension?
 

Ok. So, am I best to do stealth accounts or I have two buddies who have never used eBay period, have no desire to ever use eBay for anything and are willing to let me use them to open eBay business accounts listing them as the principles?

If stealth is the way to go, is there any disadvantage to purchasing accounts that are already made up?

Re: Impending Suspension?
 

Stealth is definitely the way.

Based on your story, you never respected Stealth principles and it caused you an account. CALLING EBAY is a NO-NO if you want to last another day.

Re: Impending Suspension?
 

You cannot start using stealth accounts soon enough....your account is strapped to a ticking bomb now and none knows how long the fuse is....get busy with creating or purchasing stealth accounts tomorrow.

Re: Impending Suspension?
 

Ok. Tomorrow I will start on Stealth accounts.

Now, in regard to this existing account.

Am I at risk to ship the items I've sold and have been paid for or should I act like business as normal?

Same questions goes to active listings and creating new listings.

Re: Impending Suspension?
 

That is a call you need to make, just be aware that your account is now on borrowed time

It could be in an hour or a week but he account will be restricted and the paypal account may also be limited

So if you can't wait 180 days to get the funds from a limited account , than just give refunds to all current purchases and do no ship out and cancel all current listings

Also the account seems to be linked to several accounts that owe funds, I'm not quite sure how it works but there is a possibility after they limit your paypal they will use the funds to pay debt owed to linked accounts, but I'm not certain on this

Whatever you decide, don't think that you got lucky and there was a glitch or the rep,felt bad and your account will,go on for ever, this scenario may have odds greater than the powereBall

Best course of action from what you have told us is to cancel all listings and refund purchases, save merchandise for,new accounts, because you will ship and than your money will be frozen and this will happen soon

Re: Impending Suspension?
 

Are there any reputable sellers here selling stealth accounts that have met the requirements to not have funds held?

Re: Impending Suspension?
 

Funds held is a floating situation it can be removed anytime and also can be put back on by ebay. They say 90 days, 26 items over $250 in sales but that is not always true ajd can change

Re: Impending Suspension?
 

Any account can have funds held.

paypal can put the holds back whenever they want.