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I'm suspended after 11+ years and 100% FB
 

I'm sorry folks, this is a bit long, but i really need to tell somebody. I feel so powerless in this.

I've been an ebay buy & seller for over 11 years (mainly buying), with 100% feedback. Yesterday they suspended my account, this site lists me as not a registered user.

We started having problems about 3 weeks ago. My husband (has his own account with 100% feedback) bought some minifigures in bulk from an ebay powerseller in china before Christmas they sold well so he bought a some more packs. He listed them either separately or in sets and was happily making a very small profit from them, reselling on ebay.
roughly three weeks ago he had one of the sets of figures taken down buy ebay who said that a company called Sidan had issued a VERO. Well we contacted Sidan and they were very difficult to deal with. They indicated that copies of their accessories were on the figures we were selling. We asked for them to give us more information so we could look into it and rectify the problem or try to prove they were genuine. They sent us a cease and desist email. Okay we thought, it's just one set so we won't relist it.
We carried on listing the other figures which there was not a problem with. Then, we get a different figure removed with a notice saying it was in the wrong category. We moved it to what we thought was the right place and it was now with the others figures. Next thing my husband gets a seven day listing ban (during this time the items he already has on are not removed and continue to trickle out, he only sells about 1 a day)

The ban is lifted, we get an offer of 100 free listings so add to the already listed items, making sure he isn't breaching any rules.
The very next day his selling account is permanently restricted and he is now only allowed to buy.

Later in the day, after sending an email to them asking for clarification, they don't bother to answer, they completely suspend my account saying it's linked with his (which in so far as we are a married couple it is). I can't buy or sell and I did do anything that they could possibly consider as against their rules, unless of course they don't approve of wedlock.

We have tried to speak with them but just get passed around on the on-line chat or the chat is ended by them. We have at all times been polite.
I was up til 3 am trying to work out exactly why this is happening, especially as the powerseller is still trading and selling the figures we purchased.

Re: I'm suspended after 11+ years and 100% FB
 

Hi
Sorry to.hear of your situation. Weve all been there one way or another.
VERO items are a big reason why accounts get shut.down.

My advise to you would be to read the stealth guide and digest the content on this forum and start again.
This means new everything. Perfectly possible to do this and will get you back on the selling avenue again.
However, given the issues you have had with that particular product mak3s it more likely it could happen again.
I would readjust what you are selling in the beginning as you cwrtainly couldnt sell those again on a new.account.
Perhaps in the future you could. To be honest, im bot really familiar with VERO at all. Im just aware that they cause problems for peoples accounts as you have now experienced.
Dont give up.
Welcome to the forum. With time, you can successfully build another account :-)

Re: I'm suspended after 11+ years and 100% FB
 

You will find all the information you need to start selling again on this forum, i would suggest to delete the name of the company you entered because it might raise your competition.

Re: I'm suspended after 11+ years and 100% FB
 

Your issue lies in the fact that you got a cease and desist from the VERO themselves and yet continued to sell the figures. Knowing you most definitely did NOT have genuine figures since you got a ton from China, for what i presume was a heavy discount compared to the real deals price. It doesnt matter if ebay took down all of your auctions or not...generally when they take down auctions, it is because someone reported it. In this case, it was the VERO themselves who reported it and that one auction was taken down. Lesson learned i hope. Now get back to selling with stealth.

Re: I'm suspended after 11+ years and 100% FB
 

create stealth accounts to get back on ebay. if you want to keep selling these vero items, create a lot of accounts.

Re: I'm suspended after 11+ years and 100% FB
 

Yup that's eBay alright... I think they only give you 1-3 chances of making mistakes. After that, they cut the rope.

Re: I'm suspended after 11+ years and 100% FB
 

Maybe we are just stupid. My husband started buying and selling (we've been mainly buyers before this) as a way to get some extra income before he retires in 2yrs time.

We bought Lele Blocks in packs of 8 and when they seem ok we bought a couple of packs of 25s. Then we saw the police type ones were selling well so bought some of those. It was these that started the problems. The price we paid on Ebay for them was about the going rate for imported ones. We obviously knew they weren't lego and clearly stated they were not. The Lego company aren't the ones complaining! The company Lele aren't complaining either. We had never heard of the complaining company before.

We never tried to con anyone with ⊗⊗⊗⊗?

As there were a lot of these available from china being sold on ebay, sellers with high volume too, we thought they were ok.

Your right it is a lesson learned. I still think ebay could have handled it differently. if these figurers are dodgy I don't understand why the big sellers who supplied us are still selling the figures on ebay.

Re: I'm suspended after 11+ years and 100% FB
 

I think at the moment I would rather chew wasps Than deal with ebay, they just don't work with you to resolve problems. Just to put this in perspective my husband made just 100 selling these from september to the end if January. We are small fry, stupid old people Ebay don't value.

Re: I'm suspended after 11+ years and 100% FB
 

The sellers from China all do big business for ebay....thats why they turn the other cheek and let them sell the knock off stuff. Its not "fair", but ebay isnt out for fair...they are out for $$$$. Small timers can suck eggs in hell while big leaguers can toss around anything until the cows come home. Thats the name of the game...we have all been there at some point and those that havent will someday. Now all you can do is create stealth accounts and approach things differently.

Re: I'm suspended after 11+ years and 100% FB
 

Youre story is a familiar one.
You've come to the right place to get started off again.
Welcome to the forums.

Re: I'm suspended after 11+ years and 100% FB
 

I am sorry to hear a story.
Most of us were in similar situations.
The only way is to go stealth.
The earlier you understand it the easier it will be.
How hard it would sound....

Re: I'm suspended after 11+ years and 100% FB
 

Welcome to the forum. I think at least 3/4 of the members here went through the same thing. Go through old posts and maybe get the book, you'll get back on selling soon. I don't think theres much you can do with EBAY at this point with the suspended account.

Re: I'm suspended after 11+ years and 100% FB
 

My opinion is ebay acts pretty cowardly when it comes to just straight out suspending someone indefinitely. I think if they had a better dispute resolution process and were more assertive( kind of like how paypal was 8 years ago) the site would gain momentum. They've done everything to attract big retailers because Amazon's growth has scared them straight and they will continue to employ ignorant people that if you argue with them, you get whacked!

Re: I'm suspended after 11+ years and 100% FB
 

ebay saw where you were purchasing them and how you were selling them. You may have been ok if you purchased off of ebay. Also, you dont want to sell so many on one account, spread them across many accounts and mix with non-Vero items as well.

Re: I'm suspended after 11+ years and 100% FB
 

The other thing to consider is this....dont buy what you are selling with the same account. I use a separate account for buying as it is, but if you buy items and sell those same items on the account, things can get messy. I rarely buy what i sell from ebay, but if i do its always from a different account.

Re: I'm suspended after 11+ years and 100% FB
 

Some excellent tips for you here oldlady moving forward on how to buy and sell from this point onwards, learn how to operate stealth accounts like everyone else on here, then you can get back to selling again, not those same items though as that will get picked up again and get you banned again. There are plenty of other things just as popular and some will be even more popular.

Re: I'm suspended after 11+ years and 100% FB
 

To a point this is true.

Sadly the error was picking the type of item to sell without knowing the best methods.

These items have IP rights attached to them. The companies that own the rights dislike their items being sold unless with their OK. They are in the same category as Louis Vuitton, & other top companies.

Your husband became a victim. Has happened before. You, too are the victim just by association. And that's where ebay is bad. They do not care.

Re: I'm suspended after 11+ years and 100% FB
 

Not sure exactly how it works in the UK, but in the US you would need to send in a Counter Suit Notice with the item numbers that were removed by the VERO complaint. Then they have 14 business days to sue you in court and provide Ebay with proof of the court case. If they do not the items will show up in your Unsold section and you can relist. Of course you will have to keep harassing the VERO department to reinstate your suspended account, caused by the false VERO complaint to begin with. I just usually keep emailing the VERO department thanking them for putting back the auction, but I am still having trouble relisting.

Re: I'm suspended after 11+ years and 100% FB
 

do you even get 1-3 chances to make a mistake with VeRO before your seller acc is terminated?

Re: I'm suspended after 11+ years and 100% FB
 

Welcome to the forums... Sadly your accounts have gone, forever. No point in wasting hours speaking to ebay, just brush yourself off and research the stealth guides on this site and start afresh... Otherwise it will slowly drive you crazy!

Re: I'm suspended after 11+ years and 100% FB
 

yeah ebay does not care about sellers.

i mean think about it.....

they have millions of sellers...they can be picky....and they should be....their reputation is on the line as well....

if they allow sub par sellers into their website than buyers will start spreading around how ebay is a bad place to buy because of such and such reasons than traffic will decrease.....

Do I agree with the way they run their rating system? hell no...

But I understand why.....and its unfortunate how many of us who like to make a decent living have to suffer by working the system.

Re: I'm suspended after 11+ years and 100% FB
 

so sorry to hear. read the stealth guide and fight back. You can start selling again today if you wanted to. They cannot stop you.