Forum

Yes, my friend from the US came to live down here, he had a new laptop and when he signed to EB he had the same issue. Id and everything. After that, not a problem. And that was like 3 years ago.

So EB/PP don't want you to go to have a cup of coffee at Starbucks and login to their websites? They will shut you down for linking the Starbucks IP with many other ebay users? That's insane!!

Yes, you are right. Like 5 years ago when I had my US PP account (real one under my real name), and also other friends also had their US PP accounts. We could login with no problems at all and then suddenly PP started blocking us saying we where logging from overseas.

That was the end of our PP accounts..many years later, I made new PP accs and noticed the IP was not an issue anymore.

So, what I am saying is, perhaps PP changed his policy with IPs? Has anyone tested it recently? For testing purposes, someone should make a new account and use it with the same IP of a banned account and see what happens! :-)

It is easy to operate with different IP's, so why take the risk?

I don't believe this. I had logged into my Ebay account for 9 years from Starbucks in different cities, from Saint Louis, MO to Evansville, Indiana, to Indianapolis, and I don't know what else. I probably also logged into from the semi-public wifi at hotels.

What got my account restricted from selling (not suspended) was seller performance/low DSR's.

I would be willing to bet (just speculation) that Ebay's first campaign against duplicate accounts is automated by an algorithm. Everyone on this forum mentions the i.p. address, but I remember reading somewhere else that Ebay doesn't look at the i.p. address. I wouldn't chance it. Although if i.p. address were enough by itself to get you suspended, that would be extremely stupid of Ebay, since lots of great buyers and sellers log into Ebay from Starbucks and indulge in listing and purchasing, and Ebay gets 10% of that.

Why would Ebay be so stupid to permanently suspend users just for logging into their site while at Starbucks?

I would imagine the algorithm is something like

IF i.p. address matches suspended user's i.p. address AND billing address matches the same suspended user's billing address, THEN ring a bell for a real Ebay-human to look further into the account...and look at the descriptions, the items listed, compare the photographs, etc.

They can't just suspend 2 accounts because they both use a Kodak MK-Ultra camera, or Joey Williams is selling a baseball glove, and a different Ebay user named Joey Williams is also selling a baseball glove!

In all probability, the first and last name used for my stealth account has already been used by a suspended account.

Some are of the opinion that Ebay only checks to be sure that your i.p. address only matches the country of your mailing/billing address. Others say within 100 miles.

Let's say you want to make your first stealth account.
Let's say your name is Michael Hall.
Your first thought would be, "Well I can't use my real name...Ebay knows that I've been suspended. I've already used that name."
Then you choose a different name. Let's say you choose "Steve Williams."
(I just watched a couple youtube videos of Robin Williams and Steve Martin)
You've now made your stealth account even more vulnerable to linking and suspension, assuming your name is important.
What you failed to realize was that 6 other "Michael Hall"s were suspended from Ebay, whereas 17 "Steve Williams"s had been suspended before you created your stealth account.

So unless somewhere in Ebay's algorithm for linking accounts there is a "depending on how common or rare the first and last name combination is...according to birthdate," then I doubt Ebay cares about your name.

I apologize for getting off-topic.

P.S. Disclaimer: these are just my very limited experienced, speculative opinions.

I am in the same situation. I have was running 3 accounts from same IP.

One went down flagged as high risk. The second one went down 6 months later and the last one is still running.

Linked does not mean they will get banned. Just when one goes down, they eventually all go down in a week, 6 months or a year later.

Stealth is the only way to have a solid future on ebay.