OK so I took one for the team ...

[james_112233]

Lol, so this is a bit funny I guess ... I don't think anyone has been stupid enough to do this yet.

I have stealths so don't really care too much. On my 3 week old semi stealth account that I have reached the monthly limit on. It's got a stealth address (variation of my real address), accepting payments on my genuine paypal that is good but linked to all of my suspended accounts.

As this stealth ebay account has reached the monthly limit I thought what the heck let's contact ebay chat to see if I can get the limits raised.

The conversation was going great until they ran their software on my account ... the response I got was:

"I have tried to increase your limits but the system has detected that you are being directly linked to user1, user2, user3, user4, user5 and user6"

I just didn't respond and they ended the chat saying please contact eBay Live Help again as we have to assume you have been disconnected.

So i'm thinking when their software runs a scan in it's own time that is when you would get banned. How are people running a semi-stealth for over year ?

[james_112233]

I should add it's been a while since the chat and the account is still fine not banned yet ...

Will update when it gets suspended considering I deliberately invited them to have a look.

[JamesNorth101]

If your getting linked to that many accounts your doing something really wrong....

eBay will pick up the links pretty fast they just dont act on it all the time. They seem to just ban in waves.

[james_112233]

Originally Posted by JamesNorth101

If your getting linked to that many accounts your doing something really wrong....

eBay will pick up the links pretty fast they just dont act on it all the time. They seem to just ban in waves.

User1, user2, user3, user4. Were my genuine good ebay accounts that I have had for over a decade. One got banned, the other three followed.

User5, user6 were created last month but I linked the accounts to my paypal in the account settings page and bought an item on both accounts. And that linked me immediately and I got suspended within an hour.

Now with THIS account that I contacted ebay with, I didn't buy anything. Sold on it for 3 weeks, reached the limit. Paid for fees using credit card. But I thought i'll experiment on it and contacted ebay.

As soon as they ran their software it linked to the other 6. So they knew all along ... question is what is the trigger for them to ban you.

As you pointed out they do it in waves. But how are some people if they are speaking the truth getting away with it for over a year ?

[james_112233]

Something tells me I will be banned as soon as someone opens a return case. Or there is one minor issue. Until then they will happily pocket the fees they are making off me.

[JamesNorth101]

If you sold on it then you must have linked a PayPal? Was is the same old PayPal you linked or a new one?

No one knows exactly why eBay ban when they do - I would guess there is some sort of point system and when you get over a certain number of points you get banned. Every few months I guess they lower the point requirement for bans and that is why we get a wave now and then. Its no doubt more complicated than that, but the methodology would be the same.

[WEI]

Really thought requesting for a higher limit via chat was that easy. Mine turned out great tho. I was just asked for an ID and proof of address, and answered some basic questionnaire. Chat went like less than 10 minutes and i've received an email with regards to the increase of selling limit. I guess, i just got lucky?

[james_112233]

Originally Posted by WEI

Really thought requesting for a higher limit via chat was that easy. Mine turned out great tho. I was just asked for an ID and proof of address, and answered some basic questionnaire. Chat went like less than 10 minutes and i've received an email with regards to the increase of selling limit. I guess, i just got lucky?

You didn't get the post ... I have proper stealth accounts where increasing limits have gone smoothly with no issues.

The account I tried to increase limits on was using my "good, not suspended paypal account" but this paypal is linked too my genuine ebay accounts that were suspended a few months ago.

The experiment was to find out whether I can increase limits and if they can see that it's linked and it transpires they can. The question is WHEN do they ban you because as of this minute I am STILL not banned despite the ebay rep confirming it's linked to all the banned accounts.

James North is right, it could be on a point based system or waves.

[james_112233]

Originally Posted by JamesNorth101

If you sold on it then you must have linked a PayPal? Was is the same old PayPal you linked or a new one?

No one knows exactly why eBay ban when they do - I would guess there is some sort of point system and when you get over a certain number of points you get banned. Every few months I guess they lower the point requirement for bans and that is why we get a wave now and then. Its no doubt more complicated than that, but the methodology would be the same.

I did indeed, linked it to my existing paypal. That is clearly where the link is then.

The thing is I only did that because I used a variation of my actual address just incase buyers wanted to return an item.

When this one is finally banned ... I think i'm going to create a stealth ebay, stealth paypal, link them, but then put my genuine paypal in the box for receiving payments.

But something tells me paypal won't like that at all ... forget about ebay.

[JamesNorth101]

Originally Posted by james_112233

I did indeed, linked it to my existing paypal. That is clearly where the link is then.

The thing is I only did that because I used a variation of my actual address just incase buyers wanted to return an item.

When this one is finally banned ... I think i'm going to create a stealth ebay, stealth paypal, link them, but then put my genuine paypal in the box for receiving payments.

But something tells me paypal won't like that at all ... forget about ebay.

Yep that would be a link. The address variation would also be an issue.

The genuine PayPal - either use it just for buying on eBay or for off eBay transactions. If you keep using it with stealth accounts your just building a house on sand.

[aspkin]

Originally Posted by james_112233

Lol, so this is a bit funny I guess ... I don't think anyone has been stupid enough to do this yet.

I have stealths so don't really care too much. On my 3 week old semi stealth account that I have reached the monthly limit on. It's got a stealth address (variation of my real address), accepting payments on my genuine paypal that is good but linked to all of my suspended accounts.

As this stealth ebay account has reached the monthly limit I thought what the heck let's contact ebay chat to see if I can get the limits raised.

The conversation was going great until they ran their software on my account ... the response I got was:

"I have tried to increase your limits but the system has detected that you are being directly linked to user1, user2, user3, user4, user5 and user6"

I just didn't respond and they ended the chat saying please contact eBay Live Help again as we have to assume you have been disconnected.

So i'm thinking when their software runs a scan in it's own time that is when you would get banned. How are people running a semi-stealth for over year ?

That sounds about right.

That's why we have Stealth accounts.

[james_112233]

Just to confirm the account is still not banned despite speaking to CS and the account being linked.

Just a matter of time obviously. Will let everyone know when it happens. But I will be continuing to sell on it.

[james_112233]

So as my account is still not banned I thought what the heck ... let's contact customer services again.

The rep I chatted with this time said "Your account has similarities to the following previously suspended accounts user1, user2 are you familiar with them?" - Only mentioned 2 accounts this time.

I didn't respond and after 10mins they ended the chat.

Still not banned ...

Rather than the other rep who said there was a DIRECT link to quite a few of my genuine accounts. This one said there are SIMILARITIES and only named two of them ...

I guess that is why they are not banning me ? because they can't clarify it 100% ? only they know ufcourse but thought I would share that !

[james_112233]

UPDATE

STILL NOT BANNED!

So now that I have sold more items even though ebay said my accounts were linked / had similarities to my genuine suspended ebay accounts. I have now built up more positive feedback / trust so I thought let me try contacting customer services again.

Guess what guys ? THEY INCREASED MY LISTING ALLOWANCES AND THERE IS NO LINK (well they didn't mention any link!)

[MasStealth]

Congrats, thank you for sharing your story

[james_112233]

Has to be a glitch on their part clearly ... may be their software that runs in the background was switched off ? I don't know. But I am glad I am able to use my legit paypal with this account and there is no link.

Going to be interesting to see what happens over the course of this year.

Won't be ditching my stealths ... No need too. I like the peace of mind stealth brings.

[JamesNorth101]

There is going to be a link it’s just not been acted on. Sometimes they do sometimes they don’t act on it.

Flip of the coin with eBay sometimes

[winge00]

Originally Posted by james_112233

UPDATE

STILL NOT BANNED!

So now that I have sold more items even though ebay said my accounts were linked / had similarities to my genuine suspended ebay accounts. I have now built up more positive feedback / trust so I thought let me try contacting customer services again.

Guess what guys ? THEY INCREASED MY LISTING ALLOWANCES AND THERE IS NO LINK (well they didn't mention any link!)

I read about it, sometimes ebay knows but they don't act on it, you will be fine as long as you are not reported to ebay for bad practice say for example copyright infringements/return cases/bad listings/excessive negative feedback.
Ebay knows they are making money out of you so why they stop their source or earning, they will suddenly act when there are mystery reports about you or listings etc etc.

I would rather play safe, because as soon as ebay wakes up the first thing they gonna check if all of your details match on ebay and pp. Then you will get further questions of providing them supplier receipts and all that bull**** they ask.

Play safe

[Jmannp]

wait, so are all your accounts just linked together in some way? IPs all the same? paypals?

[james_112233]

Originally Posted by winge00

I read about it, sometimes ebay knows but they don't act on it, you will be fine as long as you are not reported to ebay for bad practice say for example copyright infringements/return cases/bad listings/excessive negative feedback.
Ebay knows they are making money out of you so why they stop their source or earning, they will suddenly act when there are mystery reports about you or listings etc etc.

I would rather play safe, because as soon as ebay wakes up the first thing they gonna check if all of your details match on ebay and pp. Then you will get further questions of providing them supplier receipts and all that bull**** they ask.

Play safe

My genuine paypal has already successfully been through that phase of supplying invoices etc, I run a legit business i'm not a vero seller. That paypal limitation was why I initially signed up to this forum last year. But I completely agree, those are my thoughts as well. First sign of any trouble they will just ban without any leeway. Ebay are expecting me to be extra cautious now and to be quite frank once you have been suspended it does make you a much more careful person so I certainly won't be making any more mistakes, I just want to continue business as normal.

But thankfully due to this forum I also have many other unlinked stealth accounts for peace of mind.

Originally Posted by bjames

wait, so are all your accounts just linked together in some way? IPs all the same? paypals?

Before I used this forum for stealth, I had a lot of genuine accounts (over 10 years old). One of the accounts got suspended and like dominoes all of them got suspended as well. All of those accounts were using the same user accounts, same computer, same IP, same paypal.

This thread/post is about me creating a semi-stealth ebay account with a variation of my real name and address and using it to sell with the same paypal account that was associated with my original 10 year old accounts that were banned. It works. But for how long, only ebay knows.

[Ebay.slayer]

What is a semi stealth?

[Ebay.slayer]

Probably something I don't need to learn yet, still getting my head around STEALTH