Possible way of finding out if eBay accounts are linked

[horsemaster]

I have access to several total legit and non stealth accounts. They belong to several people I know and I basically just help them out with ebay from time to time. All different people and locations but I have accessed them all from the same IP (dumb I know).

After noticing some seriously odd sales patterns across the accounts and suspecting they are all linked and possibly being throttled, I tried the following and believe it might be a way to see if accounts are linked.

On each account setup a listing for similar items (use different photo's and description). Using the eBay promoted listings advanced, setup ad campaigns using the same keywords on each ebay account. Bid really high on these keywords - ideally some less competitive keywords so you will 100% show up near the top.

If the accounts are not linked then in theory all 3 ads should show up.

I found in this instance I could only get one ad to show. I could lower the bids on the other accounts and ensure each ad would show at the top. So individually the ad would be in 1st place in the search results confirming they had no issues.

When bidding on all accounts only 1 ad would show up still !

Guessing this confirms the accounts are linked and eBay are treating them all as one account?

What's everyone thought's on this? Could be useful?

[murdered_by_ebay]

do not fall into paranoia , accounts are not linked in advance. "linked" means that once a certain type of violation is registered in the system it will look for accounts tied to the account in question

even that does not happen in all cases , most violations are light violations which do not affect other accounts even if they are opened with same details

[SaiJin]

Originally Posted by horsemaster

I have access to several total legit and non stealth accounts. They belong to several people I know and I basically just help them out with ebay from time to time. All different people and locations but I have accessed them all from the same IP (dumb I know).

After noticing some seriously odd sales patterns across the accounts and suspecting they are all linked and possibly being throttled, I tried the following and believe it might be a way to see if accounts are linked.

On each account setup a listing for similar items (use different photo's and description). Using the eBay promoted listings advanced, setup ad campaigns using the same keywords on each ebay account. Bid really high on these keywords - ideally some less competitive keywords so you will 100% show up near the top.

If the accounts are not linked then in theory all 3 ads should show up.

I found in this instance I could only get one ad to show. I could lower the bids on the other accounts and ensure each ad would show at the top. So individually the ad would be in 1st place in the search results confirming they had no issues.

When bidding on all accounts only 1 ad would show up still !

Guessing this confirms the accounts are linked and eBay are treating them all as one account?

What's everyone thought's on this? Could be useful?

that IP is not logged for sure but usually it's not enough to just suspend accounts.

I'd be careful from now on and stop doing what you're doing and hope all your accounts would be fine.

[horsemaster]

Thanks for the unput. How would you explain all the account not showing up under the same search term?

If they were all seperate then this would not be an issue would it?

Interesting you say they are linked only when they look into a violation.

I'm a firm believer that ebay purposely throttle *most* accounts. I was assuming that this feature was behind it.

Perhaps I should get the tin foil hat out

Originally Posted by murdered_by_ebay

do not fall into paranoia , accounts are not linked in advance. "linked" means that once a certain type of violation is registered in the system it will look for accounts tied to the account in question

even that does not happen in all cases , most violations are light violations which do not affect other accounts even if they are opened with same details

[horsemaster]

Thanks

For people with multiple accounts, selling similar items AND using promotions advanced - I assume you can get all items showing up at the top of search at the same time?

Originally Posted by SaiJin

that IP is not logged for sure but usually it's not enough to just suspend accounts.

I'd be careful from now on and stop doing what you're doing and hope all your accounts would be fine.

[rsot]

Originally Posted by horsemaster

Thanks

For people with multiple accounts, selling similar items AND using promotions advanced - I assume you can get all items showing up at the top of search at the same time?

Certainly happens - key is not to sell in similar fashion e.g. same listings or pictures used, etc

[james13v]

Originally Posted by murdered_by_ebay

do not fall into paranoia , accounts are not linked in advance. "linked" means that once a certain type of violation is registered in the system it will look for accounts tied to the account in question

even that does not happen in all cases , most violations are light violations which do not affect other accounts even if they are opened with same details

Being linked, doesn't mean you're in violation. Until you are in violation. Then bam.

[horsemaster]

Totally. My basis for the post is if there is a way to test if your account are linked.

Linked = work out why and stealth better.

Question is.....does this test if accounts are linked.

Originally Posted by james13v

Being linked, doesn't mean you're in violation. Until you are in violation. Then bam.

[murdered_by_ebay]

being linked means that one or multiple accounts are tied to one or multiple other accounts that are in violation. you are not linked as long as the computer does not search for you , this is the reason why people open lots of accounts in same details and sell there for years

there is also linkage on MP , there it may lead to ID requests for example , like in my case I have a number of real accounts in my own details and I got ID requests on most of them (far beyond any thresholds) while my brother has two accounts in his name and he never got any ID requests

[rsot]

Originally Posted by horsemaster

Totally. My basis for the post is if there is a way to test if your account are linked.

Linked = work out why and stealth better.

Question is.....does this test if accounts are linked.

No real way to "test" unless you are inside eb operations, i.e. working for them

[horsemaster]

Do you do promoted listings advanced for you products in your accounts?

Say you put 3 similar items in each of the accounts

You advertise each one.

You search ebay, all 3 should show up under sponsored search results.

Does this happen? If it doesn't, why not?

I'm saying regardless of linking for offences on eBay. Is there something else going on.

All I know is the 3 accounts I have access to - there is NO WAY to have 3 similar items show up as sponsored at the same time. This is a major disadvantage.

While you say eBay looks up accounts once an offence happens. How do you know this?

Be good for someone else to test the above.

Originally Posted by murdered_by_ebay

being linked means that one or multiple accounts are tied to one or multiple other accounts that are in violation. you are not linked as long as the computer does not search for you , this is the reason why people open lots of accounts in same details and sell there for years

there is also linkage on MP , there it may lead to ID requests for example , like in my case I have a number of real accounts in my own details and I got ID requests on most of them (far beyond any thresholds) while my brother has two accounts in his name and he never got any ID requests

[james13v]

Originally Posted by horsemaster

Do you do promoted listings advanced for you products in your accounts?

Say you put 3 similar items in each of the accounts

You advertise each one.

You search ebay, all 3 should show up under sponsored search results.

Does this happen? If it doesn't, why not?

I'm saying regardless of linking for offences on eBay. Is there something else going on.

All I know is the 3 accounts I have access to - there is NO WAY to have 3 similar items show up as sponsored at the same time. This is a major disadvantage.

While you say eBay looks up accounts once an offence happens. How do you know this?

Be good for someone else to test the above.

why would all 3 show up? You aren't the only one paying for sponsored listings... If 100 people are all paying for their 3 items to show up, who gets to be at the top of the list of those 300 listings?

[horsemaster]

bid £5 or $5 per click. AKA force your way to the top.

Yes there are other ads but if you have similar items and bid high enough all should show up.

What i'm saying is...3 seperate accounts. Different addresses / owners. There was NO WAY to have 3 ads show up at the same time.

Who gets to be at the top. Well its some sort of quality score and the bid on the click.

If I bid through the roof. $5 per click on 3 different accounts....why would all 3 not show? If i rotate the accounts and check the ads show when others are off. each account shows an ad at the top spot when the other 2 accounts ads are off. As soon as I turn two or more on, one ad (guessing some quality score winner) shows. The other two are hidden.

Originally Posted by james13v

why would all 3 show up? You aren't the only one paying for sponsored listings... If 100 people are all paying for their 3 items to show up, who gets to be at the top of the list of those 300 listings?

[murdered_by_ebay]

Originally Posted by horsemaster

Do you do promoted listings advanced for you products in your accounts?

Say you put 3 similar items in each of the accounts

You advertise each one.

You search ebay, all 3 should show up under sponsored search results.

Does this happen? If it doesn't, why not?

I'm saying regardless of linking for offences on eBay. Is there something else going on.

All I know is the 3 accounts I have access to - there is NO WAY to have 3 similar items show up as sponsored at the same time. This is a major disadvantage.

While you say eBay looks up accounts once an offence happens. How do you know this?

Be good for someone else to test the above.

did you try on different browsers with different cookies? using the same browser where you looked up anything on these 3 sellers before will store cookies and can easily display their items as featured later

[horsemaster]

Yeah, tried using different machines, browsers and incognito mode.

Nothing would show 3 ads from the 3 accounts.

Originally Posted by murdered_by_ebay

did you try on different browsers with different cookies? using the same browser where you looked up anything on these 3 sellers before will store cookies and can easily display their items as featured later