Trying to figure out how I lost this MC011

[dozen12x12]

Wondering where I screwed this up. (post edit, I guess it's obvious, so use as a cautionary tale)

This account is Thailand based, selling on USA ebay site only. Opened on USA ebay.com site with all real info. Run it from Thailand.

At first all things went ok. Selling a few items a week, trying to keep prices profitable. But in June 2024 I got the idea to sell some cheap stuff and ship it directly from a 3PL warehouse in China to increase volume and get some feedback faster. Not drop shipping! I own the stock in that warehouse and dispatched using the fast EMS shipping option. I was losing money doing this but not much and just wanted to increase my feedback a bit faster. Every customer received every order earlier than promised and it was 100% tracked.

Suddenly got restricted to $103/month or "23 limit on quantity of items". Useless. They said I violated the "China Shipping Mandate" - NOBODY and I mean NOBODY in English speaking eBay forums - even agents working for eBay - knows what the heck that is. I had to find a Chinese ebay forum and finally discovered they want you to use their own shipper in China, not your own, if you ship anything from China. There is nothing in the ebay.com on-boarding docs or help or forums that even mentions this.

Alright, now I know. Finally a CS rep said no problem, your account looks good to me - just ship properly for a month or two and the limits will be removed. From then on I shipped only directly from Thailand (goods location setting in Thailand of course). I tried to nurse this account along, month after month given these restrictions but it was clear something is wrong - as if the account is shadow-banned. My listings sell just a couple items a month MAX

Every couple months I "request selling limit increase" -> always denied. Message support, finally got one to say the reason it's not working is because my sale volume isn't large enough! Well, no **** bro. But he said keep going, your account otherwise looks fine.

Suddenly - as it always is - MC011 out of the blue last week.


Even though they don't actually say, I suspect it was for a $18 clothing item I bought off Taobao, which I had sent to that same Chinese warehouse -> then sent to me in Thailand, kept in my stock in Thailand for months -> shipped directly to the customer from Thailand.

I provided all the documents to show proof of all this. ID/Passport, proof of address, credit card statement showing the shipper from Thailand to the USA customer. Purchase invoice from Taobao.

Nope, permanently restricted:


One clue is the response to my ticket:

We have completed an additional review of your account and show that your account was originally restricted because it was in violation of eBay policy and your behavior posed a risk to the eBay community.




I guess the account was still holding a black mark from the "Chinese Shipper Mandate" thing, and showing that the origin of my goods as China was just too much for them to hear and popped the cork, despite only shipping from Thailand.

Anyways, I hate Ebay. They write all the rules, only share a few with you, hold you to restrictions and requirements that they won't divulge for security reasons, and play with your livelihood. At any moment you can be wiped out "permanently" no matter how well you performed (my account service metrics are as good as they could possible be).

All these problems are solvable if they would have a competent rep pick up the damn phone who can solve reasonable issues.

Alright, rant over. I guess its time for more stealth.

[murdered_by_ebay]

they just think you are an asian seller posing as US seller

to avoid such problems indefinitely it would take a 100% match between country of registration and all addresses and same item location country when listing items

[dozen12x12]

Originally Posted by murdered_by_ebay

they just think you are an asian seller posing as US seller

to avoid such problems indefinitely it would take a 100% match between country of registration and all addresses and same item location country when listing items

That's pretty much what I'm thinking. They don't block Asian sellers - there's a 140k+ person facebook group for Ebay sellers in Thailand and local language reps (can't seem to do anything about my account)).

But for the last year there has been a 100% match between my registration and all shipping from addresses so thought I would actually get out of jail on that one. Only exception was showing them that my supplier is in China after this MC011

I could have, and probably should have, used an invoice from a local Thai-based marketplace seller instead.

[agent006140]

do you really mean you bought a $18 dress from Taoboa and have it shipped to your Chinese warehouse and then to you in Thailand and you ship to your buyer in USA?
also why is your country flag US on this forum when you are in Thailand,?
It seems Ebay caught you doing retail arbitrage as you are not shipping from your own country?
Did you enter any tracking number on your order?

[rsot]

It is possible by repeatedly requesting selling increases, you got "eyes" on the account - CS agents aren't always that great at providing info and help on the account sadly. Not the only issue but perhaps contributive.

[agent006140]

I dont think asking for selling increase is the reason,the worst is they will deny it.
He probably have too many cases of shipping not from Thailand.

[murdered_by_ebay]

asian sellers are treated differently , ebay even have a separate performance policy for them so in their eyes you probably want to circumvent rules by registering in a wrong country

[agent006140]

There are Asian sellers and there are Asian sellers,the best Asian sellers are the Chinese as they actually have the stock on hand !
The second best are the Hong Kong sellers,if they cant find it locally,take an express train into China,get a massage,lunch at the same time

[dozen12x12]

Originally Posted by agent006140

do you really mean you bought a $18 dress from Taoboa and have it shipped to your Chinese warehouse and then to you in Thailand and you ship to your buyer in USA?
also why is your country flag US on this forum when you are in Thailand,?
It seems Ebay caught you doing retail arbitrage as you are not shipping from your own country?
Did you enter any tracking number on your order?

That's right - I buy a lot of stock from 1688 or Taobao with a Chinese bank account and send to my 3PL warehouse in Shenzhen. I used to have an office with full time staff working for me there but got rid of it during the pandemic.

From there, shipping to the customer directly is easy and the advantage of this is we can keep the stock level relatively low because resupply is so fast. From that 3PL I can ship 2 day worldwide fedex (for a price) or 15 day China post (almost free, lol) or any other option - there's a lot of flexibility. I can also move goods to another 3PL in the US or ask them to prepare Walmart/Amazon labels from there. It's nice - I don't personally have to touch stuff.

When I have aged stock, I'll move it to Thailand, where I'm located, and that's why I wanted a Thai-based eBay account. So I can sell off excess stuff at whatever the market price is.

I think I should have replied to the MC011 with a cash receipt from another Thai seller and left any mention of China out of the equation.

That being said I'm American despite living overseas for a little while. My main business is still US based, I have a USA S-Corp and US bank accounts, and I keep a lot of stock in US warehouses. Ebay really didn't like it when I opened an account from Thailand with my US business details though.

My dream of living on a boat and dispatching orders from 3PLs via my laptop has not yet arrived

[agent006140]

That's right - I buy a lot of stock from 1688 or Taobao with a Chinese bank account and send to my 3PL warehouse in Shenzhen. I used to have an office with full time staff working for me there but got rid of it during the pandemic.

From there, shipping to the customer directly is easy and the advantage of this is we can keep the stock level relatively low because resupply is so fast. From that 3PL I can ship 2 day worldwide fedex (for a price) or 15 day China post (almost free, lol) or any other option - there's a lot of flexibility. I can also move goods to another 3PL in the US or ask them to prepare Walmart/Amazon labels from there. It's nice - I don't personally have to touch stuff.
----------
shipping from your own warehouse in Shenzhen is shipping from China,
Creating ⊗⊗⊗⊗ WMT/AMZN labels is retail arbitrage,your buyer could have reported you or Ebay is reading your tracking number.
what kind of tracking are you using on those ⊗⊗⊗⊗ WMT/AMZN labels>
why do you want to pretend to beAMZN,WMT when you have your own stock?

.

[dozen12x12]

Originally Posted by agent006140

That's right - I buy a lot of stock from 1688 or Taobao with a Chinese bank account and send to my 3PL warehouse in Shenzhen. I used to have an office with full time staff working for me there but got rid of it during the pandemic.

From there, shipping to the customer directly is easy and the advantage of this is we can keep the stock level relatively low because resupply is so fast. From that 3PL I can ship 2 day worldwide fedex (for a price) or 15 day China post (almost free, lol) or any other option - there's a lot of flexibility. I can also move goods to another 3PL in the US or ask them to prepare Walmart/Amazon labels from there. It's nice - I don't personally have to touch stuff.
----------
shipping from your own warehouse in Shenzhen is shipping from China,
Creating ⊗⊗⊗⊗ WMT/AMZN labels is retail arbitrage,your buyer could have reported you or Ebay is reading your tracking number.
what kind of tracking are you using on those ⊗⊗⊗⊗ WMT/AMZN labels>
why do you want to pretend to beAMZN,WMT when you have your own stock?

.

Bro. You either didn't read or have a strange comprehension of events as described.

a. All commerce is some kind of arbitrage. I buy low and sell high. Just like you, or else we don't exist. I buy from wholesale guys in China because they have the right price. Because it came to me first from China doesn't mean I'm shipping to the customer from China. Same as you, if you are a seller - I'm sure some or all components of what you sell came from another country.

b. For this ebay account, I ship to the customer from my own warehouse in Thailand. The items show up in my packaging with my insert, and in this case packed by myself. They are all 100% tracked. I use a shipping agent called https://fastship.co/ that helps Thai sellers get their goods to the US. I explained that to ebay and showed them my invoice.

c. eBay wanted to know where I myself got those goods (they asked for my purchase invoices) so I explained to them how I got those goods to me.

d. IF you are selling through Amazon FBA or Walmart's WFS you have to place an FNSKU label or GTIN barcode on every item, otherwise they don't accept them into their warehouse or they charge extra fees. When I buy goods in bulk, either I pay somebody to put the label on the items or I do it myself. That business isn't related to my problems with eBay, I'm just explaining why having a full service 3PL is not only a good move but prerequisite if you do business in many parts of the world.

[dozen12x12]

What do you guys recommend?

Ebay's algorithm flags you -> challenges you with an MC011 -> you promptly show them you are following their policies and your account is still immediately "permanently restricted from selling because of activity we (ebay) believe was putting the eBay community at risk",



This account is a year and a half old and was cut off at the knees down to these numbers after a few months because we exceeded the 90% limit for the SpeedPAK direct shipping mandate https://export.ebay.com/sea-en/polic...ipping-policy/.

What do you do? I think this account was probably toast at that stage and is unrecoverable. But still wonder if I should try and fight it through the other channels like calling or the Facebook Ebay team, hoping a human will review the case and notice that I'm working damn hard to please these customers. Or maybe better just move on.

[agent006140]

Originally Posted by dozen12x12

Bro. You either didn't read or have a strange comprehension of events as described.

a. All commerce is some kind of arbitrage. I buy low and sell high. Just like you, or else we don't exist. I buy from wholesale guys in China because they have the right price. Because it came to me first from China doesn't mean I'm shipping to the customer from China. Same as you, if you are a seller - I'm sure some or all components of what you sell came from another country.

b. For this ebay account, I ship to the customer from my own warehouse in Thailand. The items show up in my packaging with my insert, and in this case packed by myself. They are all 100% tracked. I use a shipping agent called https://fastship.co/ that helps Thai sellers get their goods to the US. I explained that to ebay and showed them my invoice.

c. eBay wanted to know where I myself got those goods (they asked for my purchase invoices) so I explained to them how I got those goods to me.

d. IF you are selling through Amazon FBA or Walmart's WFS you have to place an FNSKU label or GTIN barcode on every item, otherwise they don't accept them into their warehouse or they charge extra fees. When I buy goods in bulk, either I pay somebody to put the label on the items or I do it myself. That business isn't related to my problems with eBay, I'm just explaining why having a full service 3PL is not only a good move but prerequisite if you do business in many parts of the world.

----------
You should be grateful someone is reading all these complicated logistics just to ship some lousy Chinese stuff .
Do not waste your time trying to get your account back,start a new one.

[rsot]

agree with agent here - the posts are quite long dozen12x12 - many forum members may not be motivated to read and give insight...

[agent006140]

I always suggest instead of buying from China and pay shipping,why not go to your local wholesale districts and find the same items,you will be paying true wholesale price instead of buying from individual Chinese sellers on ALiexpress.
If EBAY wants to see a receipt,ask the wholesaler to give you one,with proper stationary showing his company name,address .

[dozen12x12]

Appreciate the thoughts. Was trying to be comprehensive as it feels like the account got whacked by Ebay on a technicality.

I go to the factory when I'm in China and buy goods at wholesale. After that I buy through their online wholesale platforms. I don't use Aliexpress. I don't dropship. I don't ship from Amazon->Ebay etc.

That's what I'm trying to explain here - but takes more than a sentence or two to explain the supply chain and how/why I can do this.

[murdered_by_ebay]

ebay do not care about supply chains , amazon may but ebay have bots working

humans are there to assure you that the bots always get it right by pretending there are no bots

[agent006140]

That's right - I buy a lot of stock from 1688 or Taobao with a Chinese bank account and send to my 3PL warehouse in Shenzhen. I used to have an office with full time staff working for me there but got rid of it during the pandemic.

From there, shipping to the customer directly is easy and the advantage of this is we can keep the stock level relatively low because resupply is so fast.
-----------
Shenzhen is in China,you are shipping from China and you are in Thailand,the bot caught you,you need to explain to a human customer service guy.
Ebay is not the only sales venue,you can always sell on other venues.

[dozen12x12]

Originally Posted by murdered_by_ebay

ebay do not care about supply chains , amazon may but ebay have bots working

humans are there to assure you that the bots always get it right by pretending there are no bots

Strange... the MC011 email says:

you’ll need to upload documentation showing that you purchased the item(s) recently listed on eBay. This can include a manufacturer's invoice or a receipt. You can upload your documents at the following link...

It seems like they DO care about supply chains. I also don't know if that is what triggered this as they did not see shipping from China anywhere in my customer tracking numbers.

It seems like we're all in the dark.

[agent006140]

Ebay does not like 'retail arbitrage'-taking Ebay buyer 's money and go to another RETAILER to buy the item and ask him to ship the item to your buyer.
You have to upload a supplier paid invoice to prove you do have the merchandise in stock.

[solefoodbk]

Originally Posted by dozen12x12

What do you guys recommend?

Ebay's algorithm flags you -> challenges you with an MC011 -> you promptly show them you are following their policies and your account is still immediately "permanently restricted from selling because of activity we (ebay) believe was putting the eBay community at risk",



This account is a year and a half old and was cut off at the knees down to these numbers after a few months because we exceeded the 90% limit for the SpeedPAK direct shipping mandate https://export.ebay.com/sea-en/polic...ipping-policy/.

What do you do? I think this account was probably toast at that stage and is unrecoverable. But still wonder if I should try and fight it through the other channels like calling or the Facebook Ebay team, hoping a human will review the case and notice that I'm working damn hard to please these customers. Or maybe better just move on.

There is hardly any history on the account, and based on your shipping practices mentioned, you should not be surprised this happened.

[dozen12x12]

Originally Posted by solefoodbk

There is hardly any history on the account, and based on your shipping practices mentioned, you should not be surprised this happened.

Why should I not be surprised? The account has followed the published rules.

If I knew of a broken rule, I don't think I'd need to visit a forum about eBay Stealth or suspensions