Lost majority of stealth accounts in one day

[yankee]

Originally Posted by miketyson

What's up with the user accounts being admins ?

admins share flash or something along those lines. It is essentially like using two browsers on the same user account. Eventually a strong shared fingerprint is formed.

[hazy]

Originally Posted by GhostOfAmazon

So you only called 3 times....I'm guessing once for each account?

If you REALLY want to get to the bottom of this, you're going to have to be a LOT more persistent with eBay. They are the only ones who know for sure why the accounts were suspended.

This was all for one account. Busy regrouping and trying to get a steady flow of sales back. Then I am going to revisit the accounts and put some more calls in.

[hazy]

Originally Posted by yankee

could be your proxie along with a couple other things such as the items or catagory.

I lost 13 accounts a few weeks ago. I called ebay more than 100 times over three days. Basically my accounts were altogether different but unique at the same time. Similar selling methods, different items on all accountsbut all outdoor sporting goods and many within a certain category. All used the same browser, all had a similar IPS, all had similar ship from locations. A couple of accounts had loose links via IP during a single day. All were created around the same time. All were created with the same procedure. All had similar shipping styles and pricing. All account had 100% positive feedback or zero feedback.

NOT all have even sold an item or had been listed on.

My point of all this is that NOTHING seemed to be a solid link at all BUT several loose links.

Now 100% of my accounts that were created differently and different times and also had the same loose ip link the same days are cranking along just fine. All the paypal accounts are fine.

I find when they tell you nothing at all they suspect FooFoo. Pricing too low on a BIN can do this.

Unless they manually check the tracking for shipments, wouldn't they not be alerted of similar ship from addresses?

What do you mean by "A couple of accounts had loose links via IP during a single day"

In terms of pricing too low for BIN, the majority of my sales are auctions.

I sell in an overly saturated, highly competitive category. Almost all sellers use the same shipping method and similar pricing as there is not much room to adjust margins.

Originally Posted by yankee

admins share flash or something along those lines. It is essentially like using two browsers on the same user account. Eventually a strong shared fingerprint is formed.

Can you elaborate on that? Are you saying admins share flash amongst other admin accounts?

[GhostOfAmazon]

Originally Posted by hazy

Unless they manually check the tracking for shipments, wouldn't they not be alerted of similar ship from addresses?

When enough "loose links" are formed, bots trigger a manual review, then they can see the similar ship from address. Likely the nail in your coffin.

Can you elaborate on that? Are you saying admins share flash amongst other admin accounts?

Flash cookies are shared but only by ADMIN accounts. Bottom line: Make your accounts "Standard", "Guest" or equivalent (name depends on your OS)

[yankee]

Originally Posted by GhostOfAmazon

When enough "loose links" are formed, bots trigger a manual review, then they can see the similar ship from address. Likely the nail in your coffin.




Flash cookies are shared but only by ADMIN accounts. Bottom line: Make your accounts "Standard", "Guest" or equivalent (name depends on your OS)

Spot on.

Ship from zip codes was mentioned several times plus account creation technique and approximate time the accounts were created(last fall)

Manual review could have happened from a bad/removed VBA or bad telephone number. Ebay does test this especially when money is pouring through.

[hazy]

Originally Posted by GhostOfAmazon

When enough "loose links" are formed, bots trigger a manual review, then they can see the similar ship from address. Likely the nail in your coffin.




Flash cookies are shared but only by ADMIN accounts. Bottom line: Make your accounts "Standard", "Guest" or equivalent (name depends on your OS)

Thanks Ghost, I see I need to change a few things. I always thought the accounts were to be ADMIN accts. I am assuming this was another soft link which got me.

Now, my accounts that are still standing, should I delete and create new users that are standard? If so, should I transfer over cookie and cache data?

[yankee]

Originally Posted by hazy

Thanks Ghost, I see I need to change a few things. I always thought the accounts were to be ADMIN accts. I am assuming this was another soft link which got me.

Now, my accounts that are still standing, should I delete and create new users that are standard? If so, should I transfer over cookie and cache data?

I absolutely would get rid of all admin accounts. Cookies are more critical to paypal but can be created quickly after some daily browsing.

I may be incorrect about this so do a little research but I personally would feel safer creating new cookies knowing that they are not linked compared to possibly transferring the link to new accounts by importing cookies.

Does your proxie possibly leak like a VPN?

[hazy]

Originally Posted by yankee

I absolutely would get rid of all admin accounts. Cookies are more critical to paypal but can be created quickly after some daily browsing.

I may be incorrect about this so do a little research but I personally would feel safer creating new cookies knowing that they are not linked compared to possibly transferring the link to new accounts by importing cookies.

Does your proxie possibly leak like a VPN?

I agree, will do!

I asked my provider who is always open and honest and he said there should never be an issue like a dns like or such.

[GhostOfAmazon]

Originally Posted by hazy

Thanks Ghost, I see I need to change a few things. I always thought the accounts were to be ADMIN accts. I am assuming this was another soft link which got me.

Now, my accounts that are still standing, should I delete and create new users that are standard? If so, should I transfer over cookie and cache data?

Hmmm....I'm not 100% sure, but I would say transferring only BROWSER cookies SHOULD be ok, since these are not shared, but FLASH cookies are. You can delete flash cookies, (even if transferred) separately.

My THEORY is that if your accounts all started over with clean cookies, around the same time, etc etc it would further "soft link" your survivors.

This is all just theory.

[hazy]

Originally Posted by GhostOfAmazon

Hmmm....I'm not 100% sure, but I would say transferring only BROWSER cookies SHOULD be ok, since these are not shared, but FLASH cookies are. You can delete flash cookies, (even if transferred) separately.

My THEORY is that if your accounts all started over with clean cookies, around the same time, etc etc it would further "soft link" your survivors.

This is all just theory.

I figured the same, I was only going to test out a couple...but I have come to realize all my PC accounts are Standard users. The ones I accessed on the Mac, which were suspended, were ALL ADMIN! So back to my theory that it had something to do with using a Mac, maybe it did, maybe it was Flash cookies that killed my accounts.

[GhostOfAmazon]

Originally Posted by hazy

I figured the same, I was only going to test out a couple...but I have come to realize all my PC accounts are Standard users. The ones I accessed on the Mac, which were suspended, were ALL ADMIN! So back to my theory that it had something to do with using a Mac, maybe it did, maybe it was Flash cookies that killed my accounts.

Nope, I think we found the culprit. I'm 99% sure that it has NOTHING to do with the "type" of computer (PC or MAC) you used, or using separate computers, etc....it all boils down to the flash cookies being shared. This forms a STRONG link between all the accounts, and that, with the other similarities, and the different names, addresses, etc, tipped eBay off. They knew ONE person was in charge of all these different accounts, in different ID's, etc, and their security team looked at it and said: "This isn't right...this person is up to no good." Boom----suspended.

[hazy]

Originally Posted by GhostOfAmazon

Nope, I think we found the culprit. I'm 99% sure that it has NOTHING to do with the "type" of computer (PC or MAC) you used, or using separate computers, etc....it all boils down to the flash cookies being shared. This forms a STRONG link between all the accounts, and that, with the other similarities, and the different names, addresses, etc, tipped eBay off. They knew ONE person was in charge of all these different accounts, in different ID's, etc, and their security team looked at it and said: "This isn't right...this person is up to no good." Boom----suspended.

Well I didn't mean the mac computer itself. I had not previously noticed that the accounts on the mac were all admin and the ones on the pc were all standard. At the time I was aware the only difference with the suspended accounts and non suspended was the fact they were accessed on the mac. Thanks to all of the help from you guys I now know it was 99% due to all users on the mac being admin.

I seriously would LOVEEE to have access to their data and what they see when they review accounts... I cannot even imagine...

[dealagreeproceed]

can any1 else confirm the whole admin flash cookies dilemma as never heard of this before...

[SimpleX]

Would there still be an issue with sharing flash cookies with admins, even if your made adjustments in the 'Global Settings Panel' for each user account?

[GhostOfAmazon]

Originally Posted by SimpleX

Would there still be an issue with sharing flash cookies with admins, even if your made adjustments in the 'Global Settings Panel' for each user account?

I don't know....why does it matter? Just keep things simple and use Standard accounts. We KNOW this works, and if you need to install or change something, you can type in your password and add it.

[dealagreeproceed]

QUOTE=GhostOfAmazon;696194]I don't know....why does it matter? Just keep things simple and use Standard accounts. We KNOW this works, and if you need to install or change something, you can type in your password and add it.[/QUOTE]

hmmm time to go back n change everything to standard. this might take a while...

[hazy]

Originally Posted by dealagreeproceed

QUOTE=GhostOfAmazon;696194]I don't know....why does it matter? Just keep things simple and use Standard accounts. We KNOW this works, and if you need to install or change something, you can type in your password and add it.

hmmm time to go back n change everything to standard. this might take a while... [/QUOTE]

Upgrade to Windows 10... User accounts are created and setup wayyyy quicker.

[GhostOfAmazon]

Originally Posted by hazy

Upgrade to Windows 10... User accounts are created and setup wayyyy quicker.

Ugh, after Windows 8, I'm sticking with Windows 7 until they pry the OS out of my cold, dead hands.

[hazy]

Originally Posted by GhostOfAmazon

Ugh, after Windows 8, I'm sticking with Windows 7 until they pry the OS out of my cold, dead hands.

Lmao... 10 isnt that bad, def better than 8

[GhostOfAmazon]

Originally Posted by hazy

Lmao... 10 isnt that bad, def better than 8

Yeah, but I learned a long time ago that there is no such thing as "free".

[aniseed]

Just reading through here and this is the first I'd heard of using standard accounts. Is this like a childs account on PC?

Should be a list of all this stuff!

[yankee]

Originally Posted by aniseed

Just reading through here and this is the first I'd heard of using standard accounts. Is this like a childs account on PC?

Should be a list of all this stuff!

Regular user accounts NOT admin accounts. Just don't make every user an admin.