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Please help. Im near suicidal
 

I have been selling on and off on Ebay for the last 6 years and decided 3 months ago to take to selling on Ebay as my main job. So I resigned from my full time job and devoted my time to selling on Ebay full time. I rented a 3,000sqft premises and hired 2 staff to help with my Ebay operations. All was going well until my Paypal account was suspended. I have had to take all my listings off my Ebay sites and close my shops.

My account was put on hold and I received an email on the 4th of October 2010 asking for documents because quote “Our system found unusual activity associated with your PayPal and eBay accounts that present a potential high risk”. I submitted all documentations that Paypal requested and on the 21st of October 2010 I received an email stating that I would no longer be allowed to use the services of Paypal. The reason given in the email from Paypal was quote “we reviewed your account and determined that the activity associated to your eBay or PayPal accounts poses an inherent risk to the overall security of our network.” I cannot understand how I can be a risk as my Paypal and Ebay accounts are all in good standing order. I have a near 99.9% rating with Ebay and have been buying and selling on Ebay for nearly 6 years. I made sure that all goods are dispatched within 24 hours of an order being placed.
I take selling on Ebay very seriously because Ebay is the source of my livelihood.

I now have £5000 stuck with Paypal who say they will hold on to this money for 180 days and I am no longer welcome to use their services.
I just don’t know what to do. I cant sleep at night worrying about how I am going to pay my mortgage and support my family.
Can anyone please help me as to how I can have my Paypal account reinstated?
Thanks in advance
Andy

Hi!

I feel for your but:

1. Why on earth would you resign from your full time job during the current recession?

2. Paypal is a corporate. NOT HUMAN---they do NOT care...

3. Good luck...

:attention:

probs should read the ebay stealth guide

PayPal has decided that you represent a risk to them, for whatever reason. Once these decisions are made, they are almost never reversed.

eBay/PayPal does not care about your mortgage, your pantry or your well being.

The best thing you can do is to go stealth. Set up several accounts and spread out your risk. That way, if you lose an account, it is not 100% of your business.

Also, you need to try to figure out WHY they decided you were a risk. That is not easy because they will NEVER tell you exactly why.

What types of items were you selling?

buy the stealth book and set up stealth accounts, i'd let your staff go as well, no point keeping them while you go stealth.

Tough luck man, it's happened to most of us, although maybe not all were in such dire situations as you are. Sadly, there is nothing you can do to get that account back. It's been said like a broken record, but stealth is one of your only options now as well as about a few months worth of research. Really though finding this forum could very well likely be the golden, cure-all, magic potion you're looking for, it was for me.

firstly your paypal will not be reinstated, if you state you cannot use the services of paypal, it happens alot due to volume. Set up a few new accounts using stealth but I do not suggest you support your family with ebay, I do not believe it is possible, due to the uncertainties you mention, it is a supplimental income in my opinion.

Your mistake was that you thought paypal and ebay were like any other employer, NO WAY, they are not they do not play by normal rules they play by their t & C and use their own discretions.

If you rented premised and hired people without doing research online, you were seriously deluded. Any google search will show you the multitude of problems sellers have, that is not normal business by anyones standards. You chose to ignore they information out there.

Paypal
 

Hi all and thanks for all your responses.
Jeff Weico I was selling items like toys, gifts and gadgets. I took special care into making sure that I did not list anything that was againt the rules because I did not want my account suspended.

I had 3 Ebay accounts all in good standing and now its all over. I even called Ebay and they too where suprised that Paypal had suspended me. Now I have £800 of Ebay fees that I was counting on paying via my Paypal funds.
I sent Paypal a email stating that I wold even be willing to travel to their offices where ever they might be and clear this matter up but I am getting no response what so ever.

I think the only option I have left is to try to get the media involved.

oompaloompa - Why fix something when its not broken
Ive been using Paypal for nearly 6 years without any problems. I know neary a dozen people who are making a handsome living of Ebay and never in a million years did I think this would happen. I am sure that 99% of Paypal customers do not even know what a bully Paypal is. But they will do when like me "the Sh*t hits the fan"

Welcome to the mess that is ebay/paypal hurting sellers.

Are the accounts in your real name? This is not an account you got from someone is it?
Were ebay/paypal accounts in good standing b4 you got limited?

When you took this leap to doing ebay fulltime, did you research the dangers ?

Emails will not work: they get ignored.

I would not sweat about mortgages and stuff as you can always talk to them and as for other payments ask your bank for overdrafts to be added to your accounts while you set up new selling accounts using the stealth book.

As to why you were kicked?

You say you were selling on and off ebay, were you using the same paypal account?
If so did you get many clawbacks or return requests that went through paypal for your sales on or off ebay? as with you being in the UK both your on and off sales will count as strikes on your ebay account.

What I mean by on/off is that I would sell items mostly when I would get time off work or on the weekends. I hardley received any return request and if I did I would issue a refund straight away or have another item dispatched.
The ebay accounts are in my name. I just cant understand why this has happened.
Im going to give them 48 hours to respond. If not Im gonna make as much noise as possible. I will contact the media, trading standards, European courts, Financial Services Athourity, Office of Fair Trading and anyone else who will listen. Im not gonna let 6 months of my life go down the drain and restart over. I will fight this.
Does any one else have any ideas as to who I can get in touch with
Thansk

If you were making a living of it it would be good to set up an ecommerce website, throw in a leaflet with every ebay sale directing people to your website. You could offer the incentive of lower prices, as you could pass on a percentage of the ebay fees as savings and direct people to your website, and generate sales through your own website. I know a number of people that see ebay as nothing more than a advert for their own website.
If you set up your own website now, which if you already had the stock wouldnt need any more than £20, then set up stealth accounts, send a leaflet through with every ebay sale you made on stealth account, you can generate as much income from your own site, along with a decent merchant account wouldnt need the hassle of the ebay/paypal twattishness!

Sorry to hear about your situation.

If you already have the infrastructure set up (employees, offices, etc), maybe you could look at moving your business over to Amazon or PlayTrade or Priceminister. Pickings might be a bit slim at first, but it looks like some sellers do pretty well from it.

Andykhan,

Hey, your message subject is scary, man. Do not even think about suicide. Nothing is worthy losing your life over it.

I understand it sucks. We all do here. But try to take a break for now. Go for a short vacation say 10 days if possible. A long hike helps too.

Some folks here are trying to convince you that Paypal may not revoke their decision.
Once it's done, that's it. It is really true.

Just don't worry about this 24x7. otherwise, you will really risk your health.

Go stealth if you want to go back to Paypal. It works.

Good luck!

I appreciate your frustrations to be certain. But that is just a full on waste of time and will only serve to make you feel more frustrated.

Bottom line, right or wrong, they have the right to do business with whoever they choose. Sorry, its not a right. So forget all that nonsense. Dont waste any time or resources on futile attempts that will go no where

You CAN bounce back pretty fast. Focus on that. Understand that paypal is dead, gone, never coming back...

Get a merchant account now. Right now and try use that on ebay. Sales will drop with no paypal so also get a gateway that has paypal as an option like ccnow. These are just short term, but will help keep the ball rolling a little

And in the mean time learn stealth and get multiple accounts going.

You can bounce back. But dont waste valuable time on fighting PayPal. Cant win

Pod is right, as usual. Involving the media cannot help you. There are literally THOUSANDS of sellers who had full time eBay businesses that lose them due to PayPal or eBay's ridiculous rules.

Suicide is NOT an option! It is a permanent solution to a temporary problem.

It sounds like you were selling totally legitimate merchandise, so no worries there.

Have you tried selling on Amazon within the last couple of years? You can do well there with many things.

Again, go stealth. Put your energies into getting back in the game ASAP. THAT is what is going to help you financially. PayPal is facing lawsuits here in the US over their holds, but I don't see them going anywhere.

Stealth accounts + Amazon + a website + any other sales venues you can think of will get you back on top. Waging a war against PayPal is a waste of time and pointless.

Unles you REALLY NEED the office space, get rid of it. It is critical that you run a lean operation, even when things are going well. If a rough patch comes up, you will be in a much better position to deal with it.

The good news is that you WILL get your PayPal money after 180 days.

Open a few stealth accounts ASAP. You hasve to start slowly on each account, but there is no reason you cannot get back to making sales in the next week or so. Not back to where you WERE, but it is a start.

In the long run, this could be a blessing in disguise. If you take the lessons learned and spread out your risk, you will have a MUCH STRONGER operation in the future. And losing an account here and there will be a minor inconvenience, not a major catastrophe.

We have all been there to one degreee or another. As Oompa pointed out, some of us were making $5k per month and for others, it was just a little extra cash. But losing it hurts.

If your paypal account is no longer usable, how about signing up for a Merchant account, or Propay (Must be a Power Seller), Propay even supplies sellers with propay debit cards just like paypal does, and you can get your money faster by just going to a ATM Machine. If you're not a powerseller you can sign up for PAYMATE (takes about 3-5 business days to be disbursed to your bank account)

no ninja, UK ebay needs a matching paypal to sell.

Now, it may be that Ive hung around ths forum too long and only see the bad side of paypal business, but I still think that putting all your eggs in one basket is not good. As for making a fuss, forget it, really. Let me tell you about a similar story, a Uk forumer a year back, sent me a pm for help in a complete panic, similar situation to you, it seems volume was the issue, I didnt believe them, I said no not possible, why would paypal turn down a legit business? well they trusted me enough to give me all the log in details of paypal /ebay and the email, I logged in from the library, and checked it all out, all true, 99% dsrs, happy customers, good feedback, legit supplies from UK supplier (this was domestic appliances). Got same email and treatment as you, they complained to everyone they could, made no difference, got standard letters back. FOS, fair trading etc, no good because the T & C leave it up to paypals discretion, this forumer went stealth and made a few different accounts, although last time I heard they did have some issues, somehow there must be an issue with their products for some reason, its kind of a mystery, as though they only have favoured powersellers and they dont want other sellers, dont know.

These other people you mention that make a living from ebay, well you do not know the ins and outs of their supplier/goods or whether they have had problems or not?

Can you, from reading the forums work out any other issues other than sheer volume that could be an issue with your goods, branding, suppliers youve submitted?

As far as the money stuck in paypal, I do have one suggestion - small claims, a UK forumer, bode, said they did this and got money released from paypal, look up bodes posts, small claims has also worked in the US. Your registration details must of course be yours to do this.

Hi
Sorry to hear about this problem, we all been there and felt like crap...ebay and paypal is noway to be trusted. They did wreck up my life until i became stealth, now i have never looked back, if one account goes down i bounce back with other accounts.
So many good people are on this forum, we are like one big family so please read this forum and get ideas.
Good luck

Thanks all. You lot have all helped me pull me head out the oven. (Even though its an electric oven) I have thought about it and I am definetly going stealth. im going to move to another premises and start over. The problem is the only option I have left now to make a living is Ebay so I will have to work more cleverer and not harder.
Thanks guys for all your help
........and to Paypal - What goes around comes around.

Andy - don't worry. It will happen!

eBay is failing miserably in their drive to become Amazon.com v2.0. One day eBay will have a CEO who recognizes what eBay's TRUE PURPOSE is, and he will try to rebuild it into what it once was.

But it will be too late.

And that is a real shame, because back in the day eBay was THE place to be! It was SOOO different back then... but, well, you know the story...

u say u were suicidal,when my ebay buisness went down about 2 months back i sat there cryed and even had a stanley knife in my hand ready to do my wrists thats not nice at the age of 24 believe mecouldnt sleep,cant stop biting my nails,thanks to a few people on here im starting to pick my life back up/stealth accounts starting to bring money in so i dont have to stuggle in life or survive on crappy wages at rubbish jobs,its a hard old life (DO OR DIE) i just want to live a happy life ive had 24 years of pain so far and i cant do another year so im starting proply (website being made up etc) keep ur chin up mate ur be back to where you were in no time

:focus:

Andy

So if you did not have a lot of those returns then it looks like Ompas choice of you just happened to increase your sales too fast, possibly upsetting some of their regulars.

Look at some of the alternatives while you are taking time to read the stealth book and this website.
As others have said do not let ebay hold your livelihood in their hands. Use ebay as an advertising tool for your off ebay sales.
If you have the type of product that has a lot of return customers, then send out emails to them letting them know where you are while you are setting up your stealth accounts.
You will not make as much money but it will take the sting off while you are building back up and pay a few debts.

Do not use the same paypal on ebay as you use on your alternative. Set up a new one for the purpose.

You just happened to pick the wrong time to start a business on ebay, as they are not what they used to be.

But good luck

That is exactly right. Most people who have never had a problem see horror stories about eBay/PayPal and think we must all be a bunch of crooks, liars and counterfeiters. But that is not the case. Most of us are honest sellers who sold legitimate and legal merchandise and got shut down for violating some silly rule. Or for triggering something in PayPal's risk model.

Believe me, it doesn't take much. There are new posts here almost every day by people who have been banned, and they have no idea why. Thousands of positive feedbacks, no complaints, legitimate merchandise, decent DSR's, etc. and yet they lost their accounts. They just cannot believe they operate this way. Then they start reading this forum and others and start to see the light.

But I totally understand where you are coming from. All is well, so it does not even cross your mind that this may happen to you. That is why it is such a rude wakep call.

Amen, I mean really...just get the book FREE THROUGH TRIAL PAY EVEN!!! And read it through about 2.5 hours of work. And THEN worry about getting your accounts back.

You can do it in about 1-2 days if you are REALLY DILIGENT!

Got that "potential high risk" from paypal about 8 years ago when I started selling. I was a buyer only for a little, then saw how used items were going for damn near new prices and decided to get rid of a ton of stuff around the house I didnt use and probably would have sold for .50 at a yard sale. Well in my first week of selling EVER I made over $800 from nothing. Got that email, but all I had to do was ship with delivery confirmation and wait for it to show delivered etc........Paypal is a never ending battle, so just move on. I NEVER put all my eggs in one basket.......relying on ebay/paypal is like relying on Direct TV to work in the rain (sorry its raining and my damn direct tv is out,lol!) Clever idea I have seen ebay sellers do is get your own website....in your ebay listings under "enter in your location" type in whateverdotcom, UK or whatever and get a merchant account and your own website and push product that way. Send in your end of listing emails diretly to the buyers email to check out your website, offer discounted shipping or whatever if they purchase from your website. I cant tell you how many times I have personally purchased from ebay sellers websites just from looking at that section where it says whatever,US on their listings. Good Luck and remember, never count on any one thing to bring you income ESPECIALLY if it is paypal related.

@andykhan, you have received a lot of sound advice so I won't really contribute much more that is original.

All I say is that all the best and I hope that you will be on the forum, informing yourself by reading through the posts, getting the stealth guide, and contribute your own knowledge of ebay/paypal. 6 years worth of knowledge is always welcomed. With some time, you will be up there again. Patience and positive thinking; dedication and "shrewdness".