Burnt badly, almost lost hope...

[randomebayer]

So I have been stealth for over a year now.

Got my account to a point where i could list 7500 items a month and £45,000.

Then Paypal suddenly put my account on hold and requested for more info.

I gave them everything they asked for, but eventually they said I violated the terms and conditions as I have another Paypal account which is blocked.

To be honest, I was very surprised the account got this far, I had a number of times by mistake used my home wifi to log into this stealth account. The home wifi being linked to my previous suspended eBay account.

Problem is I made the mistake of putting all my eggs in one basket, had no back up eBay accounts running, well I had a few accounts with 0 selling activity and 10 listing allowance. Now I know people say you should always spread it around several eBay accounts, I had always disliked that, your main account is your best account, you have top rated seller, your listings appear higher, you get more sales etc.... Hence why I have always avoided selling on other accounts.

I put it off for 3 months and just now have got the ball rolling again, have 2 accounts running at 25 listings per month.

Man its a big downer when this happens.

Have to really learn my lesson, I have lost out on too much income in these last 3 months, and have a fair bit of stock sitting around.

Lesson to anyone else who is going the way I have been: Work on your back up accounts and do not rely on one account!

[GreenBean]

Yikes....Sorry to hear your sad news.

When you regroup, try to not repeat the same errors.

I've included these two files to help you.

http://www.aspkin.com/forums/multipl...cel-sheet.html

AND

http://www.aspkin.com/forums/multipl...-stealths.html

Keep in mind to train yourself to be careful and not get hurt like this.

Feel free to pm me if you have questions

[jeffweico]

I had a similar story. Back in 1998, I was selling small items on eBay and was making about $700 per week. This was in addition to my full-time job. That was not a fortune or anything, but I *DID* have almost $70k saved up. I wasn't entirely sure what the goal was, but I knew that when you have money, you have options. So, I was just kind of plugging away, saving my money and living what life I could while working so many hours.

Then, eBay decided to ban my product. One day I looked at my email and I had almost no sales. Then I saw an email from eBay telling me they removed my listing as my product was now banned. I was DEVASTATED! I could not process how ONE company could cause me to lose over HALF of my income. I remember thanking God that eBay was not my ONLY income. Around that time, I received a very lucrative job offer and I took it. I forgot about eBay for a long time.

10 years later, my time with that company was ending, and I wasn't sure of what to do. I wanted to try it with eBay again but I didn't like the idea that they could end my income at any time for any reason. I found stealth and the light bulbs in my head were popping! I would have several products in several categories over several accounts. I decided on 10 accounts, figuring the biggest hit I could suffer was 10% of my business and I could recover from that fairly easily.

I now have more than 10 accounts and have learned to play the game quite well. Each account represents less than 5% of my business (on average) and I am UBER-CAUTIOUS when it comes to my accounts. I NEVER cut corners when it comes to stealth and I go WAY BEYOND what the forum generally recommends. I use a separate PC and internet connection for each stealth identity. I use a phone forwarding company whose lines show up as land lines. I use email accounts from ISP's rather than gmail. I NEVER log onto one of my stealth accounts EXCEPT from the PC the account itself is on. Ditto when reading email, etc. My method costs more, but I sleep well at night knowing I'm RELATIVELY safe. I say RELATIVELY because there is NO SUCH THING as a guarantee when dealing with eBay/PayPal/Amazon.

Back in 1998, I was responsible for myself and I helped to support my Dad. That was it. Now, I am responsible for a lot more people, so I HAVE TO take precautions and make my business as stable as possible. I haven't gotten rich, but I make a nice living and my household is comfortable. The recession could have been MUCH WORSE for me if not for stealth. I know many people who are just barely making ends meet, PRAYING their car does not break down or that they don't have any other unforeseen expenses. It is ROUGH out there these days! So I am very grateful for stealth.

My point is, stealth can help you, not only with getting back onto eBay and Amazon, but it is also a GREAT risk management tool. Follow the stealth methods and you should be fine. Cut corners, and suffer the consequences. I have had people tell me that it is IMPOSSIBLE for eBay/PayPal to link by IP address, so it does not matter and not to worry about it. BULL****! The OP's story PROVES otherwise. You may not get linked right away, but you WILL get linked eventually. So, don't be cheap and lazy. Follow the rules, follow the rules, EVERYONE follow the rules!!!

[glacier922]

Randomebayer, was your last PayPal limited?

[randomebayer]

Originally Posted by Greenie

I've included these two files to help you.

Thanks

Originally Posted by glacier922

Randomebayer, was your last PayPal limited?

Yes my genuine eBay account was suspended and Paypal account was limited.

Happened way back in 2006 when I was a teenager selling items I should not have been.

[Leng]

Do you have any record of the kind of increases you were getting to get those limits?

It must be hard to mentally recover from a blow like that.

The good news is that you know what it takes to successfully run an account with higher limits. You know how to get there. You can plan ahead knowing exactly what you need to do to get back where you belong.

[Dmshark25]

The best way is to always be making accounts, better to have too many than not enough

You never know 100% for sure if and when eBay will drop the axe, so be prepared.

It took me a year to make and operate the accounts that I wanted, now I set a goal to make 5 accounts every month, and I always keep them active

That way I'll always have aged accounts ready to sell on, the worst is having a steady nice income flowing and than have it curt off all at once and having to wait 3 months or so to get accounts aged and ready to sell on with no paypal holds and high limits

[randomebayer]

Originally Posted by Leng

Do you have any record of the kind of increases you were getting to get those limits?

My way to get the increases is not really advisable by the stealth pro's.

I would click on the request higher limit link on eBay and then that would advise me to give them a call to discuss, so I would go ahead and do this. The items I was selling were very low risk items so I decided I would take this approach, and as it worked I continued using this method.

I must have done this around 7 or 8 times between October 2012 and December 2013.

I only requested the limit increases if I was maxing out my limit currently, so when I would discuss with them it was clear I needed higher limits.

[GreenBean]

Originally Posted by randomebayer

I only requested the limit increases if I was maxing out my limit currently, so when I would discuss with them it was clear I needed higher limits.

Problem with calling in is the staffer you are talking to have too much info at hand. Old banned accounts might turn up if stealth was not followed.

There is always the chance of one staffer picking up info best left undetected.

Hence we suggest to avoid calling in.

[randomebayer]

I agree with what your saying, i guess I was just impatient and did not value the account much at the beginning as it was only a few months in so I felt like I did not have much to lose, but because it worked I kept going with it.

As I am now going to be running several stealth accounts, I will perhaps gamble on one or two and let the rest grow naturally

[cnhut]

Wish you best of luck with new accounts Buddy, I've been there so I know how it feels, grow your baby stealth's, then you'll not care less, you simply move-on

Originally Posted by randomebayer

So I have been stealth for over a year now.

Got my account to a point where i could list 7500 items a month and £45,000.

Then Paypal suddenly put my account on hold and requested for more info.

I gave them everything they asked for, but eventually they said I violated the terms and conditions as I have another Paypal account which is blocked.

To be honest, I was very surprised the account got this far, I had a number of times by mistake used my home wifi to log into this stealth account. The home wifi being linked to my previous suspended eBay account.

Problem is I made the mistake of putting all my eggs in one basket, had no back up eBay accounts running, well I had a few accounts with 0 selling activity and 10 listing allowance. Now I know people say you should always spread it around several eBay accounts, I had always disliked that, your main account is your best account, you have top rated seller, your listings appear higher, you get more sales etc.... Hence why I have always avoided selling on other accounts.

I put it off for 3 months and just now have got the ball rolling again, have 2 accounts running at 25 listings per month.

Man its a big downer when this happens.

Have to really learn my lesson, I have lost out on too much income in these last 3 months, and have a fair bit of stock sitting around.

Lesson to anyone else who is going the way I have been: Work on your back up accounts and do not rely on one account!