Ebay- A Law of their own!

[dunners2004]

Hi guys

I am a new member of the getting screwed by ebay club!

Basically i have been selling on ebay for about a year with no problems what-so-ever. I had over 150 feedback at 100% positive. Even my star ratings were 4.9's.

So i was sat there one evening reading my messages, clicked onto the next one and it flashes up "Your account has been suspended". I thought it was a mistake at first, but checked again. No definately a problem. So i immediately pick up the phone and called them.

I speak to someone who tells me that they have no power to do anything and i will need to contact the team by email. I was fuming at this point as i had done nothing wrong and couldn't work out what was happening. This was costing me money.

So i speak to the team on chat and they tell me that it was suspended as it was linked to another account that was suspended...my mothers account. I explained that this was nothing to do with me, and that i don't live with her. Their response was "We have linked the two accounts together and are confident that the decision is correct". Apparently they reserve the right to shut down family members accounts if they have been linked.

When i lived with my parents when i was younger i shared the same address and used my paypal account if i ever ordered an item off ebay. This is the only reason i can see why the accounts are linked. Its crazy though...how can they get away with doing this? my performance is PERFECT!

My mums account was suspended as she had sold some goods, encountered problems and had gone on holiday. About 3-4 weeks after returning from the holiday she received a notice saying she owed paypal money. She paid this off and tried to reinstate the account bt she says they are not willing to do this. She has rang them up and pleaded for them to reinstate my account but they will not budge.

Also since they have suspended my account i have now received all kinds of disputes from people worrying that they are going to lose their money. I have had 2 customers who live in USA (I live in UK) escalating cases 4 days after purchasing. Ebay simply refunded them in full, despite me having already shipped the items out. Am i going mad or are ebay allowed to do this? Surely i have done what i have been asked. I did not send the items tracked which was probably a mistake. But surely they have to wait a reasonable amount of time for the item to arrive? DO i have a case for appeal?

It seems they are doing all they can to mess me around and take me for all the money i have. They will also no longer refund any selling fees for unpaid items.

I feel like i have been treated like a criminal when i have done nothing wrong. I have been paying all my seller fees, been offering service above and beyond minimum standards, and never had a complaint. I am absolutely disgusted by their behaviour. Do you think if i went into the head office in the UK and asked to speak to the manager, i would get anywhere?

Do ebay just have a law of their own? If i was in front of the manager right now i would prob end up in jail! To be completely honest i would really like to leave ebay altogether now anyway. If they are going to do this to me now when im averaging 15 items a day, what could they do in the future when im turning over 200 items a day? The less people you rely on in business the better!

Talk about a company with too much power!

Any advice would be appreciated.

James

[jeffweico]

This is quite common. Before I got the boot, I always thought that only criminals and counterfeiters got booted by eBay. But once you do a Google search, you see this has happened to tens of thousands of people. Are all of them criminals? Of course not.

eBay, in an effort to root out fraud, closes accounts at even the slightest hint of a problem. If they shut out 10 innocent sellers to get the one fraudster, that is an acceptable loss to them. I'm sure that in some extreme cases eBay has even caused homelessness. Trust me, they could care less. You can call them, write to them, email them, or whatever - but they are never wrong (in their own minds, of course) and their decisions cannot be appealed.

eBay is a private company, so they can pretty much get away with it. Current management would prefer that there were no small sellers on their site anyway. John Donahoe, their CEO, actually said in public that eBay looked like a flea market and that he was embarrassed by it. Their position is that nobody has the RIGHT to use their site. And the law is on their side.

When eBay closes a seller account, they always email the buyers to let them know. And so begins the free-for-all. Basically, eBay holds you down and lets the buyers have their way with you. Almost ANY refund request will be honored by them regardless of whether the merchandise is returned or not.

Your PayPal account will probably be gone in the next few days as well. Trying to withdraw any money will expedite that process. Any money left in your PayPal account will be held for 180 days. You will then be able to withdraw any money still remaining in your account.

If, however, your PayPal balance goes NEGATIVE, they will attempt to take the money out of your bank account. YES, THEY CAN ACTUALLY DO THAT! If the bank account is closed and you owe them any money, they will send the account to a collection agency.

As far as eBay is concerned, you are banned for life. Oh, and by the way, they want you to pay any remaining eBay fees due IMMEDIATELY! Like TODAY!

And, if anyone is currently living with you and logging in from the same internet connection, their accounts also stand a good chance of going down too...

Get the stealth guide and get back on eBay. It shows you how to be anonymous, tells you how to keep your accounts and how to spread out your risk so that eBay cannot shut down 100% of your business in one hissy-fit.

[pod]

I hate when I see stories like this. Its all too common that people get blind sided when they have literally done nothing wrong. The guilt by association has to be one of the most absurd reasons they use to kill good sellers.

Originally Posted by jeffweico

If they shut out 10 innocent sellers to get the one fraudster, that is an acceptable loss to them.

And that's that.

Short term, you are screwed. So hopefully the damage isn't too hurtful. By learning and going stealth you can be back in the game in a fairly short time. But it will take some time. But believe it or not, you will be stronger in the long run. Get the Stealth Book and with this forum you have all the tools you need to change the game in your favor

When your situation happened to me I spent months and months trying to fight the injustice. Wasted. Then I spend almost a year sulking. Even more time wasted. Best thing you can do is try to shrug it off as best you can and try push forward. My biggest regret was wasting a year before I dove into stealth. I just couldn't fathom that they could do this when I was innocent. They can. And there is no fighting back. Not at all. That much I wish I knew before. The stress and frustration would have been nice to avoid. When your dead, your dead... Time to start fresh.

The system works very well

[dunners2004]

I have written a letter to the BBC. Watchdog are a programme that investigate cases where consumers have been treated badly and they get real results. They managed to get ebay to change their policies in the past for buyers so lets see if we can do the same for sellers! Lets hope they will do us all some justice from this monster of a company!

[dunners2004]

haha! 180 day paypal restriction how right were you! paypal are lying gits!

[imprezawrx]

sorry to hear about treatment by fleabay m8 but trust me, its the best thing that could happen to you. might not feel like it at the moment but when you learn stealth & create your 1st account others will follow. i too was suspended back in june not knowing anything about the tactics ebay & paypal use. i was gutted at the time but now i'm well pleased they did cos if they didn't i would only ever have 1 account. now i have over 12 & will make more next year. your earning power will increase ten fold m8, trust me, lick your wounds & go stealth. you will never look back!

[rsot]

Welcome to the forum. Sad to read about your story but a lot of us have been through that. The fact that this forum exists with so many members attests to the misery caused by eb ay and its bed-buddy pa ypa l.

As you read around here, you will pick up a lot - along with the info in the stealth guide. Already respected members have responded to your story so you are most welcomed.

[ginnyg]

as above i think people have been made homeless becuse of this!!!! i was!! i had a bricks and mortatr shop that my ebay sales supported, bring in people off the streets cuz they realized we was on ebay, ebay shut my account down and things went very down hill as i had a lot of wholesale accounts open on ebay that the shop could not substain thus ending up in losing my ebay account,my shop,my house and my sanity, i have now sold my house to pay ebay becuse thats the only way i could realse enough money to pay my wholesales and ebay and paypal my debts(now in rented) after 20 yrs of owning.

[ebaydontcare]

god ginny that's bad :O(~no joke,i understand how easily that can happen,was only selling small scale,but same story limited then paypal blocked 4 180days,to get money out,
it amazes me they can run paypal like that too,& don't get picked up,
paypal ask for sooo much info,so you verify,then next day,its fax over documents and suppliers info for 5 sales... if you buy off a wholesale site,then you never get real supplier tel numbers,so you have to get handy making up a proffesional invoice,but they've got every right not to accept that too,i did go stealth have 3 more accnts,but
still can't get over this paypal demanding all invoices,faxing documents,as seeing as my first accnt was shut down,had it ten years with paypal,for reason with no proof,jst standard automized 'oh we'll close you down' as you sell shoes high risk'
crap..even if all this is provided you'll still get limited the next day,in a few days,nxt week,by paypal THEY WILL LIMIT WHENEVER THEY WANT FOR NO GIVEN REASON
so i dont see point of providing &having buy f a k e id,at £40 a pop,why should i need to buy f a k e id not dont anything wrong,how can they ask for all this??
all BS*it,if you ask me,but you have find way getting on to survive,i set up merchant accnt,where can accept instant payments thro,but still get every person saying' why dont you accept paypal' & have give me reasons,it's also every's sellers choice to accept whatever they want.But just because ebay only pushes paypal,most buyers know nothing else so their like woah if im having pay thro sagepay,why?...and yet myself as i buyer if i want an item,i've paid sagepay instant pop up,select your card.takes all of 1min,easy as anything,but i seem to get all the idiots&non payers!!LOL but sad thing is you have go thro it,to pay the bills,no other site gets traffic like ebay,so you gotta be on it,try'd my own website and got no customers,if your on ebay someone will buy new item,if its top selling item,& say 8 ppl buy your items,get 2 non payers,better than nothing!
that's their Happy New Year/ from ebay&paypal LOL!!!