Anyone else had their selling account restricted?

[Anonymous]

I woke up to an email from eBay saying I could no longer list items in the clothing, shoes and accessory section. I'm not sure why. I'm really only an occasional seller and haven't had much luck selling the couple of BNIN shoes I've had in 2014 due to the fact that a large amount of people have been buying/bidding on items and not paying. 
I'm so confused as to why this would happen, my account is in good standing and I have only ever once had an item removed for the excuse that it was fake, and when I contacted eBay and offered to prove the item was genuine with a receipt no one ever answered, I ended up re-listing the item and it sold to a happy buyer who left glowing feedback. 


"After review and careful consideration, we've taken the following action on your eBay account: 


-       Indefinitely restricted your account from listing in the Clothing, Shoes and Accessories category. You won't be able to list items in this category any longer"

 and a little down in the email:

"We felt it was necessary to take this action to keep eBay safe (haha!).However, you can still list and sell items in other categories.



When we review an account for category restriction, we consider many things, including: 


- How much history the seller has selling in this category - this seems silly are they trying to say that eBay is only for experienced sellers now?

- Positive selling Feedback the seller has received for sales in this category  - I have no negative feedback. MY DRS are not 100% (or 5 out of 5 – whose are?) but using postage as an example - I find it a cop out to accept a sellers postage costs when buying or bidding and then giving the buyer the opportunity to decide if they postage cost was fair!


- Any Feedback that questions the authenticity of the items - don't have any of that?


- Unresolved disputes with buyers for these items - I have only one dispute and this was opened but won becuase I had proof the item was recieved. I have had a fair amount of unpaid item disputes opened against buyers - none against me as a buyer though.


- Whether the seller has followed eBay policies in the past. Yes, except for that isolated incident I talked about previously and that was last year and I was following the policies, they just decided that I wasn’t for themselves wihtout aksing me for proof that the item was authentic befor they pulled it.


- Previous account suspensions - not that I have been aware or notified of.

- The current status of the seller's account - in good standing, unless again there is something they are not telling me.


- Any supplier information that can't be verified" - don't use one.



I'm so confused about this. Could I really be restricted because OF DSR? I do not sell all the time, but it sucks that I can no longer sell in the area that I really need to be able to sell in right now as I'm assuming this decision is for good.

Can someone take a look at my account and see if you notice anything? I'll be honest I'm not very swift, I can't/don't offer postage discounts and etc and I'm really only a recreational seller but I’ve only ever had one case opened agaisnt me (that I won!)  and that was early last year and I actually was planing on using eBay a bit more in the next few months! I also use Clickandsend which ensured I could offer the lowest postage. I have also refunded postage cost if I ever over quoted, as I'm honest and I’m sure if a lot more buyers had left feed back my rating would be higher.

Argh just baffled! Sorry for blabbing. This happen to anyone else? What did your email say?


[2106greencat]

It is if the shiller knows what they are doing

[*crikey*mate*]

could someone join the dots for me, please?

shill bidding?

[Anonymous]

Nett_nanny - I'd think not. 

When I asked about shill bidding I was told that if a buyer believes there was shill bidding, they can report the seller to eBay, eBay will investigate and if they see any of that sort of activity, the seller will get an email informing them of a suspension and if there was no wrong doings on the sellers end then they would never know a complaint was filed. They deffinetly have the tools to detect it and means to investate when people want to complain.

I know I have never shill bid anyway, so its not the issue (I just wrote the story to explain things) but I'am concerned that the fact he possibly complained may have flagged me. Still none of this makes sense though, why flag someone once and then restrict them almost 5 months later? There has to have been some sort of complaints coming inbetwen which is were I'm lost because I haven't been selling or listing that much, only around 8 things in total this year (still waiting for feedback from some), I'm literally just tyring to find anything that I may have done wrong but when I do find small isues they never connect with the reaosn eBay are givng me for my restriction and they refuse to provide proof of the wrong doings I'm aparently involved in, thats why I'm so confused. After some research of my own it seems they are targeting small, ocasional sellers for no reason as well. 

I'm just going to keep updating this thing as a diary and anyone who wishes to chip in can, but so far after a couple of calls - they are still handing out dry stale excuses which literally has no possible connection as to why I have been restrcited or saying I'm restrcited for reaosns that do not connect to my selling history - things about suppliers (DON'T HAVE ONE?) and the word "fraud" is used alot. *rolls eyes* they are getting desperate. If they want to turn eBay into a site that no longer wants small occasional sellers like me, then fine, say so I will take my good quality products else where :P, but don't hand out stupid excuses and refuse to provide proof or examples on where I have apparently been having issues involving activities that I have no engaged in (FRAUD) it all makes zero sense.

[Anonymous]

Its where a seller uses tactis to up the price of their auctions. I assume this is people who open new accounts to bid against others which causes the item to sell higher.  I was told eBay have servers that automatically detect when sellers do this, but members can also report a seller if they belive they have been doing it and eBay will investigae, if they seller is found to be doing this they recieve a suspension. 

[2106greencat]

---

@diamond-halo wrote:

could someone join the dots for me, please?

shill bidding?

---

S'ok crikey - netnanny said shill bidding should be obvious - I simply pointed out that if the 'shiller' knows what they are doing, the whole idea is NOT to be obvoius.

Kinda like the BM shoplifter - they don't put the items they want in a trolley and toddle out the door with it.

Some shillers have no idea - others - (the experienced ones) you have no idea.

[*crikey*mate*]

thanks for that greencat, was confused LOL (Again)

[2106greencat]

oh mate - join the club !!

I am president, treasurer, secretary, co-founder and  "all the members" !!

Without confusion we would be.................

well........ normal

and that has never been a word used to describe moi !

[Anonymous · Accepted solution]

UPDATE:

I can't belive this but...I asked ever so kindly to please find out the exact reason why I was restrcted and to please not give me any bulk-auto answers so the guy put me on hold, came back and informed me that the reason I have been restricted for good is not becuase of actual fraud (the guy said that was only one of the reasons I may have been restricted - not one of the exact reaosns why) but becuase I was aparently listing a heap of items all at once 'out of nowhere' and they consided that suspcious behaviour (what the hell! If they wanted me to slowly build up my listsings then why did they move my allowence form 30 a month to 90!) and had to stop me selling in the clothing, shoes and accessories department because they deemed me "unsafe" in these areas only (even though I had things like Apple Tv and GoPro Hero 3 listed as well) but didn't provide an explanation on exaclty why or what was so unsafe about my listings. I then explained kindly that the reason I had recently upped my listings was that I had more things I wanted to sell on eBay and that they were all one off items and asked if the rep cared to somehow look at my last listings (that they removed) to show him I was simply listing a lot of items that I wanted to get rid of and that I wasn't at all trying to do anything else besides just that and that there were no two same/bulk items but he apologised and simply insisted that the decision is final and once my account had been flagged (for "over-listing as I'm now calling it) it had been reviewed and a final decision made and put in place. I'd love to know who done the reviewing and what sort of bat **bleep** crazy they were to actually think that I was an unsafe seller. I was told I'm welcome to list in other areas (HA! but aren't I "unsafe"?) and can still continue to buy (of course) but that I can no longer, for the life of eBay, list in clothing, shoes and accessories ever again.

Well I'm for sure done now! As soon as I'm clear to close my account (I had a recent sale) then I will be doing so and taking my sales to my local yard sale market. Thanks for thoes who answered. I hope this post might of some help to other people who might be in this situation. 

[*crikey*mate*]

Maybe someone left the cap off the glue?

[bumps-bargains]

I have seen this happen to another member and although ebay were proven to be wrong in the claims they made about that member they would not reinstate the account out of spite, there was no other reason for the suspension. The person had done nothing wrong, a poster made an accusation and that poster did not have to prove anything and the person had more than enough proof that they were not guilty of the malicious claims.

Some (ie ebay) just cannot and will not accept that they have made a mistake. With so many members ebay can afford to lose a few and they don't give a hoot about what is right or just.