Anyone else had their selling account restricted?

Anonymous
Not applicable

 

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?


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Anyone else had their selling account restricted?

Are you referring to the seller who was dropshipping DVDs from Amazon (or some other large wholesaler) and they were supposed to be fakes?  I believe they were finally allowed to relist but it took a lot of fighting on the seller's part.

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Anyone else had their selling account restricted?

Anonymous
Not applicable

I had a member with over 1000 feedback inbox me saying that eBay removed their items becuase they belived they were non-authentic, the member went and send proof of purcahse for all the items and eBay responded with a suspension then when they again tried to show eBay the proof of purchase they upgraded the punishment to a full restriction for selling in all areas. Anywhere else these sorts of accounts would sound un-true, but this just seems to be normal for eBay. 


@bumps-bargains wrote:

 

With so many members ebay can afford to lose a few and they don't give a hoot about what is right or just.



Pretty much what I figured as well.

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Anyone else had their selling account restricted?

I had 5 listings removed a few days ago.

I had an ebay member complain that I had copied her personal on line store items and reported me to ebay after leaving some pretty threatening messages to me. When the listings were removed i was told it was because it was a duplication viloation. I had checked my store and there were no duplicated listings. I then complained to ebay and they said.

 

Thank you for contacting eBay in regard to your removed listing.

 I can verify that the removal was valid and done correctly.

 The listings has been compared and determined similar to other active listings as they bear the same attributes.

This guideline is to provide our buyers a clear array of choice when they search for the item they want and equal selling exposure for sellers- without one seller dominating the search list. While we understand that this may not be intentional on your end, we canceled the listing in keeping our site an equal trading place for all members.

 When you create your next Fixed Price listing, be reminded that the item offered must be significantly different from the item offered in any of your other listings.

 Sincerely,

 eBay Trust & Safety

 


I then argued back saying this was untrue and told them to look into it with quite a lengthy explaination.  I got this reply back below.

 

 

Thank you for contacting eBay about your removed listing. We apologize for the misunderstanding.
We are currently experiencing a system issue and your listings are still on the site and was not removed by eBay. Please disregard the email that you have received about your items. 
Let me assure you that we are currently trying to resovle the issue on the site right now. Please bear with us on this. We are really sorry for the mistake. There is nothing wrong with your listings, they are still good to go.
Thank you for your understanding and cooperation. 

 

Kind regards,

eBay Trust & Safety

 


I have written back again as the listings have been removed and I want them relisted free of charge. I am still waiting to hear back. So now even though they have admitted a mistake they are very slow to rectify it.

 

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Anyone else had their selling account restricted?

 

 

 


@broncraft wrote:

I had 5 listings removed a few days ago.

I had an ebay member complain that I had copied her personal on line store items and reported me to ebay after leaving some pretty threatening messages to me. When the listings were removed i was told it was because it was a duplication viloation. I had checked my store and there were no duplicated listings. I then complained to ebay and they said.

 


 


But did you copy the other sellers listing ?

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Anyone else had their selling account restricted?

NO I did not.

Message 35 of 43
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Anyone else had their selling account restricted?

Then why are both your descriptions nearly the same ?  Did she copy yours ?

Message 36 of 43
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Anyone else had their selling account restricted?

Then why are both your descriptions nearly the same ?  Did she copy yours ?

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The descriptions are similar as there is not many ways you can describe an item like this. If you search the internet there are hundres of stores that say very similiar things!! I don't know if she copied mine you would have to ask her. As far as i know she doesn't even have an ebay store or even sell here. 

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Anyone else had their selling account restricted?

I have had the same description on hundres of my listings over the last 3-4 years.

 

If another seller had the exact same piece of clothing wouldn't you both have similiar descriptions?

 

But the whole point to my post here was how ebay gave me a violation against duplicate listings (2 the same of my listing) , right after she threatened to report me for copy right and then said they had made a mistake and that there were issues with their site and the listings shouldn't have been removed.

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Anyone else had their selling account restricted?


@lyndal1838 wrote:

Are you referring to the seller who was dropshipping DVDs from Amazon (or some other large wholesaler) and they were supposed to be fakes?  I believe they were finally allowed to relist but it took a lot of fighting on the seller's part.


No Lyndal, this person has never been allowed back on as a seller and they now use one account for buying (ebay are aware of this) because ebay refused to sort out the mess they made in this case. Total stuff up by ebay that went on for many, many months and end result one good ebay member/seller will never be allowed back to sell here.

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Anyone else had their selling account restricted?


@broncraft wrote:

I have had the same description on hundres of my listings over the last 3-4 years.

 

If another seller had the exact same piece of clothing wouldn't you both have similiar descriptions?

 

But the whole point to my post here was how ebay gave me a violation against duplicate listings (2 the same of my listing) , right after she threatened to report me for copy right and then said they had made a mistake and that there were issues with their site and the listings shouldn't have been removed.


The descriptions in question were quite wordy, and nearly identical. 

 

On all my IDs - save book listings where I try to draw the description from a publishers blurb, most usually as is printed on the book itself  - my listing descriptions are generally not wordy at all, so no, "similar" listings descriptions are not an issue for me.

 

 

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