Anyone else had their eBay account suspended?

[JonRB]

My wife just logged onto her eBay account to find that it has been suspended for violating their linking policy or something.
Seems that eBay are suddenly coming down hard on people who put a link to their website on their auctions, despite the fact that everyone does it.

Apparantly she'll be suspended for 'no less than 30 days', will lose all her positve feedback (currently in the 2000's), all of her outstanding auctions have been terminated, and at the moment her account says she is 'not a registered user'.

She's spent years building up her eBay business and had suddenly had it blown away.

Has anyone else been similarly hit?

[Pies]

ebay link rules

ebay said:

4 Adding Links to Item Listings eBay allows sellers to place the following types of links in your item's description (see the Links Frequently Asked Questions for the definition of a link): One link to a page that further describes the item being sold in that listing One link to your email address that opens an email client for potential buyers to ask questions about the item in that listing Links to photos of the item for sale Links to your eBay (including your eBay Shop) Links to your About Me page (in addition to the About Me icon already provided by eBay) Links that provide credits to third parties One link to your listing terms and conditions (providing that the most relevant information is within the listing itself and that this page does not include any links off of eBay)

[JonRB]

Pies said:

ebay link rules

Yes, very helpful. And I suppose if every person caught speeding received an instant 30 day ban you'd just quote them the relevant section of the Highway Code / Road Traffic Act, would you?

In motoring terms, this is equivalent to an instant ban and when you get your licence back it starts from day 1 so when you go to get insurance you're treated as someone who has just passed their test and has zero NCB.

>> Edited by JonRB on Tuesday 19th April 18:32

[Pies]

I was just curious as to weather she actually was breaking the rules or weather ebay had acted in haste

[alexkp]

I think she needs to write a very sincere and apologetic letter to ebay asap.

I would.

[mxdi]

Same as people who accept dosh through Paypal add the fee's to the listing, when they shouldnt, wonder if they are having a crackdown on that.

Taking all her Feedback away is out of order though.

[simpo two]

A few weeks after I joined eBay I suddenly got thrown off without warning. Seems the address on my credit card didn't perfecly match the one I'd given them (one used a house name, one a number). I was pretty damn irate because it makes you look like a criminal.

[top fuel]

mxdi said:

Taking all her Feedback away is out of order though.

Yeah, I agree... At the end of the day even if she has broken the rules she still has thousands of happy customers... this part is very unfair.

[Hardcore2000]

does she pay tax? if not the loss of feedback may be a blessing in disguise.

>> Edited by Hardcore2000 on Tuesday 19th April 21:11

[Wacky Racer]

Any chance this is a scam????...

There are loads of ebay scams going round, with the sole intention of getting you to reveal your personal details, credit card numbers etc............

[JonRB]

Hardcore2000 said:

does she pay tax? if not the loss of feedback may be a blessing in disguise.

All legal and above board. She's running a proper Sole Trader business that happens to have eBay as one of 2 main sources of business - the other being direct sales from her website.

Still, it's eBay's loss as much as hers - she pays out over £400pcm to eBay in the form of fees to them and their PayPal subsiduary.
I've told her to spend the equivalent amount on Google AdWords until the eBay ban is lifted to get web sales up.

>> Edited by JonRB on Tuesday 19th April 21:17

[JonRB]

Wacky Racer said:

Any chance this is a scam????... There are loads of ebay scams going round, with the sole intention of getting you to reveal your personal details, credit card numbers etc............

First thing we thought too. Alas, no, because when she logs on to eBay through the proper https URL she is told her account is suspended and if I look at her profile from my eBay account it says "no longer a registered user".

She is quite wise to phishing scams and thought the emails she got warning her to cease putting a URL to her website on her eBay shop's description were phishing attempts and ignored them. This is what her defence will be when she appeals to eBay. Not that we're even expecting a reply from a human, let alone a satisfactory outcome.

>> Edited by JonRB on Tuesday 19th April 21:22

[wedg1e]

My daughter had hers suspended as she was flogging vibratory equipment of a feminine persuasion contrary to some arbitrary Nazism of Ebay's.
Despite the fact that loads of other people are too... and 'worse' things than those, as well.

[alexkp]

JonRB,

If I were in your situation, I would email ebay, but also send a detailed and concilliatory letter by special delivery to Ebay's office address.

As far as I am aware this is the address:

eBay
PO Box 659
TW9 1TX
Richmond Upon Thames
England

OR this one:

eBay U.K.
P.O. Box 700
Richmond Upon Thames
TW9 1YR


Ebay addresses are very difficult to get hold of - so might be best to send copies to both.

Hope that helps, and best of luck - but I wouldn't let it go...

[jessica]

No I have not........
they will lose a lot of custom if this is theri next ploy.

me included......

[Bodo]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

IIRC, all commercial websites need to contain an address (but it could just be domestic ones).

ebay website said:

eBay International AG: Helvetiastrasse 15/17 3005 Bern Switzerland Note: If you have questions on how to use eBay or our policies, or need to report a concern or need assistance from Customer Support, please visit our Online Help Centre. PayPal Europe Ltd PayPal (Europe) Ltd. PO Box 659 Richmond Upon Thames TW9 1TX Note: For instant answers to your PayPal-related questions, or to contact PayPal by email or telephone, visit PayPal's Online Help Centre. Global Headquarters: eBay Inc. 2145 Hamilton Avenue San Jose, California 95125 PayPal Inc 2211 North First Street San Jose, CA 9513

About Ebay > Contact Information > Find out where our offices are located.
http://pages.ebay.co.uk/aboutebay/contact.html

[brainsaw]

The link rules keep changing .. I was warned of it before... but then noticed they changed to allow you to link to your website as long as you could buy it cheaper on ebay.

I was suspended recently (back now)... the reason was too many complaints.. something like 10 in 6 months ... from 6 people (where people had bought multiple items they counted any complaint for each item bought!)
9 of them I had tracking numbers for and one I had refunded... which as I didn't have the paypal refund reciept the only way they would reinstate was to get a fax or letter from the customer.. but basically could have been sorted in a day or 2...

in the end it took just over 2 months... I had to fax personal documents 3 times and the customer had to fax twice... emails took minimum 3-4 days to be answered (quite often with a very unhelpful answer)... took 2 weeks before they would give me a reason why I was suspended!

[UKBob]

I had a client who sold magazines. Normal middle shelf magazines.

One of his magazines was an FHM mag. The mag had a pic of a scantily clad woman upon the cover. Nothing rude, nothing crude, and nothing showing!!!

Despite having their own FHM category, they banned him for selling adult magazines . Cost him a fortune, as his ebay business brought in the money he needed to pay his bills.

check out www.paypalwarning.com - Neither ebay nor paypal seems to offer users the stability a modern business needs.

[beano500]

Let's face it, in the business world, Ebay is still working as a dodgy car boot sale at the back of the church hall even though many of us want it to move into the 21st century.

I suppose we can't create about them beginning to seek compliance with their own published rules and expect it to be perfect at the same time.

[JonRB]

beano500 said:

Let's face it, in the business world, Ebay is still working as a dodgy car boot sale at the back of the church hall even though many of us want it to move into the 21st century.

Indeed

beano500 said:

I suppose we can't create about them beginning to seek compliance with their own published rules and expect it to be perfect at the same time.

You have a point, Ron, but it seems heavy handed (draconian, even) and inconsistent.

My wife is currently investigating making the jump to a shopping cart based e-commerce website with WorldPay integration and is going to shift the emphasis of her business away from eBay.

What I find particularly laughable is the line in eBay's email to her that says "You are very important to eBay and this period of time will help us to build a better relationship. We hope you will come away with a better understanding of our policies."

Too bloody right we will. We'll come away with a better understanding of why it is not a good idea to have eBay such an important part of one's business model.