Do eBay temporary ban people?

[FN-GM]

Hi

 

I am trying to buy some electronic goods from somebody of eBay. They have now been banned for some reason. The seller claims that eBay randomly ban people until they provide proof or ID. I have not paid up yet im not to sure what to do.

 

Is this true?

 

Thanks

[localzuk]

They do sometimes, but usually due to complaints and not just randomly.

 

It has happened to me once, and I never paid, as the account was never restored.

[FN-GM]

Thanks for the feedback, anyone else had this experience?

[contink]

avoid! if in doubt contact ebay and explain the situation. this sounds like a scammer imho.

[Joanne]

i got banned for some reason... think my account got hacked.

 

couldn't be arsed providing them with my details... they wanted allsorts of stuff!!

 

I just use the boyfriends account now

[jack0w]

I had something similar happen recently, was with PayPal though, but the result was that my account was 'restricted' meaningnt I could only login and view things.

 

Was extremely annoying since I couldn't withdraw the money I had been paid for the item I had sold on eBay either!

 

As said above, I would be inclined to contact eBay before you pay, better to be safe than sorry!

Edited April 2, 2008 by jack0w

[Guest PatBoland]

I sold some mobile phones over the years and those that were not Sim-Locked attracted attention from Nigeria and beyond. Instructions to dispatch before payment, yeh like I was born yesterday!!!

 

Reported to Ebay and they sorted the rest. Any doubt don't pay up!!

 

Ebay forced a password change on my account for security reasons.

[enjay]

I've had the PayPal restriction which Jack0w describes, but that only lasted a day or so. ebay do ban accounts though, if they think they're up to something funny. Since you say you haven't yet paid, then I'd count yourself lucky - if the account is reactivated then you probably do have to pay up, but I suspect it won't.

[Jose]

I've lost count of the amount of ebay accounts that I've had banned/suspended.

They will suspend your account if they think you are involved in shill bidding.

If you list a item that is that is a high fraud risk, phones+rare collectables they can suspend your account and ask for further proof of identity.

 

The best way to use ebay is to register 5 new accounts to your credit card and then ask your bank for a new card, setup 5 more accounts etc etc.

 

This will enable you to build up fedback on several accounts and give your selling bussiness more insurance should something go wrong.

 

Ebay accounts should be treated as disposable items, use them and abuse them..

[bizzel]

The seller claims that eBay randomly ban people until they provide proof or ID.

 

The seller is trying to scam you, plain and simple.

[Ryan]

I've lost count of the amount of ebay accounts that I've had banned/suspended.

They will suspend your account if they think you are involved in shill bidding.

If you list a item that is that is a high fraud risk, phones+rare collectables they can suspend your account and ask for further proof of identity.

 

The best way to use ebay is to register 5 new accounts to your credit card and then ask your bank for a new card, setup 5 more accounts etc etc.

 

This will enable you to build up fedback on several accounts and give your selling bussiness more insurance should something go wrong.

 

Ebay accounts should be treated as disposable items, use them and abuse them..

 

To me, that just honks of dodgy. I've got a grand total of one account, and have never had it banned, suspended or otherwise. I'm sure many more people are the same. I'm sure eBay would raise an eyebrow at the above practice.

[jack0w]

I've had the PayPal restriction which Jack0w describes, but that only lasted a day or so. ebay do ban accounts though, if they think they're up to something funny. Since you say you haven't yet paid, then I'd count yourself lucky - if the account is reactivated then you probably do have to pay up, but I suspect it won't.

 

Wish mine had only lasted a few days, ended up taking nearly a month to get it re-enabled!

 

I was asked to produce proof of postage, update my phone number and show original receipts for all items sold. The website had a fault and wouldn't let me update my phone number and I was told since 'Paypal is a user managed portal' agents are unable to update details over the phone.... Despite faxing and uploading the proof of postage every time I phoned them they were 'unable to find it'!

 

Complete nightmare, I was promised £5 in way of compensation for their poor handling of the case.... still haven't received that two months on!

[jack0w]

To me, that just honks of dodgy. I've got a grand total of one account, and have never had it banned, suspended or otherwise. I'm sure many more people are the same. I'm sure eBay would raise an eyebrow at the above practice.

 

I have to admit I too have used my eBay account regularly for the past 3-4 years and have never had my eBay account disabled - even when selling high value/high risk items.

 

Only people I've had a problem with is PayPal!

[enjay]

I was asked to produce proof of postage, update my phone number and show original receipts for all items sold.

 

My check wasn't quite so involved - I remember having to update my phone number and answer an automated call (the quality of which was so bad I'm glad all I had to do was answer is because I couldn't understand what was said to me!), but that was about it I think.

 

It seems daft to ask for receipts for everything you're selling though - what if you want to sell something you've had for a while or were given as a gift, or even something you bought off ebay come to that!

 

The thing which annoyed me about it was that paypal never bothered to tell me that they had suspended my account, so the first I knew of it was when I tried to pay someone, meaning the seller ended up having to wait a few days before I could send them the money.

[enjay]

@Jose - Perhaps you could post your ebay seller ID so that we all know to look out for and avoid you. I for one wouldn't want dealings with someone who repeatedly flags ebay's monitoring for fraudulent activity and believes it best to have 10 accounts so they can better "abuse" their buyers.

[elsiegee40]

I have bought and sold over eBay on a regular basis for many years and still have 100% feedback. We've only lost money on one occasion - fortunately it wasn't much, just under £10 (item was never sent). That seller went from 100% feedback to NARU (see below) in 14 days... the account had probably been hacked.

 

When eBay suspend a user it is because they are investigating something; complaints, non-payment of fees, fraud or whatever.

 

If the users ID comes up with "No longer a registered user" (NARU); they've been chucked out.

 

Whatever you do; DO NOT TRADE OUTSIDE EBAY WITH A SUSPENDED SELLER. It's an easy way of losing your money. If they're innocent, they'll be back and able to trade again. You will not be protected by eBay or PayPal.

 

You may find this online tool from Toolhaus useful for investigating the negative and neutral feedback of sellers or buyers: Negative/Neutral Feedback

 

My rule of thumb is: If I feel uncomfortable, I will not buy. The item will always come up again on eBay with another seller sooner or later.

Edited April 2, 2008 by elsiegee40

[localzuk]

I've lost count of the amount of ebay accounts that I've had banned/suspended.

They will suspend your account if they think you are involved in shill bidding.

If you list a item that is that is a high fraud risk, phones+rare collectables they can suspend your account and ask for further proof of identity.

 

The best way to use ebay is to register 5 new accounts to your credit card and then ask your bank for a new card, setup 5 more accounts etc etc.

 

This will enable you to build up fedback on several accounts and give your selling bussiness more insurance should something go wrong.

 

Ebay accounts should be treated as disposable items, use them and abuse them..

 

It is this exact sort of behaviour which causes bannings in the first place. This is possibly the worst advice I've heard regarding using ebay, and I would certainly not buy from any user who had done something like this.

[jack0w]

My check wasn't quite so involved - I remember having to update my phone number and answer an automated call (the quality of which was so bad I'm glad all I had to do was answer is because I couldn't understand what was said to me!), but that was about it I think.

 

It seems daft to ask for receipts for everything you're selling though - what if you want to sell something you've had for a while or were given as a gift, or even something you bought off ebay come to that!

 

The thing which annoyed me about it was that paypal never bothered to tell me that they had suspended my account, so the first I knew of it was when I tried to pay someone, meaning the seller ended up having to wait a few days before I could send them the money.

 

Sounds like you got off lightly with that!! This was the problem I had, they were insistent that they would not release the funds in my account until I could provide proof of purchase, well I was selling an Xbox 360 along with loads of games and accessories... all bought at different times and to be honest I had only kept the receipt for the console since that was the only 'high value' item so to speak. In the end after speaking to someone in the 'account review team' I was able to get them to agree that it was unreasonable to expect me to produce receipts for everything and that just the receipt for the console itself would be fine..

 

Why are things never simple eh?

[enjay]

Whatever you do; DO NOT TRADE OUTSIDE EBAY WITH A SUSPENDED SELLER. It's an easy way of losing your money. If they're innocent, they'll be back and able to trade again. You will not be protected by eBay or PayPal.

 

Definitely very good advice. The one time I've had "outside dealings" was with someone who got suspended after I paid them but before they posted me the item.

[elsiegee40]

I've lost count of the amount of ebay accounts that I've had banned/suspended.

They will suspend your account if they think you are involved in shill bidding.

If you list a item that is that is a high fraud risk, phones+rare collectables they can suspend your account and ask for further proof of identity.

 

The best way to use ebay is to register 5 new accounts to your credit card and then ask your bank for a new card, setup 5 more accounts etc etc.

 

This will enable you to build up fedback on several accounts and give your selling bussiness more insurance should something go wrong.

 

Ebay accounts should be treated as disposable items, use them and abuse them..

 

For this little gem - I've given out my first negative rep on EduGeek. I'm not given to strong language... so I won't type what I'm thinking. I hope I never trade with you on eBay.

Edited April 2, 2008 by elsiegee40
Changed borderline to actual - I'm cross about this

[Richie]

Jose...

 

eBay states in it's terms:

 

Trying to avoid suspension or restriction by using another existing account or registering a new account, is not permitted. A suspension on eBay may be for a fixed length of time, indefinite or permanent and remains in effect until removed by eBay.

 

So having more than one account is grounds for them all to suspended immediately anyway. Paypal has a similar clause in its terms.

 

To be fair, as NickJones said, who would knowingly trade with someone whose philosophy is to 'abuse' a system and it's rules? Is it all really worth it?

[contink]

For this little gem - I'm borderline giving out my first negative rep on EduGeek. I'm not given to strong language... so I won't type what I'm thinking. I hope I never trade with you on eBay.

 

I'm not bordering on it... Jose, your "advice" was "Scam them before they scam you"... Not something I expect from anyone in this professional community and certainly nothing good.

 

Stupid, idiotic and down right dangerous in my honest opinion and I wouldn't recommend posting your ID on here or I guarantee it will be reported

[Jose]

@Jose - Perhaps you could post your ebay seller ID so that we all know to look out for and avoid you. I for one wouldn't want dealings with someone who repeatedly flags ebay's monitoring for fraudulent activity and believes it best to have 10 accounts so they can better "abuse" their buyers.

 

I've had accounts suspended for shill bidding this is nit illegal within the United Kingdom, even if it was no ones going to take you to court for it.

 

The easiest way to use the ebay system is to work in teams, I have three different people who sell my items for me, they all have several ebay accounts. They build up the feedback by selling cheap items such as Mcdonalds toys, food voucher etc.

After 3 months no one can tell what you have sold, these accounts are then ripe to be used for more expensive items such rare concert/football tickets etc.

 

There is no real fraud involved, just making the most of the rules that ebay have to make your own accounts look like experienced reliable sellers.

 

Don't panic Nick Jones, I don't sell train sets mate.

I sell pre war football tickets, I've probably used over 50 different ebay accounts over the last 4-5 years, the trick is not to become attached to them. They are there to help you make money and when they get banned or bad feedback you just use a different one.

I realise that most people will disagree but this hobby that I have selling tickets brings over 2 times my wages, so I'm doing something right.

[localzuk]

I've had accounts suspended for shill bidding this is nit illegal within the United Kingdom, even if it was no ones going to take you to court for it.

 

The easiest way to use the ebay system is to work in teams, I have three different people who sell my items for me, they all have several ebay accounts. They build up the feedback by selling cheap items such as Mcdonalds toys, food voucher etc.

After 3 months no one can tell what you have sold, these accounts are then ripe to be used for more expensive items such rare concert/football tickets etc.

 

There is no real fraud involved, just making the most of the rules that ebay have to make your own accounts look like experienced reliable sellers.

 

Don't panic Nick Jones, I don't sell train sets mate.

I sell pre war football tickets, I've probably used over 50 different ebay accounts over the last 4-5 years, the trick is not to become attached to them. They are there to help you make money and when they get banned or bad feedback you just use a different one.

I realise that most people will disagree but this hobby that I have selling tickets brings over 2 times my wages, so I'm doing something right.

 

You are what is called a 'scam artist' in my mind. I would never buy anything from you, or trust you in general. Sorry, but your behaviour is simply sleezy and not good for ebay as a marketplace - everytime an account rips someone off, is involved in shill bidding etc... it lowers the reputation of ebay, and therefore lowers the potential market for honest sellers to sell to.

[enjay]

Legal or otherwise, surely the fact the ebay suspends your accounts for these things suggests that you shouldn't be doing them?!

 

While there is nothing exactly fraudulent in what you describe doing, it is somewhat deceptive to say "I sell quality rare items - look at my 2000 positive feedbacks" when most of those feedbacks were earned from totally unrelated items or, apparently, by repeated dealings between two 'partners'.

 

Indeed, if you didn't play the system and keep getting shut down, you would by now have a truly enormous feedback score and long-term history, giving buyers great confidence, rather than the much lower one which you get because you have to start over every few months.

 

 

Interesting closing remark, by the way - I personally don't agree with the statement that something is right so long as it makes someone money, but everyone is entitled to their own opinions.