Question
I just found out last night that my eBay Silver Power Seller account was unfairly suspended after 6 years, 5,000 sales and a 99.3% positive rating due to an account I opened for a friend 4 years ago. While I am trying to resolve this matter with eBay, I have some questions regarding selling under a different account.
As I am trying to resolve this matter with eBay, I will play by the rules and will not try to register another account or do anything funny. However, I still need to make a living and pay the rent and was wondering whether it would be okay with eBay to have my wife sell my items using her own account? The problem is that she uses the same internet connection as I do (and the same IP address) so I am wondering whether this would cause any problems. With eBay acting like an on-line dictatorship these days, I just have no idea what is considered "OK" anymore. Do they try to track down related family accounts when an account is suspended? Thanks in advance for all your insight and advice!!
Answer
....I still need to make a living and pay the rent and was wondering whether it would be okay with eBay to have my wife sell my items using her own account?
Nope, not okay. It's in the rules:
IMPORTANT NOTE: Members who are suspended are prohibited from registering new accounts with eBay, or bidding or selling on eBay using any existing accounts. eBay reserves the right to suspend existing accounts as well as new accounts opened by anyone in the same household of a suspended user or by any other associates of a suspended user.
From here: http://pages.ebay.com/help/account/R...VerifyPSU.html
I'd suggest you work to get your account problem cleared up. Continuing to use the site while suspended only compounds your problems.
How was it that this old account got you NARU'd?
Answer
eBay won't allow you to register and sell under another account or use another account while suspended. If you do that, they will very likely declare you to be "indefinitely" suspended, which is another word for permanent.
They do track down family accounts. I'm sorry this has happened to you, and I feel your pain, however you are going to have to go through the process, and at the end of that they will probably restore your account, but the loss of revenue won't even warrant an apology from them.
Take this opportunity, while eBay drags you through their system, to find some other ways to market your goods or generate income. eBay is not a reliable or trustworthy place to depend on for all of your income. Good luck.
Answer
Thanks. I will take your advice! I will be patient and work with eBay and avoid doing anything that might look wrong.
One question remains though, my wife does a large amount of selling on eBay with her own account that she registered herself with her own Paypal account and credit card all in her name. However, since we share the same internet connection, the IP address is the same for both of us even though she has nothing to do with my business. Is this a source of concern for any reason? I have been reading nightmare reports on the internet concerning whole families and groups of friends who were all kicked off eBay at the same time because they were "linked".
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It might be. I once was sumarily suspended as eBay claimed I was connect with an account that was NARU in 1998. I didn't even find eBay until 1999. I had to supply them with the info they requested and finally they un-suspended me. Fluffythewondercat1 has wonderful storied to tell about being suspended. You are not alone.
Answer
As stated in the rules, ebay reserves the right to suspend the account of damn near anybody they suspect is an "associate" of yours. Whether they do or not depends upon arbitrary eBay guidelines that have never been revealed to mere mortals. I suspect they escalate the punishment in proportion to the seriousness of the offense. In other words, proceed at your own peril.
Again, exactly why did they suspend you?
Answer
Originally Posted by Toy Ranch
Take this opportunity, while eBay drags you through their system, to find some other ways to market your goods or generate income. eBay is not a reliable or trustworthy place to depend on for all of your income. Good luck.
You are absolutely right. I went through a sleepless night trying to figure out the situation, researching everything I could find on the internet about eBay suspensions and was up until 9:00am this morning before crashing for 2 hours. By noon, I had mellowed out with the help of my wife and the realization that alternatives existed sunk in. Everything happens for a reason and I started thinking of how complacent I had become as a eBay Power Seller. In the next few days as I wait for my situation to clear up, I will take the free time that eBay's "forced vacation" has afforded me to consider these alternatives and how things can change for the better if one is willing to take a different path through the same forest.
Answer
Originally Posted by d.u.i.fridays
As stated in the rules, ebay reserves the right to suspend the account of damn near anybody they suspect is an "associate" of yours. Whether they do or not depends upon arbitrary eBay guidelines that have never been revealed to mere mortals. I suspect they escalate the punishment in proportion to the seriousness of the offense. In other words, proceed at your own peril.
Again, exactly why did they suspend you?
I helped a family friend open an account 4 years ago and apparently she violated some VERO rules before getting suspended in 2003. I was initially not quite clear about this as eBay refused to say more than the minimum in their e-mails. I was lucky enough to find the Power Seller support number and spoke to several experts in their Trust & Safety division who helped shed enough light on the matter so that I was able to figure out what happened. The last eBay rep I spoke to was an Angel - she took the time to really listen to my story, checked the details I provided against what was in my eBay records and gave me some great advice on how to proceed to get my account reinstated even though she couldn't promise me anything of course. It must be noted that anything you say to eBay over the phone will be recorded in your record so you will be able to pickup the conversation from the last point without having to regurgitate everything from the beginning. I think the key points I have in my favor are that the family friend sold from a location thousands of miles away from me in different country and I sold from California and have an excellent & long track record with zero similar violations and totally different products. eBay has every single ad from the last 5 years stored so they are able to investigate even old cases. As well, this all happened 3 years ago before eBay got all their fancy tracking software and anyone who really wanted to take advantage of eBay could have opened new accounts as soon as the proceeding ones were shut down without much trouble. However, I only helped this friend out that one time and did not open another account after the first one was suspended. I think it also helps that I have paid eBay about $40,000 in fees since I started but I am just hoping that this has some meaning at this point...
Answer
Good luck with getting re-instated, it sounds like you are making progress.
It would be so much easier if you could go to eBay HQ and find somebody with the authority to solve your problem, and dangle them out a 10-story window by their ankles until you get results: "Am I still suspended? Huh? Huh? I'm losing my grip..."
That's the stuff dreams are made of.
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t would be so much easier if you could go to eBay HQ and find somebody with the authority to solve your problem, and dangle them out a 10-story window by their ankles until you get results: "Am I still suspended? Huh? Huh? I'm losing my grip..."
That's the stuff dreams are made of.
I love this