Question
wow, I should have found this site a few years ago. I had problems with eBay a few years ago and just want to see if I could get a different kind of help here than eBay. It was not resolved.
--- forwared from old email to Jerry Sat 2/15/2003 ---
My account just has been suspended with the reason of misrepresentation of identity. I have a clue why it happened, but, of course, didn't see a suspension coming. Let me give you a bit of the background.
I signed up with eBay a few years ago when I was living in the US. Six months ago, I moved to Thailand and I used eBay as a channel to resell some of my stuff that I didn't want to carry along. Once I got to Thailand and got a new credit card, issued by a Thai bank, I logged onto eBay, took care of the outstanding balance, updated the new credit card information on file, and updated contact email address to be eBay*[MyLastName].net because I want to stop using yahoo.
Now, a month ago I just met one of my aunts who owns a jewelry store and we were talking business. She wanted to sell her stuff to the world but she's not computer literate, so I told her I would try to help her sell on eBay. I picked out three pieces off the showcase and have them certified by an international institute before I list them.
When I was trying to put them up, I found out that now you need a US credit card and a US bank account to create a "Seller Account." I was asking myself, what do people do on other international eBay sites like UK, Singapore, Canada and so on? So I logged in eBay.co.uk and I found out that there's no such thing as a Seller Account and I can list my items there. So I listed them, set decent reserve prices, buy-it-now prices, put Bangkok/Thailand for the Item Locations, and said I'm willing to ship internationally. Then I saw my items priced in "GBP" for British Pounds on US eBay.com. After a second thought, I was afraid it'd be inconvenient to convert currencies unless you click to view item's details. I ended one of my auctions and relisted it on eBay.ca, an eBay site in Canada. Bravo, the item is listed in US$. I informed my aunt that we have to wait 5-7 days before the auctions end.
A few mornings later when I checked my email, I got 2 emails from eBay saying my account has been suspended due to Misrepresentation of Identity, all my auctions are cancelled, and do not create a new account because I'm not allowed to use eBay in any way, and that eBay is expecting me to pay any outstanding balance. My feeling was that this is a pretty serious offence! Should this be verified before the suspension is in effect?
So I contacted SafeHabor/Trust and Safety(cshelp) to get the situation resolved. A representative told me that they cannot provide any details of why my account got suspended to prevent hackers from knowing their investigation pattern and so on. Then, he told me to fax over my passport, US driver license with my previous address on file, and credit card statement from the card that I have on file so that they can review my account. So I did that, and a representative called me oversea to verify the phone number. Everything went well, or so I thought. A few days later, he sent me an email saying that they could not reinstate my account at this time. So I emailed him back and asked why the verification process failed. And again he just said that it'd be easier to create a new account.
The credit card on file is still active and under my name, the email that I updated is my own domain name, I even stated that the items are in Thailand while I could have easily stated that they're located in US and nobody would have suspected anything.
As you can imagine, I absolutely have no idea what I am trying to fix, I'm not sure which policy I violated. It seems to me that T&S cannot provide any help regarding the issue, not even an explanation. Would you be kind enough to point me to the right direction?
I have been using eBay's services for years and strongly hope eBay will continue to be the world's online marketplace for everyone around the world.
Kind regards,
xxxxx
PS: my case -- Account Takeover Situation (KMM71578798V32293xxx)
--- end snip ---
So T&S told me to create a new account to replace my old one. Without any understanding, I played along, signed up for a new account and posted my confusion on the discussion board. A board moderator then emailed me that I'm not allowed mention it on ebay?
--- snip from old mail to [ebay moderator] on Thu 2/20/2003 ---
xxxxx,
My previous account got suspended due to Misrepresentation of Identity. I did insist that I'd like to prove that I am actually me. However, the investigation team at trust and safety suggested me to create another account because it is easier than proving my identity for my suspended account. And also stated that I will not be suspended for creating another account to replace the old one, nor get suspended for being associated with a suspended account. Perhaps, you could look over my case at T&S: Account Takeover (KMM71578798V32293xxxx). The email I received is as followed:
--- snip from eBay customer support email ---
Hello xxxxx,
Thanks for writing to us. I appreciate the opportunity to assist you with your questions.
I do understand your frustration regarding not having the ability to get this account reinstated. If you open up a new account however, it will not be affected by the situation with this account. In other words, you will not be suspended for a new account because you had this account.
As documented previously, contact information was only one of the factors that led to have this account suspended.
We appreciate your patience and understanding regarding this matter, and wish you continued success on eBay.
Regards,
Rxxx
eBay SafeHarbor
Investigations Team
______________________________
eBay
Your Personal Trading Community (tm)
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29404053
2/14/03
Please advice.
- xxxxx
-----Original Message-----
From: eBay Moderation Team [mailto:xxxxxxx*ebay.com]
Sent: Thursday, February 20, 2003 1:07 AM
To: xxxxxxx
Subject: Board Policy - Policies/User Agreement - xxxxx
Hello xxxx,
Recently we became aware that your eBay registered account was involved in the
following activity:
Discussion or reposting of deleted posts or discussion of no longer registered
members.
which is not permitted at eBay.
This is a copy of your post:
xxxx (0) (view author's auctions)
02/19/03 9:12 AM (# 24 of 25)
bottom line: eBay investigation teams.
I got my account permanently suspended because they don't believe I
am me, despite the fact that I have my own valid credit card on file
with them (of course, the name on the card is my name, and they did
charge to the card). Yes, I am speechless.
We realize that you may not have been aware there was a rule against this
activity. Therefore, we would like to take this opportunity to invite you to
review our site policies, which can be found at:
http://pages.ebay.com/help/community/png-board.html
Please understand our goal is to help you understand our policies to ensure
successful experiences at eBay. Therefore, we respectfully request that you
refrain from this activity in the future to avoid the possibility of a
suspension of your eBay registration.
Thank you for your cooperation in this important matter.
Regards,
xxxxx
eBay Moderation Team
--- end snip ---
And she never replied.
Answer
I do understand your frustration regarding not having the ability to get this account reinstated. If you open up a new account however, it will not be affected by the situation with this account. In other words, you will not be suspended for a new account because you had this account.
What you been doing for the last two years?
so, you took their advice and made another account right?
then, who cares about this other issue which looks like a communicaiton problem.
The lesson I learn from your experience is....
if I were going to move to another country, the first thing I would do would be to contact ebay and let them know what was happening.
2003 was when the real serious fraud on ebay got going big time and unfortunately sometimes innocent people get caught in the middle, but there is no hard and fast rule to keep everyone happy.
'tis better to err on the side of safety than to be careless and someone get hurt. ...just my opinion....ebay has a fraud problem, that is a fact, and Thailand is involved in there, so you ended up suffering so others could be safe.
Sorry this happened to you, but time to move on. Thank you for sharing what can happen though, everyone should make a note of this.
and Welcome to here.
Answer
Their system seems to be working real well in retaining buyers.