I'm in a bit of a strange situation with eBay and wondered if anyone had any ideas, or have been in a similar situation.
I've been registered on eBay since like, 2000 or thereabouts. So know how it all works. So about ten years ago I used to do a bit of freelance graphic/basic website building/design etc. One little job I did was for a Polish chap who'd just come over and wanted to build a business importing and selling car parts. A part of this was building him an eBay store. I think how I went about this was to build the store in my account and then 'transfer' it over to him/his account. So anyway, all good. Nice chap, everyone's happy. Business concluded and completed forgotten about. Until recently.
I get an email from eBay saying that 'one of my accounts' is in breach of policy or something and because of this, 'both of my accounts' are now restricted until whatever this chap has done/not done is resolved.
So after a bit of head scratching and a phone call to eBay it seems they have linked his account with mine and are treating them as the same. My explanation fell on deaf ears and they basically said that they don't believe me. They say they have 'proof', but wouldn't say what... assuming they can see that I set the account up.
So either they do actually think we are one and the same, or at least it will prod me into contacting him to get them to do as they want... who knows? Sod them I thought, I rarely sell on eBay anymore and I can still buy, it's only my selling that's suspended.
So fast forward to this weekend and I've got a huge pile of old crap that I wouldn't mind chucking on eBay. Too good for the charity shop type stuff. But alas no, my eBay account is restricted. So I do a quick look into my old correspondence and do a bit of sleuthing and it looks like this chap has buggered orf back to Poland and all traces of him are now defunct. So I think, right I'll just close my eBay account and start another, sad to lose all that feedback but nobody cares about that anyway right? And after all, this account is now forever going to be linked to him, even if he sorts out his current issue, and forever at risk of being suspended any time he does something wrong. But no, can't close account because 'restricted'!
So here we are, eBay won't budge. Don't even believe me. Guy disappeared, and could barely speak English anyway so no hope there.
Any ideas? Could I just open another account?
New email, new account?
Depending on if ebay have bank account details or not, they will never be any the wiser.
I have a very similar situation.
This is eBay we're talking about - sorry but you are screwed. You will never get your account back and never be able to open another one. Don't log on to any family member's account from your PC either as they might be permanently blocked from being linked as well. Any appeals to them will fall on deaf ears, even 10 years later. They will either outright refuse, pretend to be stupid/obtuse and not understand, or really be stupid. Guaranteed no one will care in the slightest.
I'm not bitter...
New email, new account?
Depending on if ebay have bank account details or not, they will never be any the wiser.
I'll try this. They did have my bank account details but I removed it all just in case they decided to start helping themselves to any fees this chap owes.
Thanks
They will most likely know your home address so you would still get caught that way.
Sounds to me like you need to elevate this somehow beyond the shop floor monkeys to someone who can actually look at the details and that you can speak to.
What's that phrase, no good deed goes unpunished? Utterly pish situation to be in, can totally sympathise.
They will most likely know your home address so you would still get caught that way.
And your IP address... and your Paypal account... and your card details... and...
I use eBay at work. I logged in once to my personal account during lunch to check a purchase... next day the company's account was blocked! Though this did get sorted easily after a quick phone call.
What’s that phrase, no good deed goes unpunished?
Quite. Although I wasn't doing it out of altruism, for the amount I charged to the amount of ballache it caused, it was in no way worth it. Which is precisely why I don't do this kind of thing anymore.
I remember building a really basic Wordpress site for somebody for a few hundred pounds. My god, once it was done I used to wake up to reams of emails every day and my phone was ringing for about a year afterwards. This old chap basically wanted the functionality of Google for his own website, and assumed that I would be there to hold his hand forever going forward.
So fast forward to this weekend and I’ve got a huge pile of old crap that I wouldn’t mind chucking on eBay. Too good for the charity shop type stuff.
I find stuff in that category much easier to sell on Facebook to be honest - listed in both local selling groups and their Marketplace.
My wife was selling stuff on ebay, got some sh*t feedback from idiots, and her account was stopped from selling AND buying.
Ebay told her she had to improve her seller rating before she could sell again, but won't let her sell to do that.
So here we are five years later............
Use Etsy or Vinted?
My wife was selling stuff on ebay, got some sh*t feedback from idiots, and her account was stopped from selling AND buying.
Ebay told her she had to improve her seller rating before she could sell again, but won’t let her sell to do that.
So here we are five years later…………
Hmm, I went out with a girl who asked to use my eBay as she'd been banned from eBay and Etsy. I asked how on earth that happened and was told something like "because everyone is horrible'. I politely declined and she managed to get an account on Not On The High Street. But not for long... what I noticed is that she took everything personally. No 'wrong hill to die on' or pick your battles' here. Every complaint, query and bad/neutral feedback was a personal attack to be fought vehemently against. Whole evenings wasted trading nasty little messages with customers. The outcome was obvious. Weird as she had a good product/business. But then it was all built on daddy's money so wtf right?
EDIT: Oops, nowt to do with your wife. It just reminded me... 🙂
Bit of an update to this. While it was fresh in my mind I thought I'd try and hit up the Polish chap again. He replied straight away on Whatsapp saying sorry for not getting back to me last time, busy moving back to Poland etc etc. But that his eBay account was hacked and he can no longer access it. When he tried to get it resolved with eBay they basically treated him the same as me, ie, with suspicion and that they didn't believe him and was thus unable to get his account back.
So, that's that then. They don't believe me that our accounts are not linked, and they don't believe him that his account was hacked. Trying to resolve it or escalate it with eBay just goes round in circles. It's a 'computer says no' situation. They basically say "stop lying, we know you're connected and our system can tell you're connected' so the restriction stays.
So FB Marketplace it is. Let the games begin...
Get a mate with an ebay account to sell your stuff and give them a cut?
Try a legal letter ?. I expect email, phone goes through set routes. Maybe try an actual paper letter,sent to head office and if it had or was from a solicitor that might swing it.
I've been trying to get through to a company that sent me some pretty poor quality plywood but no matter how many times i phone at different time of the day nobody appears to want to pick up the phone and after 3 mins it goes dead.
I phoned the company head office instead of the local office i ordered the ply from, and it was picked up in under a minute. Now we're working via Email correspondence showing the damaged and problem areas and they're working to sort it out.
What's the world come to when Facebook Marketplace is an upgrade from something.
It's not an upgrade to anything. I recently sold a used car on FB Marketplace. It was like I'd lifted the lid on hell itself. I felt polluted. Even the ones that I weeded out and invited to come and view I immediately regretted inviting to my house. At least with eBay you don't have to deal with the great unwashed face to face.
And your IP address… and your Paypal account… and your card details… and…
Yeah but they can all be changed easily, your address less so.
