Ebay account blocked - linked to another suspended account

Abu-Dina

Greetings all,

Bad news last night. Our eBay account got suspended due to it being linked to a suspended account.

The story:

1) January 2008 - Partner asked her friend from Wales if we could use their eBay account for a while as we had a few things to sell after moving from London to the north west and were staying with my in-laws.

2) Friend didn't mind so we started selling various bit and pieces ad buying items. We changed the postal address on the account to our temporary address in north west. All was fine.

3) April 2008 - We moved to a new place and decided to open our own PayPal/ eBay accounts which we did.

4) April 2008 - We stopped using friend's eBay and deposited £200 into their PayPal account to cover the eBay fees incurred during the period we used the account.

5) January 2009 - Friend had not verified PayPal account so could not pay eBay fees and they ignored the problem until the bailiffs cam knocking on their door!

6) March 2009 - We ended up moving back with the in-laws (after being burgled for almost £6000 worth of household items) so updated our eBay account to have the same postal address.

7) August 2009 - Our eBay account (power seller status for almost 1 year) is suspended due to it being linked to friends account.

We called the power seller help line but they've told us that they have information linking the two accounts together and even if we prove that we are not the same person, they will not lift the suspension unless the other account is sorted.

The problem is, we are not longer friends with that person! We fell out over this whole problem. They blamed us for the bailiffs and we blamed them for being slack and not using the money we had given them to pay the fees. (All they had to do was verify their PayPal and pay the fees!).

We have not contacted that friend for a long time and we can't see a way back with them so we're totally stuck and really distressed!

We've faxed eBay proof of our identity to prove who we are but what's that good for?

The irony is our friends account was suspended because of nonpayment of about £100 eBay fees yet they suspended our power seller account even though we have paid more than £10k over the last 12 months in eBay fees alone!

How can I get eBay to see some sense?

Any advice would be much appreciated.

frivolous_fay

Sounds like you're really stuck to be honest.
Short of a begging letter to ex friend... I don't have any clever ideas!

A query about the fees... had friend ever sold before? If not, they might not have been au fait with paying their fees. Were the emails set to go to them, even though you'd been using the account? It's all a bit messy...

cyberbob

I think you may have to find somewhere else to sell. Selling using someone elses account normally causes problems along the way. Why you just didnt open your own I don't understand. All you can do is try and speak to ebay and show that the accounts are not linked. I can see why they have suspended you and that they beleive the accounts are linked. Sorry I cant be of much help as soon as you started selling using someone elses account problems were going to arise

Abu-Dina

Hi,

Thanks to you both for the quick replies.

Our ex-friend was pretty clued up on eBay. In all fairness , they were predominantly buyers not seller but they knew how to pay the fees. To this day we still can't understand why it took over 12 months to get their PayPal account verified but they just blamed the whole thing on us.

Do you think it's worth giving eBay the timeline of events? Or will this just get me into more trouble with using somebody else's account etc?

Thanks.

Ames

I've just got my account back after suspension, so all I can say is it's definitely worth talking to them about it, be polite and explain the situation.

Abu-Dina

Ames,

There are many reasons why accounts are suspended. Perhaps yours was for a lesser violation?

Can you give more info?

Thanks.

Ames

Three years ago I moved house, and didn't realise my internet connection would take over a month to be set up. Before I moved I bid on a few things, which I won, but by the time I could get online again they'd made non paying bidder strikes against me and I'd been suspended. A few weeks ago I emailed to try and sort something out and they reinstated my account no problem.

Abu-Dina

Your situtaion is totally different to mine I'm afraid. Yours I would classify as a minor violation.

Congrats on getting unlocked though