EBay Account suspended

heavyfrost

Hi,

I set a new account a few months ago, immediately changed my email address on the account for some innocent reason. EBay suspended my account within 2 days. It took weeks and dozens of emails to clear this after sending copies of ID docs to them. I'm not aware at all of what I did wrong.

Finally came to use the account after wondering whether I should bother as its just a case of me wanting to sell casual second hand stuff. Place my first item on, bang they withdrew the listing and now have suspended my account again!

They sort of suggest there is something wrong with my registration, but what I absolutely have no idea. I'm just a Jo Bloggs with an address \ email address etc.

All I have done is change email addresses the first time and now changed ISP since I got the account open again.

Maybe I messed up registration process but they do not tell you how and if you can its a problem with their system in my opinion. Its not apparent at all what the issue is and they don't like talking about it as it gives real crooks ideas!! its a great situation to be in, just trying to sell a £10 second hand item. Is it worth it? probably not.

They also ask you to FAX your ID docs to them - how unsecure is that ? I didnt, I emailed them trusting that all Safety and Trust dept staff at EBay are law abiding citizens and all round good eggs! even that i'm unsure about.

Has anyone else come across this where they genuinely do not have a clue what they have done that imitates fraudulent activity as they call it?

Crowqueen

How else would you send them your ID docs? Realistically if they need to see your ID, then you either need to fax them or, if you have a scanner at home, ask if you could scan them and send them as email attachments instead. As long as you don't let things out of your sight when you do this, I'm not sure how that's necessarily that insecure; it's standard practice in the internet industry. For example the MMO game World of Warcraft has the same way of validating identity when peoples' accounts get hacked (WoW accounts and eBay accounts are two of the most sort after types of accounts on the internet as far as hackers are concerned).

It's probably par for the course, unfortunately. I haven't personally come across it but, continuing the above example, my friend was barred from World of Warcraft over a similar misunderstanding and she was happy to fax off documents to reclaim her account, so although it's a nuisance, it's up to you to work out what best to do and whether for the sake of one item you think it's worth it. Personally I probably wouldn't bother, I'd put a free ad up or use another site.

Incidentally, going back to the way in which eBay thought your account was hacked - did you change the address from a different computer to the one you normally use? eBay's technology has become fairly sophisticated and even using a different machine can flag you up as a potentially hacked account.

heavyfrost

Thanks for your reply
I dont think FAX is secure though, you could FAX your details and they sit on there FAX machine for cleaners or anybody passing to pickup. Unless they have a secure FAX print where you have to log in to pick the FAX up which is unlikley. Email would be secure if digitally signed and encrypted. There upload service of ID docs doesn't work.

It could be the different computer scenario. I do use 3 or 4 different computers. Most people use multiple computers though it could be something to do with that and changing email addresses.

If they open it up and then suspend it again - who knows, I'll probably just forget it, its not worth the hassle.

terra_ferma

In all fairness an ebay account potentially gives you easy access to £.000 of buyers cash, and it's understandable that there must be certain systems in place.
If eBay did not have these buyers would not trust it.

In a nutshell mine, and lots of other people's, business needs these checks.
Pity sometimes things go wrong, and it's a nuisance. But it's also about surviving in the world of e-commerce, giving customers the confidence to give you their £££

heavyfrost

There is that side of it terra_ferma, thats the issue i guess, its just a bit of fun (or could have been !) for me but a living for others. So they react to everyone in the same way as they would, for security. Having mailed them once (land mail) and emailed twice with my ID now, i guess i just want it sorted.

I am now thinking - although EBay don't confirm anything - that you have to watch changes you make to your details, e.g. email address changes and coming in from multiple IP addresses. Also having 2 accounts from the same PC (another family member has one) may cause flags to be raised. I dont know im guessing. These are legitimate scenarios that EBay should handle without suspending accounts really.

Crowqueen

I dont think FAX is secure though, you could FAX your details and they sit on there FAX machine for cleaners or anybody passing to pickup. Unless they have a secure FAX print where you have to log in to pick the FAX up which is unlikley. Email would be secure if digitally signed and encrypted. There upload service of ID docs doesn't work.

I think it's weighing up whether you want to use eBay or whether you feel this strongly about your identity details. While the risk is out there, I'm not sure it's a big one. I think we are well-indoctrinated on the issue of ID details to the point where things that have to be done seem too risky. As for email not being that secure, well, again, it's

3 or 4 different computers, particularly in different places, sounds slightly too many. A while back they told us they were monitoring which computers were being used to access the account and explicitly said they would restrict access to computers that were normally used to list on to prevent hackers being able to list. I have two, and I used to use an internet cafe, but that was it. If you are concerned about your identity getting out to cleaners in an office, then you should be more concerned about restricting your usage of your eBay account to a single machine or a single location (i.e. only use it at home). Leaving your details on a public machine or a machine accessible to colleagues at work is more dangerous than the chance of someone reading an email or picking up your details from a fax machine.

arriva

Crowqueen wrote: »

eBay's technology has become fairly sophisticated

ebay's technology has become sophisticated..??? ...pfft... :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

Crowqueen

arriva wrote: »

ebay's technology has become sophisticated..??? ...pfft... :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

As to what they can see regarding your information and where you are logging in, yes. In fact as far as I'm aware, this came in two years or so ago, so it's nothing new that they can track which computers you are using to log on most frequently and any change will flag problems in their system.

heavyfrost

I think it's weighing up whether you want to use eBay or whether you feel this strongly about your identity details.

Id have loved to use EBay been trying since August ;-)

thanks for the advice on the multiple computers to access the EBay account ill keep that in mind.

sassy_one

I have no problems, and I know a few other people have lost there account for making multiple accounts via there IP address although they never even used them - if you forget you've made two, its possible there review system has picked up you have two accounts and the newest one has been blocked.

terra_ferma

sassy-one wrote: »

I have no problems, and I know a few other people have lost there account for making multiple accounts via there IP address although they never even used them - if you forget you've made two, its possible there review system has picked up you have two accounts and the newest one has been blocked.

This surprises me, it's very common for people to have several accounts, for different purposes. I have 4, buying, selling, posting, personal/business. Never had a problem, all verified though.
Now my OH wants to open one to sell some stuff, you got me worried!