Banned from eBay. How to get round it

mouseroom

Hi all,
I was an eBay seller for 5 years, selling the odd personal thing (£5 - £20 in value). Nothing special. Now, that account got suspended due to me putting the wrong brand name in the title. Very unfair I thought. I did have over 2000 positive feedback.

I created another account and have been selling on that for a couple more years with no problems.

I then thought I could do it full time and buy and sell things on a regular basis so I registered my business with HMRC and created a business eBay account.

3 weeks into the account I had to phone eBay to request higher allowences. I did this and they then said that my name is linked to another account from 5-6 years ago.

I said yes, that was my old personal account in which I paid up the fees and used for buying only. They said we have no option but to suspend the account indefinatly and that I cannot use the eBay playform ever. I said what about using my fathers account and they said no.

The problem I have is that my business is in my name and would like to continue selling the stock I bought.

What would be the best thing to do? I have thought about being a limited company and appointing someone else as the Director so that my name isn't linked to my business or eBay account.

Help!
Cheers

RFW

mouseroom wrote: »

What would be the best thing to do? I have thought about being a limited company and appointing someone else as the Director so that my name isn't linked to my business or eBay account.

Help!
Cheers

A limited company is a different entity whether you are a director or not. Ebay wouldn't ask for director details, whether your ISP or domestic address would affect that is another matter.

You should try and sort out the initial suspension though as you could risk being permanently barred if trying to work round it.

Try writing to CEO/chairman at a registered address.

soolin

This is not an uncommon scenario and one we often warn about on here. When you are banned on one account you are banned on them all, but it sees ebay link the accounts just at the point that you have spent a great deal of money and effort in setting up your business.The initial ban though would have been after warnings- not just for keyword spamming once or twice.
.
As RFW says, the only way to sort this really is to concentrate on the initial ban, as that is the one that has caused all the problems, if by some way or another you can get that ban lifted they might release you to sell again. However, realistically I think this is very unlikely as not only were you banned initially, you then went on to flout the rules by operating on another accounts.

I would be very wary of trying to get round the rules again- as RFW says the limited company might not be possible as your iSP will trigger the issue again.

I really don't hold out much hope for you OP, but I feel your post has a lot of value to many casual viewers who think merely opening another account has 'got one over' on ebay.

F&L

I'd echo the advice already given but have you considered Amazon? If what you sell is also sold on Amazon then you could try there if only to get rid of your existing stock. If Amazon is a suitable trading place for you then make sure you're allowed to sell the item as Amazon seem to have a lot of VERO sellers who don't want their items being sold by just anyone.

As for using your father's account, if you logged in using a different IP address and your father lives at a different address, then you shouln't have a problem selling on it. However, the HRMC will doubtless have an issue with your stock being purchased in your name and being sold under someone else's name so not really a viable option.

I'm sure there's been cases of sellers getting their accounts back so writing a letter as suggested would be a starting point.

Crowqueen

There have been successful appeals in borderline cases (such as the minimum number of low scores needed for being booted and a successful lobbying campaign on the official forums on your behalf) but I would not hold out much, if any, hope if you have been banned before and just tried to work around it.

Personally I think there should be a long suspension period of about a year until someone calms down from the original issues, is sent to get advice from the forums or do some tutorials or something, and then a last chance without restrictions (since it is restrictions which commonly impose a straitjacket on a seller who is trying to improve but which makes it virtually impossible to get enough good ratings to turn things around, particularly in cases where the seller only has lows on one rating and is outwardly showing a reasonable headline score). If this situation collapses then the ban should be permanent, or at least indefinite (I suspect there is a wording there which means eBay can easily amnesty people after a reasonable length of time - this is assuming eBay lasts for decades yet and someone banned for a moment or two of madness at 20 might not be so chaotic at 40).

There are a lot of places out there for niche interests. If you are selling anything specialist, or books, or whatever, it might be an idea to focus on other sites for the moment and see whether you can sort out a genuine proposal, either to get eBay to take you seriously, or to establish something in a company name.

What would be suicide is to now attempt to register again and earn perhaps an IP block or something worse.

mouseroom

Can they block my IP? What about creating another user in a different name and using the same paypal address? My Paypal isn't banned.

I suppose it's just a case of creating accounts until you get banned.

I'm only annoyed because it's my only source of income and if I cannot sell then I will simply have to dissolve my new "ebay" business.

Anyone tried amazon for selling second hand goods?

Ta

mouseroom

F&L wrote: »

However, the HRMC will doubtless have an issue with your stock being purchased in your name and being sold under someone else's name so not really a viable option.

Why would HMRC have an issue? As long as I say where the money has come from and keep records of items bought and sold, does it really matter who's account I sell on?

alykatz

mouseroom wrote: »

Can they block my IP? What about creating another user in a different name and using the same paypal address? My Paypal isn't banned.

Ta

They can block any number of things ranging from your ip to any emails you may have used there...

Crowqueen

IP blocks are one of the most common online ways of getting rid of people you don't want re-registering. It would have an impact on anyone else who also has an account at your home address - which is going to happen to their accounts anyway; because you have been banned, their accounts are in jeopardy so eBay know you are not going to come back.

amcluesent

You could change ISP to get a different IP, use ToR (bit slow), or get something like MyFi (?) so you use the 3G ISP for Ebay.

But the links of postal address, email, PayPal, registered bank\CC card are hard to break 100%

buggritt

mouseroom wrote: »

Why would HMRC have an issue? As long as I say where the money has come from and keep records of items bought and sold, does it really matter who's account I sell on?

They wouldn't have an issue. That's the danger of these forums. People make things up.