eBay restricting my account due to my BROTHER not paying HIS bill on HIS account

cherriesjubilee

I am hoping someone can help. I received an email from eBay saying they were restriciting the selling on my account because they believed I was also another person. They gave me the username which I searched and it was a closed account, barely any feedback and I didn't recognise it. My immediate thought was I had been hacked or something, so I contacted eBay who were most patronising and said they suspected I was this person?!?!



Well, I went through their verification process (although I have been with them for 12 years AND had a verified Paypal account with them for about 10 of those years) and although they increased my selling limit by £50 (woohoo), they would not remove the link. In my frustration I vented on my Facebook page and my younger brother responded 'LOL that's me. I owe them £7 but I'm not paying it'. Naturally, I was really !!!!ed off, not just because of my brother being a jerk, but because my account is being held to ransom for my brother! I haven't lived with my brother since 2003, we haven't shared the same surname since I was married in 2005; we're not even the same gender!!!



I phoned eBay under the silly illusion this would solve things, but nope. Not budging. They said the computers have decided to link it and there is nothing they can do about it. The computer has found similarites between our accounts and so decided we must be linked. It seems the human-beings who work for eBay are under the control of this riduculous computer. So, the similarities are: both live in England, we both once shared the same surname (there's a surprise), oh we both like Star Wars. That is it. And for those reasons alone, eBay are treating me as some sort of guarantor on my brothers account and ignoring the fact I have been a customer of their's for nearly 12 years and spend thousands in eBay selling fees.



Ebay will absolutely do nothing about it at all, I have asked for their head office details to write to and attempt to argue my side, but I just don't know what else to do. What more can I do that I have already have than verifiy myself through my own bank! So who is next on their list, my mother? She still has the same name as my brother, how about our sister as she does too! Are they going to hold our entire family to ransom for £7? Woe behold any Smith's for not paying their fees or having similar interests...



This is absolutely crazy. Surely this cannot be legal? Their policy it may well be, but what does the consumer law have to say about this? I have proven who I am, and I don't owe them any money, so why should I suffer?

I am aware this is a whole stinking situation and I should probably tell eBay and their policies to stick it, but it's the principal of the thing now.

bris

It's your association in the same household, they don't care if you are different people but your IP and home address is now blacklisted, guilty with assosiation.

As far as they are concerned they have been bitten once within your houshold, they will not let it happen again.

Yes, it is legal, they choose their clients, they can deal with who they want.

P.S have this moved to the Ebay board, there are a few experts on all thing Ebay over there.

Fosterdog

This wouldn't really be a consumer rights issue because you are not a consumer in this case, you are a seller. You may get more responses if you post this in the section of the board dedicated to ebay, there will be both buyers and sellers to help there.

frugal_mike

Well OP doesn't live with her brother so the link between them will be very tenuous. But yes as long as EBay aren't discriminating on protected characteristics they aren't breaking UK law.

Does the Data Protection Act not give OP the right to correct misinformation that EBay have about her? I guess that would depend on whether this linkage they have fabricated is classed as personal information.

frugal_mike

Fosterdog wrote: »

This wouldn't really be a consumer rights issue because you are not a consumer in this case, you are a seller.

Well OP is a seller to other eBay users, but a consumer to eBay. The eBay service and platform is paid for by sellers. OP doesn't say if she is a business seller or not though.

bris

frugal_mike wrote: »

Well OP doesn't live with her brother so the link between them will be very tenuous.

Something is clearly linking the two of them together, they don't just pick people at random, we might not be aware of what it is but Ebay clearly do.

Money-Saving-King

frugal_mike wrote: »

Well OP is a seller to other eBay users, but a consumer to eBay. The eBay service and platform is paid for by sellers. OP doesn't say if she is a business seller or not though.

eBay are very clear on their rules.

And this is not a consumer rights issue as even if the op has an account with eBay this isn't about a purchase!!

Searcher

bris wrote: »

It's your association in the same household, they don't care if you are different people but your IP and home address is now blacklisted, guilty with assosiation.

As far as they are concerned they have been bitten once within your houshold, they will not let it happen again.

Yes, it is legal, they choose their clients, they can deal with who they want.

P.S have this moved to the Ebay board, there are a few experts on all thing Ebay over there.

Your IP address will change every time your modem re-synchs unless you pay for a fixed IP so your IP can't be banned. The "banned" number will be reassigned to another computer using the same ISP which would mean that their ebay account would then be restricted

wealdroam

Money-Saving-King wrote: »

And this is not a consumer rights issue as even if the op has an account with eBay this isn't about a purchase!!

What?

Not even about the purchase of ebay services by an ebay seller?

Of course it is about a purchase.

And if the OP is acting as a consumer when purchasing these ebay services, then of course it is a Consumer Rights issue.

cherriesjubilee

Hi, okay a bit more information: I am assumed this was a consumer rights because I thought I was a customer in the sense I have paid to use their services for the last 12 years.

My brother and I haven't lived together for about 13 years, and neither account has ever been registered at the same address. In fact, the accounts have never actually been in the same surname as it was originally my husbands account and then I took it over- so it has never been in the same name asmy brother. Ebay a refusing to be transparent about how they have linked us, or why?

I am not a business seller, I am a meagre private seller, but I have spent a lot of money using eBay over the years.

The whole thing is so frustrating, surely the fact my brother hasn't paid his bill cannot be my responsibility? I see him maybe 2 times a year- we don't even have a good relationship. He also only had 12 feedback on his account from selling a few of his anime books. My most recent selling has been my fridge-freezer when I moved house!

It seems absolutely ridiculous, and surely this cannot be right?

morganedge

My mum had her ebay account suspended because someone dodgy (my brother) tried to send her some money though paypal.

My mum wanted nothing to do with it, and so 'declined' the paypent through paypal.

However, that was it. They suspended her paypal and ebay account (forever) even though she done absolutely nothing wrong. She was so upset at the time. Tried speaking to them, but no joy.

So, if there's anyone that you don't like who has an ebay account, give me their paypal address, and i'll get my brother to send them £1 and have their accounts suspended!

it's madness