Account suspension

dysynni

I have just pointed out my pristine seller dashboard to EBay - with screenshots - but the same robust response came back. Apparently I am forever banished from the platform and there's nothing I can do about it. 

[Deleted User]

To be fair, do eBay need a reason? They can ultimately decide who uses their site and hold an account. 

dysynni

Absolutely true - they're the boss.
It's just pretty annoying to be picked out for suspension with no warning, explanation or hope of re-opening our account, and to have our account described as posing 'an unacceptable level of risk to eBay and its community'. And, I quote, 'We have concerns over your buying and selling practices.' Every aspect of our conduct on eBay over the past 17 years has been faultless, and the evidence is clearly there to prove it. Apart from the event which I mentioned in my initial post, our time with eBay has been as smooth as it possibly could be. Having ruled out any accidental misdemeanour by our daughter on her account (her account remains indefinitely suspended too by the way), there can be only one or two explanations - that either our account has been hacked and they are confusing us with another customer, or eBay has somehow got inaccurate data stored. 
Fortunately I don't rely on eBay for my business, but I find it unsettling that this sort of thing can happen - it could be catastrophic to someone whose livelihood depends on eBay.

dysynni

Thank you everyone who has taken an interest and posted helpful comments. I don't know where else I can turn, though any other suggestions would be very welcome.

LM2020

With the issue you had with buying the expensive antique table, how did you get eBay to help - was it an item not received case or request to cancel. Was the refund definitely from the seller or could it have been a 'goodwill' refund from eBay themselves. Have you or your daughter had to open other cases in the last 12 months - not received/as described/change of mind/left a few negatives for sellers.

dysynni

Thanks for getting in touch. 
The day after we made the successful bid and paid (we always pay immediately), the seller got in touch via eBay to say that the item was 'sold months ago and should have been removed'. EBay then told us to ask the seller to reject the payment. The repayment definitely came - eventually - from the seller. (He disappeared off the radar for a few days and eBay helped us to pursue him). So no, it was not a 'goodwill' refund from eBay.
Neither our daughter nor we have ever had to open a case (except in around 2006 when a coat we bought proved never have existed). Our eBay history has otherwise been completely uneventful - and happy! Hence our total astonishment and bafflement at the current situation.

theonlywayisup

How did ebay help you pursue that seller?  Did you open a case,  or a cancellation?

Have you been selling anything that could be Vero?

dysynni

We informed eBay straight away that there was a problem, but we're not sure how exactly eBay pursued the seller. They dealt with it all on our behalf - they were very helpful. This all happened 10 months ago.
I don't know what Vero is, but all we have sold lately are a few pieces of china we dug out of the attic during lockdown. All very smooth and successful, except that one lot arrived with a couple of breakages, so I sent the buyer a partial refund, which he was more than happy with. 

soolin

Nothing you have described about the cancelled item or the part refund should give rise to a total ban. 

The help page here
https://www.ebay.co.uk/help/account/account-holds-restrictions-suspensions/account-holds-restrictions-suspensions?id=4190

seems to suggest a few reasons for suspension , the usual one is 

• We couldn't verify your account information

Was all your information, and that of your daughter verifiable, bank account addresses matching registered address on ebay , fully updated phone numbers etc? 

dysynni

We have been racking our brains for 3 days now and are getting nowhere. Nothing has changed re any of our account information and we have been happily buying a few small items per month for all these years (and selling almost nothing). It’s really such a mystery. EBay will not co-operate in any way with helping us get to the bottom of this. They refuse to engage with us, saying that they will not reveal any information as it could help members to ‘circumvent our policies to avoid detection’. Also that, on reviewing our account, ‘the pattern of activities exhibits a risk to eBay and it’s community’. In August I made 8 small buy-it-now purchases and paid for them right away. This is all so odd and confusing. There is apparently zero chance of the account being reinstated. We wonder what on Earth they think we have done??