Ebay account suspended but Ebay unwilling to declare the reason

MaxwellGridley

retiredbanker1 said:

What kind of Collectables were you selling?

Hi, my collection is of cult TV collectables such as James Bond figures and model cars, Doctor Who mags, figures, models, that sort of thing. 

MaxwellGridley

ballisticbrian said:

More likely it's not about the items you were selling but who your account became associated with, either they used your equipment, e.g. phone or laptop or your home network and logged into a problem eBay account.

ballisticbrian said:

More likely it's not about the items you were selling but who your account became associated with, either they used your equipment, e.g. phone or laptop or your home network and logged into a problem eBay account.

ballisticbrian said:

More likely it's not about the items you were selling but who your account became associated with, either they used your equipment, e.g. phone or laptop or your home network and logged into a problem eBay account.

ballisticbrian said:

More likely it's not about the items you were selling but who your account became associated with, either they used your equipment, e.g. phone or laptop or your home network and logged into a problem eBay account.

km1500 said:

What's your account a personal account or a business account?

 if a personal account then a person selling just one sort of thing i.e collectables for an extended period time is likely to look like a business account, and therefore perhaps they closed it because you were running a business from a personal account?

km1500 said:

What's your account a personal account or a business account?

 if a personal account then a person selling just one sort of thing i.e collectables for an extended period time is likely to look like a business account, and therefore perhaps they closed it because you were running a business from a personal account?

ballisticbrian said:

More likely it's not about the items you were selling but who your account became associated with, either they used your equipment, e.g. phone or laptop or your home network and logged into a problem eBay account.

soolin said:

km1500 said:

What's your account a personal account or a business account?

 if a personal account then a person selling just one sort of thing i.e collectables for an extended period time is likely to look like a business account, and therefore perhaps they closed it because you were running a business from a personal account?

As retiredbanker1 said they don’t just close an account in those circumstances, they would allow the account holder to upgrade.
In fact eBay rarely just close an account without a warning notice , if you break a minor rule you get a warning that if you do it again your account is at risk. If OP received no previous warnings, not even for a minor Infringement then it is likely that it is something that eBay deem ‘serious’, fraud, or as has already been said, a link to another banned or restricted account. EBay have been known to get it wrong. 

OP, depending on what your collectables are, have a look at Vinted, more and more categories are beginning to be allowed, now they have ornaments, coins, trading cards… keep your wits about you on there as I think there are more scammers than on eBay, but I also think they are easier to spot. 

I'll try to answer all the queries raised. 
1. I had a personal account but the items sold were all one-off items so no repeat sales that would suggest operating a business. 
2. All items were from my personal collection of James Bond, Doctor Who memorabilia, all genuine items nothing masquerading as something not genuine. 
3. One phone and one laptop used throughout the life of the account.
4. Sales were slow, so one item per month on average, no great accumulation of sales revenue at any time. 
5. No prior comms from Ebay so completely shocked as it arrived out-of-the-blue.
6. All auctions and always one bidder would secure a sale without any bidding activity so no suggestion of unusual bidding activity.
7. No retractions.
I think that answers all queries raised.
Ebay are constantly advertising for people to get involved with their platform. I now find these ads triggering. I was an open, honest individual with 70 sales over say three years and 38 positive comments, some really effusive. I find it concerning that someone like me who doesn't have any desire to cheat anyone and the evidence is there on my account can be closed down without any recourse. Surely we don't stand for exclusion without some sort of explanation in our society?
If I did something wrong without knowing then I am willing to hold my hands up to it but I deserve to know what it is in a democratic and open-minded, business economy. 
If there is no method to question this for me then how can anyone be sure that a mistake hasn't been made and that recourse, redress and restitution is necessary?

Anonymous_eBay_Buyer

OP, I am very sorry to hear of your unfortunate situation. It does seem that you genuinely have no idea what led to their decision, and it does seem unfair to me as well that they would just suddenly close out your account with only a very vague explanation as to why. 

The only thing that I can think of is that you can try calling eBay and speak personally with someone regarding this issue. Although based on the message sent to you, they may not disclose anything to you even then. May still be worth a shot, though. You may need to ask to speak with a supervisor if you call, as I suspect that the regular agents probably wouldn’t be able to assist here. And if you do get someone, be sure to mention that you have never bought anything using your account, despite the message stating that your account had contravened the Buyer Abuse Policy (That part sounds very strange to me). That may get their full attention and would want to discuss with you further on it. Other than that, I have no idea what else you can do. 

If all else fails, you can always try to seek a new platform to sell your items on. 

I wish you the best of luck.

ballisticbrian

[quote]3. One phone and one laptop used throughout the life of the account.[/quote]

Sorry it doesn't really cover everything. Did a mate pop round your son or daughter with a hidden laptop in their coat and without you knowing, ask for your childs network password?

MaxwellGridley

ballisticbrian said:

[quote]3. One phone and one laptop used throughout the life of the account.[/quote]

Sorry it doesn't really cover everything. Did a mate pop round your son or daughter with a hidden laptop in their coat and without you knowing, ask for your childs network password?

"Did a mate pop round your son or daughter with a hidden laptop in their coat and without you knowing, ask for your childs network password?" - the answer to this is no. The previous answer "One phone and one laptop used throughout the life of the account" remains the truth. 

MaxwellGridley

Anonymous_eBay_Buyer said:

OP, I am very sorry to hear of your unfortunate situation. It does seem that you genuinely have no idea what led to their decision, and it does seem unfair to me as well that they would just suddenly close out your account with only a very vague explanation as to why. 

The only thing that I can think of is that you can try calling eBay and speak personally with someone regarding this issue. Although based on the message sent to you, they may not disclose anything to you even then. May still be worth a shot, though. You may need to ask to speak with a supervisor if you call, as I suspect that the regular agents probably wouldn’t be able to assist here. And if you do get someone, be sure to mention that you have never bought anything using your account, despite the message stating that your account had contravened the Buyer Abuse Policy (That part sounds very strange to me). That may get their full attention and would want to discuss with you further on it. Other than that, I have no idea what else you can do. 

If all else fails, you can always try to seek a new platform to sell your items on. 

I wish you the best of luck.

Hi, thanks for your response. I have just tried phoning them and the computerised answer system refused to allow me to speak to anyone. It offered to send me stuff to my e-mail, suggested trawling through Ebay's website fro information and then flat refused when I asked to speak to an agent. 

MaxwellGridley

I have just now contacted Ebay by phone and spoken to a human agent. Once again, I have received the same response. They have a department which says it has received information indicating that my account may be a risk to their community. They won't divulge their evidence or reasoning. Both times, when questioned, they have terminated the contact prematurely. 

Anonymous_eBay_Buyer

MaxwellGridley said:

I have just now contacted Ebay by phone and spoken to a human agent. Once again, I have received the same response. They have a department which says it has received information indicating that my account may be a risk to their community. They won't divulge their evidence or reasoning. Both times, when questioned, they have terminated the contact prematurely. 

Really? Huh. Extremely harsh. They must have considered you to have done something quite serious if that was the outcome of your phone calls. 

I guess that it may be time to move on from them, then. It is rather unfortunate that they won’t even elaborate on the supposed offense nor allow you the opportunity to speak further on it. It does sound like that it may just be a mix-up or misunderstanding on their part. Apologies that it didn’t work out for you.

Hoenir

MaxwellGridley said:

 Both times, when questioned, they have terminated the contact prematurely. 

There's nothing further to be discussed from their perspective.  Endlessly going around in circles is a waste of time. The customer service agent is better moving on and dealing with the next query in the queue. 

Anonymous_eBay_Buyer

Hoenir said:

MaxwellGridley said:

 Both times, when questioned, they have terminated the contact prematurely. 

There's nothing further to be discussed from their perspective.  Endlessly going around in circles is a waste of time. The customer service agent is better moving on and dealing with the next query in the queue. 

Huh? Where are you getting from his post that he was attempting to go back and forth with the agent? I don’t see it. 

It is sounding to me that he is saying that he called, asked to speak on the issue, was then told by the agent that his account may be a risk to the eBay community, then he inquired on the reasoning, and then they ended the call. It doesn’t sound like he got any chance to argue or debate on it even if he wanted to. 

It does sound like he spoke with two different people, though.