Ebay Restricted Account - No True Explanation - Robot Form letters! Ripoff Internet

Does eBay care whether you have a family of 4 or a hefty mortgage or that your mom died and you need to pay for her funeral?

Nope, they will just outright suspend you and blame it all on you for your issues. I got suspended and it put a big damper on my business. Going from $10,000 a month all the way to 0 in less than 2 minutes.

I was crushed when that happen. No good eBay did nothing to relieve the tension either. Tried endless months to lift the suspension, but they didn't budge.

I had to resort to desperate measures and use Auction Essistance for stealth accounts. They are not a quick solution, but it is better to sell a small amount without getting banned again and going to 0.

I'm not sure if they are not with us, or really do not care. No honest person could really respond that they would want to be treated the way Ebay treats their customers. I guess I don't really know what to do. I did actually file a report with the Better Business Bureau, but I don't know if that will even do anything. I guess it would take hundreds of people filing reports before anythng really makes a difference. I guess money speaks volumes, and the only way to truly get their attention, is through their purse strings. Are there enough people out there that are having problems? I truly don't know, but I don't think you and I are the only ones. Are we?

Did you notice that our anonymous Ebay employee has been MIA since I pointed out the BS they were trying to fling at us? The fact is, Ebay does NOT look at the items it pulls and they restrict accounts indiscriminately. Their policy is vague and at times ludicrous. Look at my example...They're telling me that it is against their policy for me to resell a used aesthetic diaper cover that came with a dress, yet I can list and sell all the used BATHING SUITS I want to. Which is ACTUALLY the potential biohazard item? And who are THEY to tell me that I can't list items as like new. If an item shows NO WEAR WHATSOEVER, then it is like new.

I am the person that filed the report, and I will state again, I understand that there are rules and regulations; however, I was told in an email the reason my listing was suspended was because I had "LIKE NEW" in the title, not as you stated "As New"; I was not selling as NEW - but OK, I took LIKE NEW out of the listing.

For the sake of argument, let's say OK, they are right. There are people out there that are less than honest. But there are a heck of a lot more of people out there that are honest. People do make mistakes. However, we are human beings that deserve to at least be treated with some dignity......in this case, customers are not even given the benefit of someone looking at this on an individual bases.

I am guessing you are somehow connected with Ebay.....reread your response to me and tell me that is how you want to be treated as a customer...longer than 15 seconds, it gets thrown out. I can only imagine if customers of stores like Best Buy, or Radio Shack, or even Wal Mart were treated like this - you would not go back. Ebay has a monoply now - but will it always?

The problem is, what company treats their CUSTOMERS like this? Even with the notorious IRS, when you do something wrong, they at least have a live person explain it to you. Why all the secrecy? Why do you have to play 20 questions to MAYBE guess what you did wrong? How can you make sure it does not happen again.

My biggest complaint is that all of the responses were canned responses - I actually had a problem because right before I was suspended I had put in an Auction and I forgot to change something in the title. I sent an email asking how I could fix this since my account was suspended. I got the same canned response that I received when I ask them why my account was suspended. My problem was never even mentioned - word for word exactly the same as before. My Auction stayed out there with the wrong wording.

No company should be allowed to treat their customers this way. And I will say again, companies do not make money without customers - and I know Ebay is big, but some day there just might be some competition - which is healthy for the competitive market.

I am the person that filed the report, and I will state again, I understand that there are rules and regulations; however, I was told in an email the reason my listing was suspended was because I had "LIKE NEW" in the title, not as you stated "As New"; I was not selling as NEW - but OK, I took LIKE NEW out of the listing.

For the sake of argument, let's say OK, they are right. There are people out there that are less than honest. But there are a heck of a lot more of people out there that are honest. People do make mistakes. However, we are human beings that deserve to at least be treated with some dignity......in this case, customers are not even given the benefit of someone looking at this on an individual bases.

I am guessing you are somehow connected with Ebay.....reread your response to me and tell me that is how you want to be treated as a customer...longer than 15 seconds, it gets thrown out. I can only imagine if customers of stores like Best Buy, or Radio Shack, or even Wal Mart were treated like this - you would not go back. Ebay has a monoply now - but will it always?

The problem is, what company treats their CUSTOMERS like this? Even with the notorious IRS, when you do something wrong, they at least have a live person explain it to you. Why all the secrecy? Why do you have to play 20 questions to MAYBE guess what you did wrong? How can you make sure it does not happen again.

My biggest complaint is that all of the responses were canned responses - I actually had a problem because right before I was suspended I had put in an Auction and I forgot to change something in the title. I sent an email asking how I could fix this since my account was suspended. I got the same canned response that I received when I ask them why my account was suspended. My problem was never even mentioned - word for word exactly the same as before. My Auction stayed out there with the wrong wording.

No company should be allowed to treat their customers this way. And I will say again, companies do not make money without customers - and I know Ebay is big, but some day there just might be some competition - which is healthy for the competitive market.

According to your account, all my items listed as bloomers should have been pulled. However, I have never had an item pulled when I listed as bloomers or w/matching bloomers. VERY LITTLE of what I sell is new clothing. Mostly used kids clothes. I invite you to look at the websites for Gymboree and Gap and the like and view how they describe the short pant type product that comes with dresses and skirts. They call it a diaper cover. People search on Ebay for the diaper cover that matches a dress. People email and ask me if the diaper cover is included with dresses and/or skirts I am selling. Please explain to me how this short, legless, pant type product which comes with dresses and skirts and is for aesthetic purposes is what Ebay considers a diaper cover...or more correctly, the plastic or rubber lined covering used over CLOTH DIAPERS AND TRAINING PANTS TO CONTAIN THE MESS which comes into direct contact with urine and feces. I don't know of anyone STUPID enough to use these products as an only covering for cloth diapers/pants. If there ARE people out there that dumb, I pray that I NEVER get invited into their homes. I can only imagine what their furniture and carpet must look and smell like. That would be simply idiotic. Who comes up with this deluded policy anyway? As you can see, it's FAR too general. I agree that the sick garbage has no place on there, but I'm not selling poop stained underpants and used prophylactics, now am I? How do YOU suggest I list my items?

Point,set, game.

Hi Leena,

The policy your items were removed under is called the used clothing(underwear) policy. There are various sterilization requirements for used clothing or medical devices to be listed. Miss mentioning it, and the item comes down.

The underwear specific part of the policy is really to prevent listing of used underwear, panties, bandages, and cloth diapers. There is also a related policy under adult items that is probably too much info (fetish items) for this site.

pages.ebay.com/help/policies/used-clothing.html

"cloth diapers (including diaper covers)" are not allowed to be listed.

The agents that work the illegal items get scarred for life, diapers are tame compared to some of the twisted stuff that they have to look at. So you'll have to pardon them being given easy items like this to remove, it gives them a break from the terrible stuff.

How this relates to Ana's situation is again on the topic of keyword spam.

Since Neena said her items were bloomers, that go over diapers, this automatically classified the items as diaper covers. Bloomers themselves carry the impression that it is underwear. If the item is new, it could be sold, but if it's been used, it was correctly removed by eBay.

Nearly every item removed by eBay, regardless of policy is correctly removed. A very small portion is incorrectly removed, and then really only for policies that recently changed before staff was retrained on it. eBay members may feel hurt or wronged by it, but everything removed is in the interest of protecting the eBay community. Keyword spam, is usually both intellectual property violations and also search engine clutter, but you luck out if you are only removed for keyword spam.

If you are suspended for an infringement violation, that means you had to have done it several times already. A suspension is considered a final warning.

They have repeatedly pulled my auctions and store listings. They don't even look at the items. They have pulled diaper bloomers on me numerous times and just keep telling me that used cloth diapers are prohibited. Any idiot who actually looked at the listings would have seen that these items were not diapers. They were bloomers that go under dresses to HIDE the diaper. They keep telling me that its for hygienic reasons. If that's so...then how come I can sell all the dang USED BATHING SUITS I want to? One would think they are just as unclean as used underwear, bras, and cloth diapers.

They have repeatedly pulled my auctions and store listings. They don't even look at the items. They have pulled diaper bloomers on me numerous times and just keep telling me that used cloth diapers are prohibited. Any idiot who actually looked at the listings would have seen that these items were not diapers. They were bloomers that go under dresses to HIDE the diaper. They keep telling me that its for hygienic reasons. If that's so...then how come I can sell all the dang USED BATHING SUITS I want to? One would think they are just as unclean as used underwear, bras, and cloth diapers.

They have repeatedly pulled my auctions and store listings. They don't even look at the items. They have pulled diaper bloomers on me numerous times and just keep telling me that used cloth diapers are prohibited. Any idiot who actually looked at the listings would have seen that these items were not diapers. They were bloomers that go under dresses to HIDE the diaper. They keep telling me that its for hygienic reasons. If that's so...then how come I can sell all the dang USED BATHING SUITS I want to? One would think they are just as unclean as used underwear, bras, and cloth diapers.

They have repeatedly pulled my auctions and store listings. They don't even look at the items. They have pulled diaper bloomers on me numerous times and just keep telling me that used cloth diapers are prohibited. Any idiot who actually looked at the listings would have seen that these items were not diapers. They were bloomers that go under dresses to HIDE the diaper. They keep telling me that its for hygienic reasons. If that's so...then how come I can sell all the dang USED BATHING SUITS I want to? One would think they are just as unclean as used underwear, bras, and cloth diapers.

Response to : ebay Restricted Account - No True Explanation - Robot Form letters! Ripoff Internet Ebay


Hello Ana,

There are two points to your report I will address, please bear with me.

The first point is 'As New' , this is a valid violation and unfortunately if you list on a site that has eBay Express, the listing would be removed for being a comparision to 'new'. There is no way around it, but you should be using a conditional adjective to describe the condition in the title. You would be able to make a comparison in the decription, just not the title.

The second part however is the more telling of how eBay policy and American companies operate. For non-disclosure reasons, eBay can not tell you what criteria was used to remove your listing. Pay very close attention to the time and date of the listing removal. This will tell you exactly what item the violation was in.

You will not be able to get eBay to remove the violation or unsuspend the account untill at least the suspension time is up unless it was an invalid removal. Even if it was an invalid removal you need to write a short appeal with how you intend to prove the item is legimate for it to be considered. Long appeals with backstories about the item are irrelevant and ignored. If it can't be read in 15 seconds you will simply get the macro response. This is intentional.

Depending on which country (US I presume,) the Rights Holder holds final say. If your item was removed by VeRO, then appeal to the Righs Holder. If it was not removed by VeRO, you will simply not be able to appeal it. Certain items that are subject to counterfeiting (Designer brands for clothing, bags, perfumes and cosmetics) have a zero tolerance policy. If it meets the criteria it comes down, even if the seller posts a slideshow of them purchasing it from the store. The criteria changes fast enough that if you weren't removed one week, you might be removed in a few weeks if just that one point changes to make it a violation.

This is why you have to put as much effort as possible into demonstrating the item is authentic. All the designer brands have VeRO accounts, so if you did enough work that VeRO requested eBay to take it down instead, you can appeal to the Rights Owner. If it was removed by eBay, there is much evidence to suggest the item is fake.

You mentioned Childrens Clothing, so my guess would have to be a designer brand of childrens clothing actually filing a report, as childrens clothing is not usually removed for infringement unless a VeRO report comes in. I can not/will not access your account to remain anonymous.

Again I request that you go back and look at the time and date of the item that was removed for infringement.

For anyone else reading, to avoid tripping most takedown alarms:

Always take your own pictures (Image Theft Policy)

State exactly what you are selling in the title and description (Keyword spam)

Describe the Name, Model, Condition, Purchase date and location(not websites,) and Serial numbers. (No-Item policy)

Photographs must match what you are describing exactly. If you mention a serial number, take a picture of it, if you mention a brand label, take a photo of it (Keyword Spam - Excessive Brand Names), If it is not in the photo, it should not be in the description.

Describe ONLY the item being sold (No-Item policy) or items as part of the lot.
Never sell items that you do not know the origin of. Ever. Especially now with all the made-in-china recalls.

If it's Illegal in the USA, it's Illegal everwhere.

I would like to help you further, but you would actually need to post the contents of your item listing for me to determine what would be cause for removal. If you have waited at least 7 days you should appeal to eBay to be reinstated, but do not relist the item that suspended your account, even after being reinstated. Again, check the time and date the item was removed to determine which specific item caused it. It would be in the actual email, check My eBay My Messages for it, there should be a warning triangle near it.

Response to : ebay Restricted Account - No True Explanation - Robot Form letters! Ripoff Internet Ebay


Hello Ana,

There are two points to your report I will address, please bear with me.

The first point is 'As New' , this is a valid violation and unfortunately if you list on a site that has eBay Express, the listing would be removed for being a comparision to 'new'. There is no way around it, but you should be using a conditional adjective to describe the condition in the title. You would be able to make a comparison in the decription, just not the title.

The second part however is the more telling of how eBay policy and American companies operate. For non-disclosure reasons, eBay can not tell you what criteria was used to remove your listing. Pay very close attention to the time and date of the listing removal. This will tell you exactly what item the violation was in.

You will not be able to get eBay to remove the violation or unsuspend the account untill at least the suspension time is up unless it was an invalid removal. Even if it was an invalid removal you need to write a short appeal with how you intend to prove the item is legimate for it to be considered. Long appeals with backstories about the item are irrelevant and ignored. If it can't be read in 15 seconds you will simply get the macro response. This is intentional.

Depending on which country (US I presume,) the Rights Holder holds final say. If your item was removed by VeRO, then appeal to the Righs Holder. If it was not removed by VeRO, you will simply not be able to appeal it. Certain items that are subject to counterfeiting (Designer brands for clothing, bags, perfumes and cosmetics) have a zero tolerance policy. If it meets the criteria it comes down, even if the seller posts a slideshow of them purchasing it from the store. The criteria changes fast enough that if you weren't removed one week, you might be removed in a few weeks if just that one point changes to make it a violation.

This is why you have to put as much effort as possible into demonstrating the item is authentic. All the designer brands have VeRO accounts, so if you did enough work that VeRO requested eBay to take it down instead, you can appeal to the Rights Owner. If it was removed by eBay, there is much evidence to suggest the item is fake.

You mentioned Childrens Clothing, so my guess would have to be a designer brand of childrens clothing actually filing a report, as childrens clothing is not usually removed for infringement unless a VeRO report comes in. I can not/will not access your account to remain anonymous.

Again I request that you go back and look at the time and date of the item that was removed for infringement.

For anyone else reading, to avoid tripping most takedown alarms:

Always take your own pictures (Image Theft Policy)

State exactly what you are selling in the title and description (Keyword spam)

Describe the Name, Model, Condition, Purchase date and location(not websites,) and Serial numbers. (No-Item policy)

Photographs must match what you are describing exactly. If you mention a serial number, take a picture of it, if you mention a brand label, take a photo of it (Keyword Spam - Excessive Brand Names), If it is not in the photo, it should not be in the description.

Describe ONLY the item being sold (No-Item policy) or items as part of the lot.
Never sell items that you do not know the origin of. Ever. Especially now with all the made-in-china recalls.

If it's Illegal in the USA, it's Illegal everwhere.

I would like to help you further, but you would actually need to post the contents of your item listing for me to determine what would be cause for removal. If you have waited at least 7 days you should appeal to eBay to be reinstated, but do not relist the item that suspended your account, even after being reinstated. Again, check the time and date the item was removed to determine which specific item caused it. It would be in the actual email, check My eBay My Messages for it, there should be a warning triangle near it.