posted on August 23, 2001 06:44:29 PM
I am writing this letter concerning an issue that has developed in the last few days with my on-line selling activities with the auction venue www.ebay.com. I have been a member of the ebay community for approximately 32 months, since December 1998. I have built up a base of business which has allowed me to work at home, and maintain a steady source of income. This is very important to me, both financially and mentally, as I am unable to hold an average or usual job outside of my home. From birth, I have had Chronic Spinal Muscular Atrophy. This disease has steadily progressed and taken my ability to control my motor functions below the spine. Currently I am in my late twenties, and until I began my business on ebay, never held any type of job or career. As I stated, this venue of activity has become both financially and psychologically important to me. I am now able, for the first time in my life, to support myself financially without the assistance of my family. In addition, it has increased my mental outlook so much, that I look forward to getting up each day and conducting my ebay business. It has made me feel so much better about myself, that I can be independent, and actually contribute to society, and not be a drain. Until this came along, it was very often that I would lie in bed at night, and literally cry myself to sleep. I would think constantly about the things I wish I could do, and the frustration hurt so much, so often, that I was in a continual state of depression.
This brings me to what has recently developed, and why I am writing. On 8/22 ebay sent me an e-mail stating my account was suspended. A specific reason was not provided, nor was a chance to defend myself. The reason given was a general reason "Interfering with eBay's site and/or operations - The deliberate use of any device, software, routine, or activity to interfere or attempt to interfere with any of eBay's operations." I felt anger, hurt, and offended. Why would a major company such as ebay accuse one of their long-term customers of something, terminate their account, and not even give a reason. I e-mailed ebay at [email protected] and [email protected]. About one day later, I received an e-mail from a Lilith at eBay SafeHarbor Investigations Team. The reason for my suspension was that my account was suspended in association with a secondary account on their site. I was not told what that meant, nor was I given a chance to defend the accusation, or provided with any further information.
I am not sure who to turn to for assistance, and that is why I am posting this letter. I am also contacting numerous other agencies including disability advocate groups, federal agencies, and media outlets to seek someone who can assist me. I would greatly appreciate if you could either get in touch with me and let me know what may possibly be done to pursue this action that ebay has initiated, and seek possible legal action or reinstatement of my account.
Thank you for your time.
posted on August 23, 2001 06:59:15 PM
WE are like you,just sellers on ebay.
can you tell us more,like what is this secondary account?
it is hard to believe ebay would hurt its sellers by shutting down their account/activities without giving reason why?
recently i have an unresolved transaction with another seller who has 700 feedbacks.
since it is not resolved to her satisfaction,she went thru my feedback file (2500) and emailed every user id who have left a negative or neutral feedback plus all my current bidders while auction is on going.
i turned the case over to ebay and i received 3 canned responses,the last one said they have taken action and they do not disclose what they have done.
she is still listing and selling and using another id to leave bad feedback on me.
so ebay seems rather lax in discipling its members.
so may be you can give us more details of what you think this is all about??
posted on August 23, 2001 07:02:52 PM
I have pasted below what ebay sent to me as their explanation for terminating my account. I do not have more than one ebay account. I am assuming (at least at this juncture) that secondary account means some other ebay member.
Hello,
Thank you for writing to eBay concerning your account status.
After reviewing the information that we have for your account, I found
that your account was suspended in association with a secondary account
on our site. Based on the information you have provided, I have
reviewed your situation. It has been determined that your account cannot
be reinstated due to the nature of the policy violation which caused the
suspension of your account.
You can read more about our policies on site interference at the
following address:
posted on August 23, 2001 07:19:09 PM
This is the first e-mail ebay sent me:
Dear XXXXXXXXXX,
We regret to inform you that your eBay account has been suspended due to the violation of our site policy below:
* Interfering with eBay's site and/or operations - The deliberate use of any device, software, routine, or activity to interfere or attempt to interfere with any of eBay's operations.
Due to the suspension of this account, please be advised you are prohibited from using eBay in any way. This includes the registering of a new account.
Please note that this suspension does not relieve you of your agreed-upon obligation to pay any fees you may owe to eBay.
posted on August 23, 2001 07:23:02 PM
I would continue to email them telling them that you really have no idea what they are talking about, that you run an above board business, and that it is, as you explained to us, an important part of your existence. I'd like to see how they would try and defend themselves if you went to the media with this one.
Dollars to donuts, this is totally erroneous on their part and they should get this cleared up pronto.
posted on August 23, 2001 07:24:52 PM
why not call ebay and try to talk to a real person ?
I don't have ebay contact numbers on this computer so I can't post them for you right now If no one else post them I will post them for you tomorrow when I am on my other PC
posted on August 23, 2001 07:36:34 PM
massjoe: Oh, you poor dear!
I imagine you must be very upset to lose your account with eBay and not even have a clear understanding of WHY.
Have you EVER been given notice or warning regarding any kind of violation on eBay? Is is possible that you might have overlooked a previous eMail from eBay?
I'm very curious about this. If you find the time, perhaps you'd indulge me with an EMAIL TO ME with more information about this situation... like - what is your eBay seller User I.D. and or registered eMail address, the level of sales you have on the site (I noticed that you mentioned contacting Power Seller suppport so I'm guessing that you are at least Bronze level... right?) and what kinds of things you were selling at the time of your suspension.
Let's just hope this is all a simple little mix-up of some sorts at eBay central! *smile*
posted on August 23, 2001 07:36:43 PM
Here is the third e-mail I just received. i ask specifically why the account was suspended, and I am not given ANY new information.
Hello,
Thank you for responding with this information.
I understand you feel we have been unfair in upholding this suspension,
and we take your complaint very seriously.
The definition as per the notice that you received, site interference is
the deliberate use of any device, software, routine, or activity to
interfere or attempt to interfere with any of eBay's operations.
Specifically, your account was found to be associated with a secondary
account that was used to interfere in normal eBay operations.
I have reviewed your situation again, and it has been decided that this
account will remain closed.
posted on August 23, 2001 07:43:31 PM
Hope these help you, these are the numbers and email addresses I currently have on file for ebay. These will give you a few contact phone numbers to try. Let us know how it works out, and we will all hope for the best for you.~smile~
SOURCE eBay, Inc.
CONTACT: Kristin Seuell, 408-558-7431, or [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>, or Kevin Pursglove, 408-558-7458, both of eBay, Inc.; or Judy Matthews of WGBH National Promotion, 617-300-5343, or [email protected]
posted on August 23, 2001 07:43:39 PM
it sounds like they trace your account to another account which has been suspended.
for example,one seller/buyer has done something in violation of ebay rules and is no longer allowed to participate on ebay.
so he/she just get herself/himself another email id with another account.
i dont know how extensive does ebay track new/old accounts - if a person open a new ebay account using the same telephone line,ebay knows and assume it is the same person!!
same credit card.social security number,bank account,driver id ,passport number etc,mailing address ??
thumb prints,fbi file ???
posted on August 23, 2001 07:47:26 PM
Does any member of your family have an account with ebay/ do you both have AOL email addresses?
Seems like you are connected to another account - what do you think the connection is? Family menber?
Seems there's some info missing here.
"she is still listing and selling and using another id to leave bad feedback on me"
HWA, no one can leave you FB unless they win an auction of yours, or you win one of theirs. So what's up?
posted on August 23, 2001 07:51:55 PM
I think you need to ask them for the name of the secondary account so you can determine who it is and proceed from there.
Try not to get depressed. Usually these things are resolved in a few days.
posted on August 23, 2001 07:52:41 PM
I think you need to ask them for the name of the secondary account so you can determine who it is and proceed from there.
Try not to get depressed. Usually these things are resolved in a few days.
posted on August 23, 2001 07:53:29 PM
I don't understand why they can't tell you who the secondary account belongs to.
Can you go back over your feedback record and see if anyone has been recently suspended? Maybe they are connected some way with haveing done business with you.
I have a really hard time with why eBay has to be so vague in such important matters such as this.
posted on August 23, 2001 07:55:31 PM
I think you need to email Dottie with what she asked. She can probably find out what they're talking about for you.
posted on August 23, 2001 08:23:01 PM
capotasto-
another bidder who won an auction from me started carping about the same problem and it sounds like the same MO.
it could be her with a different id ,the same wording and temperament.
she has 700 feedback and she sells used books and pc and shipping fee is very low as she ship bookrate.
i sell non books and my fee is higher,i ship either usps priority or first class.
for a difference of 2.00 ,she has time to go thru my file of over 3000 feedbacks and email 100 .
shipping is stated in item description ,from shipping,both move on to the item itself,that it is not authentic ,it is misrepresented etc etc.
interesting neither wants to return the item.
what i dont understand is that a used bookseller of nice intellectual books would be so furious and vicious over 2 dollars?
i do not know her,or i dont think i know her or have we ever cross path?i dont sell much books on ebay so i just dont understand what the rage is all about.
was she having a bad hair day?it just sounds like a lot of work to get someone to refund 2.00,risking the chance of ebay violation,
posted on August 23, 2001 08:28:14 PM
oh,on her me page,she described herself as a used bookstore owner who closed her shop and now sell in cyberspace.
she has 3 links on the me page-abe.com.amzn.com and bibliofind.com,unfortunately either these sites are gone or the link is no good becasue when you click on the link,it comes back to the me page.
may be she is not selling on those sites anymore,but she does well selling on ebay ,she has her fans!!
i am sure ebay now has a file on her that she has violated ebay rule.
posted on August 23, 2001 08:41:03 PM
Sorry to here about your problems massjoe.
You will not get anywhere with ebay. They will keep giving you their canned responses. It is a no-win situation. Whether it is Lilith, Alfred or Buffy Poon at Ebay/Safe Harbor Support, they are all alike. They will never give you the answers you are looking for.
I would suggest posting auctions on a different auction site. You will spend at least a month going around in circles only to get frustrated in the end trying to get Ebay to resolve this.
And Ebay wonders why their revenues are down...hmmmmm
posted on August 23, 2001 09:25:04 PM
If anyone can help you, Dottie can. The very best of luck to you and if you can not get this resolved with ebay ...then I would seriously consider getting the media involved.......There is no excuse for their vagueness and it just does not make sense??
posted on August 23, 2001 09:39:57 PM
FYI, Kael Loftus hasn't been with eBay for approximately two years.
My word, regardless of whether this suspension is justified or not, I am absolutely APPALLED at the poor communication and complete lack of due process. Anyone who is slapped with such a serious consequence MUST have some recourse -- they MUST have an opportunity to appeal to a specific review body (NOT the same person who made the initial decision). In addition, I find eBay's explanation to be extremely rude and inadequate.
I am dismayed to realize that the Safeharbor protocols are so terribly lacking.
posted on August 23, 2001 09:47:19 PM
Could this possibly have something to do with being on Social Security Disability and the rule of not earning over a certain amount? I'm assuming you do get those benefits given your stated disabilities so perhaps there could be a connection there?
It just occured to me that someone may have accused you of shill bidding using a second ID. Go back through your records and see if any of your repeat customers have been suspended.
posted on August 24, 2001 06:12:18 AM
i dont believe ss disability benefits is reason for ebay to suspend its members,this is between uncle sam and the seller.
but there are certain uncle sam issues which would make ebay take action like mail fraud.
posted on August 24, 2001 06:26:01 AM
How in the world would ebay know or even care if this person is collecting SSDI? That's none of their business and not a requirement of his to tell them.
The letter said site interference in relation to a secondary ID. Since when does collecting government benefits for a disability fall under the auspice of site interference in connection to a secondary ID?
He needs help with this and since there is a voice's person on this thread willing to help, he should get with that person.
hawa - she is still listing and selling and using another id to leave bad feedback on me.
If you know this is her using another feedback to bid on your auctions in order to leave bad feedback, block her! She can't leave feedback without having a completed transaction. You wouldn't be bidding on her auctions would you?
posted on August 24, 2001 07:01:42 AM
the other bidder has bot the item before this problem comes up.
it seems she has more than one internet service provider as i tried to block her mail,well,she sent me another one thru a different provider.
yes,i am thinking of blocking her from future bidding,but she has done enough damage,now other buyers want to knwo how much is shipping.
shipping fine porcelain figurine by usps priority double boxing well packed etc insured is not the same as shipping used books or postcards by bookrate.
personally i think she should charge more for her books as 2.20 just cover usps postage and her packing material is not included,but then i dont know how much she paid for her books,if she is willing to charge just postage ,she must be doing ok giving away her supply.
i just dont understand how she can dictate how much other sellers charge for shipping expecially there are such diversed group of sellers with diversed products on ebay.
i think what she has done is serious,and ebay did not say what action has been taken,but i know she is still in business,so it could be just a warning.
does her action fall under interrupting,interfering,violating ebay rules and operations?
i think it does,emailing another seller's past and present bidders with message like i would be very careful with this seller and bragged she has collected over 40 responses!!
posted on August 24, 2001 07:39:21 AM
This is similar to another AW member who was suspended 4 times for this: AuthorizedArt. If he's still around, maybe he could provide some helpful advice/info for you.
Ebay must enjoy booting people off. You're the 3rd person I've seen posting here about the same thing.
posted on August 24, 2001 07:39:57 AM
I agree with outoftheblue. It's very possible that eBay thinks that you are involved in shill bidding. Didn't several Power Sellers get e-mails from eBay regarding Shill Bidding or am I imagining things?
