posted on April 7, 2005 05:16:56 AM
I thought y'all might be interested in this email that I received this morning. I've purchased many many items from this seller over the years.
Where are my 1,500+ auction items
This is xxxxxxx. This morning (April 6th), without
warning, eBay closed all of my 1,500+ newly listed items, and called me
to
tell me I was about to be "indefinitely suspended from eBay". I asked
if I
could have an hour to appeal this decision to eBay, and was told that
was
impossible.
Thirty minutes later all the auctions were closed and my
account
now reads "not a registered user". This after 160,000+ sales in five
years, with 110,000 positive feedbacks (against only 12 negatives,
likely
an eBay record!).
I called eBay and was told that I had been indefinitely
suspended
because I had "repeatedly violated their rules" (selling items that
were in
their VERO program, selling items not allowed, such as a "Mein Kampf"
movie
poster, etc) and that they believed they had located a second account
that
I was using to place bids on my items, and that this, combined with my
many
past offenses, was why I was being "indefinitely suspended from eBay".
Let me explain about the second account. My main computer
expert
is Phillip Wages and he is a poster collector. When Phillip started
working for me four years ago, he started bidding on a few of my items,
to
add to his collection.
This worked out fine for a few months, until eBay called me
and
told me he could not bid on my items using his own name. The person
explained that what mattered was the appearance of impropriety. I
asked
what would be the difference if Phillip had a friend bid on items for
him,
and the person said that would be fine, as long as he wasn't bidding
through his own account.
Phillip began to bid with a friend's account. Over the next
couple of years he purchased items on this account for his collection.
He
also used this account to place some bids for people who did not
register
for our major auctions in time, giving those who had missed registering
the
chance to bid.
I feel that this bidding on Phillip's part was sanctioned by
eBay,
given that they said he could bid through a friend's account and he
did.
As to the "numerous other violations" the eBay employee cited,
they were all minor items where I unknowingly violated one of their
many
confusing rules, and in every case I chose to let eBay end the auction
rather that contest their ruling, even though I believed it to be
incorrect
in almost all cases, for I might well have spent hours writing many
e-mails
to get them to allow me to sell a five or ten dollar item. But now
they
are saying those "violations" make me a "repeat offender", so maybe I
should have fought each and every one of them.
Somehow eBay has now decided that Phillip's bidding was in
violation of their policy (even though he bid via the method their
employee
suggested) and the "numerous other violations" (commonplace among all
high
volume sellers) were never an issue at all, until they served eBay's
need
to now suspend me indefinitely.
I can't help but feel that this ruling on eBay's part is
directly
connected to my public criticism of some of their methods for the past
two
years. The past month I have posted to a "super-PowerSellers" eBay
discussion board, and I wonder if my candid posts there are not
directly
the reason for my "indefinitely suspension from eBay"!
Perhaps this is a blessing in disguise. I have made it clear
that
I have long wanted to sell somewhere other that eBay. Maybe this is
the
time to make this move. I am considering three options:
1) I can appeal to eBay and see if they will reverse their
unfair
action.
2) I can begin selling on another auction site, just as I did
from
1990 to 2000 with Christie's and Howard Lowery.
3) I can invest in auction software and auction from my own
site.
I will take a few days and decide which course of action to
follow. In the meantime, I want to thank the hundreds of you who have
already contacted me voicing your support (news travels fast!). Many
of
you have asked what you can do to help, and honestly, right now there
is
nothing that needs be done. I firmly believe this is a momentary
glitch in
the big scheme of things, and that ultimately everything will surely
work
out for the best.
Of course I will e-mail you again once I have more news to
report!
1) Selling restricted items even after being warned
2) Shill bidding
3) Unexplained "numerous other violations"
So, what's the problem here? Looks like eBay is finally doing their job!
--------------------------------------
Replay Media - The best source for board games, card games and miniatures on the web! http://www.replaymedia.com
posted on April 7, 2005 08:47:42 AM
"ebay strikes again."
-----------
"I want to thank the hundreds of you who have
already contacted me voicing your support (news travels fast!)."
WELLLLLLLLLLLLL, i bet you wont get hundreds of posters supporting you, or your "seller," from EO...at least i hope you dont.
-------------
FINNALLLY,
"So, what's the problem here? Looks like eBay is finally doing their job!" WELL SAID!!!
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posted on April 7, 2005 10:39:40 AM
Just curious why you would sell VERO items, and items not allowed, apparently repeatedly, without expecting any other result? I've had an auction pulled because of VERO, and I would never try to sell it there again because quite frankly I wouldn't want to be suspended from ebay.
The part about your employee bidding from your second ebay account, that sure looks like shill bidding to me, and I am sure to ebay as well. Why would an employee of yours use ebay to bid on items, that seems very suspect. Wouldn't it make more sense to sell directly to avoid ebay fees?
I haven't sold 160,000 items, but I have sold about 40,000 - I don't find ebay's rules confusing. In all the items I have sold, I've had 3 listings ended by ebay. One was vero, one was something they suggested should be in an adult category (though it was only an R rated movie, but I didn't argue with them) and the last was because it was something that was apparently not legal to sell (some obscure game system that was not legit apparently)
It appears to me that you've been trying to outsmart ebay by skirting the rules, and they finally called you on it. I wish they would do this more often, not less! You don't have my sympathy.
posted on April 7, 2005 01:40:42 PM
"The part about your employee bidding from your second ebay account, that sure looks like shill bidding to me, and I am sure to ebay as well. Why would an employee of yours use ebay to bid on items, that seems very suspect. Wouldn't it make more sense to sell directly to avoid ebay fees?"
I think ebayvet has made a very good point here. Why would you let eBay get listing and FVF fees from you for an item you could sell directly to your employee?
Edited to add: Does he pay you cash for the items when he wins them?
___________________________________
[ edited by Roadsmith on Apr 7, 2005 01:42 PM ]
posted on April 7, 2005 01:58:06 PM
You state that without warning, your account was suspended.
It appears to me that you had plenty of warning. The bigger point is that you choose to ignore the warnings and continue to violate even the basic rules. Yes, Ebay's rules can be confusing, but there are many common sense rules that even a 6 year old would understand that you violated.
IMHO, you should appologize to everyone, move onto the other auction site and start being a more honest business person.
.
.
.
Alive in 2005
posted on April 7, 2005 04:59:28 PM
Am I missing something?....
georgiapeach stated they received this letter from someone they've purchased from in the past. Maybe she knows the answers to your questions, but as a buyer, I wouldn't know them about another seller, as a rule.
posted on April 8, 2005 03:39:47 AM
Just a quick point from me, which is no coincidence. A few weeks ago, I pointed out a problem with one of ebay's pages in their public forum, and I very rarely post there. And magically on the same day, ebay decided about 10 of my auctions were suddenly in violation. This occurred after years of no problems with ebay. So the original poster's hypothesis about ebay staff retaliation for a seller speaking out does not surprise me at all.
posted on April 8, 2005 04:40:39 AM
blackjack - maybe when another user read your post they "viewed sellers items" and reported you. But who knows? I hate it when posters hide behind posting id's and yet I am sure there are those who live to make trouble for identified posters.
It seems to me that OP's seller was overdue for some reprisals for repeat violations. I think there was a thread on the PS board about how some Super Power Sellers violations were being overlooked by ebay and another on the store sellers board about the top sellers' (Jay and Marie) continued use of keyword spamming without punishment...both places were calling for a "level playing field". I think ebay once responded to one of those threads with "give us some time"...and pointed out that several major jewelry sellers were shut down last December for violations...maybe ebay is doing some leveling?
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