My account was permanently restricted from selling ?
Summary: what_uk_buys experienced a permanent selling restriction on their eBay account after starting to sell items, despite providing all necessary documentation. They sought advice on possible avenues for review. 4_bathrooms responded, suggesting the possibility of the restriction being related to eBay's policies against retail arbitrage and questioned whether the item's location was accurately listed, particularly regarding the use of Amazon stock, which could have triggered a false flag by eBay's AI.
I am seeking advice from members who may have experienced a similar situation.
I registered my eBay account as a business seller in 2024 and provided complete and accurate business information during the registration process.
More recently, I began using the account to purchase items and subsequently decided to start selling. After listing my first product, I received and successfully fulfilled my first order. Shortly thereafter, my account was permanently restricted from selling.
As part of the review process, I submitted comprehensive supporting documentation, including purchase invoices, proof of identity, proof of my registered business address, and photographs of the inventory. The products are sourced through legitimate and traceable supply channels to ensure their authenticity.
Despite providing this documentation, the permanent selling restriction remains in place. I would be grateful to hear from anyone who has experienced a similar situation or who can advise whether there is any further avenue to request an additional review of my case.
Any guidance or shared experience would be greatly appreciated.
4_bathrooms
·1 month agoI'm guessing your permanent selling restriction had "MC011" mentioned somewhere in the message subject or message body; is that correct? These really are permanent selling restrictions and eBay usually states they are not appealable.
As you are permanently restricted from selling nobody can see the item you sold but I strongly suspect this excerpt from your "About" section was flagged by eBay's AI:
"All our items are authentic and come directly from our Amazon stock in the UK."
eBay has the following policy article that covers dropshipping which contains the following guidance:
"Dropshipping, where you fulfil orders directly from a wholesale supplier, is allowed on eBay. Remember though, if you use dropshipping, you're still responsible for the safe delivery of the item within the time frame you stated in your listing, and the buyer's overall satisfaction with their purchase.
However, listing an item on eBay and then purchasing the item from another retailer or marketplace that ships directly to your customer is not allowed on eBay."
The second paragraph relates to a practice generally known as "retail arbitrage"; this is where you list an item on eBay that you neither own nor do you have an existing agreement with the actual supplier who is contractually willing to supply the item direct to your buyer on your behalf. For example, seeing an item (that is not your own) listed on Amazon, listing it on eBay with some markup added to the price then only ordering the item from Amazon once you have received an order via eBay is definitely not allowed. I realise this isn't the case where you are concerned but I suspect this is what eBay's AI thought you had done.
What did you state was the item location in the listing? Was it your address or was it the Amazon FBA warehouse address where the items were shipped from?
Using Amazon's FBA is not disallowed by eBay as per the above policy but if a buyer receives an item that turns up in a smiley box and they subsequently realise they could have purchased the item cheaper directly from Amazon there will likely be problems as this strongly suggests retail arbitrage. Also, if an item is despatched from a location that is different to the location stated in the listing it will create problems as per eBay's related item location policy.