Okay, I’m gonna tell you what happened to me after I saw the dreaded red banner with “update your account details” in my Sellers Hub.
So pretty much immediately after my 28th sale I get the dreaded red banner saying “please update your account details” and to provide a form of photo ID .This worried me as I thought I had done something wrong (which I hadn’t) so I asked the ebay community what they thought and some people thought that it may be something to do with money laundering, which by the way it isn’t. Anyway I used the chat option in Help and Contacts to get a callback from ebay and they assured me that “We are only asking for photo ID just to make ebay a safer place for everybody”, (at this stage, this is lie number 2), to which I replied “ But I don’t have any photo ID” (which I genuinely don’t), so he then replied “ Okay, you can just use some sort of government issued document such as Council tax details” so I said “Okay I can do that”.
So I take a photograph of it, scan it and click send, and what do you know literally within less than five minutes I was able to sell again (but ebay have now reeled me in by 50%). Great” I thought so I relist all my items and I noticed that my funds that were on hold have now been released, but I can’t transfer them to my bank account which I thought was a bit strange but I thought “ Well, maybe it’s because of the Easter holidays” and thought nothing else of it…. End of part one!
Part two.
Now this part I suppose is my own fault I guess.
So this morning I make two more sales after re-listing my items but my happiness was short-lived because now I have reached the dreaded 30 sales (which I completely forgot about), and, BOOM another red banner appears and my funds are once again put on hold unless I now give them my National Insurance number! I should’ve taken down my listings after sale 29 (or 27 to be on the safe side) but just completely forgot and ebay were all ready and waiting to pounce after sale number 28 and sure enough they got me (have now been reeled in 100%) literally six minutes after making my 30th sale I get emailed saying I must now provide my NI number to get my funds released and so that they can now inform HMRC as I have now reached my 30th sale. (For tax purposes, obviously).
So all that reassurance that I was given on the phone about It just being routine for safety reasons was an absolute load of baloney and it was all about HMRC all along which deep down I think I knew. I also asked about the red banner on a previous callback and was also told “Oh no, it’s nothing to do with your sales it’s just routine ebay updating”. This was the first lie.
And believe me when I say it doesn’t matter what you say to them or how many questions you ask they have an answer for it ALL, but just not truthful ones. I hate being lied to and now have to consider whether I will continue on ebay.
So there you have it that’s what happens if you proceed with giving ebay what they want after receiving a red banner “update your account” notice. Some people won’t be bothered by it at all, and I get that but it’s the fact that you are deliberately deceived and lied to that really pees me off.
Anyway, I hope by telling you my account will help some of you out and help you make your decisions.
Good luck!
