The Dreaded 'Ebay Account Restricted' Email

[compression_sofas]

Hi Everyone

As the title says, a few days ago I got the email that stated that my account has been restricted.

Ebay demanded me to submit proof of ID and Driving Licence. Everything was submitted and now I'm being told that my account will be permanently restricted and 'I cannot do anything about it'.  The ID submitted was correct and matched the account.

I don't even know the reason why it was restricted in the first place. Bamboozled really - and I consider myself as knowing all the ins and outs of ebay. Tried ringing customer services and the Phillipine team seem like they're reading content from a scripted book.

So does anyone know of a way to get to the root of the problem and getting reinstated?

Thank you.

[*vyolla*]

Are you sure it's not a seller performance issue?

Have you checked your Seller Dashboard metrics to see if you're below standard anywhere ?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/help/policies/selling-policies/seller-standards-policy?id=4347&st=3&pos=2&que...

[impressed_by_compressed]

My ebay standards on the Seller Dashboard was above standard. 

I changed the address on my ebay account to my new business premises account and within 2-3 weeks of doing this I'm faced with a permanent suspension.

Absolutely baffled.

[al-501585]

Youre going to have a very very hard time reinstating your account. eBay have made a huge shift in implementing AI for alot of their operations now. Sellers with high selling costs are still being banned left right centre. 

Theyre doing the complete opposite of what they should be doing, when other companies like Etsy, Vinted, Amazon and even Temu have taken huge chunks of eBay market share.

[myriad*seller]

If you used a virtual business address or an address that has been used by a suspended eBay seller before this is why your account is restricted.

Once an adress is blacklisted, all sellers who use this address are also blacklisted

Using virtual office addresses often causes this issue, but it can be the same at a residential address if a seller who got banned has previously lived at the address. 

[myriad*seller]

The keyword spamming in your sofa listing

And the phone number in the listing and statement of cash on collection are also possible reasons your account was suspended 

Three listing infractions over two listings are enough for a suspension 

[impressed_by_compressed]

Due to the sofas being large items, they were under collection only terms - nothing wrong with that, right? I never knew you could not accept cash on collection as a form of payment?

Ebay allows users to pay cash on collection on collection only items - which the sofas were. There is absolutely nothing unreasonable there whatsoever.

The number being on the listing, yes that is a possible infringement, but I've been on ebay long enough to know that rather than being a hindrance or to establish out of ebay sales, it was there for guidance as our warehouse is in an area which is difficult for customers to find and sometimes they'll be sending ebay messages backwards and forwards for hours to get to the warehouse.

[the_book_seekers]

Cash on collection was withdrawn as a payment method very recently. ebay announced it in conjunction with private sellers free listings being restricted to 300. 

[al-501585]

thousands of listings have phone numbers in their listing for cash on collection sales.

[thesmokingrunner]

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@al-501585 wrote:

thousands of listings have phone numbers in their listing for cash on collection sales.

---

That doesn't make it right, al-501585, and as others have mentioned cash on collection is no longer a payment method option accepted by eBay - it ceased being available on 01 October 2024.

And having looked at one of the OP's sold listings it wouldn't surprise me at all if the account was restricted because of the link ("To discuss delivery please click here to contact me") included in the item description, which displays a Whatsapp contact number. If that's not an invitation to complete an off-site transaction I don't know what is...

[compression_sofas]

My account has been un-restricted.

The restriction was due to the change of registered address which ebay needed to investigate. All done and I'm back.

All the above advice in the comments will be taken on board and appropriate remedial actions will be undertaken on all future listings. However, I do have to add that when you do list items for collection only, especially large items such as sofas or bikes, then it is ideal to be paid via cash or bank transfer. It's just a normal way of doing business. Aslong as ebay get their fees then it shouldn't be much of a hindrance really. If the item is collected, the customer tested and confirmed item to be fully working and then 3 weeks later the customer opens an item not as described case - who pays for the return? 

I've actually been on the receiving end of this to be fair which made me change my entire thought process. Last year I had a customer who lived in Halifax - about 3 streets away from my warehouse (300 metres away). Customer contacted me and purchased through ebay, but chose to have the item delivered (paid £50 for delivery) even though she agreed that I would drop it off (electric bike so I always send through pallet courier due to the size and weight of the box). The customer also requested me to assemble the ebike so she could ride it straight away - so this was also done. A couple of days later I went to drop off the ebike to the customer; she rode the bike and was absolutely over the moon with the quality and everything. She sent me an ebay message confirming delivery and left me positive feedback. Low and behold 4 weeks later I woke up to an ebay claim. Apparently the brakes weren't good, so I replied to the customer suggesting that I can come down and bring my ebike engineer and we can have a look/fix. She wasn't having any of it, didn't want me any engineer there, didn't want me to come and collect, was not prepared to communicate and just went through ebay. Luckily her ebay message confirmed that she got delivery, but then getting her to return the bike was not happening. I had stated that I will not accept this if I don't have the option of inspecting and collecting the bike. Ebay in the end decided to refund her and I lost everything. Exactly 3 days later, I saw my same ebike on facebook marketplace, and in the descriptions she had written:

'Bike is virtually brand new and works amazing. The only issue is that I can not take it up the stairs to my apartment as it's heavy'.

I did ring ebay to report the customer but ebay did not seem interested. Neither were the police interested. Just the usual seller losing out.

So had she paid cash on collection I would have avoided eventualities like this. As they say, once bitten twice shy. But I'll still make the relevant changes to stay fully ebay compliant.