How do I appeal an eBay account suspension?

Having your account suspended by a marketplace is devastating, especially if you depend on it for some or all of your income. A seller recently asked us how he could appeal a permanent eBay account suspension.

We see Amazon sellers asking this question more often, and there is a cottage industry of consultants who promise to help sellers restore their Amazon accounts.

The seller who contacted us said he didn’t know why eBay had suspended his account:

“This is a sad day for me, I am a long time eBay seller with over 1600 positive feedback. Out of the blue today I received an email saying my account has been permanently suspended without give specific reasons. When I chat online with eBay agents, they also don’t give reasons and just hang up. I wonder if you know there is a way to appeal the decision.

We went to eBay Help Page to see what advice he offered to sellers. The first thing that jumped out at me was the promise that eBay would explain why it acted on a seller’s account:

“If we suspended, restricted, or suspended your account, we’ll send you an email explaining what happened and what you need to do to recover your account. You can find a copy of this message in your Messages.”

He also said: “If your eBay account is restricted or suspended, we’ll send you an email with the steps you need to take to get your account reinstated.”

But according to the seller, eBay did not tell them why it suspended their account, or how to restore the account.

Next stop, Google search. We found a 2020 blog post from electronic office with an interesting perspective:

“In an effort to protect its reputation, as well as its customers, eBay account suspensions are on the rise. For sellers, this means disrupted sales and a host of other issues. Unlike Amazon, suspensions are relatively difficult to be obtained on eBay. . For this reason, they should be taken very seriously.”

eDesk warns of a possible repercussion of account suspensions: “An account suspension may also result in eBay closing other accounts associated with your household.”

The post is full of advice, but the bottom line is that if a seller can’t identify and resolve the exact reason for the suspension, there may be no immediate way to reverse it.

There are many articles and blog posts on the subject of eBay suspensions, as well as YouTube videos. We found a video of a seller whose account was suspended for 72 hours for violating a policy they didn’t even know they were violating. If you put listings with expiration dates in “Out of Stock” mode, you’ll want to watch them. Let us know if you have any advice for the seller on appealing a suspension and if you have any lessons to share that might save others from being suspended.