Perplexed by eBay account suspensions, part 2

Last week we blogged about eBay account suspensions and included a video of a seller whose account was suspended for 72 hours for having products that had stale expirations that were in “out of stock” mode – in other words, the items were unavailable for sale, so she didn’t. I didn’t know she was violating the policy.

Today a reader sent us a link to a video of another seller who was permanently suspended – and who two live chat reps told they couldn’t tell him why.

The first representative told him:

“I have verified your account and we appreciate your interest in our site, but the risk of allowing you to use eBay more is too much of a concern, so we had to suspend your account. The concern is high enough that the decision is final and cannot be reversed.

“The reasons for these are due to the activity performed in the use of the account, it may also have something to do with the information saved on the account. Unfortunately, your account cannot be considered for reinstatement and I’m afraid to tell you that it’s final.”

And here’s the response from a second eBay live chat representative:

“I appreciate your excellent performance here on your Victoria account. Please understand that we consider many factors to take action on an account and it does not just involve items from a member list or purchase. But please understand that for security reasons we cannot disclose this information.

“From time to time, we find accounts that pose a risk that no longer warrants an ongoing relationship with eBay. When this happens, we suspend those accounts and they can no longer be used to buy or sell.”

The seller’s online persona is “Super Geeked”, a longtime eBay user (buyer and seller) who also has accounts on Poshmark, Mercari, and Etsy.

When she was finally able to reach a rep by phone—no small task for a suspended seller—the rep told her that eBay had tried to call her to verify some information, and because she hadn’t picked up. the phone, he had suspended his account. .

We don’t know if it’s legal for a company to refuse to explain why it suspended a customer’s account, but it’s definitely not fair – trotting the former “for security reasons” doesn’t. is not acceptable.

Also, the first two reps were wrong to tell the seller that his account couldn’t be reinstated – the third rep reinstated his account.

The story does not end there. In a follow-up video, Super Geeked explained that a week after she got reinstated and started listing items, she found her eBay store wasn’t active. It turns out that when eBay suspended his account, he closed his shop. And even though she had paid for May and been suspended under questionable circumstances, eBay couldn’t just reinstate her store.

We cannot say what percentage of sellers are blindsided by suspensions or caught off guard by eBay representatives when faced with suspensions. But thanks to YouTube, sellers have a growing voice.

Here’s an opportunity for eBay management to look at its practices, including suspending sellers for not answering phones at an unknown number; giving insufficient information to sellers about the reasons for suspensions; and not automatically reactivate a seller’s store after account reinstatement.