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ebay is disgusting, just disgusting

After nearly 10 years as a seller, nearly 5,000 positive feedbacks, nearly $100,000 in sales, $100,000+ in purchases and never any issues, ebay decided to restrict my selling account "forever" due to some arbitrary "minimal" guidelines for selling that were RECENTLY put into place. I can "never" sell on ebay again, and neither can anyone who lives in the same household as me. They never gave me an honest chance to fix the so-called 'problem', just deleted the years of work, time and effort it took to create the 600+ listings I had on there and said 'too bad, you should have done better'. I still have so much money put into what I was selling, and now no means to sell it. I'm completely screwed. All this less than a month before Christmas. I use ebay sales to pay bills, buy presents, etc... Now they tell me to screw off over basically NOTHING with ZERO recourse. Ruining my Christmas, not allowing me to pay my bills, bending me over and telling me 'too bad'. This company is about as UN-AMERICAN as it gets and I hope for nothing but the worst for anyone making these decisions that so negatively affect good people who haven't done ANYTHING wrong who are just trying to get by. I pray for the day that a PROPER auction site is created to compete with and show ebay how to treat people who are their bread and butter. Shame on you, ebay.
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Comments

  • MULLINS5MULLINS5 Posts: 4,517 ✭✭✭
    What did you do?
  • olb31olb31 Posts: 3,480 ✭✭✭✭✭
    To never be able to sell again is really harsh for a "minimal mistake". I'm glad you vented but it doesn't make sense to me.
    Work hard and you will succeed!!
  • dennis07dennis07 Posts: 1,842 ✭✭✭
    Sorry to hear this happened to you.
    Collecting 1970 Topps baseball
  • Dpeck100Dpeck100 Posts: 10,912 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I have a friend this happened to and it was from going outside of EBAY and selling direct to many times.

    Were you doing that?

  • shagrotn77shagrotn77 Posts: 5,607 ✭✭✭✭
    Sorry to hear about this. You're right. eBay does royally suck. It's a real shame because they used to be great.
    "My father would womanize, he would drink. He would make outrageous claims like he invented the question mark. Sometimes he would accuse chestnuts of being lazy. The sort of general malaise that only the genius possess and the insane lament. Our childhood was typical. Summers in Rangoon, luge lessons. In the spring we'd make meat helmets. When we were insolent we were placed in a burlap bag and beaten with reeds - pretty standard really."
  • grote15grote15 Posts: 29,739 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Why were you restricted? There has to be more to this story.


    Collecting 1970s Topps baseball wax, rack and cello packs, as well as PCGS graded Half Cents, Large Cents, Two Cent pieces and Three Cent Silver pieces.
  • MrNearMintMrNearMint Posts: 1,209 ✭✭✭


    << <i>What did you do? >>




    +1
  • vintagefunvintagefun Posts: 1,974 ✭✭✭


    << <i>I have a friend this happened to and it was from going outside of EBAY and selling direct to many times.

    Were you doing that? >>



    How do they know a deal went outside of eBay? Is it only if there's a message trail stating as much?

    4SC obviously lists in multiple places and thus constantly removes listed cards that sell outside of eBay. So I'd have to assume it would take messages suggesting off eBay to get busted.

    Just curious.
    52-90 All Sports, Mostly Topps, Mostly HOF, and some assorted wax.
  • sportscardtheorysportscardtheory Posts: 1,786 ✭✭✭
    My account was "below standard" because of a few opened cases, which were immediately resolved. The thing is, up until recently, ebay prompted buyers to open cases INSTEAD of simply sending a quick message. Also, I ship cheap cards without tracking and sometimes people take shots by opening cases and I just eat the loss and refund immediately. But, apparently that makes me the devil and ebay decided that they no longer want my business. I had nearly $75,000 worth of cards listed. Now $0 and nowhere to sell them. All less than a month before Christmas. I feel like it's a prank, but it's not, and it's not funny.
  • Dpeck100Dpeck100 Posts: 10,912 ✭✭✭✭✭


    << <i>

    << <i>I have a friend this happened to and it was from going outside of EBAY and selling direct to many times.

    Were you doing that? >>



    How do they know a deal went outside of eBay? Is it only if there's a message trail stating as much?

    4SC obviously lists in multiple places and thus constantly removes listed cards that sell outside of eBay. So I'd have to assume it would take messages suggesting off eBay to get busted.

    Just curious. >>




    He had a history of messages with buyers and then would cancel listings and then get PayPal direct funds. He was really upset but in reality when you do this you cost EBAY revenue and in the end it is their site.

    4SC has a direct site so if you buy from them they do a straight cancel and I would imagine they have an agreement with EBAY since they do so many listings. I believe it states in their listings to check out their site.

    EBAY is a business and is a for profit company obviously so something had to happen for EBAY to come to this conclusion.



  • Dpeck100Dpeck100 Posts: 10,912 ✭✭✭✭✭


    << <i>My account was "below standard" because of a few opened cases, which were immediately resolved. The thing is, up until recently, ebay prompted buyers to open cases INSTEAD of simply sending a quick message. Also, I ship cheap cards without tracking and sometimes people take shots by opening cases and I just eat the loss and refund immediately. But, apparently that makes me the devil and ebay decided that they no longer want my business. I had nearly $75,000 worth of cards listed. Now $0 and nowhere to sell them. All less than a month before Christmas. I feel like it's a prank, but it's not, and it's not funny. >>




    If it is only because of a few buyer cases that really stinks.

    Did you have any other warnings or did this just come out of the clear blue?

  • sportscardtheorysportscardtheory Posts: 1,786 ✭✭✭


    << <i>

    << <i>My account was "below standard" because of a few opened cases, which were immediately resolved. The thing is, up until recently, ebay prompted buyers to open cases INSTEAD of simply sending a quick message. Also, I ship cheap cards without tracking and sometimes people take shots by opening cases and I just eat the loss and refund immediately. But, apparently that makes me the devil and ebay decided that they no longer want my business. I had nearly $75,000 worth of cards listed. Now $0 and nowhere to sell them. All less than a month before Christmas. I feel like it's a prank, but it's not, and it's not funny. >>




    If it is only because of a few buyer cases that really stinks.

    Did you have any other warnings or did this just come out of the clear blue? >>



    They limited my selling to about what I had listed for about a month, telling me I can just call after a month and have it doubled... then before I could even call they just banned my selling account forever and said 'deal with it'. It's nonsense.
  • sportscardtheorysportscardtheory Posts: 1,786 ✭✭✭
    I've NEVER had any issues with selling, other than the random crazy buyer, and I would always kiss their butts. I don't deserve this. It's BS.
  • I had kind of the same thing happen to me a few years ago. In my case, I was a Powerseller with over 1000 feedback @ 100%. Never had a problem, one day I saw this new China website (DhChina). They had NFL jerseys & accepted Paypal. I called Paypal & asked them about the site & they told me it is the biggest Paypal user in the orient & they were both safe & I could sell them on ebay. Back then, I wasn't aware of all the knockoffs, another person told me they were seconds. I bought some & sold them at swapmeets during Xmas. After Xmas, I had about 20 left over so I put them on ebay & they sold with no problems. The next year, I bought a lot more, thinking I could also sell them on ebay. I listed about 5 of them. Without any warning what so ever, they suspended my account forever! I now understand that not only did I break an ebay policy, but it is against the law to sell these jerseys, but I did not know at the time. You would think with being a Powerseller and all, they could at least give you a warning. Doesn't make much sense when you see all the fake cards, autographs, shill bidding etc... and they do nothing about that, even when you alert them of a problem?
  • lawnmowermanlawnmowerman Posts: 19,477 ✭✭✭✭


    << <i>I had kind of the same thing happen to me a few years ago. >>




    You both have the "random evil penny" icon. Coincidence? I think not.
  • shagrotn77shagrotn77 Posts: 5,607 ✭✭✭✭


    << <i>Doesn't make much sense when you see all the fake cards, autographs, shill bidding etc... and they do nothing about that, even when you alert them of a problem? >>



    Amen to this. Shill bidding is far and away eBay's biggest issue, but they make a boatload of money from it. That's why it's encouraged rather than punished.
    "My father would womanize, he would drink. He would make outrageous claims like he invented the question mark. Sometimes he would accuse chestnuts of being lazy. The sort of general malaise that only the genius possess and the insane lament. Our childhood was typical. Summers in Rangoon, luge lessons. In the spring we'd make meat helmets. When we were insolent we were placed in a burlap bag and beaten with reeds - pretty standard really."


  • << <i>

    << <i>I had kind of the same thing happen to me a few years ago. >>




    You both have the "random evil penny" icon. Coincidence? I think not. >>




    That is not my icon! I have a picture of Sandy Koufax? I have no clue why this icon came up? I am dead serious about this.
  • lawnmowermanlawnmowerman Posts: 19,477 ✭✭✭✭


    << <i>

    << <i>

    << <i>I had kind of the same thing happen to me a few years ago. >>




    You both have the "random evil penny" icon. Coincidence? I think not. >>




    That is not my icon! I have a picture of Sandy Koufax? I have no clue why this icon came up? I am dead serious about this. >>



    Told ya it was evil lol

    It's a random glitch that happens every so often to users.
  • ndleondleo Posts: 4,146 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I used to use PWE and a topholder for low dollar (<$5 cards) so I could sell the cards for a good price and have free shipping. I recently stopped doing that because a few buyers started opening up cases claiming that the card did not arrive. I always refunded the money immediately but it started to become too much of a hassle.

    So now I charge $2.95 for a bubble and tracking and $0.10 for additional cards. This has actually worked out for the better for me. People won't pay $3.99 for a card with free delivery, but they will pay $2.99 + $2.95 for S&H for the same card.

    Free shipping is for ebay's benefit, not the seller.
    Mike
  • CDsNutsCDsNuts Posts: 10,092
    That really sucks, I feel for you. What it comes down to, and what ebay made clear when they changed their seller evaluation standards, is that they want to eliminate sellers that (for whatever reason) fall into the inane "they will cause buyers to leave ebay" formula. So whatever cases were opened and feedback was left caused you to go into that area, they decided you were hurting ebay more than helping them.

    It really is a formula and nothing else, and none of the people you talk to on the phone have a way to override the automated decisions. It sucks.

    Lee
  • OAKESY25OAKESY25 Posts: 4,726 ✭✭✭
    I can "never" sell on ebay again, and neither can anyone who lives in the same household as me



    Move?
  • sportscardtheorysportscardtheory Posts: 1,786 ✭✭✭


    << <i>I can "never" sell on ebay again, and neither can anyone who lives in the same household as me



    Move? >>



    They use everything. Email, name, IP address, PayPal.
  • addicted2ebayaddicted2ebay Posts: 2,096 ✭✭✭✭
    Send your stuff to Rick if you need $. His fees are the same as selling yourself and you don't have to deal with eBay, crazy buyers or the post office. It's what I do with 90% of ant cards I have to sell .
  • wrestlingcardkingwrestlingcardking Posts: 4,555 ✭✭✭✭
    I used to sell small cards but don't even waste my time any more. Doesn't seem to be worth the hassle. I wish there was a better avenue to sell cheap cards on ebay, but I sure don't see it.
    BUYING Frank Gotch T229 Kopec
    Looking to BUY n332 1889 SF Hess cards and high grade cards from 19th century especially. "Once you have wrestled everything else in life is easy" Dan Gable
  • MULLINS5MULLINS5 Posts: 4,517 ✭✭✭


    << <i>Send your stuff to Rick if you need $. His fees are the same as selling yourself and you don't have to deal with eBay, crazy buyers or the post office. It's what I do with 90% of ant cards I have to sell . >>



    +1
  • sportscardtheorysportscardtheory Posts: 1,786 ✭✭✭


    << <i>Send your stuff to Rick if you need $. His fees are the same as selling yourself and you don't have to deal with eBay, crazy buyers or the post office. It's what I do with 90% of ant cards I have to sell . >>



    Do they do BIN/BOs though? I never sold auction style and I don't really want to.
  • addicted2ebayaddicted2ebay Posts: 2,096 ✭✭✭✭
    I'm not sure you would have to message him: rickprobstein1@gmail.com

    Good luck!
  • DavisDavis Posts: 705 ✭✭
    I see a lot of people are selling on amazon.com now. Might be worth exploring. Not sure if anyone has had success with it though...
  • Do they do BIN/BOs though? I never sold auction style and I don't really want to. >>



    Rick will do BIN/BO but I'm not sure if the fees are different from selling by auction with him
    Greatly overpaying for a 2000 Fleer Showcase Tom Brady PSA 10
  • ga5150ga5150 Posts: 743 ✭✭✭
    Would COMC work for the items you're selling? It may be an outlet to move some stuff. I've done fairly well there this year.
  • garnettstylegarnettstyle Posts: 2,143 ✭✭✭✭
    For years the ebay way has been to screw the seller.

    IT CAN'T BE A TRUE PLAYOFF UNLESS THE BIG TEN CHAMPIONS ARE INCLUDED

  • What was your ID?
  • markj111markj111 Posts: 2,921 ✭✭✭
    Do you mind telling us exactly what happened? Thanks.
  • BenG76BenG76 Posts: 1,055 ✭✭✭


    << <i>My account was "below standard" because of a few opened cases, which were immediately resolved. The thing is, up until recently, ebay prompted buyers to open cases INSTEAD of simply sending a quick message. Also, I ship cheap cards without tracking and sometimes people take shots by opening cases and I just eat the loss and refund immediately. But, apparently that makes me the devil and ebay decided that they no longer want my business. I had nearly $75,000 worth of cards listed. Now $0 and nowhere to sell them. All less than a month before Christmas. I feel like it's a prank, but it's not, and it's not funny. >>




    Sounds like you had too many claims or bad marks against you. This day in age there is no way I would send a card without tracking. TBH it pisses me off when people don't mark a card shipped and provide a tracking number. If a card isn't worth getting tracking on sell it on sportslots or COMC.
  • ndleondleo Posts: 4,146 ✭✭✭✭✭


    << <i>

    << <i>My account was "below standard" because of a few opened cases, which were immediately resolved. The thing is, up until recently, ebay prompted buyers to open cases INSTEAD of simply sending a quick message. Also, I ship cheap cards without tracking and sometimes people take shots by opening cases and I just eat the loss and refund immediately. But, apparently that makes me the devil and ebay decided that they no longer want my business. I had nearly $75,000 worth of cards listed. Now $0 and nowhere to sell them. All less than a month before Christmas. I feel like it's a prank, but it's not, and it's not funny. >>




    Sounds like you had too many claims or bad marks against you. This day in age there is no way I would send a card without tracking. TBH it pisses me off when people don't mark a card shipped and provide a tracking number. If a card isn't worth getting tracking on sell it on sportslots or COMC. >>



    Or just charge for S&H. I went to that and it doesn't hurt my sales. In fact it seems that people buy more to take advantage of the shipping discount.
    Mike
  • StingrayStingray Posts: 8,843 ✭✭✭
    I just got a message earlier this week that my account was restricted for selling because it is somehow associated with my daughter's account,which was placed on restriction!! Don't konow how or why??


  • << <i>They limited my selling to about what I had listed for about a month, telling me I can just call after a month and have it doubled... then before I could even call they just banned my selling account forever and said 'deal with it'. It's nonsense. >>



    But in your original post you said it came with "no warning".

    eBay only marks you as "Below Standard" if 5% of your transactions over the most recent evaluation period have problems. Even at that, they don't just shut you down. They lower your selling limits, drop you in the search list, etc., until your rating improves. They only boot you out if you have a rating that is significantly lower than the minimum standards after giving you a chance to make things better.

    Five percent is a LOT. My current defect rating is 0.4% on 600+ sales over three months, and I'm embarrassed to even say that. And I send PWE's all the time.

    I hate that it happened to you, and I hope you find a viable solution, but to come here and blast eBay is a little disingenuous.
  • miwlvrnmiwlvrn Posts: 4,266 ✭✭✭✭✭


    << <i>Send your stuff to Rick if you need $. His fees are the same as selling yourself and you don't have to deal with eBay, crazy buyers or the post office. It's what I do with 90% of ant cards I have to sell . >>



    Send a PM to Tom.

  • MrNearMintMrNearMint Posts: 1,209 ✭✭✭
    This sucks that happened to you. But from what other members here have said, sounds like there are some other decent ways to sell stuff, maybe minus a little profit.

    Good luck!
  • ldfergldferg Posts: 6,744 ✭✭✭
    Sorry this happened to you. I went thru the same thing about this time last year. Use Rick, Brent or Tom as others have mentioned.


    Thanks,

    David (LD_Ferg)



    1985 Topps Football (starting in psa 8) - #9 - started 05/21/06
  • DanBessetteDanBessette Posts: 6,421 ✭✭✭
    CeciliaGuante, what were your previous member names on here?
  • telephoto1telephoto1 Posts: 4,928 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Ebay doesn't simply dump someone without warning so I'm not buying the claims of total innocence. Ebay gets no income if you aren't selling so it usually takes something fairly egregious or a history of regular infractions/problems to get someone booted. I'd like to see the ID involved. Too many opened/lost cases in a short time, coupled with negs and/or bad DSR ratings would be my guess.

    RIP Mom- 1932-2012
  • olb31olb31 Posts: 3,480 ✭✭✭✭✭


    << <i>Ebay doesn't simply dump someone without warning so I'm not buying the claims of total innocence. Ebay gets no income if you aren't selling so it usually takes something fairly egregious or a history of regular infractions/problems to get someone booted. I'd like to see the ID involved. Too many opened/lost cases in a short time, coupled with negs and/or bad DSR ratings would be my guess. >>



    When I first joined EBAY back in 2007, I ignorantly shill bid some of my cards, not realizing at the time, that this was a huge no no. I got reported and EBAY sent me a nice but scathing letter, about this. They removed all of my listings and told me not to do that again or you could be permanently removed.

    I got the message and have never done that again. In fact i just do 99% buy it now's. This post is in response to the person above.
    Work hard and you will succeed!!


  • << <i>When I first joined EBAY back in 2007, I ignorantly shill bid some of my cards, not realizing at the time, that this was a huge no no >>



    You needed an email from eBay to tell you that shilling was bad? Couldn't figure that one out on your own?
  • sportscardtheorysportscardtheory Posts: 1,786 ✭✭✭


    << <i>Ebay doesn't simply dump someone without warning so I'm not buying the claims of total innocence. Ebay gets no income if you aren't selling so it usually takes something fairly egregious or a history of regular infractions/problems to get someone booted. I'd like to see the ID involved. Too many opened/lost cases in a short time, coupled with negs and/or bad DSR ratings would be my guess. >>



    That's the point. They are permanently banning sellers over OPENED cases, which are completely arbitrary if the case is resolved and the buyer is happy. Limits, fine. Warnings to do better, fine. But perma-banning with zero recourse is insanity. No one was ripped off. No one didn't receive their purchases as described. It's just buyers doing what ebay prompted them to do, open cases instead of simply sending a quick inquiry.
  • jfkheatjfkheat Posts: 2,745 ✭✭✭✭✭
    How many open cases have you had in the last 6 months? What was your Ebay ID?
    James


  • << <i>

    That's the point. They are permanently banning sellers over OPENED cases, which are completely arbitrary if the case is resolved and the buyer is happy. Limits, fine. Warnings to do better, fine. But perma-banning with zero recourse is insanity. No one was ripped off. No one didn't receive their purchases as described. It's just buyers doing what ebay prompted them to do, open cases instead of simply sending a quick inquiry. >>



    Respectfully, sct, eBay has more seller data than you can imagine. For you to be banned, you would have to stick out like a sore thumb with the number of opened cases you have.
  • olb31olb31 Posts: 3,480 ✭✭✭✭✭


    << <i>

    << <i>When I first joined EBAY back in 2007, I ignorantly shill bid some of my cards, not realizing at the time, that this was a huge no no >>



    You needed an email from eBay to tell you that shilling was bad? Couldn't figure that one out on your own? >>



    Literally I had just joined and only purchased a handful of cards before I started selling. Yeah, I knew it probably was wrong, but I guess i didn't realize that someone would know the difference and that it was "THAT" wrong, i.e. very ignorant about the situation.

    Let's put it this way, I shill bid items that were selling for $5 and $6. Why waste my time, but I learned.
    Work hard and you will succeed!!
  • sportscardtheorysportscardtheory Posts: 1,786 ✭✭✭


    << <i>

    << <i>

    That's the point. They are permanently banning sellers over OPENED cases, which are completely arbitrary if the case is resolved and the buyer is happy. Limits, fine. Warnings to do better, fine. But perma-banning with zero recourse is insanity. No one was ripped off. No one didn't receive their purchases as described. It's just buyers doing what ebay prompted them to do, open cases instead of simply sending a quick inquiry. >>



    Respectfully, sct, eBay has more seller data than you can imagine. For you to be banned, you would have to stick out like a sore thumb with the number of opened cases you have. >>



    And still my point remains that OPENED cases shouldn't count against a seller's percentage. It's literally the only reason I lost my account. Opened, yet resolved immediately, cases. Say and think what you will, I don't deserve to be perma-banned for opened cases that were immediately resolved leaving the buyers satisfied. Especially since ebay was prompting buyers to open cases instead of simply sending messages, which they have now changed... but ooops, too late for me.
  • markj111markj111 Posts: 2,921 ✭✭✭
    It's hard to be sympathetic without knowing the facts, which you are choosing to keep to yourself.
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