eBay Suspended My Account! | Real Solution and Suggestions

I’m predominantly an Amazon convert when it comes to online sales channels however, I have sold on eBay in the past without issue. Conversely, a close friend of mine who relies on eBay for his income once emailed me in horror, ‘eBay suspended my account!’.

Naturally, he was frustrated, shocked and panicked all at once. Visions of his primary income going up in smoke circulating in his head were becoming a reality. 

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Cutting a Long story short, this is how he fixed it, why he was suspended, and how you should tackle the problem if you are in the same position. 

The dreaded email: Your eBay account has been suspended

So you’ve received the email no one wants to receive:

In true eBay fashion, they provide a hugely anxiety inducing email but provide no reasoning or content other than stating the fact. 

This leads you to no doubt, rifle through your account to understand what went wrong and how to fix it. In my friend’s case, his account got pinged for selling counterfeit goods. He was not selling counterfeit goods as they even featured his logo/branding.

However, in eBay’s defence, how do they know that he is in this case the brand owner and not just a shady reseller providing the eBay customer base with junk replicas?

Here are some other potential reasons why eBay suspended your account and how to solve it.

Reasons why eBay suspended your account

Some of the common reasons include:

1. Late shipment of products

For me and many others, shipping times are very important when deciding which item to buy, whether on eBay or elsewhere. Consequently, if you are late dispatching and/or shipping your customer’s orders, prepare for complaints to start flooding in. 

eBay customers are seemingly valued higher than sellers, in the way their complaints and concerns are dealt with, customer service will side with the customer in most cases – rightly or wrongly. 

As such, you should expect to rapidly begin fighting an uphill battle with the platform to the tune of suspensions and restrictions if you start getting customer complaints.

2. High defect rates

General standards and guidelines for sellers are detailed in eBay’s Seller Performance Policy documents. For defect rate requirements specifically, have a read of section 2. Basically, you need to stay above a 2% (1 in 50 products) defect rate.

Even though buyers don’t see this rate – eBay certainly does and nonadherence will land you in hot water pronto. 

3. Late providing shipping tracking number 

It’s an easy one to avoid if you are organised and taking your business seriously. Buyers are anxious to learn when their product will be with them. Failure to provide this quickly indicates bad workflow and/or suggests you may not be using a tracked service.

4. Low case resolution rates

As previously mentioned, eBay cares enormously for their customer’s satisfaction. To sell on their platform you need to place their needs as a top priority too. Notably, make sure to respond quickly and resolve cases as a high matter of importance.

Other reasons for account suspension may include:

• Selling counterfeit goods.
• Consistently paying eBay fees late.
• Using multiple eBay accounts to sell the same items (note: multiple accounts are allowed if used correctly).
• Bad customer service.
• Maintaining poor seller metrics without attempts to improve them.

How to get your suspended eBay account back

I expect you are here from a simple google search about this – good. 

Don’t be led astray by expensive paid services to restore accounts or use fake credentials. Your best chance of reinstatement is through honest and professional (polite too) negotiation with eBay’s various customer service departments.

Here is what my friend did:

1. Talk to a human about it at eBay

Either work your way through their suspension help pages and at the bottom click ‘Chat with us’ for live chat.

Or

Funnily enough, eBay doesn’t provide an option for them to call you on these help pages.

Solution: work your way through another category’s help pages and then use the ‘Have us call you’ option at the bottom.

I’m writing this during the corona crisis, consequently you can’t schedule a call at the moment but hopefully this will change soon?!

2. Do everything you are asked to do, quickly and politely

In the case, he was asked to provide further identification through the Verified Rights Owner (VeRO) program, a feature similar to Amazon’s Brand Registry that deals with Intellectual Property (IP) infringements and protection. 

Additionally, he had to complete a VeRO questionnaire before relisting items. The questionnaire was simple and has two purposes: a) to show eBay that you understand what is required of you as a seller and b) it gives eBay justification to suspend you indefinitely if you break rules you have now shown you understand.

Note: I don’t think the questionnaire is a process that is required anymore in 2020 – I would be most grateful if  anyone going through a current suspension can let me know so I can provide the best help here for others?

Luckily, completion of eBay’s demands and an understanding attitude got the account reinstated without issues. He has since trademarked and registered with VeRO to prove he is the rights owner going forward. However, if you are still having trouble have a read below.

Unlock Your Potential: How to Start Dropshipping on eBay in 2023!

What to do if eBay doesn’t reinstate your suspended account

If your account eBay suspended is still not back to life, try this:

1. Contact eBay and speak with someone (even if you have already done this)

The very best way to solve issues is to have eBay call you. As discussed above, if you are struggling to find the section when you can schedule a call, navigate through a category unrelated to suspensions like Seller Help. 

The option to schedule a call will be at the bottom of the page.

Failing this you can use the live chat to speak to someone about your issues however in my experience, talking on the phone to someone usually provides the most effective response. You can even request to talk to a supervisor this way.

As ever, some customer service reps will be bad, some will be good. If they are struggling to grasp your issue, or if there is something technical that needs to be understood – again politely ask to speak to their one up.

2. Prepare your argument

Before speaking to anyone, make sure you have your ducks in a row. Get all the information you will likely be asked for ready for quick access. This will only help to demonstrate willingness and credibility. 

Additionally, prepare your answers for likely questions that you will be asked. Particularly if you are bending the truth ever so slightly, which may be the case I wager with some of you! Make sure all of your answers are coherent and line up with each other to present a solid case. 

This is sometimes easier said than done but at least give it a go – there is nothing to lose and everything to gain.

3. Patience

Make sure you are patient with anyone trying to assist you whether it be on live chat, on the phone, or by email. These processes can take time, try to put the fact that you are losing revenue to the back of your mind – you might never get it back if you annoy the wrong person.

4.  Wait the suspension out

If you aren’t making any progress with your reinstatement efforts, just wait it out.

If you are serving a short suspension – Use the time to make changes to your business that will ensure you don’t get suspended again, for the same issue and for other issues. Consider this your warning. Ebay will take previous suspensions into account if you are a repeat offender. 

Use other sales channels – While you are out of action on eBay, use Amazon (if you don’t already) and merchant fulfil, or use FBA for a more hands-off approach. You could even create your own online shop and drive traffic with ads.

Don’t open a stealth account while you wait – Amazon and eBay are exceptionally good at matching accounts and activities to users. They can leverage IP addresses, physical addresses, names and more to match accounts and people gaming the system. Anyone building a long term, legitimate business should not need to engage in shady practices.

You can have multiple accounts, but not because eBay suspended your main account and you opened one to sidestep it. Here are their policy guidelines:

Account suspension vs. account restriction vs. account hold

Not all account problems are the same, some are are minor while some are more serious:

Hold – Often placed on an account when payment information expires or you have failed to make a payment on time. To resolve, just take the required action – update payment details or make outstanding payments.

Restriction – Slightly more concerning, a restriction is exactly that – your account has had restrictions put on it. These can be product-specific and usually concern poor performance standards. You may be restricted from selling a product, or it may be depressed in search results for example.

Suspensions – eBay suspended accounts can be affected for up 7, 10 or 30 days. Worst of all they can be suspended indefinitely i.e. banned for good. Reasons for suspension include selling counterfeits, nonadherence to policy and guidelines, misuse of the platform and more.

FAQ

Parting thoughts

Having your account on eBay suspended can be really damaging for businesses relying on it for their income, as such remember the following if you are trying to appeal a suspension:

1. Speak to a human, be polite, transparent and cooperate 
2. Work with eBay on their terms, implement and make changes to your business if they are not happy. Remember eBay owns the space – you’ve chosen to use THEIR traffic to sell your products, so play to their rules.

I hope this helps, please let me know if it does or if there is anything I could add to this article to make it more useful.

Take care,

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