Today we’re going to be covering everything you’ve ever wanted to know if you’ve gotten your eBay account suspended. I’m going to go into quite a bit of detail, so make sure that you bookmark this article to come back to it later because there’s going to be a lot of valuable information. Hopefully, if you ever do get an account suspension, you can read this article and understand what it is that you need to do to get back on track.
So I will be providing you with some general information, and I’m not going to be looking into each and every specific type of suspension; this is more so that you can learn why you can get your eBay account suspended in the first place and what you can do to get unsuspended.
First of all, let’s talk about eBay account suspensions from eBay’s perspective. Now, it’s important to remember that eBay themselves are not out to get you. It’s not that people in an eBay boardroom are just sitting there and saying, “Haha, I just found this account, and now I’m going to suspend it”. Trust me, it is not like that, and it helps to view the situation from eBay’s point of view before you take action.
eBay is one of the world’s most prominent brand names, right? Most people who do any online shopping will more than likely have heard of eBay or have used eBay or know of eBay. So eBay needs to do everything they can to protect their brand just like you do as a seller. Whether you do dropshipping, sell your own stuff, are a reseller, or are in a specific type of niche store, you want to protect your reputation.
Like you want to protect your store, eBay wants to protect their website. They don’t want fraudulent activity, and they don’t want unscrupulous buyers or sellers either. So eBay wants to protect their brand. Because every time a seller messes up the majority of the time, those customers don’t blame the seller; they blame eBay. So understandably, they have to put certain preventative measures in place to prevent these types of things from happening.
So if your account gets suspended, it’s essential to understand that it’s not that ebay wants to suspend you; of course, they don’t. They are a business trying to make money. So if they just go around unlawfully suspending accounts, they are potentially stopping people from selling on their platform. Every time someone sells on their platform, eBay charges a final value fee, so every time someone sells something, eBay are making money. So it is not in their interest to unnecessarily suspend accounts because they get nothing out of it; in fact, it’s even more work for them.
Prevention Is Better Than Cure
The first thing that you need to know is that prevention is better than cure. So if you can prevent your account from getting suspended in the first place, then it’s certainly better than getting suspended. However, if you do get suspended, you’re going to need to know what you need to do to get your account unsuspended. So how do you prevent your account from obtaining a suspension? Firstly, you need to understand the different types of suspensions, which we’ll go into an overview of now.
Brand New Accounts
So one of the most common suspensions is brand new accounts getting suspended. Now, this usually happens when they suspect you already have another account and then they will usually automatically suspend the old account as well.
They just need to make sure that, first of all, it is you that’s opening this account. And they want to make sure that they understand what you are doing. So, for example, why is it that you’re selling on this account, but now you’ve opened up another account? Questions like that.
You will find a lot of the time on brand new accounts that just try to list items straight away; these accounts get suspended, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. However, it’s important to remember that eBay, when they suspend your account, tell you precisely what you need to do to have it reinstated. So the first thing that you need to do is not panic; they always tell you what you need to do to get unsuspended.
So in this scenario, when you open up a brand new account, you need to read the actual email they send you. I’ve read about so many people that have just jumped to conclusions, and without even reading the email, they’ve opened up another eBay account, and they’ve then got that account suspended again. Then they try it again, and then they’ve been permanently banned.
When you get suspended, eBay specifically tells you that you cannot open up another account. So if before you even read the email, you go and open up another account, the red flag you’ve just raised on eBay has just got even more red, right? This will potentially cause you to get a permanent ban.
So when you get suspended on eBay. the first thing you need to do is read the actual email they send you. And then give them the information they have requested. With these new accounts, most of the time, 99% of the time, when it’s a brand new account suspension. All you really need to do is just give them a call. They just want to know what you are doing. Why you have opened up another account, and what you intend to do on this new account. They may also ask you for some verification documents.
All you need to do is just give them the information that they need. They’re probably going to ask you for proof of ID or your address, and then they’re going to want to have a conversation with you just to find out who you are and what you’re doing. Don’t be worried about this; just tell them:
“I’m planning to sell on eBay. I’ve got a bunch of items that I want to list, and I really want to get cracking with this business. I understand why you’ve suspended this account just from the safety measures from your side, which I understand entirely. Hopefully, you can help me get this account up and running as soon as possible”.
Usually, after that conversation, they’ll probably unsuspend your account within five minutes. Okay, so that’s the most common suspension when they suspend brand new eBay accounts.
Stealth Accounts
Now, this simple advice doesn’t apply if the new account you were attempting to create was actually a stealth account. Operating a stealth account is one of the quickest and easiest ways to receive a permanent ban from eBay.
If you haven’t heard of an eBay stealth account, essentially what that is is an eBay account that uses none of your real personal information. It doesn’t use your real name. It doesn’t use your real financial information such as PayPal and bank account.
The main reason people open these accounts is to avoid a previous ban. Or if they don’t have a prior ban on the platform it’s because they intend to use these accounts to misuse the platform and go against eBay’s seller terms of service and operate in a way that would usually get them permanently banned. But instead because they haven’t used any of their actual personal information they can evade any potential restrictions on eBay.
Obviously, this goes against everything in eBay’s terms of service. They require you to use your real name and your accurate financial information when you’re creating an account, and if they find out that you’ve been using fraudulent information and they can link it back to you, you will 100% be banned for life.
So if eBay finds that you’re using an eBay stealth account with fraudulent information, I can guarantee that you will never be able to operate a regular eBay business again. No one really comes back from it. It is the one way you can get permanently and irreversibly banned from the platform without any warnings or any leniency negotiation. You are definitely banned if you are caught using an eBay stealth account.
Now you may be wondering how would someone even get caught using a stealth account? Well, quite often, it is through their IP address. If the IP address of the stealth account ever ends up matching up with a previously used banned eBay account, then eBay will ban your account on the spot, and that is a major way that many people who use these accounts have ended up getting caught by eBay.
Non-UK/Non-US Resident Dropshippers
Now let’s talk about prevention a little bit more. There’s a bunch of people who dropship on eBay, and sometimes these accounts do get suspended. The people who get affected the most are non-UK and non-US sellers who are trying to sell in the UK or US market. These international dropshippers are more likely to get suspended than someone who lives in the UK and is trying to sell on eBay UK or someone who lives in the US and is trying to sell on eBay.com.
Sellers who are non-UK or non-US residents and are trying to list in the UK or US, you’re likely to have to provide some extra information when you are dropshipping. So when you are dropshipping, you need to remember that eBay allows dropshipping on their platform. They just want to make sure that you fully manage the business, that you are the face of the company, and you’re not growing too fast.
The type of dropshipping that they do not allow is retail drop shipping. So what is retail dropshipping? Retail dropshipping is when people buy products directly from retailers like Tesco, Argos and Walmart and resell them for a mark-up.
Okay, now when you do this type of dropshipping, what usually happens is that eBay may not suspend your account. But they’ll put a flag on your account which will reduce the traffic you receive, and they say that in their policies, so there’s no beating around the bush. It doesn’t matter what anybody says, when you are doing retail dropshipping, if you get caught, then your account will get flagged without a shadow of a doubt or potentially you’ll get your eBay account suspended.
So how do you prevent this kind of thing? Well, when you are dropshipping from Aliexpress. It’s important to remember that AliExpress is also a retail website. But the difference between AliExpress and Walmart or Argos is that AliExpress is a marketplace like eBay itself without the auctions.
So it’s a bunch of independent sellers selling on the AliExpress marketplace. They use the platform to list their products. You will also find that most AliExpress sellers work with dropshippers. So you can get in touch with these suppliers on AliExpress and tell them that you would like to dropship their products onto your store. Be sure to tell them that eBay requires some kind of agreement in place so that you are authorised to sell their products.
Okay, now, once you get this, this will help you a lot because, for those of you who do get suspended, eBay are likely going to ask you for a few things. They might ask you for ID. But they’re also going to potentially be asking you for invoices as well. Now in this type of scenario, you are okay to tell eBay something like this:
“I’m actually dropshipping, so I do not hold any stock/inventory personally. However, I would also like you to know that I am the face of the business and I manage absolutely everything. I handle all the sales and all the products, and if there are any customer service issues, it is me that deals with them. So the customer is always at the forefront of my business.
The customer does not know in any way that this product is being dropshipped and nor are any invoices included in the packages, as I already have an agreement with a supplier in place. For that reason, I do not have invoices for every single product that I have listed.
So the only time that I will have information about the products that sell is me fulfilling orders. Once I’ve listed an item, and it sells on eBay, that’s the time I will be able to give you information about that specific product.
So hopefully, that clears things up for you that I do not hold inventory and I’m working directly with dropshippers and suppliers”.
Now they may ask you for some further information. So in certain instances, they may ask you, “Please can you provide information about the supplier that you have an agreement with”. So now what you can do is just say to them: “Here’s a supplier in China that I work with. I list their items and here’s their agreement”, and then you give that to eBay.
Do Not Open Another Account
Okay, now this is important. If your account is suspended, do not go ahead and open up another account. That is the exact formula to get permanently banned.
Now suspension is one thing. A permanent ban means that you are literally kicked off the platform. eBay will check everything; if you have a new PayPal account linked to the old bank account that you used, eBay will automatically ban you. Use the same name at the same address? eBay will automatically ban you. If you use the same address, the same computer or IP address, they can match the details and ban you.
Preventative Measures
Don’t Grow Too Fast
When you grow your account too fast, this raises flags at eBay because dropshippers tend to grow their accounts very fast. The average seller doesn’t have even five items a day to list every single day for a month. So when you come onto the platform listing 20 items every single day for the first month. This is sometimes going to be a warning indicator for eBay and someone might look into your account. So you need to grow your account fairly organically as well. Do not try to grow too fast.
VeRO List Items
VeRO list items are part of eBay’s Verified Rights Owner program. So you need to be authorised to sell these products. If you’re not authorised to sell them or if you’re selling replicas, then these trademark owners are going to go ahead and strike your account. Get too many of these within a short period of time, then eventually, you will be suspended. If you’re a reasonably new account and get a few VeRO strikes within a short period of time, this will cause potential suspensions and restrictions.
Too Many Sales
For the first three months, you want to grow your account reasonably slowly. I know that you see these sellers online sharing their sales figures. And you want those sales figures too, but don’t focus on that. Please don’t focus on getting thousands of pounds in sales in your first month. Be satisfied with smaller numbers to start with because otherwise, it’s not organic. Also, it’s not natural for new sellers on eBay to be getting that many sales within a short period of time.
Increasing Limits
Now the first time you open up a business account. A lot of the time, you’re going to get a listing limit. If you max out your limit, wait until you’ve got a few sales and then call up eBay to increase your limit.
Now what you don’t want to do is call a week or two later and ask them to increase the limit again. eBay tell you to call back in a month’s time for a reason. Why is this problematic? By asking for too many limit increases. You will get to the point where someone at eBay will notice, and your account could get suspended.
I know the frustration because you want to start making money right away; you just want to get to a specific target. I understand that you want to get there as quickly as possible, but nothing in this world comes fast, get-rich-quick does not exist. This is a legitimate business, and you need to organically grow your business as you would any other.
So hopefully, I’ve covered the mindset you need to have to prevent eBay account suspended from happening. But if a suspension does occur, just listen to what eBay are asking for. Give them what they are asking for and use your own initiative. If eBay says to you “I want you to provide a copy of your agreement with the supplier” then supply that. If eBay are asking for invoices, do the same.
Remember that it is also a numbers game. So they don’t have to have you on their platform if you are disrespectful or rude. Just think about it this way when someone is looking into your eBay account suspended appeal. You are not the only appeal they are looking into that day. More than likely, they’ve probably processed ten appeals before you. And they’ll probably see twenty appeals after you. So when they read your reply, if you’re defensive and arrogant, they don’t have to put you back on to their platform. They’ll just decline and move on to the next one.
There are millions of people selling on eBay. They’ve got thousands of staff working for them worldwide. So remember you are dealing with a human being and be as friendly as possible.
Deal With a Suspension As Quickly as You Can
Here’s another piece of advice, when you receive a suspension, try to deal with it as quickly as possible. Also, always keep in regular contact with eBay. So speak to live chat as much as you can. Keep them informed of precisely what you are doing when it comes to your account suspension.
Say, for example, you know that you’ve got this suspension. This specific team is asking for certain invoices and information. Then go ahead and connect with the live chat team and just tell them, “Look, I’ve got this information. Is it okay? Do you think is there anything else that I need?”
Don’t be afraid to speak to the live chat team. Because you’re going to get a lot of valuable information from them. What you can also do when you are writing your appeal and providing the information. Every time you have a live chat with eBay. They give you a reference number, so be sure to include that:
“I also spoke to *Name* in live chat; the reference number of the chat is *reference number*. They advised me that this is the information that I need to provide. So I am now providing you with the details, hopefully, this helps.
I’d like to get cracking with this business because it looks like a fantastic business model for me. Of course, if there is anything else, you can always just go ahead and ask me. But hopefully, this provides the right type of information that you need to get my account back on track.”
So there you have it; that’s everything you need to know if you get your eBay account suspended. If you have any questions or anything to add about eBay suspensions that I haven’t mentioned. Please make sure you leave it in the comments down below. We’d love to hear all about it!
