Has anyone had their e-bay account suspended? If so, were you able to get it re-instated?

[angiewhite_333]

My friend has had her e-bay account suspended because e-bay suspected fraudulent activity, she was selling signed L.P's on behalf of someone else! I told that it was a scam but she didn't believe me and really thought that it was 100% kosher! Especially, as the job was advertised in her local job centre! We have appealed to e-bay on three different occasions and they have still refused to re-instate her account, has anyone had a similar experience, or does anyone know if there is anything else that we could do? I was thinking that maybe she should go to see a solicitor if nothing else but to clear her name, any advice would be greatly appreciated!!!

[ojread2]

A solicitor? for an eBay account?
If she is selling, or has been selling, counterfeit goods then her a/c will be suspended.

What did the email say about it? Is it suspended indefinitely or just for a period of time?

You can have more than one eBay account so if she wants to sell again, she can open another although I wouldn't suggest she sells signed LP's any more

I would also let the job centre know

[bednobs]

we are talking about an ebay account - it's not the end of the world! why on earth would you want to get a solicitor involved?
I find it really odd that selling on ebay is a job too!

[mrs_overall]

I've been on Ebay since 2006 and was briefly suspended last year when they accused me of being an unregistered charity!
A quick but strongly worded email sorted the matter out

[bednobs]

so i am unclear here - was it fraudulent activity or not? Were they fake? If so, why hasn't she reported it to the police?

[Eve]

Was it an actual scam then, just that she didn't realise? If so then I can understand ebay suspending an account for that and being reluctant to reinstate as they may not be able to determine whether it was a genuine mistake and whether it was or not it still meant something dodgy being done through their website.

[angiewhite_333]

Thank you everyone for yours answers, e-bay have clearly stated it they suspect fraudulent activity, but in their T&C they are not at liability to actually tell you exactly what they suspect and that is the only item that we can think of that could be fraudulent. The suspension appears to be permanent because they have not specified it being an indefinite suspension. They have also said that you cannot open another e-bay account, they have actually banned her from doing so, that said, I know that there are ways of getting around that, but everything is linked to her address and bank details, so it would be very difficult for her to open another account, and she doesn't want to anyway, because it would mean that she has admitted to being dishonest, when she really thought that the L.P’s are genuine! When she took the job on via the job centre, she looked to see if other people were doing it, and they were so she thought that it was a genuine job! We know of four other sellers sellings these L.P’s and they haven’t been stopped! No-one can be sure if the items are genuine or not, but I think that e-bay should have done more research to prove the authenticity of them before suspending her account! The job centre do not check on employers putting ads on their system as we have checked with them, anyone can advertise via the job centre, all you need is a name, address and an e-mail address. The reason for the solicitor was to try and clear her name. OK, some people don't see buying and selling on e-bay as a job, but her husband is in the army which leaves her with plenty of time to turn it in to a part time job in between looking after house, home and young children. Incidentally, her husband has today gone back to Afghanistan with this hanging over their heads, all e-bay could say was that they wish them the best of luck and that they hope that he returns safe and sound!!

[ojread2]

mmm thought I answered this again ....

The LP's may not be fake. Fraudulent activity doesn't always mean the seller is selling fake goods
Was the a/c dormant for a while before this session?
Click on contact us, enter 'currency converter' and you will get a telephone number to use

[angiewhite_333]

Hi Oj, that is the trouble, because e-bay's policy states that they are not at liability to disclose their reasons, which is unfair really because we are assuming that the L.P's are fraudulent!! I get what you are saying though, maybe she has done something that she wasn't aware of!! Will suggest the telephone contact route! My friend is innocent, with her husband, a Corporal in the army, she just wouldn't do anything to jeopardise her honesty or his career in the army!! Really appreciate your help!!!

[bednobs]

she must get the albums from somewhere though - couldn't she report them to the police/trading standards?

[angiewhite_333]

It would seem that she was selling the L.P's for her employer who we now believe may have been handling genuine L.P's but maybe the signatures were fake! Something is definitely a miss, but unless she has done something drastically wrong and is unaware of it, we will never know!

[dotty.]

whose signatures were they? The Beatles never really signed their merchandise anyway, it's all very bizarre.

[ojread2]

but I thought she saw this in the job centre?

[EvianBaby]

I don't understand who you want her name cleared for? Other eBay users? Hardly something you'd wanting to spend a fortune on a solicitor for, even if they would/could actually do anything. I'm also not sure what you expected eBay to say about her husband going on tour, in the nicest possible way that's not really their problem.

[angiewhite_333]

All I know is that as an innocent honest person, she went to the job centre, saw this job saying that hours worked are to suit and with 2 small children thought it was ideal, her employer who put his ad in the job centre, said that he wanted her to sell these signed L.P's for him. As the job was advertised in a government run department, you cannot blame her for thinking that it was checked out, but no, the job centre do not do that! She wants her name cleared and her e-bay account re-instated because she was hoodwinked by her employer! OK, maybe she was a bit naive, but how could she know that these L.P's were not genuine??! And why are there still people on e-bay selling them? As for mentioning her husband going on tour, it was purely to explain why the e-bay account meant so much to her, because whilst he was away, she enjoyed the time clearing out outgrown and unwanted items in their home in order to sell on to people who wanted them! Yeah, maybe her husband going on tour hasn't got anything to do with e-bay, but he is fighting a war for us, so maybe you need to think on before you start stating totally insensitive comments. He left today for 7 months of uncertainty, so whilst you carry on in your life, he is fighting for ours!

[sherrardk]

To be fair to evianbaby she did say '... In the nicest possible way ...' so maybe a bit harsh on your part.

[EvianBaby]

Ha ha. It wasn't insensitive, I'm simply pointing out to you that it really isn't relevant to eBay at all. In fact I think their response was quite kind, they need not have commented at all. As my father spent over 30 years in the RAF I am fully of aware of what service men do and what the families go through but it has nothing to do with eBay.

[td1957]

Total respect for her husband. May God keep him safe.

[ojread2]

ah, her employer is the one who advertised at the job centre - with you now

What does she think eBay should have done to ensure the authenticity of the signatures? The LP's are not fakes, the siggies are
It is your friends responsibility to do that, not eBay's.
I've said before you can have more than one eBay account - I have 2, one I buy on and a posting ID. All allowed and all active
Her PP account can be linked to more than one account
If she wants to sell again it's easy - just get another account
But sje really needs to check her suppliers and goods before she sells them , not rely on others to do it for her

As for clearing her name? Seriously, she needs to get over it, there is nothing to clear

Oh, and she must register as a business

[td1957]

ojread2 is right about registering for a business but, hey, come on, how many people buy and sell for profit on ebay that are not registered?

[ojread2]

probably 1000's =)