Dealing with a Suspended Account

[808electronics]

I sell some smaller less expensive items with no tracking via lettermail (from Canada - its much cheaper - $3 compared to $13-20 with tracking)

sold two items to dropshipper who was banned shortly after purchasing. they filed a chargeback and i did not see the notice so they won the dispute. i was forced to refund two items, and pay two $20 fees. then my account was restricted a couple days later. i'm assuming it was due to this, but i have had no confirmation.

the message from ebay says to provide tracking or get positive feedback from buyers confirming the package was delivered. i replied saying i shipped without tracking, the items were refunded but their response is to please provide tracking. i reply again explaining i sent with no tracking, they say to provide tracking. its useless.

i spoke with chat support, they say they cannot do anything and to reply to the email. i have phoned and they say they cannot do anything because i need to reply to the email. i contacted ebay for business via facebook, same response. reply to the email.

is there anyway out of this loop?  i cannot provide tracking and i dont think i will be getting feedback for items that were bought by someone who had their account banned.

anyway, please help if you can.

thanks

[femmefan1946]

What do you want to get out of this?

The $20 chargeback might be possible-- if only as a courtesy refund. (Heck I'd take it, money is money).

tyler@ebay 

Since OP has tried the phone reps, the Chat reps, and the FaceBook reps, and is not getting anywhere.

Sure he should have kept an eye open for the Dispute, but without tracking that is not winnable anyway. And eBay doesn't have much control over credit card chargebacks.

Would it be possible to get a courtesy refund on the $20 penalties because the buyerx was using OP as a supplier for a dropship? And is now NARU because of it?

[808electronics]

i dont care about the money. i missed the messages because they did not show up as alerts, the dispute came and went and i was forced to refund and was charged $40 in fees. whatever, lesson learned. but now my account is locked up and i cant post new listings...

altho, somehow during this i am still making sales, and ebay auto renewed my store for me... i just cant make new listings or edit my current listings.

i feel like im stuck in limbo... ebay just keeps telling me to show proof of tracking, and i keep repying the packages were sent without tracking. they reply something like thanks for letting us know, please upload tracking, like im talking to a robot. its extremly frustrating.

[femmefan1946]

 then my account was restricted a couple days later. i'm assuming it was due to this, but i have had no confirmation.

Are you in Managed Payments and are your payments being transferred to your bank account?

Because the problem you are asking about (not being able to make new listings) may not be caused by the problem that ended with the Defects and $20 fees.

[808electronics]

turns out it was due to tracking. but getting an answer from ebay was like pulling teeth. turns out its the MC011 message.

Since i sent a lot of items via lettermail with no tracking, this caused ebay to auto restrict my account.

they are now asking for my drivers licence, proof of address, and manufacturers receipts from items i sell. i source from thrift stores, so i see a ban in my near future from ebay automatically not getting what they want from me.

ive already bulk downloaded my listings and have created etsy and mercari accounts. im frankly done with dealing with ebay.

they are also holding approx $250 of mine but are still letting me make sales, just not giving me the money. its criminal imo.

[femmefan1946]

I send the majority of my items, well over 98%, as lettermail with no tracking, and have since my first account opened in 1998.

So not using tracked services should not be the problem.

To my mind, the license and proof of address is confirming identity and most of those are Managed Payments demands. Is your Managed Payments account working? Are you getting your received payments (since you are still selling, just not listing) transferred regularly to your chequing account?

Are you selling all your items as Used? Because that, again, should not require receipts.  I'm not sure what VeRO would want for proof of purchase on thrift store items. 
Also.

Manufacturer's receipts?

When we had a shop, we bought hobby supplies from wholesalers, not from the dozens of manufacturers our suppliers sourced.

tyler@ebay 

Is there a path out of this impasse? I'm wondering if somehow the OP hasn't got into some spoof website that is stealing his information, mostly because of the "manufacturer's receipt" part.

[tyler@ebay]

@femmefan1946 - depending on the exact circumstances, asking for proof of identity and proof of merchandise (receipts, invoices, etc) is something that we do. Based on what OP states I'm inclined to believe this is not a spoof situation. 

@808electronics - I'm sorry this has been such a hassle for you. I can't provide account-specific support via the boards, but staying in touch with CS is the best option forward here. In particular, with these types of situations, the thing to remember is to reply to the original email you got requesting that information. 

[808electronics]

well, i got my account back finally. thank you for your responses.

after sending in my drivers licence, utility bill, and some receipts from various places that i source from, I got a response from ebay thanking me, and then telling me that i need to upload tracking for all items sold on ebay... AGAIN! I responded saying that any item that was shipped without tracking was either sent via lettermail which has no tracking, or small packet usa which also has no tracking. I was sure i was never going to get my ebay account back at this point. 

however, ebay replied with the news that they were going to reinstate my account. It was a great feeling, i felt like dancing... however my funds were still locked up for another 48 hours and when i tried to create a new listing, i was told my account was restricted.

another email to ebay asking whats going on, i got the same response about my account being reinstated but this time it actually went through.

their receommendation in the email to avoid this happening again was to ship my items on time, and to write better descriptions of my items... i always ship on time. most listings have about 10 pictures in a lightbox that are highly detailed and i write as much as i can about the item..

the only thing i can think of to why my account was suspended was missing the emails from the person who was making a chargeback on their credit card.  again this was done by someone who had their account banned shortly after purchasing my item. so ebay sided with the credit card company of a banned user and made me jump thru all sorts of hoops to get my account back.

i'm glad i have it back at least, but i'm unsure of how to move forward. should i put tracking required on all my shipments? i dont think this is necessary, and i will no longer be competative on a lot of my items and they will just sit in storage forever.

anyway. i shipped no tracking on many items for years and never had an issue until this chargeback happened, so i am assuming that was the event that triggered the suspensions, however i am just guessing at this point as ebay is not actually telling me why.

sorry for the long message, and thanks again for your replies. it felt like at least someone out there was listening to me and trying to help.

[808electronics]

thank you. i was persistant, and eventually got my account back. i still dont know why my account was suspended.

I was told to avoid this in the future by shipping on time, and writing better descriptions of my items...

this was never mentioned in any of my previous emails constantly asking to upload tracking for items that were shipped without tracking. i am assuming this was triggered by having a chargeback claim and missing the messages after 10 days and having to refund and pay 40$ in fees to ebay for ignoring the request... but again, i'm just speculating at this point.

thanks for your help, i'm happy to be back, but am very wary going forward using this platform.