What to do if eBay itself is harassing you?

[rmay635703]

My friend has long had an eBay account he is about 50/50 buy sell and started selling his antique playboy trading card collection about 6 months ago up to about 3 months ago.

eBay later banned playboy cards but allows the magazines.

My friend has been selling misc games and such but eBay has been alterating 7 day bans for itemsretroactively he sold in the past months before the rule change which results in him not being able to respond to buyers and it’s screwing up his ability to make income and messing with his head.

He has to spend hours on their tech support to get eBay to take off the ban, they agree it’s a mistake say they will fix
but usually won’t fix

They seem to be retroactively going through ancient finished auctions one by one to ban him back when they still had a category and allowed the cards.

Since they are traumatizing him can he sue since they are in the wrong and don’t care causing him to loose the little income he gets while unemployed?

What is more amusing is there are 10’s of thousands of identical cards still up for sale on eBay mostly through a couple very active sellers

Not sure what to tell him, eBay removes the ban just long enough for him to list bball cards and games but then finds something he sold 6 months ago to Reban him so he can’t interact with his buyers, rinse repeat

[freebeard]

Small consolation, I know.

This is an example of the importance of Richard M. Stallman and GNU/Linux, and Free and Open-source Software.

Stallman

GNU/Linux

Free and Open-source Software

See also: Dominion voting machines.

[Piotrsko]

Obviously, the solution to me is generate a slightly different new user/seller ID with perhaps a new burner phone number and email then mention his previous handle in the text somewhere but slightly mispelled like with two last "SS's". Perhaps the only nice thing about computers is they do as they are told and nothing more.

UNLESS you haven't been given the full truth of the problem but I don't judge.

[freebeard]

S's become 5's and then there is d[i]s[e]mv[o]w[e]l[i]ng.

[rmay635703]

Originally Posted by Piotrsko

Obviously, the solution to me is generate a slightly different new user/seller ID with perhaps a new burner phone number and email then mention his previous handle in the text somewhere but slightly mispelled like with two last "SS's". Perhaps the only nice thing about computers is they do as they are told and nothing more.

UNLESS you haven't been given the full truth of the problem but I don't judge.

This is what I told him, his existing account is napalmed as far as I’m concerned

I’m usually around when he gets another demotivating ban email telling him he is horrible for violating the TOU

[oil pan 4]

I have a top rated seller account with about a $17,000 per month listing allowance.
Yes ebay sucks at enforcing and interpreting their own rules.
I have been almost banned for selling gas mask filters as a knee jerk reaction to some mass shooting. I stopped trying to sell them, then months later ebay gave me what amounts to their idea of an apology and a $20 gift card. So I relisted them and they sold.
Your friend has probably been targeted by soccer mom's who aspire to be activists.
And yes the exact same item was for sale by other sellers. I also contacted other sellers of the same items and told them what was going on.

I saw ebay straight up ban a guy for selling AR15 gas tubes once ebays social justice worryiers realized what they were. I was building a few ghost guns and needed parts that guy had what I needed then one day he was straight up gone and all the information on the items I had bought from him had been removed.

[redpoint5]

eBay is a private business. They should have the right to deal with whoever they please. Plenty of alternatives these days too.

That’s not to say I agree with any of their actions and I’ve been upset at their policy too, but if I don’t like it I can go elsewhere.

[JSH]

Like repoint5 said, eBay is a private company with their own rules. They are responsible for enforcing their rules and your friend has not recourse outside of eBay.

As oil pan 4 said, this is likely a result of people clicking "report this item" on your friend's old listings. The good news is finished auctions only show for 90 days on eBay so this should clear up over time. (You can find them on internet searches longer than that)

If your friend is just fed up with the hassle he can go to another site.

[freebeard]

but if I don’t like it I can go elsewhere.

he can go to another site.

That's an easy answer, but where would that be? Etsy? Craigslist?

[redpoint5]

Although a cesspool, OfferUp is easy to use (which is why it's a cesspool), and has no fees. It's mostly useful for local sales, but shipping is an option.

I argued with Ebay about bogus feedback left for me, and basically you just have to wait until it falls off the record. As far as I can tell, even if you're right, you're wrong according to Ebay. Their way of not spending a lot of time dealing with individual problems is to just have a waiting period.