r/ebaysucks

20 years, $2+ million in sales, $200k+ paid in seller fees, ended as a Top Rated Seller owing cusomers $0 and now all of my Ebay accounts are banned for LIFE, even from buying as a GUEST as confirmed by multiple CS reps.

TO BE COMPLETELY TRANSPARENT, I went bankrupt and owed eBay's sister company, WHI Solutions, around $400. I *assume* that's ultimately what caused the ban, although eBay has never actually told me why I was banned or even sent an email explaining. The actual ebay account has no money owed.

Also, regarding the ~$400 owed, I spent months trying to close my WHI account, but they kept billing me despite repeated requests to close the account. When my business collapsed, my remaining funds went strictly to customer returns and household expenses. WHI and eBay never seem to know what the other is doing.....except when blindly pushing invoices and handing out a lifetime ban.

So yes, there was an unpaid (and what I call unfair) ~$400 bill when I filed bankruptcy. I'm not hiding that or claiming they aren't allowed to hold it against me... I didn't expect to continue being allowed to sell on Ebay, which I don't care for anyways, so I don't have to keep my mouth shut anymore about their crappy platform being a magnet for seemingly dishonest sellers who push "OEM Genuine" this, "OEM Genuine" that with nothing to back it up.

What genuinely surprised me is the lifetime ban as a customer. After 20 years, roughly $2 million in sales, $200k+ paid in seller fees, finishing with Top Rated Seller status and leaving no customers owed money, I'm apparently not allowed to spend money on eBay ever again......even as a guest over their overly aggressive pushing invoices and racking up a $400 bill *after* I asked repeatedly to close the WHI account.

I know they have every right to do that, I just find the response pretty remarkable and think longtime sellers should understand how eBay and WHI Solutions may handle a situation like this when a business fails. It's a straight up middle finger...WHI ignored request to close account, racking up fees for me to pay, then lifetime ban. looks like this is the final push for me to just leave Ebay behind....but it won't be without a warning to other sellers. When Ebay invoices you (yes, even unfairly), they will ban you for life as a seller, buyer, or even a GUEST if you don't pay....even if they've made a LOT of money off of you. DO NOT put all of your chips in Ebay.

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I recently made an ebay account, like at the start of the month. I bought one thing, that's it. My account got suspended yesterday and I have no clue why. I payed for my purchase and I didn't do anything that would warrant a suspension, idk :\

I'm just frustrated because i genuinely don't understand why. They won't tell me why either. I've sent an email to customer support so i'm still waiting to hear back from them but ya know.

My story seems to be way too common. It seems this is a new theme with eBay. From what I’ve gathered, a majority of people are thinking this is an AI system implemented by eBay in the last few years?

I’m an in person TCG vendor. I sell trading cards and custom binders with my fiancé. We’re small and always looking for avenues to connect collectors with what they love, primarily in the Pokemon space. Lately, I’ve been buying collections with the intent to list the cards individually on eBay. Obviously, this is not a new concept and many are already actively doing this to varying degrees of success.

I started a fresh eBay account, I connected my bank account, provided my SSN and even put a credit card on file for checkouts in case I wanted to buy and support other TCG stores in the eBay space. It’s popular in the space to use a web app called CardUploader to easily upload multiple listings of single cards. I know it’s smart to start small, and not list your entire collection all at once. With this in mind, I listed 9 cards with CardUploader onto eBay.

Within an hour, all 9 cards were removed and I was handed a permanent suspension. I tried to appeal it 3 times and within 10 minutes of each email, I was met with the same boilerplate email that I’ve seen here constantly.

“Thanks for contacting us about the suspension notification we sent you.

After reviewing your account, we’ve confirmed our decision to permanently suspend it.”

I had to use my personal account to get an agent on the phone, he asked some questions but ultimately came back to me with “Our Specialized Team has made their final decision, the ban will remain. Thank you for doing business with eBay” - or something to that extent.

What business? I wasn’t even given the chance to do business with eBay.

I’m incredibly frustrated. The ban is tied to me personally. An instant decision and now I’m completely barred from a 2.5 BILLION dollar market.

I’ve filed a complaint with the BBB, which I’ve read will not help at all.

Is there anything at all that I could do? Has anyone had any success sending mail to their corporate headquarters? I refuse to believe that this is the end of the road for selling on eBay.

Anyways, thank you for reading and letting me vent my frustrations.

I posted this once before, and Reddit removed it because of “Reddit’s filters” … I can’t catch a break!!!

Hey, I just made an ebay acccount and bought 2 books for $150 and they immediately killed my account, I just want to know if this is normal or not and how to get my money back. Thanks

I’ve already asked eBay to step in and provided enough evidence, but it’s now been over 48 hours and eBay still hasn’t done anything. I haven’t received any notification or update at all. I even specifically requested the refund as eBay funds instead of my original payment method because I could’ve already used those funds. I added a gift card to my account during the 48-hour waiting period, but it was for the exact amount I needed for another item, and I was sure none of the eBay credit had been added yet. Now I’m stuck waiting for my refund. At this point, it honestly feels like eBay is just going to ignore it and forget about it.

Any punishment for that behavior?

I messaged a seller about a handheld that looked used that he was selling as brand new. He tells me he buys them second hand, flashes a new Sandisc card, then plays with them a bit to make sure they work, then puts them up for resale. I tell him "so it was used before, used again & is NOT new." He said it's as good as new.

I report the listing since he's buying 2nd hand then reselling as new. EBay's AI apparently has no problem with it.

Just another reason not to trust sellers, as well as AI. At least the seller was honest about his lying.

Had a clerk a few weeks ago instruct me that he will not accept any boxes from me in the future that have ANY writing on them indicating the box's previous life. I brought him a box that had something like a smiley face or something innocuous that I didn't cover up. It wasn't a signal of anything hazardous being in the box, but I guess a strict interpretation of the newest rulings on the reuse of boxes say all markings must be covered up. I have a king sized sharpie that is great for blacking out everything on the box but that thing stinks to high heaven, and the smell lingers, even overnight. What are you guys doing with your reused boxes to cover up writing/images/barcodes/QR codes?

EDIT: just dropped off packages and spoke with clerk. She said when they print out labels and affix to the box, they’re not even allowed to place that address label over anything you’ve blacked out. I asked why. She said there was some big bad thing that happened which precipitated the changes.

Hi, first post here. I've had nothing but issues lately buying off of eBay. I'd like to think I'm a pretty solid buyer, I buy car parts, tools, old video games, just a lot of stuff in general. This past year I have had the worst luck with one specific category... older video games.

I don't know, it just feels like sellers will list a game as "like new" and describe how flawless it is in the description and then a scuffed game shows up with water damage on the paper components. I mean seriously, it's nearly 50/50 now. I can message a seller, ask a handful of questions, touch every point, request pictures, receive what appears to be exactly what the listing described, and then what shows up is just mind boggling. Scratches, scuffs, tears in the manual and insert, moisture staining and residual mold spots. What IS the standard anymore?

The majority of the time I request a return through eBay. Most of the time I message the seller first to try and discuss the concerns. If I contact the seller before going that route to politely discuss the issue more often than not I'm met with rude remarks and someone who adamantly states how it didn't look like that when they sent it. Like, what? I'm looking at it now and this is what I got... What is even going on anymore? I try to buy from sellers with 100% and good feedback. I don't see how these are the same sellers. Stellar ratings somehow and I get a game that looks like it was stored by a shower with a disc I have to scrub clean because it looks like someone exclusively handled it after fisting a bag of chips for an hour.

Genuinely, I am starting to wonder if I'm the issue here? I bought an item off of eBay from a 100% rated seller. Why does this seller have such a rating when the game I receive listed as "like new" with great photos shows up looking like it was used as a frisbee until I bought it. If I buy a game in "good" condition or "fair" condition more often than not I'm happy with what I receive. Does the condition of an item listed mean absolutely nothing?

Fun bonus situation. I'm currently having to go through a case after sending the game back because apparently the seller has some issue or another they're trying to get eBay to back them up on. I just got the notification it's now "under review", no refund has been issued now and I have to wait for whatever is going to happen. I literally don't know if I can even do anything and what the outcome could even be. I don't have the game, I literally opened it, saw it, put it back in the case and contacted them. They were rude and adamant that it was definitely flawless when they sent it out so I requested a return through eBay. The only time I had the game back out was for a few pictures of the scratches for the return request before I put it back and packed it up to ship back out in the packaging they sent it in. I genuinely think I'm done with this garbage platform. It's honestly more trouble than it's worth.

I have two Ebay stores. I listed a painting today and their AI flagged it saying I need to revise my description as I am opening the avenue to sell off the Ebay platform which is a complete lie. I have NEVER had an issue going to help and having someone call me back in 2-3 minutes. I went to their chat and nobody is calling me back. It's been over an hour now. I just don't get it.

I know it’s my fault for not checking before hand, but I’m still annoyed. I recently won a bid for a Lego set on eBay. I got it for 78% of the original price so I was happy with it! The bid ended near midnight, so I completed my transaction before I went to bed. I woke up the next morning and saw a charge to my card for way more than I bid on. Well, come to find out, the seller has a $110 shipping charge. And of course, the seller says no cancellations or refunds. The worst part? Shipping from CA to CO.

Anyways, read the fine print kids. Hope the Lego set is still fun.