eBay permanently banned our selling during Covid despite of 100% positive feedback--what to do??

[alaskantrail]

We have been on eBay for a long period of time, both buying and selling as a small business. Throughout the years, we have collected all positive feedback and retained our power seller status. During Covid, however, due to supply issues, our business was in transition and we are unable to fulfill our orders but did not take down our listings. When we found out people just ordered something, we immediately canceled their orders and refund everything. We reached out to the customers to make sure that they understood the situation and that there were no negative customer issues. In spite of that, unbeknownst to us, eBay decided to ban us permanently from their selling platform. 

It appears that their decision is final (cannot be appealed) and we are not sure if humans were involved in their decision and review process. We had thought that it is a platform that is more friendly to small businesses than Amazon and others. It turns out that their seller customer service is ruthless and inhuman. What can one do in this situation? Any thoughts would be much appreciated. 

[hartungcards]

Who leaves their listings active when they know they can't fulfill them?  This is pretty basic stuff.  Unless I'm missing something here, I can't find a reason to blame eBay for this one.

[silverstatetreasureboxes]

@alaskantrail 

No, you are done here but best of luck elsewhere. 

[mtgraves7984]

Sellers that can't fulfill buyers' orders are not welcome on this selling site for sure. Good luck moving forward.

[bonjourami]

Not to add fuel to the fire, but canceling transactions is a certain kiss of death for an Ebay seller.

[kensgiftshop]

Sorry, all you can do is find another place to sell your items.

[lakefor94]

Best of luck on the next platform. 

[toomuchstuffagain35]

Sorry, but it was YOU who left your listings up for active sale when you knew you may or may not have been able to fulfill orders. Were your "supply issues" due to drop shipping?

This is one is totally on you I'm afraid.

[inhawaii]

Why do people bring up their 100% feedback when they get suspended?

If you do something wrong, what does it matter what your feedback is?

[chapeau-noir]

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@inhawaii wrote:

Why do people bring up their 100% feedback when they get suspended?

If you do something wrong, what does it matter what your feedback is?

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It also doesn't matter if they were here for 94 or whatever years, but they bring it up anyway.

Keeping listings going without being able to fulfill them is like having a brick and mortar and refusing to allow customers to take items home.  How long do you think that store would last?

[alaskantrail · Accepted solution]

We suspended our store but the order slipped through in between periods. Regardless, we are not defending what happened, regretting not doing more now we understand what went wrong. The truth of the matter is that we only received a total of 2 emails from eBay reminding us to "increase our performance" without identifying what went wrong. We had no idea and thought things were fine since we quickly and diligently remedied each situation and made everyone whole and received other emails from eBay telling us that we are "all set."

All that aside, what I was trying to say is that banning us (or anyone) from selling on eBay permanently regardless of whether something is a stupid mistake which requires only education and training and some TLC, or something which is devious or malicious, is overly harsh and disproportionately punitive and unfair.  It is like banning an NBA player from ever playing in the NBA for committing a technical foul or banning someone from ever riding an airplane for bringing a bottle of water past security. Even criminals are given the opportunity to reestablish themselves in the society. We would be happy to pay for seller training, be suspended for a period of time, and suffer the financial consequences or go through some other rehabilitation process. But to be banned from eBay for life is not great for small businesses, especially mom-and-pop shops like ours.

The reason I brought up ratings and history is to show that our action or negligence is unintentional and that we spent many years trying to build our online store with success. Had we known what eBay is specifically referring to in those reminder emails, we would have done everything we can. To be banned permanently after 2 emails among voluminous other eBay emails without the opportunity to fully understand what was going on and the opportunity to rectify the situation is grossly unfair. 

For those who are quick to judge and dismiss our situation, I hope and know that your words would be less harsh if the shoe is on the other foot.  For the sake of a better and more compassionate eBay community, let people know what you think is fair and what is excessive.  Thanks. 

[bonjourami]

Sorry this happened to you, its just surprising that for as long as you've been here, you didnt know that canceling transactions would finish your Ebay career.It doesnt matter what the community thinks, unfortunately..or what we think is fair or excessive.The rules are the same for us all.Ebay seems to drop the hammer quickly on any seller who cancels transactions. I do wish you good luck though,maybe somewhere else will open up for you.

[stainlessenginecovers]

Cancelling sales for items you were listing that you did NOT even have in your possession is NOTHING like an NBA player committing a 'technical foul' when it comes to a 'Selling Platform'.

More like that NBA Player placing a gambling wager against his team and then tanking a bunch of free throws.

You don't get to 'come back' from certain things.

This...is 1 of them. 

[mam98031]

It isn't a hidden rule.  Cancellation for being out of stock is a serious Defect.  Get too many, which is clearly stated on your Seller Dashboard will cause you significant issues as you have discovered.

Your Feedback has absolutely nothing to do with this issue you are having and the Power Seller program was retired a while back.

If you were drop shipping and not staying on top of what was going on, then that is on you as the seller.

You and Ebay simply have a difference of opinion.  You see what you did to your account was just a "stupid mistake", Ebay doesn't agree.  They find it much more serious of a problem than you do.  Since they OWN the site they decided they don't like how cavalier you are about what happened.  Not understanding how cancellations for out of stock can really damage the site.  You may not agree, but that really doesn't matter.  It is true and seasoned sellers understand this.

You should have been managing your account far closer that apparently you were and Ebay does expect you to do that as well.

You are done here.  No matter what you do, they aren't going to allow you back as a seller.  I sincerely hope you find something that works well for you and you have great success, it just won't be here.

[luckythewinner]

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During Covid, however, due to supply issues, our business was in transition and we are unable to fulfill our orders but did not take down our listings.

You should have taken your listings down after the first order went unfulfilled. Seller-initiated cancellations are incredibly damaging and once you pass the threshold you are generally doomed.

The truth of the matter is that we only received a total of 2 emails from eBay reminding us to "increase our performance" without identifying what went wrong. 

But your seller status tile showed you the issue every single time you went to the Seller Hub. 

banning us (or anyone) from selling on eBay permanently is overly harsh and disproportionately punitive and unfair

Regardless of your opinion, eBay clearly spells out the two things that can put a seller Below Standard - and seller-initated cancellations is one of them.