Permanent Selling Ban Advice
Happy Holidays everyone,
So I recently was permanently banned for having bellow selling standards for 1 year and I attempted to appeal the ban with no assistance from customer service in the matter. I’ll start from the beginning to hopefully get some advice.
I have a 100% positive selling account with over 1200 reviews. Last year in November 2023 I had 120 auctions take place where I was unable to follow through with some sales because my warehouse was broken into and the items were stollen. I contacted eBay to get assistance resolving the issue and they advised to cancel the orders due to defect which I did for the items I no longer had. I also reached out to buyers that were affected and most were reasonable. One of those buyers was very unhappy and reported me and was unhappy with the outcome.
The following month I started selling items again but noticed a 20% fee on all items sold, so I reached out to eBay which informed me this was due to being bellow selling standards. The agent advised me to wait 3 months so the standards would go back to normal.
I waited those three months and contact eBay customer service again. At this time the agent informed me those fees were still there and that I would have to wait a year for those standards to be removed.
Well this December it had been a year and I contacted eBay in regards to the fees and was informed that I was permanently suspended because I was bellow seller standards for a year. I explained my situation to the agent who told me there is nothing I can do and I’m banned.
I contacted back because I felt there had to be a way to review this and appeal the outcome and spoke to a gentleman that informed me I was able to appeal with a special department. He then transferred me to that department and I received the original agent, Sylvia, who told me again there is nothing I can do. I then requested to speak to a supervisor and she refused. I was polite and made multiple requests to speak to a supervisor but was then hung up on.
At this point I am permanently banned from selling on eBay. Had one incident outside of my control and because of the advice of EBay I am now permanently banned with my hands tied. Is there anything I can do or should I just look at selling my cards elsewhere?
ryry-jj
·1 year agoDid you just stop selling during the "wait" period? My interpretation would have been to keep selling but you have to "wait" out the higher fee time period. Also, you interpret the one bad sale as only referring to the customer who was mad....all the cancelled sales, regardless of the buyers acceptance, goes against you as well and leads to BBE.
Your only course of appeal now would be to ebay's social media outlets. I know this situation was out of your control, but theft, fire, emergencies, & even divorce can all destroy a business in a heart beat. The first two you can have common business insurance, the latter two, not so much...but just as painful & damaging
gator08041971
·1 year ago@575sportscards
I'm sorry that this happened to you.
Unfortunately, you won't even be able to setup another account on eBay either. If you attempted it, it too would be banned. (they won't let you around a ban)
Not only that, the type of items you sell are in an area that has a lot of scrutiny for fraud. And that doesn't help your case either. Not saying you are fraudulent, but the items you sell can be a higher risk item for buyers.
I suppose you will have to indeed find a different place to sell your items. Good luck.
575sportscards
OP1 year agoUnfortunate that a single incident can cause this with no path to review or appeal. Been selling for 7+ years without a single incident before this.
Thanks
gator08041971
·1 year ago@575sportscards
Short of getting in touch with someone that could actually get that reversed, I don't see another way to fix it.
Have you tried reaching out to them on Social media? The following is a method from one of my cohorts:
If you want to contact an eBay employee , the moderators here and the phone "reps" are both sub-contracted.
The moderators are pretty good. We rarely see complaints about their actions.
The phone reps have a terrible reputation for getting you off the phone as soon as possible even if that means giving you the advice you want to hear instead of the advice you need to have.
Here are your options for contacting Ebay Customer Service.
Please be aware that for social media CS, you send them a Private Message and briefly explain what your problem or issue is. Feel free to leave your Name, address, phone number and/or your email address in this message. It is private and secure and it may help to speed up the response for you.

https://www.facebook.com/ebay— Message button in upper right on landing page.
#204760888466
https://www.instagram.com/ebayforsellers/

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/How-do-I-contact-Customer-Support/m-p/32016431#M1783851 -> Automated Assistant, type AGENT -> enter. You will then get more options.


The social media Chat accounts are covered by trained eBay employees with some authority.
And you get a transcript so you can compare what you heard with what you were told.
575sportscards
OP1 year agoI appreciate the advice! I’ll reach out to hopefully get more assistance from someone who will investigate further. Thank you
575sportscards
OP1 year ago Great advise to try. One bad buyer experience that I was unable to deliver some of their cards because they were stollen caused me to get permanently banned and they’re unable to do anything. Blows my mind. I hope no one else ever has this happen to them. 1000+ great sells and one bad outside of my control, not only did I lose money off theft I lose an outlet I spent years building a store to sell cards.
Very disappointing.
575sportscards
OP1 year agoEven worse, is that if I didn’t listen to eBay customer support and kept selling cards then I could have increased my seller performance above the threshold.
gator08041971
·1 year ago@575sportscards
Sorry that it wasn't a positive result. I do wish you luck though wherever it leads you next.
Even worse, is that if I didn’t listen to eBay customer support and kept selling cards then I could have increased my seller performance above the threshold.
Yeah, that would sting even worse. Well, good luck to you.
kensgiftshop
·1 year agoSorry that happened, but you didn't have much of a choice but to cancel the orders.