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Your payouts are currently on hold because your eBay account is restricted
Hi guys
Hoping this message finds you well and wishing you happy holidays during this festive season.
I am seller based in Israel and it seems that one broom I had listed was design patented. I didn't know this when I had decided to work with a supplier who provided thousands of household items. I also didn't think to check item by item for any design infringements, although when searching now for the patent number, I see nothing referring to a broom.
So eBay received a court case to freeze my payment accounts until it is solved with the plaintiff's attorney who doesn't respond to my e-mails. I totally side with the plaintiff and do not encourage or want to sell any items that have design infringements. I also don't have any proceeds from any brooms on my store it was a long forgotten item and wasn't sold at all. I have already received sales from my different items of about $1000 between yesterday when I received the notice and today, so I decided to put my account on holiday in order to not block further money, although I really need the sales at this time.
My question is, as I am not American, I need your opinion on whether I should look for an attorney in the US to talk to the plaintiff's attorney, or should I wait for his reply? What if he decides to answer me after a month? I find it a bit unfair and that he should at least get back with instructions. I made it clear that we are happy to assist in any way they see fit and want their satisfaction going forward with our eBay store. Time is of the essence and we are happy to comply with their demands, should they answer.
This is eBay's email from VeRO yesterday:
Hello,
Your payouts are currently on hold because your eBay payment account is restricted. A U.S. Court has directed eBay to freeze your account. Please reach out to plaintiff’s attorney at kevin.keener@keenerlegal.com for more information and to resolve the matter.
Court Order Details
Court: U.S. District Court for the ECO SOURCING, INC.
Plaintiff: ECO SOURCING, INC.
Trademark/Copyright/Patent at issue: Multifunction Magic Broom – DESIGN PATENT - U.S. Patent No. D949,500
Court Case Title: 22-cv-6863; ECO SOURCING, INC. v. DOES 1-441, as identified in Exhibit 2
eBay did not decide to freeze your account, it was ordered to do so by a judge. Please understand that eBay cannot release this freeze on your payouts until we receive instructions from the plaintiff’s attorney, or we receive a copy of a notice of dismissal or satisfaction of judgment that has been filed with the court. This matter must be resolved with plaintiff’s attorney or defended in court. Plaintiff’s attorney can be contacted at the above email address. An attorney can explain to you how to defend the lawsuit in court.
If you have not heard from plaintiff’s attorney after 5 days, we will be happy to request they respond to you. If you need us to reach out, please contact VeRO@ebay.com.
Regards
levinteana1988
·3 years agoHello, was your problem solved? I have the same issue,not for a brand but becouse of a phone case that had a drawing that was trademarked! This is not a famous drawing or brand, impossible to check all the drawing if they are trademarked or not. Now my PayPal and bank account are frozen... What can I Do?
janet9988
·3 years agoYou can not use trademarked or brand name if your item are not such.
kh-ornesh
·3 years agoHi everyone,
Due to the age of this thread, it has been closed to further replies. Please feel free to start a new thread HERE if you wish to continue to discuss this topic.
Thank you for understanding.
rashra99
·3 years agoHello friend,
can you help me? how did solve this case? help meee....
ckimodog
·3 years ago@rashra99
This is an older post from December 2022 and it is doubtful the person who posted this will return as they are restricted from selling right now.
It looks like you had too many people complaining they weren't getting their items they bought from you. That happens with drop shipping and it usually doesn't end well for inexperienced sellers. Drop shipping is a very risky selling platform.
You might want to start a post of your own, let people know what is happening with your account so they can better serve and help you with your issue.
rashra99
·3 years ago@ckimodog
Now, what should I do to restore my account? help me...
ckimodog
·3 years ago@rashra99
Respectfully, I don't know if there's anything that can be done at this point. Your account will most likely not be restored. If you get too many demerits on your account and customers are complaining that they are not receiving their items, Ebay feels that you are displaying poor seller behavior and you are a risk to the community. Ebay is very protective of their buyers and they want them to have the best experience they can. They want happy, repetitive customers.
Did you try to contact customer service? I'll provide you with two links and you can take it from there:
https://www.ebay.com/help/home
https://www.facebook.com/ebayForBusiness/
Try both of these links and see if they can help you in any way to restore your account.
Good luck.
rashra99
·3 years ago@ckimodog
Good morning!
The problem I am having is,
Your payouts are currently on hold because your eBay payment account is restricted. A U.S. Court has directed eBay to freeze your account. Please reach out to plaintiff’s attorney at brandon@saperlaw.com for more information and to resolve the matter.
 
Court Order Details
Court: U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois
Plaintiff: JAWZRSIZE, LLC
Trademark/Copyright/Patent at issue: JAWZRSIZE
Court Case Title: 22-cv-6876; JAWZRSIZE, LLC v. THE PARTNERSHIPS AND UNINCORPORATED ASSOCIATIONS IDENTIFIED ON SCHEDULE "A"
eBay did not decide to freeze your account, it was ordered to do so by a judge. Please understand that eBay cannot release this freeze on your payouts until we receive instructions from the plaintiff’s attorney, or we receive a copy of a notice of dismissal or satisfaction of judgment that has been filed with the court. This matter must be resolved with plaintiff’s attorney or defended in court. Plaintiff’s attorney can be contacted at the above email address. An attorney can explain to you how to defend the lawsuit in court.
If you have not heard from plaintiff’s attorney after 5 days, we will be happy to request they respond to you. If you need us to reach out, please contact VeRO@ebay.com.
What should I do next? help me...
janet9988
·3 years agoREAD THE THREAD you are posting on.
power-house-store
OP3 years agoThere is still no answer from the broom's lawyer. eBay's account is incurring daily fees for my thousands of products that are listed, as well as subscription fees without the account being used as intended. I asked them to stop my account and send me my payout. At this point I am held hostage. Why do I have to keep paying eBay account fees if I am not to use it? I told them that we can go our separate ways from here. I am pretty sure they don't have a lot of solid ground for what they are doing to me. My business with eBay at this point is simply a bad experience because there is nothing against me. The account being used on the American website is a figment of the imagination from where I'm standing. I served their clients well and that is where my relationship ends. Besides they are surely not stopping the broom from being produced by doing this to me.
My lawyer fees are already at $500
We've sent an appeal to VeRo, eBay and the attorney. We also tried calling the broom's lawyer up to 5 times with voice messages and emails all through my lawyer. But to no avail.
Cursed broom?
power-house-store
OP3 years agoJust to clarify that drop shipping is allowed with certain conditions* mentioned above in the link.
In my case not jumping between retailers but actually shipping some items myself and working with workshops/suppliers who agree to eBay's conditions package the items accordingly.
dreamation_designs
·3 years agoThis topic was so important to me (out of topic) .
power-house-store
OP3 years agoI am not drop shipping from Pakistan. Drop shipping is allowed on eBay though. We work with many workshops for example leather crafts people who come to us for this coverage on eBay and we forward the orders. Nothing illegal here. Also we are not in the US if that is what you implied.
Thank you for your reply!
ckimodog
·3 years ago@power-house-store
I was replying to another person here who asked the same thing you did. @perfectcool And they are in Pakistan drop shipping from a retailer which is an Ebay violation. Your issue is not much different no mater where you are located. Drop shipping is a risky business platform. Most accounts do not last long.
power-house-store
OP3 years agoOh got it. Well, drop shipping is definitely allowed on eBay:
https://export.ebay.com/en/shipping/drop-shipping/
My issue concerns a patented design. Even if I were shipping the mop myself, I would have gotten the same notice. It has nothing to do with who ships my eBay orders. BTW, my eBay account is active (to some extent) and I can make sales and list still.
eBay stopped my payouts though because they got a take down notice from a legal firm regarding the mop and they want to make sure it is solved before they unlock my payouts. That is their guarantee against me working it out with the plaintiff and that they don't get sued further because this is where I can get them in legal trouble. They are protecting themselves at this point. The only answer that will satisfy them is the plaintiff's in which he acknowledges that my store agrees to stop selling this mop for good. For this to happen, he needs to answer my lawyer who is awaiting on their demands and in order to provide the necessary assurances to them. Taking it down by myself is not enough guarantee for eBay.
Moreover, I directed the plaintiff to the manufacturer of the mop and my lawyer is looking for indemnification. In retrospect, I couldn't connect this mop with a patent when working with that supplier. But they ironically can't touch the manufacturer because they are in Spain. They are producing thousands of mops on the regular and they have new business unaware clients on the daily. By this time next year, the plaintiff can go for another costly round of finding all these unassuming sellers to punish, instead of just going to the manufacturer once and for all. I think they are fighting the wrong fight here. But who am I to judge?
Best regards
power-house-store
OP3 years agoHey everyone
Quick update: I've employed legal representation in the US. My lawyer says that there is no court order to freeze my payment accounts. It is called a take down notice. ( I assume this is where eBay draws the line between protecting themselves and me and that is why they froze the payment account as a measure they take to urge me to solve this issue)
HOWEVER, the plaintiff's lawyer has not answered my initial emails nor my lawyer's phone calls and e-mails. It has been well over 5 days and I've just sent an e-mail to VeRo to tell them about this and see if they can "encourage" him to answer as they have previously suggested.
I also asked them to send me my payouts from the sales prior to the take down notice. I had already fulfilled all these orders and they were received with no issues by the customers. We are starting to bear unnecessary damage from not receiving the money for these fulfilled sales which came prior to the issue and it would make more sense if they put the hold on any income that would come from after the take down notice. It will equally force us to solve the matter. My payment settings were set to weekly, I would have otherwise gotten this money already if it were set to daily. Am I right in doing so? I believe it makes a lot of sense and eBay could at least extend this olive branch to one of their consistent sellers. My previous year's eBay fees would probably amount to around $35k, this gesture is the least they could do.
Best regards
perfectcool
·3 years agoHi, did you unfreee your acount? If yes how you did? I also recieved same email from ebay yesterday. Kindly Let me know what should i do? How to resolve this? Please read below email which i recieved from ebay.
Hello,
Your payouts are currently on hold because your eBay payment account is restricted. A U.S. Court has directed eBay to freeze your account. Please reach out to plaintiff’s attorney at kevin.keener@keenerlegal.com for more information and to resolve the matter.
Court Order Details
Court: U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois
Plaintiff: ND PRODUCTS, INC.
Trademark/Copyright/Patent at issue: ND PRODUCTS SMART SWAB - 724 DESIGN PATENT
Court Case Title: 22-cv-3444; ND PRODUCTS, INC. v. DOES 1-127, AS IDENTIFIED IN EXHIBIT 2
eBay did not decide to freeze your account, it was ordered to do so by a judge. Please understand that eBay cannot release this freeze on your payouts until we receive instructions from the plaintiff’s attorney, or we receive a copy of a notice of dismissal or satisfaction of judgment that has been filed with the court. This matter must be resolved with plaintiff’s attorney or defended in court. Plaintiff’s attorney can be contacted at the above email address. An attorney can explain to you how to defend the lawsuit in court.
If you have not heard from plaintiff’s attorney after 5 days, we will be happy to request they respond to you. If you need us to reach out, please contact VeRO@ebay.com.
Regards,
eBay
monroe67
·3 years agoI have the same advice for you as to the OP: send an email to Kevin Keener at the email address eBay gives to you in the first paragraph.
Then, if Mr. Keener's firm does not get back in touch with you, contact eBay at the email they have given you, VeRO@ebay.com, and ask eBay to help you.
I wonder how many other VeRO-related lawsuits Mr. Keener has filed . . . .
ckimodog
·3 years ago@monroe67
I've seen several this year. Many filed at the sellers from Pakistan who were drop shipping.
ckimodog
·3 years ago@perfectcool
Looks like you were drop shipping from the US via a retailer from Pakistan, which is against Ebay policy. Also selling things you cannot sell due to Vero policy. Most likely your account won't be re-instated. I would pay attention to what the notice stated and follow thru with what they requested you to do.
Important to know policies and rules before attempting to sell on any e commerce platform, especially with drop shipping. Drop shipping is a risky business platform and the outcome is just what happened to your account. Restricted/suspension.
Good luck getting things sorted out and solved.