eBay took down my listing due to "illicit illegal activity."
Someone please educate me.
I did numbers on these items in my store. I sold about 5 of these, 3 of them being the same brand, same model, same everything.
This time, eBay hit me with a policy violation due to "illicit illegal activity". I am not dumb, this is a card reader so I understand why the AI would think that.. but its not. it is a legitimate card reader for commercial use POS systems. I have 2 of these in stock and i cannot sell them due to the "violation". Appeal was denied and are adamant that they are sticking with their guns. Ive explained to them that if they look at other listings, they will immediately that they have PLENTY of other sellers selling the same exact item. Still was denied.
ebay also advised that if I were to relist it, my account is in jeopardy of suspension which is a risk that I am not willing to take.
What are my options here?
FWIW, the item is a Deftun Card Reader Writer USB Swipe Encoder 3 Tracks MSR605X
janet9988
·5 months agoYou also got away with selling these items before they were caught. Just because others violated ebay policy does NOT give you the rights to do the same.
quadcitypickers
·5 months agoNot really. eBay mainly uses AI to take down of items and it quite often makes mistakes. This has been a lament of sellers on the boards ever since it rolled out.
For example, you can NOT sell a c-pap machine on eBay.
But can you sell a cloth carrying case for one? Of course.
But their AI will see "c-pap machine" and freak out.
I've had items taken down in the past where the email alludes to "this decision was made using automation".
eBay's listing policy compliance AI has taken down tons of perfectly fine listings. Often due to keyword triggers. You can google search this and see endless threads on this board and other platforms.
Now if you remove "machine" from the title, for example "Soft Carrying Travel Bag for Resmed 10 Cpap", it won't get flagged.
People have had legitimate listings taken down on authentic items simply because eBay's AI simply went "this item is worth $500, the seller is listing it for $300, so it must be fake". I'm not making that up.
jdbelt1960
·5 months agoIt is good that you came here. Items that may be bought for unscrupulous reasons should not be sold. Credit card fraud is large and someone could buy your product pretending to be legitimate but is actually going door to door conning people for credit card info. And please don't go with the butterknife argument.
authentic*vintage
·5 months agoHere are the direct links to the relevant eBay policies that cover these types of devices:
Encouraging Illegal Activity Policy: https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/prohibited-restricted-items/encouraging-illegal-activity-policy?id=4339 (Covers items that facilitate or provide instructions for illegal acts.)
Lockpicking and Locksmithing Devices Policy: https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/prohibited-restricted-items/lockpicking-devices-policy?id=4329 (Covers "code-grabbing" devices and equipment used to duplicate security or access cards.)
Government Documents, IDs, and Licenses Policy: https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/prohibited-restricted-items/government-documents-ids-licenses-policy?id=4318 (Covers equipment used to create or alter identification cards.)
Prohibited and Restricted Items (Overview): https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/prohibited-restricted-items/prohibited-restricted-items?id=4205 (The general directory for all items that carry a high risk of account suspension.)
jdbelt1960
·5 months agoAre you talking about a credit card reader? They can be used in so many ways for criminal activity and should have been regulated. How you have 5 of them and are selling them on the street should not be allowed.
quadcitypickers
·5 months agoWhat on earth are you on about?
Paypal used to GIVE YOU ONE for accepting cards in person. So did Square.
I think people including the reps are confusing mag stripe readers with card SKIMMERS.
SKIMMERS are concealed devices that steal CC data.
christworks
·5 months agoTake them to your local flea market. There will be plenty of outstanding business owners who would love to have one.
quadcitypickers
·5 months agoI need parts of the actual email to make a determination to what is going on.
When there is a policy violation, it will always state what exact policy was violated. There is no general or blanket policy on "illegal activity".
There are things that CAN and CAN NOT be sold on eBay, but every item that can NOT be sold has a policy page specifically for it.
Can't sell CPAP machines - that goes to the medical device policy.
Cannot sell certain weapons - that goes to the weapons policy.
lacemaker3
·5 months ago@quadcitypickers
From what has already been posted on this thread, these devices are (or can be) used to make fake credit cards.
The policy in question is probably this one, against "encouraging illegal activity". So the quote in the title was close, but not exact.
https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/prohibited-restricted-items/encouraging-illegal-activity-policy?id=4339
slippinjimmy
·5 months ago@vegaslowballresale
Yes it is and if you pay attention you will read the list on that Help page you will see that they are only "examples".
"Items or information that might enable or encourage illegal activity are not allowed. Examples include:"
quadcitypickers
·5 months agoThat is for items that on their own have more bad uses than actual legitimate legal uses. Same for lock picking sets.
Otherwise you couldn't sell kitchen knives on eBay since they might be used for a homicide.
jdbelt1960
·5 months agoUnless you are a locksmith the police consider lockpicking sets as burglary tools.
quadcitypickers
·5 months agoYes, but mere possession of a card reader/writer does not make one a criminal.
This would be like saying you cannot own a VCR because you could potentially use it to copy movies.
Or you cannot own a copy machine because you could copy and print money with it.
Magstripers have plenty of legal uses:
Heck, some businesses even use them to make gift cards.
authentic*vintage
·5 months agoYou are ignoring the most specific policy eBay has.
Under the Lockpicking and Locksmithing Policy, eBay explicitly bans:
"Equipment used to read or copy codes from a proximity card or a magnetic stripe card."
kensgiftshop
·5 months agoYour options are to not relist them here.
authentic*vintage
·5 months agoBecause this device can write exact copies of magnetic stripe data onto blank plastic cards, it is a primary tool used by identity thieves to manufacture counterfeit credit cards or cloned gift cards using data stolen from skimmers. Because the high-risk potential heavily outweighs common consumer use, eBay monitors these listings with extreme scrutiny.
vegaslowballresale
OP5 months agoUnfortunate because these were actually a hot seller. If they flagged my listing, they should go ahead and flag all the other listings with this same item as well. Very unfortunate that I can no longer sell these. Again, at the Mercy of eBay - another legitimate product that I cannot sell.
authentic*vintage
·5 months agoWhen an item is overwhelmingly sought after by accounts involved in fraudulent activity, the listing attracts "bad buyers." If multiple buyers purchase this item from a seller using stolen credit cards, hacked eBay accounts, or if the transactions end in high volumes of chargebacks, eBay's automated risk management systems will flag the seller's listing as a focal point for illicit marketplace velocity.
It's not worth losing your account over.
quadcitypickers
·5 months agoThat's not how any of that works.
Show me any part of eBay policy that states as such.
Every item pulled is taken down in accordance with a currently written policy which all can be found here:
https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/prohibited-restricted-items/prohibited-restricted-items?id=4207
There is no "illicit illegal activity" policy.