Happy Holidays From Ebay! MC011 Account restriction
So... I'm a liquidator, i deal in large amounts of amazon liquidation items, i also am a reseller. I resell hot products etc.. lately I've been lucky enough to get 15-20 of the PlayStation portals. of course i sold them on ebay. Shipped 7 yesterday and i think 3 on Friday with 7 more going out tomorrow already ready to go priority mail. I know how this works from googling, they ask about tracking etc.. and of course that's already taken care of, i purposely just went and shipped everything that was due tomorrow... Only 1 random item was removed, i still have a full store available to purchase from and such. But, i still shipped everything minus one item that was a 10 day handling item. Anyway, yesterday i got the payment hold email. and now about 12 hours or so later i got the mc011. I have to guess this is directly related to the PlayStation portal sales, because previously my sales were about 6k per 90 days and i sold a lot recently, even more than after black Friday. I am a top rated plus seller, i have a basic store. So what to expect... they are going to ask for ID. You'd think that adyen and managed payments would be enough to show that i am who i am and already verified. But, now we'll do it all again , meanwhile 5k is on hold from payouts. Then they will ask for invoices. and then they will 50/50 ban me if they don't like my invoices or let me go on. I do find it odd that they are so worried about me, but all my listings are visible for sale and can be purchased. I guess this is more of a rant, but seriously during the holidays? My credit card is due on the 17th, i sure would like to pay for all those portals i bought.
fuestor0
OP2 years agoMy account was restored on the 12th, i had to complain again about not getting payouts, and they fixed that yesterday and i got a deposit today. So all in all, it was a good experience, annoying for sure and i was really worried, But since i don't sell fake,stolen or anything illegal, i knew i had the receipts and documents needed, and i don't import from china. So i had everything they asked for. Maybe i was lucky
monica-sells
·2 years agoThanks for the follow-up...It's good you had your house in order.....
Happy Selling,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
robbie31415
·2 years agoThe itemized invoices is a bad requirement for liquidators.
I buy by the truckload of non itemized liquidation and I'm always fearful of this eventually happening to me.
I employee multiple staff, rent a large warehouse, registered business in California.
Same boat as a TRS, all listings are TRS+, offering 60 day free returns for any reason .
This type of requirement really make me sad and worried.
retro_entertainment_collectibles
·2 years agoDepends what you're buying. Most places that deal in delisted and overstocks have no problems w/ itemized stuff. It's the store returns, Amazon pallets and things like that tend have issues as they are just bulking the stuff out at a loss. They do this because they cannot guarantee items meet Warrants Of Merchantability. Likely the exact reason eBay wants an itemized type of proof and sourcing as eBay doesn't want the site to be the "Amazon returns point of sale."
downunder-61
·2 years agoAgreed, we used to buy pallet ends for next to nothing and pull out the good stuff to resell, this was way back though when eBay/the world wasn't so ''sketchy'' and a scammer wasn't lurking around every corner.
Understand eBay's concern these day's, but for the honest seller it would be worrying, hope you have a great selling season.
retro_entertainment_collectibles
·2 years agoWell considering a literal plethora of very well known gaming websites have reported that two days after release of the device Sony was sold out and literally thousands appeared on eBay, etc at as quoted in the articles, "Scalper" prices. When these sort of things happen it causes problems for the company as consumers can't get product and private unauthorized by Sony who own the intellectual property profiteer.
It's been a problem for quite sometime with video gaming hardware and damages the manufacturers image with both consumers and the authorized retailers. For example, lets say Best Buy run's flyer ad's, online ad's which cost money to do in advance and upon release of a given item. Resellers snap them up and as consumer want buy them Best Buy who HAD enough inventory to meet expectant demand now doesn't. That results in anger consumers, loss of potential customers to the company and damages reputation. Sometimes these retailers limit purchase numbers, two per customer. So a reseller has wife, kid, etc going in buying em' up all with intent for resale for profit.
BestBuy is not in the business of making external resellers money nor is Walmart, Target or in this case Sony to unauthorized resale. Now if I happen to go into BestBuy, purchase one, I get it home and the wife yells at me and I resell it thats one thing. If I am intentionally engaging in "arbitrage" towards profit, that's a different thing. It's considered a Predatory Business Practice legally if pursued. We'd a chain of game stores here with four five locations along with two in malls. They're employee's would go out out to other retailers when sales take place and get inventory. Walmart who is BRUTAL about this stuff filed Predatory Business Practice charges against the owners one of which was actually a former NY State Trooper. The State Attorney General was involved and all the stores closed never to re-open. No idea what damages etc were awarded but clearly it was all enough and perhaps law breaking that they never recovered.
So all that said and done, could be anything. Could be eBay restricting on velocity limits. Could be Sony going at eBay. Could be Sony going through the Fed to go at eBay. Amazon more than likely disallow the resale at word go not allowing the SKU to be listed against by third parties.
People often care cite First Sale Doctrine which actually as matter of law was about copyrighted works, the ability for a consumer or store to resell pre-owned product. Theory there is once a consumer buy a book the moment the transaction takes place it's no longer new, its pre-owned. "FSD" has been upheld in many courts as a defense to retail or online arbitrage however also not been the case in courts when it comes to what media calls "Scalping."
Now if you place yourself in some shoes... You've created lets say "Widget X" and pre-release reviews have it as the RAGE! You've BestBuy and Target, Walmart, Gamestop all placed orders under Consignment terms. You're manufacturing wheel met that demand as well as you're direct sales online demand. It releases and there are resellers all over it. The retail channel you're company manufactured orders for sells out quickly leaving consumers unable to buy there. You're own direct channel sells out quickly disallowing consumers to buy direct from you. Meantime online you're seeing the product sold for twice or more what the MSRP is. Consumers are yelling and placing blame upon you're authorized resellers and you're company. How ya' feel about that?
The reason Gamestop doesn't usher employees or their buyers over to Walmart for the Video Game title specials only to turn them around and resell for profit is a Predatory Conduct. If I bought 50 of you're widget X which has an MSRP of say $199 and I'm blasting em' out here on eBay for $450 resulting in angry consumers towards you're licensed entities WHO HAVE PAID YOU to be licensed how's that go? You're support lines are inundated with angry consumers whilst you're licensed retailers are begging you for more product as their consumers are screaming at them.
Its a mess. Now I'm not faulting you but thats the landscape. I know a fella whom anything Zelda, Mario etc comes out he snaps up a bunch of them and sits on them for years on end as they valuate. I mean who'd thunk Gameboy and Gameboy advance Pokemon Red's, Greens etc still sealed in original packaging perfect that someone would pay more for than similar weight of actual gold? But, there it is.
I don't even pretend to know the answers to these varied problems. To me "Reality spoken" manufacturers OUGHT have a channel whereby small sellers can become licensees and within acquisition controls be non-impactors on the big retailers and thus be benefit to say Sony or Nintendo or LG or even Apple or Samsung. Perhaps even in partnership with places such as Best Buy, aka: My ten units are there and next month my next 10 units are there and BestBuy make a little money at it. In other words, your authorized as a reseller paying MSRP so Sony lets say and BestBuy both get their due and all is well in salesville.
That'd make sense but when dealing with these super entities nothing tends make sense from the outside looking in. I'd call it even suspicious be frank with you. Here Sony knows they've a hot tomato going to the hit the market, they know that via the buzz in tech sites etc. They could well produce numbers that would flatten the market... That is to say, no reseller going to buy them as the quantities released make it readily available at MSRP to all takers and then some. The fact they dont is suspicious IMHO. They know not meeting demand sheds bad light on their company and licensed partners. They know that from a history of this stuff and yet, do it again. Why? Perhaps their recoding and fielding all the complaints from consumers and going to use that data to stop those third party resellers?
I don't know... Now if it were me, I'd not engage in it and here's why. I'd anticipate chargeback after chargeback these days and who knows maybe that's what the retailers encourage.
"I wanted buy it at Best Buy instead I paid $400!" Doesn't the manager turn around and tell them do a chargeback or Sony support reps citing same. Possible.
I know the entirety of it all has been a big problem, same with Video Cards for PC's whereby the BitCoin etc miners snap up the boards or resellers do. No idea how banks or card processors work those circumstances.
The fact media attaches the term "Scalping" to such things is really really worrisome. In the USA Scalping is not illegal for like Tickets to a play or band as matter of Federal law yet some states have laws on the books, fines, this/that, some even up into a year in jail.
I might not even surprised if Sony pull a fast one as the hearings over the Safe Shopping Act are underway with a, "Oh by the way... Look at this" as the Safe Shopping Act is all about protecting consumers, manufacturers and licensed entities. It's a nice company, they were the first to say, "Well if not bought at a licensed retailer we wont support any warranty" followed by consumers loosing their danged minds as PS/3's got so hot melt the crap solder they'd used (unleaded)... Followed by, "Ooops... We changed our minds."
fuestor0
OP2 years agoI mean honestly. The increase wasn't even that insane.
tobaccocardyahoo
·2 years agoThe anti-counterfeit and stolen property initiatives on most marketplaces will create problems for seller like you, no matter how honest you are if you source from liquidation.
If you are not part of the authorized distribution chain, you are unlikely to have adequate proof of authenticity or chain of custody.
You are selling on Ebay, in part, because you could not sell on Amazon which pre-approves sellers of such items before they can list.
The writing is on the wall. You can continue to run the risks of your business model until you run out of venues who will let you sell these items, and cash, or you can plan ahead.
Sounds like you have had a pretty good run. Time for a different strategy.
fuestor0
OP2 years agoI sell on amazon too, but obviously I'm not reselling amazon items on amazon i got from amazon. that's dumb . For what it's worth I sold 10k last November in pokemon items on amazon, and then 15k on December. They didn't bother me at all.
12345jamesstamps
·2 years agoI thought a seller had to have the items to sell...and not sell them from another store.
Due to the stealing of in stores lately...I am thinking eBay will want receipts of "Playstations" bought. Not saying you did anything wrong but thinking that eBay might ask for receipts as well.
How you went from selling inexpensive items to expensive items overnight can be a "red light" as well.
And selling duplicate items probably hurt you as well.
fuestor0
OP2 years agoI'm not worried about the playstations. I can give the receipts for that stuff i bought from best buy. The liquidation stuff is the issue. We'll see how it goes.
ittybitnot
·2 years agobut all my listings are visible for sale and can be purchased
@fuestor0
"but" now eBay doesn't have to give you the money since they put your payments on hold. They will gladly let you sell, though.
Though I am far from an authority on the subject, anyone who has been here a long time on a regular basis can see the usual trends. First, they ask for delivery confirmation for everything you ever sold on eBay. Of course, if your selling ID is an older one, that is impossible.
Then they want receipts for the items you are selling. If the receipts are NOT delineated into individual items, (i.e. as in bulk palate sales) they won't be accepted. Strike two for you.
It makes eBay (and/or their bots) very nervous when a seller becomes successful regardless of being a tenured member or a TRS. Now that eBay has declared that they do/will earn interest on held funds, I suspect the situation will get worse.
Even if you remove all your listings (for which you will not be paid any time soon), you are still going to owe for your "store".
Good luck, and do let us know how this turns out for you. We need to hear a success story!!!!
smliv0
·2 years agoSold many high-value PS5 Portals on eBay. Payment held and potential ban for verification. Need to send ID and invoices. Worried about holiday timing and credit card payment. Will cooperate with eBay to get funds released.
ckimodog
·2 years ago@smliv0
If you cannot provide eBay with how you sourced all those Playstations, you won't see your money for some time. Most likely it will be sent to your states unclaimed funds dept. You can claim it with proper and current ID.
smliv0
·2 years agoeBay hold and potential restriction:
Reason: High-value item sales surge, new to high volume.
Expected: ID and invoice verification, possible restriction/ban.
Action: Respond promptly, provide valid documents/clear invoices, maintain communication.
Credit card: Communicate with the company for extension/alternative payment.
Tip: Transparency, diversify inventory, consider Managed Payments.
ckimodog
·2 years ago@smliv0
New sellers who start selling high end items in multiples on eBay will always be called into question, not to mention retail arbitrage which is against eBay policies. Evidently this is a posting ID as I cannot see what you have sold. Bottom line...no receipts, no evidence of tracking, no more selling on eBay. Very sorry.
Best of luck with future opportunities