Abuse of reporting system

[sir.koinz]

Hi everyone! 

I sell mainly wheat Penny rolls and it has been a very lucrative business for the short time I have been doing it on ebay. It seems though that I have unwittingly made a very bad person angry at me somehow because 3 days ago i woke up in the morning to find that every single one of my listings (15) had been removed for violating ebays counterfeit replica policy. I immediately called customer service and after speaking with a CSR and then a supervisor I learned that a competitor had taken the time to individually report every one of my listings. I have always heard that ebay won't give you info on why or how you've been reported but this person told me only that it was someone who sells the same thing I do and it was obviously a competition type thing. The supervisor assured me that the offender would be reprimanded and not be able to harass me again.  When my listings were removed every one had bids and most of my customers are regular buyers of my rolls because I don't try to scam people like a lot of this type of sellers do. I have very valuable coins in my rolls and people pay between $50 and $500 each for them and sometimes I even take a loss rather than fill my rolls with throw away coins and the profits have outweighed the losses because of this and I was building a nice customer base and reputation and these people trusted me. Because of this I'm sure I've lost my trusted clientele because ebay sends all the bidders an email telling them i sell fakes, although I did email them explaining what happened. 

So I did as the csr advised and made completely new listings and even worded them differently so there was no way a violation could occur again. These listings lasted about 12 hours and were taken down for the same reason.  Strike two.  I called ebay again and was told it was not the same person that reported me last time but they needed to investigate for 24-48 hrs to see what was going on and advised me not to list anything until after i talk to them on Monday. I am taking that advice but I want to know if anyone else has gone through this and if so, how did you get past it without losing your ability to sell on ebay? Is it possible that since I was reported, although maliciously, my account is now "flagged" by the AI that runs ebay and no matter what i do now if i try to list another wheat Penny Roll it will always be violated for the same reason?  I know similar things have happened to sellers by what I've read on here but I'm hoping there is a cure because I can't afford to stop selling on ebay, this is my livelihood, my job, and it's hard to believe all it takes is one jealous person to flick a few keys and your financial security can be effectively destroyed with no recourse.  Would it solve the problem if i closed my account and opened a different one with a different seller name?  Or would the computer system simply follow me and shut me down once i listed something?  When my items were taken down the first time on April 7 i had a few listings that weren't wheat rolls and those were violated as well so it didn't matter what i had listed, they all got eliminated.  And as of now I figure I have lost all over $1000.00 because of this. Please someone help me with some good guidance, i am nearing a nervous breakdown and blown away that something like this can actually happen once let alone twice. 

Thank you in advance, I am most grateful for any help you can spare, 

J.J. @ Sir.Koinz

[mam98031]

It is highly unlikely that the CSR you spoke with was being completely honest with you.  It is so rare for a single member reporting a listing for Ebay to remove that listing without cause.  I mean VERY rare.  It usually takes multiple reports by multiple members.

As to your concern about your buyers.  They have no idea why your listings have been removed unless you tell them.  Ebay certainly won't tell them.  

An AI does NOT "run Ebay".  People still do that.

I'd be very careful and NOT open another account to sell the same thing as Ebay removed on this account.  This could lead you to far more trouble and you could end up losing your selling privileges here all together.

[sir.koinz]

Thanks for the reply but a supervisor did inform me it was 1 person who sells the same thing i do and yes it only takes 1 with coin sales. The bidders are messaged by eBay and told why the listings they were bidding on were removed. My customers are all regular customers and we have had many conversations since this happened. 

I was really hoping someone with some advice would help me rather than someone telling me that what has happened did not happen. I wouldn't waste my time here if that were the case.  Thank you though. 

[mam98031]

As far as I'm concerned, that doesn't change anything I said before.  In my experience, and I've got about 24 years here, a single report RARELY would result in what happened to you.

Yes you are correct that the bidders would have been notified, but they would NOT have been told why your listings were closed.  The same thing could happen if a seller contacted Ebay with a Medical / Personal emergency and need to immediately close auctions.  Ebay simply does not share the reason.

You will have to bring to my attention, where in my post did I say or imply "...rather than someone telling me that what has happened did not happen."  There is no need to lash out at me, I didn't create your issue nor did I dismiss your issue.  I know you are frustrated and I would be too in your position.  But there is no need to lash out at anyone trying to help.  You may not like what I had to say, but that does not make it any less true.

I would suggest to you to try a different method of contacting Ebay that you did for the information you received above.  And don't even mention what you have been told by other CSRs and see what info they will tell you.  You are in one of those pickles that is extremely hard to work out of.  I wish there was an easy answer to how to get things fixed for you but the reality is there simply isn't.

I would suggest that you contact Ebay for Business on Facebook or Twitter for the better trained CSRs.

Here are your options for contacting Ebay Customer Service.

https://twitter.com/askebay?lang=en

https://www.facebook.com/eBayForBusiness/


If when you use the link below you can only get to the Automated Assistant, type AGENT in the box and hit enter. You will then get more options.

https://www.ebay.com/help/contact_us?id=4002&st=10

[sir.koinz]

Again, thank you for the info

[klhmdg]

@sir.koinz  you may not like @mam98031  response but it is 100% correct.

Seeing what you have sold, I would guess these listings were closed as "chance" listings.

eBay does not allow "chance" listings.

Do not relist any of these listings. If you do, the listings will be closed and there is a huge chance you will never sell here again.

Opening another account will get you closed down again. 

You need to read "selling" Below and Policys. 

[ckimodog]

@sir.koinz 

Looks like you were selling Chance or Mystery items.  Those will get you shut down every time.  As far as Ebay CS,  they are known to give incorrect or false info and answers.  They really know very little.  The only thing I can suggest is that you do not list in that fashion anymore.  Once you are under Ebay's radar, they'll be watching closely.  I would sell the coins individually.

Good luck. 

[sir.koinz]

Klhmdg, thank you so much!  

That is the help I was looking for!  I have never heard of chance listings and i thought i read everything there is on coin sales rules. I am so glad you brought this to my attention, i just read the policy and you are 100% correct!  Even though i did put the date range of the coins in the "item specifics" I did not put that info in the title or description. This makes things much more clear for me now because a few days before my items were removed I had a message from another seller asking me where my rolls come from, how old they were, did i buy them already rolled out did i just stick a $30 in the middle and sell them that way. Then he literally stated word for word part of the chance listings policy and told me he would bid on one if he knew exactly what coins were in the roll. I replied to him that the info was in the description because i figured he was a competitor trying to undo me, and i was spot on!  The day before his message came i received a message from another seller giving me some kind of excuse that he wanted to bid on my rolls but something happened that kept him from doing that but he really really liked the looks of my rolls and wanted one and was willing to pay me up front for one or even to mail me cash for one and i could just mail him back a roll.  I blew him off with no reply. I know the policy on selling outside of eBay and after all this has happened I now see what he was trying to do. Holy freaking wow!!! There are some real jealous nuts that sell on here aren't there? My God I can't believe what some people will go through to try and destroy another seller, that is completely insane!  What really blows me away is the fact that there is nothing in place to protect a seller from becoming a victim of this! I will have lost literally thousands of dollars because of this craziness if it isn't straightened out this week, how can ebay allow this when they know who is doing it? 

Granted they were able to exploit a loophole in the wording of my listing but who goes through the trouble of first trying to set someone up to violate a policy then when that fails they look for another area where they can get the seller violated? I have been selling on ebay on and off since 1996 and I have never seen or heard of such insanity!  Ebay is big enough even with me doubling my sales or gone it isn't going to affect any sellers profit margins. Lunacy! 

Thank you, this has opened my eyes wide. How the heck do any sellers stay in business with this happening? Is it just a game of chance? Even without the variation or confusion of the dates of all my coins, nobody not one coin roll seller lists the dates of every coin in their roll so even if there was nothing to exploit in my listings they would still have come after me because they did before they exploited this violation, why?  At least now I know for certain who it was and can pass that info along to csr. But 2 different sellers?  Or maybe 1 seller with 2 different accounts... makes more sense especially if ebay really did remove their ability to Harass me again but they had another account from which to harass from. Paranoia at its worst but unfortunately plausible. 

Thanks again, and again...

[sir.koinz]

If i was shut down because of the chance listing policy wouldn't ebay have told me that was the reason? They only said i violated the counterfeit policy. Here's the message i received..

 

[mam98031]

If you feel confident with that and want to try listing those items again, you can certainly try.  Just know what may happen, which is you could lose your selling privileges.

https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/prohibited-restricted-items/chance-listings-policy?id=4311

[sir.koinz]

Klhmdg has already answered my main question accurately, for which I am very thankful because in answering my issue accurately, klhmdg has put me back onto the selling floor, so to speak.  With klhmdg's good advice coupled with my own research, and a 45 minute conversation with 2 different specialists and 1 very knowledgeable and professional customer service rep., I learned klhmdg was 100% spot on and everyone altogether helped me to learn the best way to list my items so that the "unhinged" population of sellers and buyers here will hopefully move on if they cannot find something to exploit in order to try and ruin our disrupt a complete stranger's life. I really feel horrible even hoping the unhinged person moves on to someone besides me, I wish those type of people would get help or try to come to terms with their mental issues and not spend their time trying to hurt people, unfortunately evil can get a strong grip on those that are weak to begin with, for whatever reasons, and sometimes it's easier for them to "go with the flow" rather than resist, and we end up here seeking help to fight against their attacks. I'm just grateful I was able to get to the bottom of the part of my listings they were able to exploit so now, when and if I get harassed again, there will be nothing to exploit and it will be a much easier case to resolve. 

So, thank you to everyone for your knowledge, understanding and experience, not to mention investigative skills (klhmdg), it all added up to being the right answer in my situation. And none too soon! I have a week of lost wages to try and recoup so that my 2 year old and I  can keep a roof over our heads and I can make a payment to the funeral home before they take me to court again, (last time they sent the sherif dept to take my sons toys and clothes and my truck), talk about despicable actions, ebay don't hold a candle to this county,  not even close. 

But thanks again, I'm back in business! 

J.J. (Sir.Koinz)

[mam98031]

@klhmdg 

OK, @klhmdg referred you back to my post that explained how this typically works.

[klhmdg]

@mam98031  I have no idea why you are referring me to your post that explain how it typically works. 

I have never said you are not correct and typically it works just as you said.

Maybe you meant to continue this on with someone else?

Seems the OP is good and has taken advice from all on here and found some CS agents who the OP feels comfortable with, 

[mam98031]

---

@klhmdg wrote:

@mam98031  I have no idea why you are referring me to your post that explain how it typically works. 

I have never said you are not correct and typically it works just as you said.

Maybe you meant to continue this on with someone else?

Seems the OP is good and has taken advice from all on here and found some CS agents who the OP feels comfortable with, 

---

Nor do I think you did.  Sorry that my post concerned you, it shouldn't.  You give great advice all the time.

[coolections]

Without know all the info I can tell you 100% positive the CS rep told you what you wanted to hear. NO ONE can report a seller and have listings removed.