*Help* eBay will not restricting me for “ Prescription and over-the-counter drugs policy”

[dealsbyd]

eBay will not stop restricting my account because of the “Prescription and over-the-counter drugs policy” saying “- Prescription drugs or drugs containing prescription-strength medication cannot be listed” and “The item is not allowed to claim any health benefits from legal substances that the FDA hasn’t approved”. The restrictions have been constant on my account and I seen the be the only one getting this done to them. The restrictions went from 3 day, to 7 day to now, 10 days at a time where I cannot list items and they hide my items and account from the search. I have been restricted two times in the month of June alone, each restriction is 10 days each! That’s 20 days of the 30 day month! eBay is my only form of income and they’re doing this to me! I could talk all day about how this is about to get me kicked out of my house and how thousands of dollars in bills are piling up but I just want a straight answer which apparently eBay cannot give me because I’ve contacted them every time it’s happened and they tell me the exact same thing over and over again and it absolutely does nothing and they refuse to in-restrict me, the items that are getting my restricted is a sleeping aid (unisom), allergy medication (Allegra) and eye drops (lumify). These are very legal and are sold on shelf’s all around the country. And yes, I have turned off global shipping for these items and they still restrict my account. Can anybody help me with this or tell me if it’s happening to them as well? Am I doing something wrong? This has only recently stated happening and I’ve been selling on eBay for about 3 years now and everything has been great until the past 2 months which have been miserable. Please help me, please. 

[downunder-61]

Exactly

OP - remove the listings and sort it out with eBay if you can.

If you get it sorted then you can re-list. ATM all you are doing is flirting with being banned for life.

Contact on Facebook to see if you can get a clearer understanding of why you are being restricted

https://www.facebook.com/eBayForBusiness

[jonathankirkland]

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@dealsbyd wrote:

I’m simply trying to find out why I keep getting restricted, and no, I haven’t been “caught” because I haven’t done anything wrong, these items are very legal and hurt nobody. 

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The reasons do not matter.

Once ebay starts pulling things down you must NOT relist those items or similar items.

You have been warned, the choice is now yours. Sorry but that is the reality of it, we are not just being rude to you, we are trying to firmly WARN you.

[maxine*j · Accepted solution]

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@dealsbyd wrote:

It’s not that easy, why should I have to stop selling things that thousands of others are selling?

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Because, rightly or wrongly, fairly or not, YOU have been caught and targeted and if you persist in listing you will be permanetly suspended. 

As for the others selling the same items, if they're doing so against eBay policy they will be taken down sooner or later.  It may be, too, that some of them are authorized to sell the products, while you are not.  

Policy:

https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/prohibited-restricted-items/prescription-overthecounter-drugs-pol...

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[postingid7659]

eBay does lots of stupid stuff for no reason.   I sold a lot of Coke bottle caps when I drank soda so somebody could use the codes on them.  It worked, $10 in free money, so I ran another lot.  Got yanked.  Apparently you can't sell those points.  Why? Who knows. But I couldn't relist them. 

[katzrul15]

In your "solds" you have several items that at the register the cashier would ask for an ID to verify age to purchase the OTC meds.

You have some of these in multiples, which could also potentially exceed the amount that can be sold at one time.

[pikabo-icu]

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@katzrul15 wrote:

In your "solds" you have several items that at the register the cashier would ask for an ID to verify age to purchase the OTC meds.

You have some of these in multiples, which could also potentially exceed the amount that can be sold at one time.

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Yep next listing pseudoephedrine.. 

I don't know that the OP understands there are rules & laws to OTC stuff too.

Here is WA state you can't buy cold meds with a federal investigation, ok that was hyperbolic but it's pretty strict..

Different states have different laws even on OTC stuff.   

[fab_finds4u]

A sure fire way  to get  suspended permanently is to keep relisting an item eBay has removed.

Don't try to fix and relist.

[gardensgrey]

I believe it’s the loperamide (Imodium). The FDA came out with new rulings limiting the amount that can be sold at one time, and the form ( no liquids). In addition, it must be in practically impossible-to-open packaging of solid form. This was to combat abuse/adverse effects of misuse. 
 
 9/20/2019 Update
To help address loperamide abuse and misuse, FDA approved changes to the packaging for tablet and capsule forms of the brand-name over-the-counter (OTC) anti-diarrheal medicines Imodium A-D, Imodium Multi-Symptom Relief, and Be Health Loperamide HCl Capsules. These changes limit each carton to no more than 48 mg of loperamide and require the tablets and capsules to be packaged in individual doses. FDA continues to work with manufacturers, including those of generic and liquid OTC loperamide products to institute appropriate package sizes and types that support the safe use of these medicines.

Edited to add: Just saw that this thread is 2 months old. 

[sel_324896]

Ok. So hopefully your still paying attention to this thread. I'm hoping my info can help you help me...So it's been about 2 months as well for me. Started with the lunify and Allegra. Then prilosec and Pepcid AC. After my second time getting my entire store taken down I had a customer service representative quietly tell me it was cause I had global shipping allowed. I fixed my account to just sale products to the states and everything was good for a month. Then tonight I was away for twenty minutes and in that time I had an offer on a box of Prilosec that I had just added inventory to earlier. The product had been sitting at zero quality all month until tonight. As soon as the offer came I suddenly got 7 new emails from ebay  saying my crest straps my pepcid ac again (that I've been selling all month long) and the Prilosec were again violating ebays terms. Now a few posts back I saw someone mentioned something about dropshipping and if you had the product on hand?....I'm curious as to why that was asked being I believe that's the issue. When I looked to make sure these items weren't still advertising to being sold outside the country I noticed these three listings and only these three out of my 50 total listings had a different zip code "location" than the others. Now I'm certain this is the problem especially since "Dryophelia" seems to already be aware of this issue. What I'm most certainly not sure about is the fact that this is not an issue that should be categorized in the selling prohibitive product category being that most wouldn't ever have the chance of ever figuring this out. And like the original author stated...these products that ebay is hitting us on are everyday OTC meds that are sold hundreds of times a day....It's not an issue of we got caught and slowly everyone else will to type of issue. So being that we are 100% these are sellable items and that something else is going on. It just seems crazy that we don't get the slightest hint as to what we are doing wrong the 1st, 2nd 3rd time of getting restricted and suspended until were suspended indefinitely for items everyone is and will continue to sell for years to come. Most others having this same problem (I know there's many, we're just yet to hear about it since it's a new policy or rule that took place/changed in the last 3 months) will most likely result in getting kicked off the site before the issue is ever figured out by them...if ever....

Sorry for the Grammer and never ending sentences...hopefully this helps someone

[justafemster]

I once got a warning for selling sodium chloride.  You know, saline solution for contacts.  I was told it was a very dangerous chemical and if I did it again, I could be suspended permanently.  

Just one of the stories we all have to tell on the wonder world of ebay.

[dbfolks166mt]

     While these may be "over the counter" type drugs there are a lot of hurdles associated with even OTC drugs. There are limits on the sale of certain types of drugs due to the content and the ability to synthesize them into something else, crystal meth for example. I bought a bottle of cough syrup a few days ago and got carded at the checkout because of the alcohol content. It is difficult to say if your postings fall into these categories but they are probably being caught and tagged by bot software. 

     Personally if they have restricted you multiple times for certain products I would discontinue listing those products before the restrict you permanently.  

https://www.fda.gov/drugs/types-applications/drug-applications-over-counter-otc-drugs 

[amazinbuyz4u]

I am  having the same issue with Lumify!  I called yesterday and spoke with policy representative who said I could re-list the item.  I even have the email-the appeal was granted!  This morning I look and eBay took it down again! I called and was told something about the active ingredient isn't allowed.  I'm  going to call again and see if I get the same response since there are over 200 listings with the same item!  I asked rep "is it because I have my item bundled? "  NO answer!   

[dbfolks166mt]

 I will post this again. 

     While these may be "over the counter" type drugs there are a lot of hurdles associated with even OTC drugs. There are limits on the sale of certain types of drugs due to the content and the ability to synthesize them into something else, crystal meth for example. I bought a bottle of cough syrup a few days ago and got carded at the checkout because of the alcohol content. It is difficult to say if your postings fall into these categories but they are probably being caught and tagged by bot software. 

     Personally if they have restricted you multiple times for certain products I would discontinue listing those products before the restrict you permanently.  

https://www.fda.gov/drugs/types-applications/drug-applications-over-counter-otc-drugs 

[dealsbyd]

I’ve figured out the problem and it wasn’t anything you or anyone has said. It was due to a paragraph in my description about shipping to other countries.  I was told to remove it and I shouldn’t be restricted again for this problem. 4 months later and over 200+ listings of OTC Meds and everything is going great as it should be. It’s crazy to think that a paragraph of text nearly ruined my livelihood and nearly got me evicted. Thank you for your help though. 

[hollon21]

Wow ebay can really be a **bleep**eshow sometimes. Why can't they just tell us what is going wrong so that sellers can actually fix the problem instead of us just having to guess??