How humiliating.

[naqahdriah]

This isn't something I expect to get resolved here, but I think it should be here for others to see, and eBay to potentially consider.

Every few months or so, when I need money for school, I usually sell a few things, and I've never had a problem, a negative feedback, or any issues. I sold a few things recently, and on one of them, the buyer contacted me with an issue and asked if they could return it; I said sure, go ahead and initiate one and as soon as they did, I accepted. However, they were ultimately able to resolve the issue they were having, and messaged me to ask if they could cancel the return, and I agreed. The instant they did, eBay withheld all of my payouts for "performance review". Okay, I don't know what part of my "performance" merited it, but fine.

The next thing I get is the real insult. I get an email saying that "they noticed activity that we believe is a risk to our community". Promptly handling a return is a "risk" to their community? It gets better; they then demand that I upload purchase receipts for everything I've sold to release my funds. I have complied with this (after all, I'm actually not the thief eBay is apparently accusing me of being), but what a humiliating way to be treated. I have no negative feedback, their own records show that I always ship immediately, and in the very first instance a customer requested (and then cancelled) a return, I responded and accepted immediately. What if I had been selling antiques? What is a person simply didn't have a receipt? Does the buyer get a free product while eBay pockets the payout? Gross.

eBay can make whatever claims they wish about "security" and "risk", but presuming all of your users to be criminals is gross, and I hope it nets them the results they deserve.

[myescape]

You are assuming eBay is assuming you are a thief strikes me as funny at the least

[luckythewinner]

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@naqahdriah wrote:

If I did something wrong, and they won't give me any idea what that was... how do I avoid whatever it is in the future?

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eBay did not say that you did something wrong. They said they are managing risk.

eBay has a wealth of data about millions of sellers and billions of transactions and every complaint or dispute that has ever been filed on eBay going back two decades.

I suspect eBay uses this information to find correlations between selling activity and outcomes that eBay considers to lack sufficient benefit to eBay.

That does not mean the seller did something "wrong" or that there is anything for the seller to fix.

It simply means that for whatever reason, eBay has decided that - statistically speaking - some cumulative measure of your account (or your activity, or your listings, or your potential buyers, etc.) is not likely to be sufficiently beneficial to eBay.

And further, it is unlikely that there is a single "thing" that would fix it. Just like the Best Match algorithm, I suspect that there are hundreds of factors that contribute to a risk "score" that eBay calculates.

[naqahdriah]

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@redmodelt wrote:

It could have to do with no apparent sales (looking at feedback) for 6 months than a string of higher priced items sold, that trigger the request of proof of ownership. It is not a personal attack and should not be taken as such, it is a business request.

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It isn't proof of ownership of the account that's in question (which is eBay's domain), it's proof of ownership of the items. When you ask someone to prove they own something, the implication is that you believe they don't; if they're in possession of an item you don't believe they own, you're making an accusation. The act doesn't change because a business is doing it.

[naqahdriah]

"We don't believe you own these items - prove it"

You're right, it's a huge assumption.

[naqahdriah]

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is not likely to be sufficiently beneficial to eBay.

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And this, right here, is the crux of the issue. They aren't concerned about the sellers, or the buyers - using statistics as a basis for an accusation when neither buyers nor sellers have expressed any concern is customer last thinking.

I think if you're going to "manage risk", you should have to provide some information about what you believe the risk is to the person whom you are taking action against. I don't see why that's unreasonable.

Edit - I'd also argue it isn't unreasonable to expect prompt handling of the issue on their part. They can use an automated system to take punitive action instantaneously, I can respond to their request immediately... but how do they handle it from there? Oh, whenever they get around to it. If the problem is not having enough CS people to deal with it in a timely manner, maybe that should be figured into the system before you place the burden entirely on the customer.

[naqahdriah]

Actually, another question - new accounts are restricted in the amount of items / dollar value they can sell. Why wouldn't returning account then also be restricted similarly if actually taking advantage of the limits eBay sets on your account is enough to have your account suspended?

Why not head off these issues before they're even a possibility, if statistics tells them that's the case, instead of putting the burden on others after the fact?

[naqahdriah]

So 2 days later, I get this:

"We received your appeal for your eBay account and appreciate you taking the time to gather the required documentation. We understand if this process has been inconvenient for you and we want to continue processing your appeal as quickly as possible. In order for us to complete the review of your account, we ask that you please provide some additional information. We have outlined the requirements below:

- Documentation that shows that you purchased the item(s) recently listed for sale on eBay. Documentation that will help us verify your items can include either manufacture invoices or receipts. Unfortunately, we will be unable to accept photos of the items to fulfill this requirement. (NOTE: This documentation must show your suppliers' information, items purchased, quantity purchased, price per unit and your payment information.) This information will need to cover all of the inventory you listed within the past 60 days."

... I sent receipts covering the last 90 days actually, 2 days ago. Instead of just looking at what I sent, they send me this? Is it safe to assume at this point that I just gave away all of my stuff to help out eBay? I sold every worthwhile thing I had rounding up money for school. I'm actually nauseous at this point.