Listing incorrectly removed for price gouging.

[thegreenman13]

I had a listing removed incorrectly for price gouging. Is there any way to contact Ebay to get this reversed? A phone number, email? The message they sent me gave me NOTHING. I don't want the listing restored, just the violation removed from my account.

Thanks!

Some details:

I was selling some isopropyl alcohol (bad timing I know). This is not the 75% grocery store stuff. This is lab grade, high purity stuff for labs that goes through a bunch of QA/QC and certification steps. And was mentioned in the listing.

My listing had a starting bid ~80% less than standard, every day, non-panic prices.

I'm guessing some random "person" reported the listing assuming the price was just me trying to gouge people or or perhaps an ebay bot saw the price and didn't like it.

I wouldn't normally worry much but the message from ebay said that I would have my account suspended for 3 days and any fees not refunded if it happened again. I don't want that hanging over my head if some random person gets it into their skull that my price is 'too much'. Especially if it's a bot since there is a big chance that it just wouldn't understand the item is different.

I also love the second sentence in their message: "Offering items at a price higher than is considered fair or reasonable is not allowed on eBay."

You know, a thing that happens every day, all the time and is also completely subjective since they don't give any actual numbers (laws vary by state).

[tdumonde2014]

You can use the "Help & Contact" link at the bottom of the page to email them. You might want to remove your current listing since it was removed once already,  a second violation might lead to a suspension. 

[mam98031]

We are not in a normal state of anything right now.  Ebay has to abide by the price gouging rules that come into effect when a State of Emergency is announced.  So while some may not like it, this just isn't the time to be trying to sell this kind of thing on Ebay.  To do so can be risking the health of your selling account.

I agree with the other poster.  You should close you other listing until you get this worked out with Ebay or the crisis ends.

[lightlily_arts]

You would have to contact eBay to see if there is anything you can do about the policy violation.  It may take some work because eBay CS isn't going to be able to determine the difference between your product and the other isopropyl alcohol products that people were trying to sell at outrageous prices.  Just a bad time to be selling these products.

[thegreenman13]

It's like ebay went from it's standard state of 'capricious police state suffering from seizure' strait to ' suffering from a brain hemorrhage while high on morphine'.

[computeraidllc]

The problem is with legal end. Some states don't allow any markup during an emergency, some only allow a certain percentage like California at 10%. This is usually for medical, food and other essential items. Rubber alcohol that is lab graded would be a medical item. So eBay has been going on a rampage to stop anyone from listing these items. Some have been banned like N95 masks and respirators. I wouldn't try to sell anything like that now as eBay has now been hit from many states attorney generals office for price gouging. They are going very heavy handed on pretty much anything in medical, food and essential items. This also includes toilet paper, paper towel and cleaning products.

[coffeebean832]

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@thegreenman13 wrote:

I don't want the listing restored, just the violation removed from my account.

---

Some of the messages from eBay I've seen other sellers post include this info-

"Because this item is susceptible to price gouging, it may only be sold by authorized sellers. We have ended your item as a courtesy. There is no negative impact to your account at this time. Do not relist this item."

Was that in the message you received?

[coolections]

No need to contact them. You sold something that is not allowed right now.

[acer589]

Most of this is because people will try to buy under $2  16 oz bottle at Walmart and try to price gouge it for 10 times the amount.. $25 ... When stuff is taken away from other stores and sold on Ebay it creates a void.. People who use alcohol for cleaning catheter bag drains,  and other medical reasons can not do this... I bought 4  16 0z bottles on Mar 5  before a cancer surgery and before virus hit at $1 ea.... Will use rest of alcohol from surgery cleaning 3d printed masks. Which am gonna give away...  P.S...Have been a member of 

Ebay for over 15 years..  Ebay has my member date wrong..

[*madison]

P.S...Have been a member of 

Ebay for over 15 years..  Ebay has my member date wrong..

----------------------------------------------

Your member date is correct on your ebay profile page.

The member date you see here on the community boards is the date you first came to the boards..

@acer589 

[mam98031]

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@acer589 wrote:

Most of this is because people will try to buy under $2  16 oz bottle at Walmart and try to price gouge it for 10 times the amount.. $25 ... When stuff is taken away from other stores and sold on Ebay it creates a void.. People who use alcohol for cleaning catheter bag drains,  and other medical reasons can not do this... I bought 4  16 0z bottles on Mar 5  before a cancer surgery and before virus hit at $1 ea.... Will use rest of alcohol from surgery cleaning 3d printed masks. Which am gonna give away...  P.S...Have been a member of 

Ebay for over 15 years..  Ebay has my member date wrong..

---

The member date you see on your profile for the community is the date you joined the community here.

On your FB page the date that appears there is your date you became an Ebay member with this particular account.  

The two dates don't have to be the same.  Like yours, they are different.

@acer589 

[thegreenman13]

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@coffeebean832 wrote:

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@thegreenman13 wrote:

I don't want the listing restored, just the violation removed from my account.

---

Some of the messages from eBay I've seen other sellers post include this info-

"Because this item is susceptible to price gouging, it may only be sold by authorized sellers. We have ended your item as a courtesy. There is no negative impact to your account at this time. Do not relist this item."

Was that in the message you received?

---

It was not.

[mam98031]

Would you please share the message you did received.  Just black out any personal information.

[thegreenman13]

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@coolections wrote:

No need to contact them. You sold something that is not allowed right now.

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Oh really? Please point me to that bit in their rules. All I can find is an ebay community posting (not actually sent to any one) that mentions Health care masks including N95/N100 and surgical masks, Hand Sanitizer/Gel, and Disinfecting Wipes. This is none of those. This is not hand sanitizer nor disinfecting wipes. As I mentioned above it is a high purity lab chemical. If they want to ban isopropyl alcohol they can, you know, actually list it. Or if they want to be as broad as they always are they could list something along the lines of 'hand sanitizer and all of its ingredients'.

In fact, if you used this stuff as hand sanitizer it would turn you hands white and damage you skin as it sucks the fat out of the surface layer of skin. Hence a lab chemical, not hand sanitizer. And if an ingredient in something is band just for being an ingredient (rather than being directly banned) then better close the site down because you can use just about everything in there to make something that ebay would bad from sale.

I get it was bad timing but I would like the violation against my account removed since there was no violation of any policy.

[thegreenman13]

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@mam98031 wrote:

Would you please share the message you did received.  Just black out any personal information.

---

Sure. Here is the massage with the HTML removed because ebay doesn't like it:

Your listing was removed: Price gouging policy

Hello thegreenman13,
We had to remove your listing because it didn’t follow our Price gouging policy. Offering items at a price higher than is considered fair or reasonable is not allowed on eBay.
What activity didn't follow the policy

Activity on your account didn’t follow our policy. More specific details are provided below.
What you need to do next

Please review your current listings to ensure they follow our policy. Any future listings will need to follow our policy too.

What is the policy

- Items that are considered an essential necessity must be offered at a reasonable price
- Inflating the price of goods in response to an emergency or disaster is not allowed
- eBay may restrict the sale of items that are susceptible to price gouging behavior - for example, by allowing listings from authorized sellers only
- Sellers must follow all applicable laws and regulations that apply to the sale of their items
How this affects your account

Because you may not have been aware of this policy, we're sending this notice to educate you about it and ask that you follow this policy in the future.

- Listings that didn't follow this policy have been ended.

We have credited all associated fees except for payments processing fees and the final value fee for your listing(s).

Listings that don't follow this policy in the future will be ended. In addition, there will be a temporary 3-day restriction placed on your account, and your other listings will be hidden from search during this period. All fees paid or payable for listings that are ended and/or hidden from search will not be refunded or otherwise credited to your account.

Why we have this policy

This policy helps ensure that eBay remains a safe, respectful marketplace and that important government regulations are followed.
More information and help

[Removed link to ebay's useless prohibited and restricted items list since ebay doesn't like html

Listings not following policy

293538650837 - >98.5% Isopropyl Alcohol - 12 oz - Reagent grade - High Purity

We appreciate your understanding.

Thanks,

eBay

Please don't reply to this message. It was sent from an address that doesn't accept incoming email.