can't sell because my only phone is VOIP

[boltan]

I've been an eBay member for around two decades.   I sell maybe two personal items per year.   I went to sell a new door lock recently (that I was unable to return) and was blocked because eBay said it needed to verify my identity.   Oddly there's no bar to my buying anything.

I live out in the sticks in a mountainous region where the cell signal is iffy, so I've never seen the sense of paying for a cell phone.   The eBay rep told me I was blocked because eBay doesn't like VOIP (voice over IP) numbers (even though that's been my same number for several years).   

So United Way is getting my stuff now.

[ed8108]

There are millions of seller stories of ebay , thanks for sharing.

Ebay's loss becomes United Way's gain

[inhawaii]

Just curious.  How does ebay know you have a voip phone?  You have a phone number.  You answer that phone number.  That's all ebay should be concerned about. 

[boltan]

Good question.   Come to think of it, the rep didn't know my number was VOIP until I told her.   I did NOT get the feeling she latched on to that for an excuse, but I suppose that is a possibility.

[ittybitnot]

@boltan 

 The eBay rep told me I was blocked because eBay doesn't like VOIP 

I am curious as well as @inhawaii.  How would they know what kind of phone you have?  What if you had no phone at all?   In over 20 years here I have never heard of this.  That, of course, does not mean some policy exists preventing sellers from listing because that is all they have.   

I would suggest you contact them again.  eBay CS is not known for giving out accurate information anyway, and likely you will get different results. 

[boltan]

Having used various online reverse phone lookup services, I've often seen how they can apparently tell you whether a given number is VOIP, cell, or land line.   So although I don't know exactly how they do  it, it's doable and probably routine.

[luckythewinner]

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@boltan wrote:

I've been an eBay member for around two decades.   I sell maybe two personal items per year.   I went to sell a new door lock recently (that I was unable to return) and was blocked because eBay said it needed to verify my identity.  

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Wat happened when you tried to verify your identity? 

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@boltan wrote:

Oddly there's no bar to my buying anything.

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Not odd at all. You don't even need an eBay account to buy on eBay. 

[chapeau-noir]

I've used VoIP for years and have never had a problem with my phone number in any of the sites I used including here.  Something is definitely wrong on eBay's end.

[slippinjimmy]

Same here, voip phone (10 years), no mobile, no problems with eBay and I've registered new selling accounts years after going to voip only.

[boltan]

Thanks, I should really stop being so polite and volunteering reasons for my problem.   I think I will try again with the eBay reps in a week or so.

[boltan · Accepted solution]

Well, it's solved.   I tried again and this time the agent said the "risk assessment group" would contact me.   They emailed with several questions about how I would like to sell.  I answered all of the questions in an email reply and then waited another week... and nothing.   I got impatient, so I started a help chat and this time mentioned my case number.    The rep at the other end, I don't know, made things work.   The problem wasn't VOIP after all.   Something about my seller account being linked to Paypal.   Like I said, I've been on eBay for twenty years; I thought my account was always linked to Paypal and I've always had one account with which I would both buy and sell...  so I'm sorry if there's no moral to the story.

[chapeau-noir]

Well, there actually is a moral:  Sometimes finding the answers from CS is like digging in hard dirt.  But perseverance pays off.  😣

[old_man]

I also have VOIP phone and can not sell on ebay, when I click to call me with the verification code it comes back saying something is wrong with the phone number.  Can not find how to contact anyone on ebay.

Can not afford a cel phone and retired so monthly bill is expensive. 

[shoppintoys]

Same here, also VOIP and was told today that there is no way to verify my sellers account unless I have a regular cell phone. They need to fix this, a lot of people don’t want a regular cell phone, especially now that other options are becoming more and more available. 

[rjsmfg-com]

is there a work-around for the VOIP phone requirement? I spent 4 hrs with ebay reps via chat and via voice yesterday. Nothing has been fixed. I put in a valid smart phone and did the text msg verification successfully. Yet I still get the same error of "we've temporarily locked your account until you verify your phone number." I've waited 24 hrs per the ebay rep and I'm still no better off. Still can't list, buy, msg, nothing on ebay until this is resolved. This is infuriating!!