03-11-2023 03:09 PM
Hello, I have been selling on eBay for about a year now. I have been growing slowly over the months selling electronics, Health & beauty products and tools. I noticed this past week I have had 0 sales and I thought it was just slow. I checked my messages today and seen that I received an mc011 restriction and all my listings have been removed. All they are asking for are invoices showing where I purchased the items from. I have invoices for all of my products since I source everything I sell from a liquidation services. But I don't understand how to go about sending everything and what is acceptable and what is not. I have read horror stories of other people being denied because the invoices were insufficient for some reason. Would a spread sheet type of invoice be sufficient?
03-11-2023 03:34 PM - edited 03-11-2023 03:34 PM
If the message you received was in your eBay messages and it said to upload the invoices then that’s what you do.
Account Restrictions and Suspensions
03-11-2023 05:03 PM
@faraj07022021 wrote:Would a spread sheet type of invoice be sufficient?
No it won't, they want ACTUAL invoices from your supplier that look like they are legitimate.
If there no instructions on how to upload the information in the notice?
03-11-2023 11:03 PM
As the others have said, you need to follow the instructions that Ebay gave to you. If you can't figure something out, then you will need to contact Ebay for further instructions.
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
03-13-2023 08:59 AM
The actual invoices from my suppliers don't have the items on them. They send me a separate manifest in a spread sheet. That's why I'm worried about sending those in as I feel that they would not accept them. Idk if I can upload them here for someone to take look at them.
03-13-2023 09:02 AM
That was my concern. I have some paper receipts for some items that I have already sold but their asking for the items that I currently have listed. The invoices I get from my suppliers don't have listed what it I purchased. Instead they send me a separate manifest in a spreadsheet for all the items I purchased. Im going crazy trying to figure out what to do. As for uploading the invoices I have a link that they sent me but I don't want to send the wrong thing in and get denied.
03-13-2023 09:05 AM
I have tried contacting them via phone and got no where. I will try Facebook and twitter maybe they'll be better at helping me instead of giving me a generic response. My issue with my invoices are that they don't have listed on them the items purchased. They send me a separate manifest on a spreadsheet listing all items purchased. That's why im worried of sending those in along side the invoices.
03-13-2023 09:11 AM
That is a typical problem with sellers buying 'pallets' to re-sell; The items are NOT new, they are returns, recalls etc. and coming from a 'liquidator' and not from a 'distributor' which would detail items on the reciept (having 2 seperate pieces of paper will typically not suffice).
Those items are best sold locally after you've tested each one. I see them all the time at swap meets.
03-13-2023 09:25 AM
About 90% of the items I sell are new & sealed. I buy from a liquidator that sells very good products. Do you think if I combined the invoices and spread sheets into a pdf file would that be sufficient?
03-13-2023 09:44 AM - edited 03-13-2023 09:45 AM
With the ongoing ‘illegitimate obtaining” of the types of items on offer, it will be an uphill battle to prove the validity of these items.
I am not familiar with retailers that liquidate current, factory sealed product. Certainly not in the quantities being offered in your recent history.
Your burden will be to prove the above scenario wrong.
03-13-2023 09:56 AM
Yes shelf pull items or items that haven't been selling quick enough get liquidated. You don't find them very often and it takes me a long time to source those items but you can find them. Home Depot liquidations is a big one. My only issue is that the invoices them selfs don't have the items sold because some purchase I make have 200-300 items in them. So I receive a separate spread sheet manifest. But as others have stated they most likely won't accept 2 separate papers as an invoice.
03-13-2023 10:02 AM - edited 03-13-2023 10:04 AM
with the onset of stolen merchandise on the rise, eBay and other online platforms are being scrutinized to NOT allow stolen items to be sold thru their platforms.
some liquidators are known to sell stolen merchandise, so ebay is erring on the side of caution.
spreadsheets do not prove you made a legitimate purchase, anyone can make a spreadsheet with whatever they want on it, and even an invoice from the liquidator does not prove the items were not stolen, they just show u made the purchase thru them.
the liquidator would have to prove they purchased their items thru legit means with their own purchase invoice(s) and provide that to you, altho I doubt they will.
u r correct that if u don't provide acceptable proof of selling non-stolen merchandise, even tho u r not the one who (potentially) stole it, eBay will permanently ban you and anyone else in a similar position.
reach out to the liquidator and see if they will provide you their purchased invoice(s) for the items you bought.
03-13-2023 10:41 AM
I figured that was their concern. But I buy from liquidators like home depot who liquidates their own items on those sites. So when I make a purchase it is from home depot but through a liquidation website. The source of those items is not questionable. This is so frustrating! I just bought more items this week. But I will call them and see if they can send me something other than what I have online.
03-13-2023 10:46 AM - edited 03-13-2023 10:50 AM
@faraj07022021 explain the situation to them. home depot has had a lot of thievery, so they should understand eBay's position.
remember, even if u and home depot KNOW the items are not stolen, eBay does not know until it's proven to them
03-13-2023 10:55 AM - edited 03-13-2023 10:57 AM
This is going to come out wrong know matter how I gloss it over........
If you can't prove to ebay the source and breakdown (in other words, tying these 'spreadsheets to a payment to a legitimate liquidator') how in the world are you going to survive an audit?
The IRS will not accept these spread sheets (if they are what I think they are...just a list of "stuff", like a bill of lading) as "proof of purchase" for a COG expense.....
For your own good going forward, there needs to be a better paper trail....