I've been hearing rumors that eBay has been making a transition behind the scenes for a while now to become a Amazon-lite basically. No more auctions, just stores & Buy It Now items.
After what I just went through since Aug. 22nd proved to me that this is 100% fact & they will do anything and everything to make that happen. But instead of doing it with some honor by sending a system-wide e-mail to everyone, they opted to quietly do it by indefinitely suspending anyone who does not fit within their new mold of sellers or even big buyers for that matter as well.
If you fight for your rights under eBay's rules; YOU ARE GONE!
If you are a seller and fight Buyer Complaints: YOU ARE GONE!
If you are a buyer and leave negative feedbacks for people who send you unmentioned damaged items and then sellers refuse a partial refund, or never get your item and the seller never responds & you leave negative feedback each time: YOU ARE GONE!
The list of reasons goes on & on. But eBay will never tell you what it is that you need to do to fit their NEW BUSINESS MOLD!
It kills me how every time I called eBay with an issue over the past 6-months they kissed my butt royally saying: YOU ARE A TOP RATED SELLER & FROM LOOKING AT YOUR ACCOUNT YOUR STATUS IS ONE OF THE HIGHEST I'VE EVER SEEN IN EVERY CATEGORY AND YOU ARE SO GREAT AND WE THANK YOU, BLAH, BLAH, BLAH (just fix my problem you idiot)! It started sounding more & more cultish as time went by.
Here's an example that should blow your mind- on Aug. 22nd a seller who charged me over $8.00 S&H for empty trading card boxes that fit in a medium Flat Rate Priority box (I checked), yet he shipped them Parcel Post & it took 11-days to arrive. I kept politely asking him where my boxes were after 5-days passed and he was obnoxious right from the start. Every e-mail to him after that he got nastier & nastier. He never said through all this that he sent them Parcel Post. I had to find out from the shipping label, same goes for the shipping date which he lied about.
So I left a truthful, unemotional negative feedback. His response was this e-mail:
Dear cardcop**,
GO FUCK YOURSELF!!!!!!!!!!!! I have your address saved, I travel to new
york area often. We will be in touch!
-shindig_747
Even though I have been fighting hobby fraud for all collectors for free since 1997 online, I never received such a threatening e-mail.
So I immediately called eBay and they said he would be suspended immediately, probably indefinitely.
So three days pass & he's still selling. I call eBay again and the woman this time was just as upset by that e-mail as I was. She asked if I left follow-up feedback to address this e-mail. I did not, so she said "you need to". So I mulled it over for 24-hours (so I didn't write anything I'd regret) and I left this "Told me to F--- Myself & he's coming to see me. BRING IT THEN!" or very close to that. I wanted him to know that I was no easy target, because that invites retribution. The next thing I knew, I was suspended as a buyer for 90-days because they said I had too many Buyer Complaints (ONE!).
My Post Office is one of the 3,700 being closed and I've been missing tons of mail over the last two months (June & July mostly) or so including bank statements, credit card bills, etc. Luckily every eBay item that I bought an was missing was below $15.00 (two were sent wiuth Delivery Confirmation as well- where of course it wasn't the buyer's fault at all), & everything else was $3-$5 each. I CANNOT CONTROL ANY OF THAT- YET EBAY BLAMED ME FOR IT???! So I called eBay & they said they were going to reverse my suspension over three different times. That never happened to this day. HOWEVER- the person who threatened me is STILL SELLING all the while since Aug.22nd & a month had passed at this point!!!
Then I had to be hospitalized because I have a very rare form of Muscular Dystrophy & five massively herniated disks in my neck & low back with severe multiple nerve damage>>>> BTW-eBay is well aware of this and I asked them several times to make a note of this on my account & the fact that I've helped them fight fraud for 14-years- THEY NEVER DID THAT.
I'm in severe-excruciating pain 24/7, but after this eBay episode my pain went to 10 out of 10 & I was hospitalized from late Monday Aug. 28th until Friday, Sept. 2nd. So I get home and take care of my eBay business first before I do anything else because I sold two items (the buyers knew I was hospitalized) and wanted to get them out 1st thing Sat. morning with good free bonus cards. I take fast/safe/affordable ($2.50 for unlimited cards bought) shipping very seriously since I started on eBay in 1997.
So it's now Sat. Sept. 2nd in the late afternoon & I decide to relist items I had listed before I went into the hospital. I got to item #6 & out of nowhere a screen pops up saying "YOU ARE SUSPENDED"! So I click My eBay and that warning comes up on the lower left hand of the screen saying "your account is suspended".
So I call eBay again and finally spoke to Grace from Trust & Safety. She told me the case number and said this was all a big mix-up. She said I never should have been suspended for ANYTHING & that shindig_747 should have been suspended by Aug.23rd indefinitely. She "promised" me TWICE that by the nest day, in 24-hours (Sunday???) my account would be fully reinstated & the case against shindig would be upgraded to urgent. That never happened either. HOW MANY LIES CAN EBAY EMPLOYEES TELL WITHOUT GETTING FIRED???
Next I get Carly who couldn't find a reason to keep me suspended so she actually put me on hold & searched my feedback until she found a questionable feedback which she stated I received a warning about (but of course never did since she was creating complaints while we were on the phone!!!). I knew at this point I was done with eBay whether I wanted it to be or not. So I said bye & hung up.
Out of curiosity I called a regular Customer Service employee (Tim) right after speaking to Carly. I asked him if there were any Feedback Abuse cases against my account. He said no, then said oh wait a minute one is just coming up now. I said "yeah, being typed by Carly- right?" & he agreed. I said I'm sorry you have to work with that nasty witch, to which he had no comment.
Then I gave it another try on Fri. Sept. 9th. I didn't even bother asking who I was speaking to, it didn't matter in the past, so why should it now? They said you are indefinitely suspended and it is unappealable!!! When I asked why shindig_747 who threatened me is still selling she said "that was probably his first offense" (look at his feedback -IT WAS NOT!), "so you don't get suspended for first offenses". He used the F word in it's full glory, and threatened me in the worst way! Plus in a later e-mail he said he was going to borrow his friend's 9MM before he comes to NY!!! And he didn't ever get suspended from eBay??? My feedback is 100% & his is much lower with several negatives...
I saved pages on eBay to my computer showing my Seller Dashboard showing my Policy Violations at LOW during the first week of Sept., but now (Sept. 24th) it shows MEDIUM, plus all mention of any violations were removed??? Taking that into account with my PERFECT ratings in every other category, nothing justifies a suspension of any kind. Plus I received another eBay Award for being a Top Rated Seller! IS THIS INSANE OR WHAT? So I called eBay one last time on Sept. 24th & got a very polite young lady who was very understanding at first and agreed with my situation and then said, "please hold while I check your account". When she came back her tone of voice was suddenly nasty. She said you are permanently suspended for leaving that feedback saying the "F" word. I told her that this was a quote from an e-mail from a seller and she said "I know all about that now" & I didn't use the F word I put F***, plus it waasn't my idea to leave that feedback it was YOUR EMPLOYEE'S IDEA! She said in her nasty tone "we consider this with you a permanent parting of ways". So I told her to start looking for a new job because eBay will be bankrupt soon by treating people like me like this. I truly believe that.
I'm glad I'll never use eBay again at this point and you all should consider quitting before you are forced off just as I was. I had to change my bank account number & credcit card because eBay are nothing but untrustworthy crooks at this point. I have proof of everything I said here and will prove it in court if need be.
FIGHT THE GOOD FIGHT & NEVER PUT UP WITH FRAUD LIKE THIS!
James M.
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