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One Man's Battle With eBay™ and PayPal™ Ends In Tragedy
I have been an active eBay™/PayPal™ Premier seller for over 6 years (since 1999). I have a feedback profile of over 400 on eBay, with a 98.5% total. I have never had a problem with them up to this point, it all started when I recently tried to sell a Playstation 3 game console.
Pre-sales took place at local GameStop/EB Games stores across the US, and I secured one with a deposit that I planned to resell on eBay™. I have sold many items like it in the past including 6 Xbox 360 consoles last year. I immediately posted my auction on eBay™ as did thousands of other people. Mine sold for over $1500 quickly and I was paid by the buyer via PayPal™. I immediately deposited the funds as I have always done. You can see that auction here.
Suddenly a day or so later eBay™ starts yanking all Playstation 3 auctions down. This is AFTER they had already allowed hundreds of them including mine to go on for several days! I get a letter from eBay™ soon after that can be read here. I called eBay™ and asked to speak to someone about this, and they said this had to be taken up with the Trust and Safety department. When I asked to be transferred to them the lady told me that THEY DON'T EVEN HAVE PHONES AT THEIR DESKS THERE!
That evening I get a call from eBay™/Paypal™... yes both on a 3-way call! The gist of this conversation was that I had to put the funds back into PayPal™ and refund the full amount to the buyer or my account would be suspended indefinitely. I asked if they were making everyone do this who sold one, and they told me yes. I did not want to refund it, but it was more important to be able to sell on eBay™,so I did so the next day. Also after I contacted the buyer of this auction he informed me that his PayPal™ account was suspended also and that he could not get the funds back either.
Not but a day after doing so, they suddenly start allowing presales again! They announced some new rules for doing so here. So, following the new rules I posted my new auction here. This one sold for over $1600 and was again paid for immediately by PayPal™. This is where the fun really starts! I withdrew the funds again from PayPal™ after the sale, but this time THEY TAKE THE FUNDS BACK OUT OF MY BANK ACCOUNT and freeze my PayPal™ account! The email regarding this is here. When I log into PayPal™, here is the list of things I am supposed to do to get it resolved. So hundreds of people like me put up an auction following their new rules and get their PayPal account frozen for it, was that a trap?
The "Provide Proof Of Shipping" required a tracking number that I had shipped the item. The "Confirm Location" in this list required me to enter a 4 digit number that PayPal™'s computer would call me with. The phone rings when I initiate it and a 4 digit number is given. I enter the number and get a message saying confirmed successfully. But then I get an email saying "Using publicly available databases, we were unable to match your address to the phone number you selected." and that "To confirm your location, we will mail a letter with a 6-digit confirmation code".
The Playstation 3 is launched on November the 17th, and this letter is still nowhere to be found. I am not sending an item worth $1600 to somebody without knowing I can get the money for the sale! I called PayPal™, and they told me to either ship the item to the buyer, or refund him. I chose the latter.
Finally a few days after the launch of the Playstation 3, the letter arrives. I input the 6 digit code in it, but I notice that the "Provide Proof Of Shipping" is still there even though I had already refunded the buyer days earlier. So I input the tracking number as "Refunded Buyer". It now says all of the information had been collected and that it was being sent for review.
Here comes the grand finale, I get an email from PayPal™ saying that they "have determined there to be excessive risk involved and would like to begin parting ways in a manner that is least disruptive to your business"! They want to close my PayPal™ account indefinitely and and will hold any funds of mine for 6 months! After over 6 years and thousands of dollars passing through their company from me they have determined that I am a risk?!
I called PayPal™ on November 22nd and spoke to Tim (employee #7358) in account escalations. He looked at my situation, and was very sympathetic about it. He agreed that it made no sense considering my long-standing good business with them, and that he completely understood my frustration. He offered to contact appeals on my behalf, but when I asked if I could talk to them directly he said that they don't do phones. In fact, when asked if I could contact him back directly if needed, he said there was no way to even do that.
At 2am that night I received the same email as before, it seems I am indeed an "excessive risk" to PayPal™.
I also sold several Zelda games for Wii here, and had to refund payment to all buyers but 2 whom I had already shipped. Anyone getting a refund please forgive me, I assure you this is the first time I did not come through with an auction.
Here is an email from Ely on behalf of Bill Cobb (President of eBay™) responding to an email I wrote him here.
What you can do if you are having similar problems:
DON'T TRY TO GET HELP IN EBAY'S™ FORUMS!
There are hundreds of people dealing with similar problems:
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