Your eBay account has been suspended • Hacker News Board

Re: Your eBay account has been suspended

#61

Post by dangle1 » Sat, Dec 04, 2021, 12:43 AM UTC

tluyben2 wrote: post #5

Because my accounts are so old and I have so many of them, I get a message regularly saying that my account for service xyz has been suspended. When I contact them there a) never is a good reason for why it was done (hint; it is usually because they started using or recently updated some AI fraud detection service) b) small companies easily restore your account; with big ones it is usually game over. Ebay (and Paypal…

That's interesting, I wonder if I have an 'uncloseable' PayPal account, since it started as an x.com account in '99 when they were giving people $20 to open one.

Re: Your eBay account has been suspended

#62

Post by creativelet » Sat, Dec 04, 2021, 12:49 AM UTC

toolz wrote: post #47

creativelet wrote: post #31

This happened to me after I sold some AirPods. Not just with Buy It Now, but after I waited a week for the auction to end, and was literally about to post them in the mail. After being suspended I could no longer access the listing. I managed to reach their customer support line and had the most arrogant agent I've ever had in my life. Like someone who genuinely felt like I was some kind of evil hacker, and actively…

Hope you'll edit and include the name of the app. If they've solved a problem for you then they deserve the mention!

Sure, that's fair. It was Mercari. Thank you Mercari!! I now use it for regular items, and Poshmark and Depop for clothes. No more broken web 2.0 app literally yelling at me that I hacked it.

Re: Your eBay account has been suspended

#63

Post by creativelet » Sat, Dec 04, 2021, 12:50 AM UTC

bbitmaster wrote: post #58

toolz wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hope you'll edit and include the name of the app. If they've solved a problem for you then they deserve the mention!

Not the OP, but Mercari is a good one. (Maybe there are others?)

Yup, you guessed correctly!

Re: Your eBay account has been suspended

#64

Post by utopcell » Sat, Dec 04, 2021, 12:51 AM UTC

I once ordered an LCD TV on eBay. After a few weeks a tiny box was delivered. I was lucky enough to be home at the time of delivery, so I rejected the package. I asked for a refund from the seller, which I received. From what I saw on comments on the seller's page, this had happened to a few other buyers, who were unlucky enough to open their tiny boxes, only to find ..excrement in them. There was no way for me to report this to eBay. Since I got a refund, there was no way to complain about it. eBay has become very hit-and-miss, and is probably not that great for used items anymore since you now have to pay taxes for them.

Re: Your eBay account has been suspended

#65

Post by ineptech » Sat, Dec 04, 2021, 1:00 AM UTC

It seems like the common thread is that all of the accounts being mysteriously banned are old, and KYC rules have changed. Is it possible that this (the "you're banned, make a new account" message) is just because it was too expensive to build a workflow for old accounts to enter updated info?

Re: Your eBay account has been suspended

#66

Post by nwatson » Sat, Dec 04, 2021, 1:03 AM UTC

tluyben2 wrote: post #5

Because my accounts are so old and I have so many of them, I get a message regularly saying that my account for service xyz has been suspended. When I contact them there a) never is a good reason for why it was done (hint; it is usually because they started using or recently updated some AI fraud detection service) b) small companies easily restore your account; with big ones it is usually game over. Ebay (and Paypal…

Never leave your brokerage account unattended, make sure to be active.

The NPR Planet Money episode "Escheat Show" follows the story of a man who bought some Amazon stock long ago, and purposely never logged in to his online account, letting the stock multiply into a presumed small fortune. Years later he found that due to his inactivity the account had been deemed by his state (Connecticut?) as lost property years prior, liquidated, and entered into the state's escheat program, where one can claim lost property. The stock had been liquidated at a much lower price than its present worth. He wanted to sue since his intention was to leave the stock untouched for years but found there were some complications. He's currently waiting for the stock to hit a valuation where a great lawyer will be tempted to take it on contingency while still leaving himself a fortune.

[0] https://www.npr.org/2020/01/24/799345159/episode-967-escheat...

Re: Your eBay account has been suspended

#67

Post by whoknowswhat11 » Sat, Dec 04, 2021, 1:07 AM UTC

This happens for a few reasons.

1) Inactive or low activity account starts selling (instead of buying) high value / high risk items. Think GPU's, Macbooks, etc.

2) An old account has activity (including someone trying passwords from various breaches some of which might match an old salt). Because old account takeover and then fraudulent sales is a pretty big issue (old accounts often have 100% positive ratings) this seems to trigger the bots.

3) Accounts without KYC - normally you are asked to update.

I'm not sure how old accounts have to be to have problems. I'm from early 1999 which was three or four years after I think they got going.

The fraud problem was getting pretty ridiculous on ebay so kind of glad they are cracking down but it's got to be a pretty imperfect hammer and so no doubt lots of false positives.

I've gone to selling my old iphones / ipads etc back through apple. No where near the price you get elsewhere, but no hassle either from my experience.

Re: Your eBay account has been suspended

#68

Post by jmurphyau » Sat, Dec 04, 2021, 1:07 AM UTC

wackget wrote: post #51

robalfonso wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because of this, I make a point of having 3 2fa keys. A daily driver, a backup key on a key ring and the final one in a fireproof safe. Like you I would be afraid what would happen if I lacked my key. Companies need to at least clarify “what happens if I don’t have my key” also one time codes are a thing that need to be saved and can help mitigate a hardware failure.

Great for you, but you have to realise that the average person can barely even remember a single password. That is not a solution suitable for mass adoption.

I would see Apple's recent addition of 2FA support to iCloud passwords would be a good (and maybe the only) 'average person solution'? MS Authenticator is also good as you can sync it and if you get a new phone you can get the same 2FA codes again

Re: Your eBay account has been suspended

#69

Post by howdydoo » Sat, Dec 04, 2021, 1:10 AM UTC

I'll add to the chorus. Something like this happened to me recently.

I bought a heating element for my dishwasher on eBay. I received a non-genuine part, took photos, and requested a return. Next thing I know my 15-year-old account is banned. Maybe the seller reported me in retaliation? eBay's "support" AI sure isn't interested in telling me what happened.

I hate this world we've created, where you can get banned from services at random with no recourse and locked out for life by an AI. The same thing happened to my Discord account a few months ago too :(

It almost makes me want to start a meme Twitter account and build up a big follower count. That's apparently the only way to reach a human in customer support at a big tech company these days.

Re: Your eBay account has been suspended

#70

Post by nikkwong » Sat, Dec 04, 2021, 1:15 AM UTC

Agreed with your sentiment that there needs to be some due process for these companies. Amazon has been holding $24,000 of my seller accounts proceeds for a year now stating that I "violated their TOS" by using the same IP address as my girlfriend uses (who was also an Amazon Seller). Both my and her accounts had perfect selling histories; weren't selling anything against tos, etc.

I've been wanting to take them to court over it; but most lawyers have quoted me at the process costing ~$8-9k; which, I'm terrified to be on the hook for if I lose. (I guess I did violate their TOS? But if that is their TOS, it's wildly stupid and should be illegal/not hold up in court).

So, they just have the money I use to buy food for me and my family and there is nothing I can do about it. The level of stress it's brought me over the last year...has been unimaginable for me if I were to ponder it before the situation occurred.

I still always have the hope that I'll recover it some time, some how, if consumer regulations change or if Elizabeth Warren gets her way. But for now it's me against them and they clearly are making whatever calls they want.