Ebay account restricted for 30 days - MC999 - Any help is appreciated!

lewy2k

lewy2k

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Hello everyone,

My account with 100+ 100% positive feedbacks was limited for 30 days without warning today. I was selling multiple sizes (i.e. small, medium, etc.) of an item (I wont specify for niche reasons) for around a month and then got hit with an MC999 for all of them today along with the notification of restricting my selling for 30 days. The item is a non clothing item and in the description of the MC999 it explains that my listing was flagged by the rights owner for being counterfeit. They are 100% real and authentic with my own pictures. There are competitors in the same niche that still have listings up and use similar titles, pictures and descriptions so I am having trouble understanding why mine were flagged. I called eBay and the representative explained that she couldn't do anything and I need to email the company of my item and request information on why my item was flagged and then submit an appeal to the Vero email from eBay.

My question is, is there anything I can do? I have receipts for the items but the rep said there was nothing she could do about the listings being removed or removing the restriction on my account. Thanks again for any help you guys give.
 
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Are you an authorized retailer of the product? Might be your problem right there.
 
No I am not, but if I have to be, then why wasn't I notified that I need to be an authorized seller? The message notifying me of the removed listings had nothing to do with being an authorized seller... There are many others who sell the same items and it would be hard to believe they are all authorized sellers themselves.
 
MC999 is a generalized and usually a precautionary suspension that is a result of systematic red flags being raised by eBays suspicion algorithms.

eBay has a "act first, question later" policy. If you contact eBay, it might be looked into but the problem is that the person looking into it is a lowly paid employee overseas who doesn't have the skill set or insight to actually make a good determination on if your items are breaking any rules or not. The other problem is of course, this is all a systematic automated thing eBay has employed to protect themselves as the expense of your sanity and financial well-being. If you do not contact eBay, the suspension might be lifted, or you may find yourself banned forever.
 
I would make a stealth account to use in the meantime. They say 30 days, but what if it's longer? It's best to keep some accounts on the side for situations like this.
 
Update: the company of the product I was flagged for emailed me back in a friendly manner requesting the receipts for my items (which I have) but is there anything else I should include to increase my chances of them revoking the reasons for flagging my account?
 
In situations like this, have more accounts readily available. If you want to relist it on that account, send them receipts. Otherwise, use other accounts to sell it.
 
lewy2k said:
Update: the company of the product I was flagged for emailed me back in a friendly manner requesting the receipts for my items (which I have) but is there anything else I should include to increase my chances of them revoking the reasons for flagging my account?
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Well, they can't just remove your listing because they think you items are fake. You did not break any laws and they do not have authority to stop you from selling. Ask the Company to compensate your for time wasted.

Are you an authorized retailer of the product? Might be your problem right there.
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It's not SovietUnion. LOL
 
If the company can confirm that your items are legit, then eBay will remove the restrictions. But you may have to be persistant. Don't take no for your answer if you right. Keep asking to speak with someone above. Get something from the company saying your legit or someone to contact ebay and say your legit. If you press it enough they will remove the restriction or ask you to fax in some stuff. My legit account i always fight for. And when you are persistent and willing to go viral as I have they reinstate. I took to twitter and Facebook on them once.

Question why 30 days? Where u warned before? They don't usuallygo this drastic unless you have been warned multiple times. Only other thing it could be is they are expecting disputes pretty soon.
 
Update: Still awaiting the response of the company. I sent them an email with answers to all of the questions they asked along with receipts for every item I was flagged for. I believe I received a 30 day ban with no warning because of all of the items being flagged at once, I was flagged for 6 items so technically there were 6 red flags on my account all at once.
 
1 month is not that bad , i got banned for a year in 2008 !
was my own fault .
Found something that was selling very well on ebay (branded product) , ordered some from china and put on eBay .
And ofcourse people started complaining about me selling "fakes" .
I didnt know it was fake - this was my very first "buy-to-sell" .
I contacted the person in china who sold them to me,but no luck,kept telling me they were "geniune/original" items.
Lesson learned the hard way .
Now i know that most "branded" products from china are fake and i stay away from them.

I know this is not the same situation as yours - as your items are genuine,but think you got lucky with only 1 month ban.
 
sondre said:
1 month is not that bad , i got banned for a year in 2008 !
was my own fault .
Found something that was selling very well on ebay (branded product) , ordered some from china and put on eBay .
And ofcourse people started complaining about me selling "fakes" .
I didnt know it was fake - this was my very first "buy-to-sell" .
I contacted the person in china who sold them to me,but no luck,kept telling me they were "geniune/original" items.
Lesson learned the hard way .
Now i know that most "branded" products from china are fake and i stay away from them.

I know this is not the same situation as yours - as your items are genuine,but think you got lucky with only 1 month ban.
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Agreed, 1 month is better than 1 year but as it looks, I shouldn't have received any ban since my items are genuine and I am using my own personal photo of the item. I sent a follow up email yesterday requesting the status of my review and they seem to be ignoring my emails now that I have showed them proof of purchase of my items...
 
Update: Finally a reply from the company saying that they do not authorize the sale of their products to any websites such as eBay and Amazon and said my items are counterfeit because they weren't purchased directly from them even though my items were purchased from a 100% reputable source, with receipts, along with reviews from my customers on eBay confirming their authenticity. So, from what I can tell, they are saying that even though my items are authentic, they deem them counterfeit because they weren't purchased directly.

After this, they notified me that they have asked eBay to reinstate my account and/or listings... does that mean listings of the items I was flagged for? I asked for more clarity on the subject and explained that there are many other sellers on eBay and Amazon selling this item that sold them before I started and continue to sell now (since they claim sales are not authorized on these sites).
 
This "company" does not have any authority over you or anyone else. They are not a legal entity. You don't need any authority to sell stuff that you own, unless you selling it in communist country even tho only the government can stop you from selling not some small business.

What county is this company in?
 
Russian-Czar said:
This "company" does not have any authority over you or anyone else. They are not a legal entity. You don't need any authority to sell stuff that you own, unless you selling it in communist country even tho only the government can stop you from selling not some small business.

What county is this company in?
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The U.S., I haven't messed with selling foreign items, I don't know enough about the market to safely make money and keep myself from getting fake stuff. To be honest, I purchase these specific items from Amazon. They are real and authentic because they are sealed in the original packaging in my possession. Their reasoning is pretty ridiculous.
 
Another Update: I called eBay to find out when I can start re-listing items and they said they haven't recieved any such request from the company, so they asked the company itself for the request and asked me to wait 24 hours for this to get completed. I got hung up on once by an eBay rep in the process after talking for 20 minutes, all just trying to find out when I can re-list items... Ugh.
 
you'll never win with paypal.
so, send them an appeal or send an email to customer service or better to call them and ask how to release limitation.
Normally they will ask for some id and proof of address or something like that. Just give what they want and your money will be back.

paypal is super sucks but still the most flexible payment gateway. please be patient, this is not the end.
 
Russian-Czar said:
This "company" does not have any authority over you or anyone else. They are not a legal entity. You don't need any authority to sell stuff that you own, unless you selling it in communist country even tho only the government can stop you from selling not some small business.

What county is this company in?
Click to expand...
lol -- read up on some caselaw... This is mostly true for USED products in the US. However, it's not true for new products (which i'm making an assumption that OP's products are). Read over Kirtsaeng v Wiley & sons to get a better idea.

Items like Rosetta Stone have user agreements that say the item can not be resold or it'll void all the subscription stuff etc.

Also, he still hasn't said where he got the stuff from. The VeRO says the item is counterfit; how can you argue with them. At very best it's grey market because it's clearly not authorized by them. Saying he can legally sell a counterfit product is just lol .

What is the reputable company you bought them from? Even stuff from amazon is fake (we know because we sell it there) so can't always be sure.
 
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