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I tried to list a guitar tuner last night and an error popped up that it wasn’t allowed because I had a previous violation for selling an automotive emissions cheat device and that further attempts to list such items would get me banned. I had outlined that issue previously (eBay Throttled Customer Views, Sales Decreased 50% After Selling Violations – Scavenger Life), but I thought it was behind me. Also, a guitar tuner has no relation to a car tuner, other than a keyword.
I called eBay customer service and the rep was super nice and listened to my issue, but apparently that one time I accidentally listed a one vintage motorcycle part that wasn’t allowed has left permanent “guard rails” on my account. I flat out can’t use the word “tuner” in any listing, regardless of category. I’m not sure what other words are not allowed. She said there was literally no possible way to ever remove that emissions device strike. I guess my account is on permanent thin ice, maybe. At least that’s how I feel. It’s like one more minor mistake and I get the boot.
I’m a top rated seller and have 10k items sold over 17 years. It’s very frustrating and scary since this is a major part of my livelihood. I wish I didn’t rely on eBay for such a large percentage of my sales. Anyway, I guess this is where I go to vent about these things.
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Probably eBay’s twitchy about anything to do with vehicle emissions since Dieselgate.
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Actually, eBay is being sued by the feds for $2 billion for selling emissions defeating devices (notably the “rolling coal” modifications).
Anyway, I guess I’ll see how things go. I’m now getting paranoid since I’ve only made 1 sale in the 3 days since that listing was blocked, which is very unusual for me. In July, it will be one year since the initial violation, so I’m hoping it might drop off my account. Fingers crossed.
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I was thinking about what Jay suggested as well. What I was thinking was to have a trusted friend open up an account in their name/address, and then use VPN to hide your IP address. I don’t think it would be illegal, but I’m sure it is against eBay policy, so take that into consideration.
I’m not even sure it would work, but I believe any store you open with your information or where they can detect it is from your location will be considered under your account.
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Update: I won an appeal with eBay to remove the restriction on my account! I’m so relieved.
I contacted eBay for Business on Facebook. They explained that these restrictions are generally not something they appeal and the “guard rails” can only be removed manually by a special team at eBay. I carefully laid out my case why I felt this was an unfair restriction on my account and asked if the rep could forward my appeal to the proper department. Finally, after talking to and messaging so many eBay CS reps, this one listened, understood my situation, recognized that I was not the enemy, and actually knew who to contact to remedy the problem. He forwarded it to the proper team and the team responded in less than 2 hours that I had won the appeal (he estimated to hear back in 48-72 hours). Looks like it was an easy decision for them. It just required a human actually looking at it rather than an algorithm.
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How is your store performing a month later after eBay lifted the “guardrails”?
We received two VERO’s (for selling vintage chanel perfume bottles) and suddenly it feels like our store is in slo-mo. Could be coincidence since it has been slow overall.
Is eBay for Business on Facebook the place you’ve found most helpful?
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Empty bottles? Or did they have some perfume? Or maybe it was because of the brand name?
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I looked at the numbers for a month before the “guard rails” were lifted and the month after and sales were up about 20 percent. Not really sure that’s enough to say it had a direct effect, but at least sales improved. Overall, my sales this year have been very slow. Seems like mainly very low dollar items are selling. My store really relies on higher dollar sales to make money, since I don’t do much volume.
eBay for business seems like it is helpful most of the time. However, eBay customer service over the phone has improved dramatically lately. I haven’t talked to a foreign rep for the last 4 or 5 times I’ve called, where before it was only foreign reps (and usually poorly trained ones with terrible call quality to boot).
The VERO strikes could have triggered some kind of restrictions on your account. Best way to tell is to try and list something from a well-known brand and see if you get an error message.
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Best way to tell is to try and list something from a well-known brand and see if you get an error message.
Will do. We don’t usually list fancy brands. More interested if eBay limits views of our existing items. I think you mentioned in another thread that you suspected that was happening to you. But maybe that wasn’t related to this case.
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Yeah, eBay was restricting views on my listings, but they didn’t send me a message or anything telling me about it. Only way I found out was by talking to customer service. They restricted my views because of various VERO strikes over the years in combination with some items that were taken down due to other issues (most notably the emissions policy thing). I guess it was a cumulative penalty. It’s like your account gets a little check mark every time you screw something up. Get too many and they start thinking you are a bad seller.
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That’s good!
I’ve been helping a friend deal with her diesel-powered VW Golf. The damn thing would go into limp-home mode, which turned out to be the exhaust gas recirculation unit. This costs around a thousand dollars to replace, ‘cos it’s lurking in the deep just like a U-boat, and requires a team of navvies to get it out. It’s a lump of aluminiun acting as a cooler, with a small electronic sensor on one end. The sensor gets choked by soot unless you give the car a 45-minute run at motorway speeds every week.
The solution (apparently) is to find a backstreet mechanic to disconnect it. Then you enter a legal gray area, which is kind of typical for Britain. There’s also a diesel particulate filter, which is definitely a no-no to tamper with. I guess to get your coal rolling that has to be removed, and then you’d have to adjust the combustion so you’d get black partly-burnt exhaust, and not white smoke like you’d just announced a cardinal decision.
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