<p>In an attempt to find a particular book from a particular year for my DD, I joined eBay on November 22nd. I bid on the book, Le Petit Prince, was outbid and that was that. I didn’t try again after that because DH, who is much more familiar with eBay than I, said he would take over on the search. He has his own user ID. On December 3rd, I received an e-mail alert from eBay stating that I had been suspended. Here’s what it said:</p>
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<p>DH suggested it might be a hoax, so I signed on to eBay and sure enough, it said I had been suspended. I contacted eBay via e-mail asking them to please advise why I had been suspended. I’m not so concerned about being able to purchase anything there. I’ve done without them this long, I can certainly continue without them, but I am concerned whether or not my information may have been jeopardized. The response I got from them was not informative at all and did not answer my question. It repeated exactly what was written above, except it did suggest I could appeal the decision and send in the following items: A copy of my drivers license and some other documentation showing my address, i.e. a copy of a credit card bill (yeah, right … I’m going to send them something else with sensitive information?!), a copy of a recent bank statement (in their dreams) or a copy of a recent utility bill (they would come closer to getting this than anything). All that in addition to completing some reinstatement application. Get real. eBay is not so special that I’m willing to jump through hoops to be reinstated for a violation that I can’t possibly have committed. Bidding on a book … that’s all I did and my top price was $7.50 (very naive, I realize now to think I could have gotten the edition I wanted for that price, but I was only going $0.50 more than the original bidder). </p>
<p>Has anyone else ever run in to this problem? My biggest concern is that I want to completely have any and all of my information erased from eBay’s site, but I can’t even get someone to give me a personal reply. Any ideas?</p>
<p>I’ve used Ebay for years, with no problem. What you describe sounds awfully suspicious. I’ve gotten messages like that many times on my “junk” Yahoo email account from PayPal–telling me that my account has a problem, and they need my SS#, drivers license, etc. They’re completely phony, but look exactly like real PayPal messages. </p>
<p>Thing is, I don’t use Yahoo (or any other free email servers) for anything other than registering for message boards or online news. This keeps my real email account clean of much spam, and Nigerian scammers–and I know for sure that they’re phony, because I wouldn’t ever use Yahoo for my real business. Not sure what’s happening with you, but I would be careful, and try to find a phone connection to Ebay to sort this out. The scammers can totally convince you that you’re contacting Ebay or PayPal, they even fake the URLs correctly.</p>
<p>They probably suspended you because you have two accounts going to the same address. Some people use multiple accounts from the same address to drive up bids on items they’re selling, which they might think you have in mind.</p>
<p>Driver, I thought the same thing … that perhaps it was a scam, however there was no link at all in the e-mail. I went to the internet, opened the eBay site and signed in and that’s when it was confirmed that I was, indeed, suspended.</p>
<p>Filmxoxo17, I didn’t see anything in the tos that prohibits individual users living at the same address to have separate accounts. I’m sure that happens frequently as people probably buy gifts for one another from eBay. </p>
<p>Thanks for the suggestions, though. I guess trying to contact them by phone may be the best thing to do. That, or write a letter that a person must actually open and read.</p>
<p>I get a “message” from PayPal every couple of months saying <a href="mailto:username@isp.net">username@isp.net</a> e-mail address has been added to my account. The e-mail comes from a PayPal.com address, but everytime I sign on to PP, nothing happens, so I ignore it. EBay and PayPal and the whole system of that company is all jacked up.</p>
<p>I was “NARU’d” (Not a registered user) about 2 years ago.</p>
<p>There some mix up and ebay thought that I lived in Europe, but was using a U.S. address. I went thru ebay, and was able to become a registered user again. I did have to fax something to them to prove that I lived at my original address.</p>
<p>The mix-up was thru no fault of my own, it just was a glitch in the system. The same might have happened to you. If you and your husband have seperate email accounts, each individually tied to your ebay account, you should be fine. We have two accounts on the same computer, but tied to different email addresses. </p>
<p>I did receive a “hoax” email last year, that said that I would be suspended within several hours if I did not verify my ebay name, password and email address. I did not do this, I went to ebay, and was able to sign in, so I knew that it was a hoax.</p>
<p>If you want to become a registered user again, you probably will have to verify your address. (I do not think that you can call them. Finding their phone number is very hard.)</p>
<p>I believe these are fishing/spam emails. Do NOT respond. It is an eBay/Paypal imposter. At least, that is what I believe. Like joev, I receive them constantly but filter them out with my spam filter. I have continued to use both despite these “warnings,” “alerts” etc. I believe they are bogus. But whether it is a mixup at eBay/Paypal or spammers, it doesn’t matter. Ignore them.</p>
<p>I believe either eBay or Paypal or both have some info about this on their actual legitimate sites.</p>
<p>The request for a copy of DL or credit card bill is just way over the top. No way. This is the stuff that ID thieves are after. Ebay flat out tells you they’ll never ask for such info.
<a href=“Home | Seller Center”>Home | Seller Center;
<p>Never, ever reply to an email that pretends to be from Ebay or PayPal. It’s called phishing. Always go directly to the website, never from a link. Those are not legitimate emails. EBay and Paypal do not do business via email. I’ve been doing business with both, personally and in a business relationship for years without a problem.</p>
<p>BTW
I don’t know how much you wanted to spend
but Amazon has Le Petit Prince used- for $4.20 and new for $8.00 paperback
hardback is $13.60 new and $8.48 used</p>
<p>sounds like it was legit. I would just open a new account with a new name (if I wanted to use ebay). It’s not as if your old ebay account had any value to it if you only used it to bid on one item, and didn’t even win. If you had an account with lots of history and lots of positive feedback you would want to preserve it, but seems you should just scrap your old account and open a new one.</p>
<p>THIS EXACT THING HAPPENED TO ME awhile ago – and it was legit. </p>
<p>It occurred because Ebay had experienced some large computer security breach – and apparently my information was in the batch. Therefore, all they can do in that case is make everyone in the batch re-register with proof of ID. (The ID eliminates the possibility that it might be the hacker re-registering in your name.)</p>
<p>Of course with phishing and all you can not ever trust an email from ebay. However, if you go to their site directly, and look at your account info there, that is accurate.</p>
<p>After several phone calls to ebay I did end up mailing them my driver’s license photo. I was annoyed by the whole thing, but I had actually sort of forgotten about it until now.</p>
<p>By the way, my husband and I both have separate ebay accounts, so that had nothing to do with it.</p>
<p>There are some serious scams going on with E-bay and PayPal. Very confusing to us because I have a long dormant Ebay account, and my husband had just in the past few weeks opened an EBay account and become an active bidder. I ignored the first Email, because I don’t use that account anyway, the second one I replied saying please suspend my account. The third time (each Email was a little different, this one had a link that looked almost like PayPal’s website) I contacted PayPal’s fraud unit directly, and separately - signed off AOL, then signed back on and searched for PayPal sent an Email to the fraud unit directly. They responded, asked for a copy of the suspected fraud which I forwrded to them. About 3 days later, I got a response - :Thank you for sending us this fraudulent link, your vigilance helps us keep yousafe, etc, etc.
These Emails are not from Ebay or Paypal, you have to be really careful.</p>
<p>It is a scam, plain and simple. The only messages that are legit are those appearing in your “alerts” in your ebay account. If the same message is not in your in box within your ebay account - it is fake.</p>
<p>If in the actual body of the email, it did not contain your actual name as it appears on your account, then it is bogus. If it asks you to click on a link and reenter your information, it is a scam. DON’T DO IT.</p>
<p>I just want to point out that while everyone on here is correct in saying that you can never trust email that is “from” ebay, the OP already said that she knew that and verified her suspended status on the ebay web site, and that she did so by signing on.</p>
<p>You can, in fact, be suspended from Ebay through no fault of your own. I know, because it happened to me. I’ve been using ebay since 1998 (at least that is my oldest feedback) and it happened to me about a year ago. (See above post.)</p>
<p>I think Ebay actually does a pretty good job controlling fraud. The phishing email problem can happen to any business (and indeed, is common with PayPal, banks, and credit card companies). You have to be careful.</p>
<p>Thanks to Audiophile, I used the number on that list to contact eBay. After 17:09 minutes on hold, the eBay operator answered and asked how he could direct my call. I told him I needed to speak with someone about a suspended account. It rang and was answered with an automated voice that told me I could receive “live help” on the eBay site and then it disconnected me. I no longer have the time, patience nor desire to deal with it. Thanks all, for trying to help. I know for sure it is a legit thing … my eBay message says exactly what the message in my e-mail said. eBay is not worth it. I’m off to do something productive. Again, thanks for all the suggestions. Have a great day!</p>
<p>Wow that is annoying! I can’t remember how I got to talk to someone there, but I do know that I talked to them more than once. They’ve just grown too big now. It’s good to just quit now, especially if you don’t have a good record of feedback to protect. That is why I pursued it – but in your case I’d say “see ya’ later!” too.</p>