I have recently started using eBay and have purchased two items and made a few bids on other items. One of the items I recently purchased was a server, and I immediately paid for the item using PayPal. The money was received by the seller. The next thing I knew, I received a notice from eBay that my winning bid was canceled, and that I was suspended for 'abuse'.
I have made multiple attempts to get an answer as to what constituted this 'abuse'. All I am given is a generic canned answer that says nothing. The customer service at eBay is not providing any service to the customers. I was very concerned about the $560.00 that I had already paid the seller, and immediately called him.
I left a message, and reported the incident to PayPal. The merchant responded immediately to the PayPal inquiry, and claims he has already shipped the server, and has no idea why the bid would have been canceled. He says he had nothing to do with it. I have received a form letter from eBay wanting me to fax them all kinds of sensitive personal financial documentation, that frankly seems a down right invasion of my privacy and none of their business.
I am not asking them for a loan, and they are not providing me with anything other than a service. I don't give my barber this information, and he is happy to cut my hair. I have not reported anyone for anything on the system, have yet to leave any feed-back, as I still have not received either purchase. So I am in the dark as to what I could possibly have done to be banned indefinitely from eBay.
There is no one to talk to at eBay who either cares to help, or has the ability to help. This is a personal slight, and I am very upset over this. EBay has called my integrity into question, and doesn't have the decency to even explain what I am accused of. All they point to is the following:
'... We may limit, suspend, or terminate our service and user accounts, prohibit access to our website, remove hosted content, and take technical and legal steps to keep users off the Site if we think that they are creating problems, possible legal liabilities, or acting inconsistently with the letter or spirit of our policies.'
I have done nothing in violation of this clause to my knowledge. Searching the internet seems to show that this happens quite frequently at eBay. What I am most concerned with now, is my personal account information. I am a service engineer, and I currently am working in China. It could be possible that my account has been hijacked and someone has violated this policy. But I cannot get a response from eBay as to the nature of the violation, so I can't confirm that this might be the case.in any event, I will not be faxing eBay copies of my driver's license, passport, banking information, utility bill, or anything else that they are requesting from me.
I was certain the email I received was a phishing attempt, but logging into eBay confirms that the account is blocked, and the same email is in my inbox there. I had heard such good things about eBay. I now have to wonder what is going on here. I am not a seller. I am not a re-seller of any goods I purchase there. I am just a guy that likes to look for good deals and who doesn't have a lot of time at home to shop.
Ebay offered me a way to locate things and have them at home when I finally get back. I am so upset over this mess, more due to eBay's lack of concern than I could ever have thought I would be. I hope that posting my complaint and concern here will generate some kind of decent reply from eBay. I don't see how they can stay in business when this is how they treat customers.
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