Oh ebay, you Janus, you

[bitcoin_bob]

After over a week of waiting;

Hello Bob,

Thanks for your query about the selling restriction on your account, bitcoin_bob. My name is Nathan and I will advise you. I'm sorry for the delay in writing.

I would like to inform you that after careful consideration we have restricted your account indefinitely from listing due to significant concerns we had for your activity and items that posed potential risk.

You can still buy off the site, but unfortunately you won’t be able to sell anymore. If you would like more information about eBay policies and our rules for listings please visit the following page:

http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/policies/listing-ov.html

I'm sorry about your situation, Bob, but please understand our priority is to maintain a safe marketplace for the entire eBay community.

Kind regards,

Nathan Crowther,
eBay Trust & Safety.

It would seem that bitcoins are now officially 'Items that pose potential risk' on eBay......

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[data_teks]

I think it had more to due with how you were listing them and what you posted in your auction (may of been doing something wrong and didn't know it)...

Only reason I say that is this is from your original post "We're not comfortable with your selling practices or business model, and we feel they don't help to promote a positive buying and selling environment."

If it had to actually do with selling something against their TOS, they would of said it.  However, they basically said they weren't comfortable how you listed your items.  Just sucks they were so vague and didn't give you more details in the followup email and give a second chance..

Of Course, not to say your lying, but most of the time we never get the full story (maybe already had a second chance?)

While it does suck, there are ways to get another account and get to selling again.

[bitcoin_bob]

While it does suck, there are ways to get another account and get to selling again.

Of which I already have, sensibly.

I have never had a warning from ebay before whatsoever on that account- Simply listed 10 Bitcoins for sale and was closed pretty swiftly. I'm only putting this up as a warning to others who might rely on their account for income etc to see it wiped out for listing a bitcoin.

If anyone else has Ebay-Bitcoin related account closures maybe they could share their story, so I know in the future if it is safe to list anything Bitcoin related on ebay or if I somehow just caught the attention of the random ebay account-decimator bot.

[jdbtracker]

my add on kijiji for building mining rigs got shut down, said it was outside kijijis policies. I did not violate any of their points, but I know enough now, don't touch it on any eBay system. It got flagged recently something that has never happened before.

my posting was not instant... it took hours before they denied it and I had had it up for months, but when I reposted it with modifications in my own province... it got rejected. yeah it's time to make the exodus from centralized companies now... time to build the p2p classifieds free of any politics, or corporate interests.

[BTCisthefuture]

So it looked like Ebay, and Paypal were embrasing Bitcoin with open arms?

http://www.coindesk.com/ebay-ceo-weighs-paypal-bitcoin-option/

Hmm.....I was dubious about the thought. Why would Paypal be willing to take a non centralised, non refundable payment method? How could they then rip people off?

Quite interesting his quote:

“It’s a new disruptive technology, so, yeah, we’re looking at bitcoin closely"

Disruptive as in, Ebay can't buy it, cant control it.....so Ebay probably, secretly fears it.

Well I posted some bitcoins for sale on ebay, and this is what happened to me 2 days later;

   
Dear bitcoin_bob
In order to keep our website a safer place for buyers and sellers, your account will be restricted from selling indefinitely.

Our decision is based on evidence from our records. We're not comfortable with your selling practices or business model, and we feel they don't help to promote a positive buying and selling environment.

Even though you can't sell on our website, you can still use your account to buy or bid on items. For more information on the basics of buying, please visit:
http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/buy/basics.html

Please remember that you can't use other accounts or register new accounts to sell on eBay. If you do, your accounts could be limited, restricted, or suspended.

Regards,

eBay Trust & Safety team


Currently trying to find out what is going on, and talking to eBay even their customer complaints department, after escalating me to two levels.....still Can't answer the question and the specialists' need to get back to me.

Anyone else has this experience when selling Bitcoins?

Vinny Stephenson
I have reviewed your account and can see that in order to better assist you in this regard, I will have to escalate your concern for further review. Please be assured that the relevant team will get back to you via email.

I wonder what 'men in black' department they have dealing with Bitcoins in Ebay.

I have a feeling that Ebay is not going to be as friendly towards Bitcoin as their overtones suggest. The words 'regulated environment' and 'We’re closely following this area and look forward to seeing how it develops' are more likely to mean 'AHHHH were scared of this and don't know what it is, get it out' as they try to shoo Bitcoin with a broom until it runs away.

Watch eBay bitcoiners, because, eBay is watching you......

a VERY HIGH % of bitcoin transactions end up being scams. This is why ebay is starting to clamp down on people selling/buying bitcoins. I personally don't see any conspiracy theory.

Same reason ebay/pay pal doesn't like people selling e-tickets to sporting events or concerts.  The scam rate is simply too high.

[luv2drnkbr]

obviously you didn't escalate high enough

[vokain]

sue

[BTCnewbie]

I tested the water with selling on ebay a couple of years ago. Not long after I posted my offer I had literally hundreds of orders all ready to pay with paypal. That got me really suspicious so I cancelled all the orders and removed the listing. Scammers are circling ebay bitcoin listings like vultures because they know they can pay with paypal, receive the bitcoins to their wallet then open a dispute with paypal and get their cash refunded 100% of the time. My advice is stay the fuck away from ebay and paypal when dealing with bitcoins.

[jdbtracker]

yeah I know, I worked retail, we had specific policies to avoid this... two bank accounts. end of the week, cash goes into the other one not known by ebay... it was the only way. people really scammed the system, it was annoying specially when the item costs thousands of dollars.

We could not accept accounts out of country for litigation purposes, can't fight someone in a different country just a pain in the pinata, we never accepted paypal except through ebay... just too risky, they'll do a refund and boom our account is short 8k bucks.