Here it is:
This is Bruce Hershenson. This morning (April 6th), without
warning, eBay closed all of my 1,500+ newly listed items, and called me to
tell me I was about to be "indefinitely suspended from eBay". I asked if I
could have an hour to appeal this decision to eBay, and was told that was
impossible.
Thirty minutes later all the auctions were closed and my account
now reads "not a registered user". This after 160,000+ sales in five
years, with 110,000 positive feedbacks (against only 12 negatives, likely
an eBay record!).
I called eBay and was told that I had been indefinitely suspended
because I had "repeatedly violated their rules" (selling items that were in
their VERO program, selling items not allowed, such as a "Mein Kampf" movie
poster, etc) and that they believed they had located a second account that
I was using to place bids on my items, and that this, combined with my many
past offenses, was why I was being "indefinitely suspended from eBay".
Let me explain about the second account. My main computer expert
is Phillip Wages and he is a poster collector. When Phillip started
working for me four years ago, he started bidding on a few of my items, to
add to his collection.
This worked out fine for a few months, until eBay called me and
told me he could not bid on my items using his own name. The person
explained that what mattered was the appearance of impropriety. I asked
what would be the difference if Phillip had a friend bid on items for him,
and the person said that would be fine, as long as he wasn't bidding
through his own account.
Phillip began to bid with a friend's account. Over the next
couple of years he purchased items on this account for his collection. He
also used this account to place some bids for people who did not register
for our major auctions in time, giving those who had missed registering the
chance to bid.
I feel that this bidding on Phillip's part was sanctioned by eBay,
given that they said he could bid through a friend's account and he did.
As to the "numerous other violations" the eBay employee cited,
they were all minor items where I unknowingly violated one of their many
confusing rules, and in every case I chose to let eBay end the auction
rather that contest their ruling, even though I believed it to be incorrect
in almost all cases, for I might well have spent hours writing many e-mails
to get them to allow me to sell a five or ten dollar item. But now they
are saying those "violations" make me a "repeat offender", so maybe I
should have fought each and every one of them.
Somehow eBay has now decided that Phillip's bidding was in
violation of their policy (even though he bid via the method their employee
suggested) and the "numerous other violations" (commonplace among all high
volume sellers) were never an issue at all, until they served eBay's need
to now suspend me indefinitely.
I can't help but feel that this ruling on eBay's part is directly
connected to my public criticism of some of their methods for the past two
years. The past month I have posted to a "super-PowerSellers" eBay
discussion board, and I wonder if my candid posts there are not directly
the reason for my "indefinitely suspension from eBay"!
Perhaps this is a blessing in disguise. I have made it clear that
I have long wanted to sell somewhere other that eBay. Maybe this is the
time to make this move. I am considering three options:
1) I can appeal to eBay and see if they will reverse their unfair
action.
2) I can begin selling on another auction site, just as I did from
1990 to 2000 with Christie's and Howard Lowery.
3) I can invest in auction software and auction from my own site.
I will take a few days and decide which course of action to
follow. In the meantime, I want to thank the hundreds of you who have
already contacted me voicing your support (news travels fast!). Many of
you have asked what you can do to help, and honestly, right now there is
nothing that needs be done. I firmly believe this is a momentary glitch in
the big scheme of things, and that ultimately everything will surely work
out for the best.
Of course I will e-mail you again once I have more news to report!
Bruce Hershenson
