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Screw eBay and Paypal! They Shut Down My Account!
by Joe Whiteside
With this post I’m taking a bit of a turn in a direction that doesn’t really have anything to do with printing at home but it does have everything to do with Home Business Printing. Bare with me as I explain my point of view. This may come off as a rant, and it probably is, but it’s the best way I could think of to get it off of my chest and let others know about it as well.
Well, in case you didn’t know eBay started back in the mid-nineties as an online auction where average, everyday people could sell there collectibles and other possessions. EBay quickly became a way for people to make money from selling new and used items. A lot of businesses were born and Home business Printing is one of them.
Back in 2004 I started selling my hand crafted heat press machines on eBay. The market loved it and it was an instant hit. That was back in the “glory days” of eBay. I was a Gold level Powerseller with outstanding feedback ratings. For almost six years I was making money hand over fist and the large majority of it was coming from eBay.
Well as I said, those were the glory days of eBay. When Meg Witman was CEO things were great. But Witman stepped down in 2008 and this John Donahue guy takes her place. Well he comes in guns blazin! Damn near changes the whole marketplace of eBay in a brutal fashion.
Through a completely revamped set of rules and seller requirements and sharp increases to it’s fee structure, it has almost eliminated the small guy in business for himself. The changes were clearly beneficial to larger businesses who weren’t even a part of eBay in their early years, where the market was dominated by small time sellers who propelled eBay to the online giant it is now. eBay turned their backs on the group of people that they should be the most gracious to. By making rules to favor big business they have essentially put thousands of small businesses out of business. It almost happened to me.
Back in 2010 their rules where starting to take it’s toll on my business. There were now stricter requirements for being a Powerseller, feedback abuse from buyers because sellers were no longer able to leave negative feedback, the fee structure had increased and I was penalized if I didn’t run my business the way they wanted me to. For example, I was penalized for not offering free shipping on my products. WTF!! I can’t ship these things for free! Big businesses can because they have the volume. I don’t. All of this was happening during the worse part of the recession. They were killing me!
I could go into detail about how they essentially put me out of business but that would probably be a book. To make a long story short, I had one eBay account, using 2 Paypal accounts and they shut down both accounts requesting information. I submitted all required info and went through a circus of back and forth communication with the morons at Paypal, eBay’s sister company, to prove my identity and that I owned the 2 accounts I was using. They made it seem as if I was a fraudster and their best interest was to protect me. B.S.!!!
They had froze both of my accounts which was my business operating capital. My business could not survive without this cash. My products were still selling and I didn’t have the money to ship because Paypal had my accounts froze! So what do you think happened? My eBay business suffered. I simply couldn’t ship there product because Paypal was taking their sweet ole time trying to tell me who I was.
It all ended by eBay suspending my account and Paypal holding my funds for 180 days! I was out of business! Well I found help from my father. He always loved helping me in the shop and he has always had my back. I got him to start his own eBay account and his own Paypal account and he could sell my machines on his eBay account. We had our agreement on how much he could profit from selling my machines and it was a deal. I still had other ways I was selling my products such as my blog and PPC advertising. It was nice to have another avenue to sell them on even though it wasn’t going to be as good as when I had my own eBay account.
My father’s business had to grow. And with the new eBay rules they had in place, growth takes a long time in a market crowed by giant sellers. They even put his listing near the back of the search results just because he didn’t have a lot of feedback making him like a minnow in an ocean of sharks.
eBay and Paypal are notorious for screwing people. Just do a Google search for anything regarding eBay or Paypal complaints. Paypal even froze a legit account that was providing non-profit gifts to kids last Christmas. They screwed me back in 2010 and now they are screwing both me and my father. Well just eBay is now anyway. They shut down my father’s account saying it was linked to my account. No call, no email, no request for information, nothing! They suspended the account and cancelled all listing! Wow! Un-f*cking-believable!
Something must be done about this evil online monopoly of eBay and Paypal. Maybe we can stand up to them in protest like so many did opposing SOPA. I think both eBay and Paypal are ripe for competition smashing! The right companies with the basic principles of how eBay and Paypal work, but better customer satisfaction would kill this evil empire.
I’m so angry and frustrated with how my father and I have been treated. All I can think of is what should I do about it. Any suggestions? Feel free to comment and please tweet and retweet.
Joe
