PayPal has restricted my account - what should I do?

I recently started buying items from DHgate and selling on eBay, some branded products included. Yesterday, eBay removed some of my listings, and Paypal has limited my account making the following requests;


Date Limited Required Response Status Action
27 Nov 2010 Provide business information Please provide information about your business to help confirm this Business account. Waiting for your response Resolve
27 Nov 2010 Provide proof of delivery Please confirm that the merchandise was delivered. Waiting for your response Resolve
27 Nov 2010 Provide Invoices. Please confirm that you own the merchandise you're selling. Helpful documents include copies of sales receipts, itemised lists of goods sold, and original bills of sale. Invoices must show date of purchase, name of wholesaler or supplier, a description of the items sold, quantity of items purchased, and the amount you paid for the merchandise. We will handle your information in accordance with our privacy policy. Waiting for your response Resolve
27 Nov 2010 Supplier Contact Info Please provide your supplier's phone number and address to confirm the origin of the goods that you're selling. We will handle your information in accordance with our privacy policy. Waiting for your response Resolve

All items were purchased through DHgate. What do I do?

Welcome to SaleHoo anudo,

Sorry to hear of your current situation with eBay and PayPal. What you can do is reply to their inquiries and provide whatever proof or document they require.

I think one main reason why your eBay and PayPal accounts have been limited is that you are selling branded products sourced from DH Gate. You have to remember that DH Gate is based in China so the likelihood of getting authentic brand name products is slim to none. In short you are selling fakes/copies on eBay - which most certainly will catch their attention!

Hope this helps.

Many thanks Richelle!

You're welcome anudo. Hope everything gets sorted out!

All the best

Can I just ask; Do you reckon Paypal will shut down my account for this, and if they do will they confiscate my money?

Hi anudo,

I would say Richelle is spot on in giving selling branded items from China as the reason the action has been taken. Now your only option is to comply with PayPal's requests as quickly as you possibly can.

Yes, there is a chance PayPal will close your account completely, but the best way to avoid that is to make sure you have a good line of communication going with them. Provide them with every request asap and I suggest to make a call to double check how things are being assessed.

Good luck with it.

Hi Guys,
I've managed to get another ebay/paypal account set up and I was going to restart with dropshipping, and I've fully taken advantage of this free-listing weekend on ebay; I've just read somewhere however, that ebay would block one's account if they found that one was dropshipping. What now for goodness sake!!!

Hi Anudo,

The question on whether drop shipping is allowed or not at eBay has been raised in past forum posts. The last information gathered by Richelle is that dropshipping is allowed, and that this is referred to as 'product sourcing' on eBay. Here is eBay's guide on dropshipping -

Link hidden: Login to view

From the link, I copy paste

Product sourcing (sometimes called drop shipping) is one way to sell items on eBay. Sellers using a product sourcing service never handle the item—instead it is sent directly from a warehouse to the buyer. The seller collects money from the buyer and pays the product sourcer for the item. This benefits both the buyer and seller. By purchasing in bulk from a product sourcer, the seller gets a discount and can pass those savings to the buyer.

Is product sourcing allowed?

Selling using a product sourcing service is allowed on eBay as long as the seller can guarantee that the item will be delivered to the buyer within 30 days of the end of the listing. Sellers who choose to sell using this method are responsible for the item and their buyer's satisfaction just like any other eBay seller. If there is a problem, it's the seller's responsibility to work it out with the buyer.

You also need to declare where the product is located/coming from in your listing. There have been members who have sold products through dropshipping, and here is a related post that you can read -

Link hidden: Login to view

Hope this helps. :)

Cheers Irene! Great help that!

You're welcome anudo. :) I'm just worried on how you got another ebay/paypal account set up. eBay has definite policies, and if you are circumnavigating the rules, your efforts might go to waste.

Erika Garnica, an eBay PowerSeller and ex eBay Top Seller account manager, explains how to avoid Paypal holds in this blog - Link hidden: Login to view

She also shared essential tips about drop shipping - Link hidden: Login to view

Hope this helps. :)

Yes, I echo Irene's concern about how you got another eBay account. eBay has a way of finding out when accounts are linked in one way or another. In fact, in some cases even the next of kin of sellers who have been removed are removed from eBay too.

Hope you the best with our new account!

Cheers :)

Hi,
Many thanks to Irene and Richelle. The thing is I merely tried my luck with a different bank account, and a different email and home address and it worked. So far so good, I don't know how long it will last for.
I won't be doing any branded products from China anymore, and I will mostly focus on Dropshipping, that way I won't lose much if I do get shut down out of the blue again.
Ebay has become a major source of income for me in these hard times.

Listen, you guys were dead right; My new ebay/paypal accounts have just been placed on hold again. just on the very day I sold 4 Zenithink tablet pcs (not fake brands). Paypal have now asked for a long list of documents. I can't have done anything wrong this time, it must be as you guys had predicted, they used their magical ways to link the accounts. How revolting! I am now trying my hands on Amazon, but I'm stuck with this EAN barcode thing. I'm dropshipping from Asia, am I supposed to request a barcode from my supplier or what?

Hi Anudo,

That's awful but we did warn you :( Before or while you give Amazon a shot try complying with eBay/PayPal's requirement that you provide certain documents to release the hold on your account.

You mentioned that you are dropshipping from Asia and also mentioned that you are selling authentic Zenithink tablet PC's - I'm not sure if they go together. We have always cautioned everybody about buying branded electronics from Asia particularly in China. It's a must NOT to buy anything branded!

As define in Wikipedia EAN barcode is -

An EAN-13 barcode (originally "European Article Number", but now renamed ”International Article Number” even though the abbreviation has been retained) is a 13 digit (12 + check digit) barcoding standard which is a superset of the original 12-digit Universal Product Code (UPC) system developed in the United States. The EAN-13 barcodes are used worldwide for marking products often sold at retail point of sale.

If your supplier can provide you an EAN barcode it may help get you off the hook. Have you tried asking your supplier? Maybe you should. If the products are authentic as claimed and your supplier is legit then they should have no trouble providing you with the barcode.

All the best!

Hi Richelle,

You mentioned that you are dropshipping from Asia and also mentioned that you are selling authentic Zenithink tablet PC's - I'm not sure if they go together. We have always cautioned everybody about buying branded electronics from Asia particularly in China. It's a must NOT to buy anything branded.

I find it hard to believe that every branded product bought from China is likely to be fake, especially if the brand itself is originally Chinese. I have googled it and found no reports of falsified Zenithinks!
I have also obtained EAN numbers, but how are those supposed to athenticate the items, as they seem to be numbers generated for batches, or a group of the same model?
I really wonder about these things.

Hi anudo,

I checked out further the brand you were referring to and saw that the tablets you listed were iPad clones (mind you they looked like real iPads), which may have been the reason why your accounts are on hold again, although I'm not sure. DID you mention the term 'iPad' in your listing? I suggest contacting eBay and asking further.

The EAN codes are used to identify traded goods, most likely if your products are authentic then EAN codes will show that these are legit. (Please bare with me as I am no expert on this)

All the best!

Hi Richelle,

Indeed Zenithink is one of the more succesful ipad copies, but it is legit as they do not infringe on any of the rights as far as I know. I also did not mention ipad in any of my listings.

I think they may have placed the hold because I listed and sold several in a short space of time as a new seller with 0 feedback. That may have raised suspicion, I don't know!

With the EAN codes, I know they are meant to be IDs for retail items, but I have seen a family of products having matching codes, so I don't know how that can help with telling the fakes from the originals...?

Cheers!
Cheers

Hi anudo,

The scenario is described could be the reason your account was put on hold. It's quite common for eBay/PayPal to do something like this especially as your account is new with '0' feedback, so the recent activity with a spurt of sales may have looked suspicious on their end.

As for the EAN codes, I'm no expert on these..lol :) But I don't think you can copy the original bar code..

:)

Hi anudo,

No doubt about it, burst of sales on a new account will be ringing alarm bells all over the place at PayPal. That right there is a massive red flag and they will be all over you unfortunately!

It's something that you can try to avoid, although a little to late for you now, but for other new sellers, if you do expect to turn over good sales on a product with a brand new account, call PayPal and discuss it with them.

You'll be surprised at just how helpful they can be, they may ask you for some information in regards to the supplier up front, but getting all that out of the way can save all sorts of drama with having an account locked.

My experience with PayPal, be proactive and head off any possible issues that my be ahead of you. Honestly, once you're in the poo with them it can be really hard to dig your way out, but you will find that they are extremely willing to assist to protect your account before you get into the poo in the first place.

In all honesty, we give a lot of advice across a range of fields here on SaleHoo, but contacting PayPal with some details before you start selling for new account holders is one of the best tips I can give, it can just save so much drama in the long run.