To whom it may concern,
I am writing to you for one reason, I have been suspended from Ebay.
I feel I have wrongly been accused of selling fraudulent guitar parts on ebay, and shut down unjustly.
I started selling on ebay back in January of 2000. My feedback was 99.2 positive with over 1050 feedbacks.
In January of 2007 I quit my regular day job in pursuit of my own business venture, something EBAY advertises frequently.
For over a year my business did well. I bought and sold Used and Vintage guitars and guitar parts. I discovered over the years what my specialty was, and I focused on it specifically, 'Fender Stratoers'.
It wasn't until January of 2008 that I started having problems with Ebay.
They had made some changes to their selling policies.
I was first notified of a possible VERO violation back in late January. I had my current listing closed down and was notified via email of this violation (I was selling a decal with the name 'FENDER' on it. Fender apparently saw it and reported it.
Well, I bought these decals ON EBAY to begin with, and I continued to see them on Ebay after that.
Anyway, I made changes to the listing and relisted it, thinking I was ok with it reworded......NOT.
How is a seller supposed to fix a problem, if EBAY won't tell you what is wrong?
Long story short, Ebay KEPT pulling my listings down and claiming I was selling fraudulent guitar parts.
This is an outright LIE!!
I tried calling, EBAY AND FENDER numerous times, but no one would hear my story.
I eventually got suspended permanently from ebay, and that caused my business to suffer drastically.. SINCE 98 of my business was conducted ON ebay. (Buying and selling).
I tried looking into hiring a lawyer, but was discouraged. I was told I would never win and it would cost a lot of money trying to fight both Ebay and Fender.
My question to you is, do they have the right to take away my livelyhood....
I should have the right to sell just like everyone else. I was always honest about what I sold, and my 1000 positive feedbacks SHOULD have been proof of that.
I am not a scammer, an dI am not a con-artist. I am registered with the town of Maynard - DBA 'cansound' Where I live and own two homes.
Now, My business is all but in the trash, and I am in danger of losing both my houses.
I have a website, and I also utilize other sites for selling, but without EBAY to buy, I have nothing to sell. If I have nothing to sell, I have no money to buy.
After searching the web for possible similar stories, I found countless stories about people just like me, who have been wrongly accused of such things and I want to know what we can do about it?
My girlfriend who lives in the same household as me, was also recently suspended, for being associated (linked) to a suspended account... me.
Just becasue we live in the same household, ebay shut her down.
This was the straw that broke the camels back for me.
What right do they have to do this??
She has her own little side business selling home made doll cloths, and now she is been shut down.
I would be interested in joining in with anyone wanting to file a class-action lawsuit against ebay.
Please advise!
Phil Copeland
