From time to time eBay sellers contact me to say that they've been suspended by eBay and that eBay won't tell them why. They want to know two things: first, why they were suspended, and second, what they have to do to get unsuspended.

Cases of unexplained suspension can be frustrating, and most often they stem from secondary issues that surround an account or a seller's understanding of eBay's communication,

Common Reasons for "Unexplained" Suspensions

There are several reasons why a suspension may seem unexplained to a seller. If you've experienced an unexplained suspension, ask whether any of these applies to you:

• Your new email address was not on file. Have you changed your email address since you joined eBay? If so, did you log into eBay and update your profile to reflect your new email address? If not, this alone is reason enough for a suspension (eBay requires a working email address for everyone), and ironically, when this is the cause of a suspension, the email outlining this as a reason won't ever get to you.

• The suspension email was caught by your SPAM filter or inadvertently deleted. Email is a notoriously finicky form of communication at times, and though eBay sends an explanation for suspensions to affected sellers, this doesn't mean that the sellers in question ever actually see the email message. Check your SPAM folder or venture into your email archive (if you use an email provider that archives all old messages, even deleted ones) to see if you can track down the suspension email.

• The listed offense is described too broadly. eBay may suspends sellers using language that doesn't sound specific enough to be the "reason," even though in eBay's eyes it is. Terms like "interference," "manipulation," or "abuse" can sound general, like a cop-out, to some sellers and for this reason they assume that eBay is just blowing smoke or "looking for a reason to get rid of" them. In fact, most of the time, the terms that eBay uses refer to specific policies with specific rules and guidelines, even if they sound very general by name alone; search eBay's customer service area for the words used in eBay's communication to see what policy violations might be at issue in your case.

• The seller doesn't think the reason is a good one. Sellers somtimes either feel that they "didn't do any of those things" in relation to a particular policy or that the policy itself is a bad one, and rationalize this as eBay not really telling them the real reason for the suspension in question.

• You're a victim of account-related coincidence. In rare cases, eBay may automatically suspend your account when their systems determine that it's "linked" to a previously suspended account. The links here can sometimes be coincidental and related to real-world details you now living at an address where�a previously suspended seller used to live, you getting a new phone number that happens to have previously belonged to a suspended seller, and so on. When this happens, you're dealing with a case of mistaken identity; eBay presumes that you're someone else, someone that has already been suspended and has now opened a new account, and this account is taken down without notice because the system already sent a suspension notice to the other account when it was

originally suspended. In this case, you really are dealing with an "unexplained" suspension, in that it was never explained to you, even though eBay assumes otherwise.

Cases like the last one listed above are rare, however. Most of the time, eBay suspensionsare generally a fairly mundane affair. eBay notices a violation of a stated policy, suspendsthe account in question, and sends an email with an explanation. This is generally the extent of eBay's "explaining," and if it doesn't reach a seller or doesn't make sense to them, the result can feel like an "unexplained" suspension.

Figuring Out What to Do

For some sellers, the "unexplained suspension" is a last-straw moment that leads to the end of their relationship with eBay. For others, it's the beginning of a frantic scramble to fix whatever has gone wrong. Here are some things to keep in mind:

• Try to find and dissect the email. Even if you're positive you never received a suspension email, or you're positive that eBay didn't say anything useful in it, try your best to locate the notice and to go over it with a fine-toothed comb if and when you find it. Sure, you may not find anything of use to you, but in some casesyou just might.

• If there are steps, follow them. If eBay has provided you with steps to reinstate your account in their email message, what you need to do is simply follow those steps without further ado. Keep in mind that eBay does not generally go out of their way to reinstate most suspended sellers; instead, it's up to sellers themselves to be thorough and persistent in following the steps necessary for reinstatement. Don't let pride undo you, and don't try to get into an argument or a battle with eBay they don't care, and they're bigger than you are.�

• If you can't find message, tell them. If you don't have a suspension email or can't find it despite best attempts, you can try to contact eBay and discuss the issue. But focus on having missed the communication, not on the suspension. Keep in mind that you'll need to grovel a bit here, and there are no guarantees they sent the email (it's an automated system that takes effect �whenever an initial suspension is enacted) so you're asking them to do a favor by going beyond that point or by sending it again. Focus on the fact that you didn't get the message, and apologize for that fact. Ask if they can re-send it, assuming that you had the correct email account on file when your account was suspended.

• Emphasize that there are no linked accounts. If eBay representatives say anything about linked accounts, other accounts, or past suspensions, yet your suspended account is your only eBay selling account and the suspension is your first, explain this concisely. If you have recently moved, changed your phone number or your email address, changed your name, or made other changes to youridentity or life beyond eBay, make this quickly clear and suggest that there is a case of mistaken identity at issue. There is no guarantee that this will help your case, since eBay has little incentive to work through the details of suspended sellers' personal lives, but if true it won't hurt, either.

• Understand the policy. If eBay has listed a reason for your suspension, visit eBay's website and read about the related policies. Don't bother to contact eBay and try to explain why you didn't violate the policy; this almost never leads to a new outcome. Figure out how something you did might be seen as violating the policy or at the very least what item(s) or behavior(s) are probably being

referenced, even if you're not positive you're correct. This way, if you do have a series of steps to follow or do manage to become unsuspended, you're less likely to go back to doing whatever led to your trouble in the first place.

• Be patient and professional. Do this even if you're frustrated. Sellers that see this as a practical business issue to be solved are much more likely to be okay in the end than sellers that treat a suspension as a personal slight or as the end of the world.

• Try alternatives. While you work on getting unsuspended, or if there appears to be little hope of getting unsuspended, consider using the suspension as an opportunity to try selling on Amazon or other eBay alternatives.

What Not to Do

Unfortunately, sometimes there is little that can be productively done about an eBay suspension. Amongst the two least helpful things that you can do are:

• Register another account. In most cases, unless you manage to change every lastdetail about your life, including name, address, banking information, email address, and even your legal relationships and internet service provider, your new accounts will be quickly suspended as well and you'll be farther away than ever from reinstatement.

• Contact eBay relentlessly. Some suspended sellers contact eBay again and again,asking for a more specific or somehow better "explanation" for the suspension. This rarely, if ever, helps things; eBay will simply repeat themselves in such calls:the reason for the suspension is in the suspension email, and the related policy is on the website, end of dialogue.

• Become an anti-eBay activist. Even less useful is the strategy of becoming an online anti-eBay activist, setting up a website or hanging out in forums just to try to "publicize" what has happened. In practice, this rarely generates much publicityapart from a few supportive replies from fellow disaffected sellers, and the time and/or money spent this way is, as a result, not spent instead on dealing with the problem strategically and trying to adapt and continue to build a business or sell effectively.

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