MC999 Lifetime suspension from eBay!
Summary: The discussion, under the topic of 'MC999 Lifetime suspension from eBay!', involves several participants, although their contributions are not detailed in the provided content. The exchange appears to be active, with replies among aevibay, magic.cool, marioelegio, heavenwelkin, and pollo_bionico. Without specific text, it is not possible to infer the exact content of the dialogue, but the interaction suggests a topic of great interest or impact among the participants.
Background: my account is emavizone but I’m writing from this account aevibay kindly lent to me by another person because with my own I can no longer access the community!
Good morning,
last year in July 2025, so almost a year ago, I opened an Ebay account. Until yesterday everything was fine, 4 purchases and 3 sales completed without problems. 5 positive feedbacks as buyer and seller. My seller status on my account is "Above standard".
Note that it is the first and only account I have on Ebay, I’ve never had any problems with Vinted where I was already present and I’ve always had 5-star reviews everywhere.
The items I had for sale were some used and some new, and they were all original items, not counterfeit, and also sold by other sellers.
Yesterday suddenly, without warning, Ebay decided to ban me for LIFE with the MC999 code!!!
I spoke with support via chat and email but they’re like talking to a wall. They wouldn’t explain the exact reason for the ban. In fact, the GENERIC reasons kept changing every time! First the reason was "security-related issues" then that "my account does not meet our standards" and finally that "we have determined that some practices and policies are not in line with the activity you are carrying out on your account".
I find it really unfair to have been banned WITHOUT EXACT EXPLANATIONS and without warning. And after a full 10 months since I opened the account!
I strongly suspect that all of this was done by some faulty AI and that the human staff didn’t even check it.
Can someone help me? Do you know how to contact some executive or someone higher up than the call center operators who always reply with canned phrases?
Thanks!
aevibay
OP2 months agoGreat news! After many attempts, we managed to cancel the MC999 ban! 😀
We had to send a lot of emails (all with negative replies) and chat with 6 agents. Everyone denied any help and any possibility of lifting it, and after a while they’d even slam the chat shut in your face without mercy! The breakthrough came when we figured out the likely (no one ever confirmed it) cause of the ban, namely the fact that a credit card in someone else’s name had been used (+ maybe an account with few feedbacks + maybe the same IP even if the computer and browser were different).
Even the last agent kept saying with the usual stock phrases that the ban was final and could not be lifted, so we asked to speak with a supervisor and he refused like the others. He wouldn’t tell us the cause of the ban either, but we got ahead of him by explaining why we used someone else’s card, that we’re family, and by pointing out that since it was a tiny €14 purchase (shipping included) it was ridiculous to think of a stolen card. Doubt started to creep in for him, but he still didn’t want to help us and kept repeating that the ban couldn’t be lifted. We told him that wasn’t true, that the MC999 can be lifted (see the video I linked you the other day), that we hadn’t violated any eBay rules or any European law. We kept insisting on speaking with the eBay office responsible for the decision and told him we would contact eBay’s German headquarters, etc. etc. At that point, maybe fed up, he left the chat (which stayed open) and someone else took over. We immediately understood they weren’t like the others because they weren’t using the usual canned phrases. Almost certainly a supervisor or someone higher up. They analyzed the problem much more thoroughly, asked us to confirm some details, and within a few minutes they lifted the MC999 ban and restored the account.
So:
1) when eBay agents see an MC999 ban, they always repeat with canned phrases that the ban is final, for life on the person, not reversible, not appealable, that they can’t do anything about it, that they can’t pass you to another office or a supervisor, that it’s pointless to insist, etc. etc. ALL LIES!
2) no one will ever tell you the cause of the ban and that’s a huge problem. You have to figure it out on your own and only then is it possible to convince them of your good faith. How can you defend yourself if you don’t know what you’re being accused of?
3) you need a lot of patience and you have to keep insisting until you manage to speak with the right person.
I understand security measures and I would have understood a temporary suspension with a request for clarification within a few days. But all this over a €14 purchase is madness.
heavenwelkin
·2 months agoFrom this reply I’m even more certain that the operators don’t have any procedures to follow in the event of BANNED accounts.
I’m also even more convinced that the operators don’t have detailed information about the reasons for a BAN; besides, what sense would it make for them to have access to this information if the directives say not to take any action about it?
The action you took led to a BAN because the algorithm RIGHTLY classified this action as a compromised account / identity theft.
Years ago, an hacker bought some digital goods with an eBay account belonging to an English woman/girl.
The girl filed a report by opening a PayPal claim procedure and I lost the item and the money.
I’m glad you managed to get the account reactivated, but the fault is not eBay’s or the algorithm’s; that needs to be emphasized.
Try opening a PayPal account in the name of John Doe and try registering a card in the name of Mario Rossi.....
Best regards.
aevibay
OP2 months agoI completely agree about security measures, heaven forbid if they weren't there. It's true that it was our carelessness, but I'd like to make a few points:
1) it was a purchase of an item for a mere 6 euros (6 + 8 shipping) and I didn't think it would be a problem. I would never have done it for an expensive item because I know operations like that are a bit strange/suspicious. The problem is that ebay's algorithm thinks a person steals a card and then uses it to buy a 6-euro item???
2) ebay's algorithm or AI not only stepped in over a measly 6 euros, but also with enormous delay. Purchase made Sunday evening and only on Monday after 6 pm, i.e. almost 24 hours later, did the ban arrive. I contacted the seller yesterday and he told me that he had been notified of the buyer ban, but he had already shipped the goods. If it had been a real scam, then the goods and money would have been gone a long time ago! A ban to be effective should arrive within a few minutes or tens of minutes, not after almost 24 hours!
So this AI not only creates problems for honest people, it also can't even stop the real scammers in time.
3) I would have understood a temporary suspension with a request for clarification within a few days. Instead, they applied an MC999 ban that is LIFETIME on the person, so even opening another account would have led to an immediate ban! And as if that weren't enough, they refused to tell you the exact reason for the ban and wouldn't even let you defend yourself! For an item worth 6 euros! And all done automatically, but such a serious ban should be decided by a human being.
It's as if someone were suspected (without solid proof) of having stolen an old rusty bicycle and an AI judge sentenced you to life imprisonment without even telling you what you were accused of and therefore without giving you the chance to defend yourself.
ebay's algorithm/AI and customer support need a thorough overhaul.
Same thing happened to me with a guy in Portugal. But with ebay support and UPS we quickly found out that the hacker didn't exist and the guy had made it all up to get the goods for free. We realized it because he was clueless and made several mistakes. Ebay immediately sided with me, closing the dispute in my favor in a few days. But the scammer didn't want to give up and 1-2 months later he filed a chargeback request through the bank. But even there I managed to win. The whole thing lasted a good three and a half months!
aevibay
OP2 months agoThinking about it, something came to mind.
On Monday evening emavizone made a purchase of a used item for a few euros from a seller. Her credit card wasn’t working, though (because the bank’s servers weren’t responding; her card is valid and she has always used that one on ebay in the past), so I lent her my personal card. She manually entered the details, including my name, which of course is different from hers. Less than 24 hours later, the ban arrived.
Account with very few feedback + same IP as another account + someone else’s credit card maybe made ebay’s stupid AI alarmed?
That would explain the “security-related issues” in the ban email. I understand security measures, but banning without first asking for clarification is pure madness.
heavenwelkin
·2 months agoThere you have the reason for the BAN.
Not only same IP, same computer, same browser.....
To the AI, it's identity theft, it's as if some bad actor got into my smartphone, logs in with their ebay account and uses your credit card 😎
You also have to be careful using a VPN because if that IP has made too many different access attempts on ebay in a given time the system goes on alert.
I recommend that you contact German technical support by email, and write exactly what the problem is as you explained it here; if you're lucky they will forward the email to a technical department and unblock your account.
Explain exactly which account is yours and which account belongs to your friend, saying that he logged in from your PC and, not having sufficient funds on his credit card, used yours.
Best regards.
pollo_bionico
·2 months agoAt some point I read that you have the same IP. So you're family. That's probably exactly the problem.
heavenwelkin
·2 months agoFrom personal experience I can tell you that the last eBay account I created was in 2016 and even then that account was subject to a series of checks and restrictions.
New accounts cannot receive payments right away.
New accounts cannot spend more than a certain amount, cannot make more than a certain number of bids, etc
This is because for eBay a new account could potentially be a "suspicious" account.
The fact that it made only 3 sales in 10 months did not make this account a trustworthy account.
Today checks are carried out with AI and if you already have an eBay account and are experienced and know how to move quickly on the platform and you open a new account and the AI detects a movement that would not be compatible with a new account, you could be blocked as a precaution.
When this happens the situation becomes critical because support clearly cannot provide details nor can it intervene directly to EVENTUALLY unblock the situation.
The only thing you can do is contact eBay Germany and through the first contact have them direct you to the relevant department.
But do it ONLY if you are really CERTAIN that you HAVE NOT violated any rule, because otherwise you will only waste time since you will have to deal in German.
Good luck.
Kind regards.
aevibay
OP2 months agoThat’s the most sensible answer I’ve read today. Maybe I helped with the listings too much and the AI got suspicious. I hadn’t thought of that at all. Besides, the IP is obviously the same. But it’s absurd. I understand the security measures, but a human should verify what the AI is doing.
On that I’m more than sure. But I don’t know German. Let’s hope they accept English too.
Thanks
heavenwelkin
·2 months agoaevibay
OP2 months agoEverything you say is true. But it's hard to understand how progressively you need to go.
The problem is that everywhere people rely too much on AI, which is still immature but fast and cheap. Even Ebay knows that AI sometimes makes mistakes, but like all big companies it does a cost/benefit calculation. AI saves a ton of money; if a small seller gets banned, oh well, Ebay has hundreds of millions of users anyway. A human review costs more than the revenue from a small occasional seller, which is just a few euros a year in fees. With a seller who has hundreds or thousands of feedbacks, they think twice before banning them.
aevibay
OP2 months agoSpeaking of companies using an AI that causes damage:
https://www.hwupgrade.it/news/web/pizza-hut-citata-per-100-milioni-di-dollari-il-sistema-basato-su-ia-per-le-consegne-e-dannoso_153778.html
magic.cool
·2 months agoDear "borrowed account holder", you would have been better off staying silent.
Because from what you wrote it is clear that the "little hand" pressing the keys on the keyboard is the same one.
Just as from the layout of the replies given by the "banned" user, it is evident that he was not so much of a "newbie".
And as always, thanks for watching...
aevibay
OP2 months agoBesides posting obvious stuff like Captain Obvious that you could’ve spared us, now you’re also making stuff up out of thin air? For your information, me and emavizone are close relatives. I suggested to her what to write, and that’s why maybe some words or phrases are similar, and that’s why I helped her. Same with the layout, I taught her how to do it. Do you want me to send you the 2 different ID cards and family status certificate? Dear magic, it would have been better if you hadn’t written any message.
Back to serious stuff, I found this video on the internet:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0u2Jv5ZFBTs
Same kind of lifetime ban, with the same responses even though in English. In the end it turned out the ban was a mistake and it was revoked. The problem still remains how to contact someone who knows or wants to solve the problem.
aevibay
OP2 months agoOh, and I forgot: my account was created in 2006, while emavizone in 2025. So it’s not hard to imagine the degree of kinship. Or do you think that after almost twenty years I wake up one morning in a bad mood and create a second account? Not to mention that if it were the same person behind both accounts then Ebay would have banned them both. Instead, mine is perfectly active.
But of course Sherlock and the ones who gave him a thumbs up didn’t think about that.
aevibay
OP2 months agoHello everyone, I’m aevibay, which is to say the owner of this account and the one I’m “lending” it to emavizone. Unlike emavizone, I’ve had an account for 20 years with hundreds of feedback ratings, all positive, both as a buyer and as a seller, so I definitely have more experience.
I looked at emavizone’s transactions and there’s nothing suspicious. In less than a year, he bought 4 items for a few dozen euros. And he sold 3 items: a new 99-euro controller and 2 DDR3 RAM modules for 5 euros each (yes, DDR3 stuff that had been sitting in a drawer for years). These, on the other hand, are the items he was currently selling:
USED book icare Saint Exupéry Première Époque 1900-1930 N 69 20 euro
USED book Les maitres de la peinture - Meesters der Schilderkunst - Soubry 20 euro
New Ghost of Yotei Black DualSense PS5 controller 109 euro
New collectible game SAM & MAX HIT THE ROAD PC Collector's Edition 169 euro
So, nothing strange. I also believe it was an AI hallucination from eBay that was then not checked by any human being. That eBay uses AI is certain because on the page to send a message to support it says: This communication may be analyzed, including through artificial intelligence, to improve the quality of customer service.
The problem is that eBay support agents (assuming they’re human) are no help at all. They keep repeating the same words, saying the decision is final. And they don’t say what the cause of this decision would be. Ridiculous. We also discovered that support via Facebook or X no longer exists.
Four years ago a foreign buyer tried to scam me over a 2000-euro item, making up a fanciful story about a hacker who had stolen his account, that he had not ordered or received anything and bla, bla, bla. All false and in fact eBay sided with me even when the scammer tried the chargeback move with his bank. But guess what? I just checked and his account is still active! He wasn’t banned. Double standards.
marioelegio
·2 months agoGenerally, they only take this indefinite suspension measure in cases of very serious violations. Almost always it involves the sale of counterfeit items (even just registered trademarks for which you do not have authorization to sell) or sales policies that (by law) are not compliant with the type of account used (e.g. continuous and organized sale of new products with a private account).
In general, this type of lifetime ban is preceded by a series of messages inviting the user to change their behavior and by restrictions with the removal of listings. If the user persists, they move on to suspending the account.
To try to make your case, you can send an email using the link you find at the bottom of this page ... https://www.ebay.it/help/account/account-restrictions-suspensions/restrizioni-sospensioni-dellaccount?id=4190&st=3&pos=1&query=Restrizioni%20e%20sospensioni%20dell%27account&intent=sospensione%20account&lucenceai=lucenceai&docId=HELP1074
hi
mario
aevibay
OP2 months agoIn general, they only issue this indefinite suspension measure in cases of very serious violations. Almost always it involves selling counterfeit items (even just registered trademarks for which you don’t have permission to sell) or selling policies that (by law) do not comply with the type of account used (e.g. continuous and organized selling of new products with a private account).
That’s not my case. No counterfeit items and no continuous selling of new products with a private account. I sold a total of 3 items in 10 months!
In general, this type of lifetime ban is preceded by a series of messages asking the user to change their behavior and by restrictions with listings being removed. If the user persists, they move on to account suspension.
No warning, no restrictions. Out of the blue they banned my account.
To try to assert your case, you can send an email using the link you’ll find at the bottom of this page ... https://www.ebay.it/help/account/account-restrictions-suspensions/restrizioni-sospensioni-dellaccoun...
Already tried. Both via chat and via email, but they always reply with the same exact canned phrases. Hitting a brick wall. That’s why I’d like to contact someone higher up, because it’s obvious that the call center is only trained to keep saying no.
marioelegio
·2 months agoTo move up a level, you need German, ebay.it depends on ebay.de.
The address to contact is this: Albert-Einstein-Ring 2-6, 14532 Kleinmachnow, Germany, but I don't know which office.
hi
mario
magic.cool
·2 months agoYesterday, out of the blue and without warning, Ebay decided to ban me FOR LIFE with code MC999!!!
Given that you accepted eBay's rules when you signed up (including the possibility of being banned from the platform), eBay itself is not required to tell you the detailed reason for the suspension.
I strongly suspect that all of this was done by some faulty AI and that the human staff didn't even check it.
Unlike Vinted (which you cite as a positive example but which uses far more "free" bots than "paid" operators), on eBay you find real operators who can review any sanctions: if they haven't done so, it's because, seeing the reason for the ban, they can't go any further.
Can anyone help me? Do you know how to contact some executive or someone above the call center operators who always reply with prewritten phrases?
Thanks!
Here you won't find any eBay employee who will answer you on the merits: only users like you who can't do anything....
aevibay
OP2 months ago@magic.cool wrote:
Given that you accepted eBay's rules when you signed up (including the possibility of being banned from the platform), eBay itself is not required to tell you the detailed reason for the ban.
Obviously eBay is a private company and can make whatever rules it wants. What I meant is that I find it morally wrong to ban someone without warning and without exact explanations. And even from a professional point of view, it shows terrible customer support.
Unlike Vinted (which you bring up as a positive example but which uses far more “free” bots than “paid” operators), on eBay you find real operators who can review any sanctions: if they haven't done so, it's because, seeing the reason for the ban, they can't go any further.
I didn't say Vinted is better or worse, just that nothing has ever happened to me.
Real operators on eBay are pretty much useless because I spoke with 3 different ones and they ALL replied with the SAME canned phrases word for word. As if they were bots. And all of them just put up a brick wall.
Here you won't find any eBay employee who will answer you on the merits: only users like you who can't do anything....
Of course, but I hope someone has some tips for getting past their brick wall.