Has anyone ever had a permanent BBE restriction resolved?
Summary: rarefj shared a detailed account of their long-standing eBay business being permanently restricted despite assurances from a senior representative about defect removal. howe1850 and vikingwolfstore expressed similar frustrations, noting a lack of clear communication and ineffective customer service. rafeeq_khan23 shared a 19-year eBay journey that ended abruptly, seeking advice on resolution. Participants discussed challenges with eBay's BBE policy and customer service, including the lack of a reliable process to resolve permanent restrictions. There's a call for improved transparency and better customer support solutions.
Hello everyone,
I never imagined I would be writing a post like this after almost 10 years of selling on eBay.
I have been an eBay seller since 2017 and have completed nearly 6,000 successful sales. Throughout these years, I have always tried to provide the best possible service to my buyers and maintain an excellent reputation.
Unfortunately, my account was permanently restricted under the BBE policy after two buyer disputes resulted in defects.
The difficult part is that both buyers had already received their items. The cases were later closed after 21 days of inactivity because there was no further communication.
I accepted that something had gone wrong and contacted eBay Customer Service. My case was reviewed by Senior Representative under SR# 1-506809057175.
After reviewing the transactions, Senior Representative informed me in writing that both defects had been administratively removed. He also confirmed that:
the defects would not count toward my monthly evaluation;
they would not have any negative impact on my eBay account.
I truly believed that this would resolve the issue.
However, my account remains permanently restricted.
Since then, I have contacted Customer Service several times. Some representatives explained the general BBE policy. Another representative told me that because my account is already permanently restricted, the decision to remove the defects is now considered "null and void."
This is the part I simply cannot understand.
If a senior representative reviewed my case and officially removed the defects, how should I understand what happened afterward? Was that decision fully implemented? Can a decision like that later become invalid because the restriction had already been applied?
I am not writing this post to complain or to ask anyone here to restore my account.
I am writing because I genuinely want to understand whether anyone has experienced something similar.
Has anyone ever had a permanent BBE restriction reviewed after defects were administratively removed?
Did anyone manage to receive a clear explanation or reach the correct team?
This business has been a huge part of my life for almost ten years. Like many sellers, I invested years of work into building my reputation, and it is difficult to accept the situation without understanding exactly what happened.
Any advice or shared experience would mean a great deal to me.
Thank you for taking the time to read my story.
howe1850
·2 weeks ago · Edited@furisa@ebay - How about you do your job and forward this thread to leadership and have them analyze the faults of BBE instead of sweeping it under the rug? It will only grow to a bigger issue across the platform and international sellers being forced away. The AI "risk assessment" has clearly gone haywire bundling long time sellers (see this thread) with newcomers that have no history or reputation.
Do the right thing and put some resources on fixing this issue.
I'd also requests a direct link to the Hong Kong BBE department (if it exists), or have a representative contact me and whoever from this thread wishes to have a HUMAN discussion with a representative from that department.
rafeeq_khan23
·2 weeks agoMy eBay Story – 19 Years of Hard Work Gone Overnight
Hello everyone,
I want to share my story because I know many sellers here are going through the same situation.
My eBay username is rafeeq_khan23.
I started selling on eBay in 2007. For me, eBay was not just a website. It was my business, my family's income, and my dream. I worked every day to provide good products and good customer service.
Over the years, I completed 5,377 sales. Every order represented a real customer who trusted me. Like every seller, I made mistakes sometimes, but I always tried my best to solve every problem honestly.
Then COVID came. International shipping became difficult, deliveries were delayed, and many things were outside my control. I continued working and hoped everything would return to normal.
Instead, one day my account was permanently suspended.
That moment was heartbreaking. Almost 19 years of hard work disappeared. It was not only about losing an eBay account. I lost a business that I had built with patience and dedication.
I contacted support many times, hoping someone would review my account and understand my history. Unfortunately, I never received the result I was hoping for.
Today, I am still running my gemstone business through other platforms, but I still miss eBay. It was a big part of my journey.
I am sharing my story not to complain, but to ask one question:
Has anyone with a long-selling history and a permanent BBE restriction ever managed to get their account reviewed or restored?
If someone has gone through this and found a solution, I would really appreciate your advice.
Thank you for reading my incident.
vikingwolfstore
·2 weeks agoThe exact same thing happened to me. My account has been active since 2018, with over 1,300 successful sales and 100% positive feedback. I have never received a negative or neutral feedback, and I have been a Top Rated Seller for the last 3 to 4 years. No any late shipment rate nothing anything else.
This happens to me where market percentage was 1.1% and i was just at 2.1%
If i know this happens i will sell things kore and more to keep myself safe even at loss.
In March 2026, a scam buyer opened multiple return requests simply to obtain refunds. Apart from one or two normal returns, my account had an excellent history. Despite years of consistent performance and dedication, eBay did not take my long-standing record into consideration and permanently restricted my account.
Throughout the lifetime of my account, I never had an INR (Item Not Received) issue, nor did I have any eBay step-in cases against me. It is extremely disappointing that years of honest selling and a proven track record were given no meaningful consideration. I believe loyal sellers with a strong history deserve a fair and balanced review, especially when isolated incidents are caused by abusive buyers.
howe1850
·2 weeks agoI am in a similar situation (posted a thread that shouldn't be too far down the list) and am just as flabbergasted as you by the lack of transparency and assistance by customer service.
I have spent way too much time trying to get a better, or any understanding of the process, and the responses from customer service have been utterly shocking to say the least. The combination of AI and incompetent customer service practices, which by all accounts, is close to 100% run out of Bangalore, India, will eventually be the downfall of eBay (God willing unless they get their act together or Gamestop takes over). The few CS representatives that I believe are still American, but more importantly, who's first language is English, can be found on Instagram, ebayforsellers, but sadly they have no power whatsoever and simply direct you back to the never ending loop that leads and ends in Bangalore.
I have been told to contact eBay's Hong Kong department that (supposedly) handles the BBE metrics, but I have not been able to reach them. Whatever message sent via ebay.com.hk still ends up at the folks in Bangalore (first and last line of customer service) and they don't, won't and/or can't forward anything upward on the chain even after promises and more promises. Have you been in contact with Hong Kong? I honestly don't believe that department exists, and it's simply a distraction that leads to Bangalore and their team.
To add, not sure if you saw it in the news, but eBay just agreed to pay out approximately $55M to settle a lawsuit where their employees harassed two customer. 55 MILLION DOLLARS.
Just imagine what that money could have been spent on to improve the quality of customer service. Could have paid to hire a large number of competent US-based customer service representatives. The quality of AI-based customer service could be light years down the line, which by all accounts runs all the metrics, writes all the replies and makes all the decisions. The fine folks in Bangalore simply add a name to the reply, and press enter. Repeat.
One last thing. The evaluation messages were so incredibly vague (as well the FAQ in the BBE page do not align) and the fact that permanent restriction is never even mentioned is probably what was the most upsetting for me. I got the standard first warning on March 18th, no mention of permanent restriction. If that would have been made clear, I could have dropped prices and easily sold 500-1000 items (I had over 9000 items in my store) in two weeks. I even inquired customer service about it, and they gave no warning whatsoever.
On April 8th I got the second and last message saying my selling privileges will be restricted. Again, nowhere in the message is there a mention of a permanent restriction. Using the information in the FAQ page, my assumption was that it would be a temporary restriction as the "marks" would fall off a week or two after that date (I was running on a three-month cycle), but no, and customer service then informed me it was permanent and no manual review would be possible.
Sorry for rambling, I get carried away. PTSD kicked in and I am yet again horrified by this practice by eBay. Truly sad.
rarefj
OP2 weeks agoThank you for taking the time to write all of that. I'm really sorry you're going through this as well. Reading your story, I can see many similarities with my own experience.
No, I haven't been able to contact the Hong Kong team either. Every time I reach out, my case ends up with the regular customer support team, and I keep receiving different or very general responses.
What makes my case especially confusing is that a Senior Representative reviewed it under SR# 1-506809057175 and confirmed in writing that the two defects had been administratively removed and would not affect my monthly evaluation or my account. Despite that, my account is still permanently restricted.
Like you, I'm not even asking for special treatment anymore. I just want a clear explanation of what actually happened and why that decision didn't change the outcome.
I hope we can both eventually get some real answers. If you learn anything new about the BBE process or manage to reach the right team, I'd really appreciate it if you could let me know. I'll do the same.
howe1850
·2 weeks agoYes, updating each other would be great in hopes of raising awareness. Truly frustrating that the ebay folks here in the community don't forward the issue, instead feed us with AI replies that do no good whatsoever.
I sent a new message via the hk page on monday, still no reply.
Are you certain that you were in contact with a senior representative? Were you forwarded to them by the first line of "support"?
I hope you have a lovely weekend.
rarefj
OP2 weeks agoThanks, hope you have a great weekend too!
To be honest, I'm not sure what his position was. I contacted customer support regarding the defects and within about 5 messages my complaint was reviewed and my side was accepted. After reviewing the transactions, he confirmed in writing that he had administratively fixed both defects and that they would not be considered in my monthly assessment and would not negatively impact my account. So I thought the matter had been handled by someone higher than the first line who always follows the patterns.
That's why I'm so confused. Based on his email, I honestly thought the issue was resolved.
Please let me know if you get any updates from the Hong Kong team. I'll do the same if I learn anything new.
mane3000*10
·2 weeks agoAs far as I understand, they don't have a tool to delete defective transactions. You need to wait for 12 months for your account health to improve and they will give you the opportunity to sell again.
rarefj
OP2 weeks agoThat's interesting because one of eBay's senior representatives reviewed my case and told me that my account would not be negatively affected. He administratively removed the two defects because the buyer disputes had closed after 21 days of inactivity, even though the buyers had already received their items.
Have you personally seen accounts being reinstated after 12 months following a BBE restriction, or is that just your understanding? This is the first time I've heard about that possibility.
mane3000*10
·2 weeks agoCan you add a screenshot of your seller level? It would be interesting to see what your transaction defect rate is now.
howe1850
·2 weeks agoMane, have you had any further progress with customer service? Saw your thread. Just madness this whole situation for us.
mane3000*10
·2 weeks agoNo, eBay customer service told me to just wait.
If you had more than 400 transactions in the past 3 months, we'll count all those transactions
If you had fewer than 400 transactions in the past 3 months, we'll count all your transactions from the last 12 months