Legal advice: Ebay won't close my account.

[Hi]

I had an ebay account that I used years ago to sell some things with, I went over the monthly limit of what I was allowed to sell so ebay suspended my account. I did all they requested to reinstate my account but they wouldn't reinstate it, nor would they give a reason why. This was about 4 years ago and since then I have just let it lie dormant in it's 'suspended' state.

I recently logged in to try and close the account as there is no point it being open and I never want to use it again, however ebay are refusing to close it. They say that they cannot close an account whilst it is suspended and they won't remove my suspension (again they won't give a reason). Are they allowed to do that? I am annoyed that they have all my personal information, including card/bank details on file and they are saying they will be keeping them forever as they will not close my account.

Is there anything I can do to get them to close my account? I've requested an address to write to and have been given this address: P.O Box 9473, Dublin 15, Ireland. The chap I spoke to said there is no address for ebay in the UK which I fail to believe.

Any advice?

[JustinP1]

Why is it imperative that a suspended account must be closed?

[don'tbesilly]

Hi said:

Any advice?

Do what you've done for the last four years and forget it.

[Actus Reus]

They do have offices in the UK for sure, but they're an Irish company, so write to them there I'd suggest.

[voyds9]

https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guide-to-data...

[JustinP1]

voyds9 said:

https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guide-to-data...

Indeed.

However, finding out the reason why the suspended and dormant account may be now needed to be closed may very well be related to the reason why eBay might believe they have a legitimate reason to keep the OP's data on file.

[Martin4x4]

Even though they are in Ireland they are still subject to exactly the requirements as the DPA under European Data Directive which applies EU wide.

http://ec.europa.eu/justice/data-protection/

[ging84]

you honestly think any of your details would be discarded if you closed the account?

[Hi]

JustinP1 said:

Why is it imperative that a suspended account must be closed?

It's not imperative, it's just annoying knowing that they have my bank/card details on file, and will do for the rest of time. I have had them charge unauthorised amounts to my card in the past so I fully expect them to do it again. I know I can get them reversed but it's a pain and hassle to go through.

It's not the end of the world if I can't close it, it just seems incorrect to me that a business can say 'we can't close your account because it is suspended and we won't lift the suspension because... well, we aren't going to tell you why'

[Hi]

ging84 said:

you honestly think any of your details would be discarded if you closed the account?

It says in there T's & C's that when an account is deleted ALL account data is deleted permanently (including addresses, card details etc)

[anonymous-user]

Hi said:

It's not imperative, it's just annoying knowing that they have my bank/card details on file, and will do for the rest of time. I have had them charge unauthorised amounts to my card in the past so I fully expect them to do it again. I know I can get them reversed but it's a pain and hassle to go through.

It's not the end of the world if I can't close it, it just seems incorrect to me that a business can say 'we can't close your account because it is suspended and we won't lift the suspension because... well, we aren't going to tell you why'

Quite likely you have had or will have a new bank card soon and they cant take money from your account without a DD mandate so I'd just forget it.

[ging84]

Hi said:

It says in there T's & C's that when an account is deleted ALL account data is deleted permanently (including addresses, card details etc)

No you just made that up

This is what it says under closing your account
http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/account/closing-accou...

What does eBay do with my personal information after I close my account?
eBay keeps personal information in accordance with our Privacy Policy. This is necessary to comply with laws, prevent fraud, collect any fees owed, resolve problems, troubleshoot problems, assist with any investigations, enforce our User Agreement, and take other actions otherwise permitted by law.

the privacy policy mentioned is here
http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/policies/privacy-poli...
and states

We retain your personal information as long as it is necessary and relevant for our operations. In addition, we may retain personal information from closed accounts to comply with national laws, prevent fraud, collect any fees owed, resolve disputes, troubleshoot problems, assist with any investigation, enforce our User Agreement and take other actions permitted or required by applicable national laws. After it is no longer necessary for us to retain your personal information, we dispose of it in a secure manner according to our data retention and deletion policies.

[Hi]

I didn't make it up, I will get a screenshot of the page I read it on, unless I very much misundertood it I am sure it said that account data will be deleted.

Thanks for those links though.

[JustinP1]

Hi said:

JustinP1 said:

Why is it imperative that a suspended account must be closed?

It's not imperative, it's just annoying knowing that they have my bank/card details on file, and will do for the rest of time. I have had them charge unauthorised amounts to my card in the past so I fully expect them to do it again. I know I can get them reversed but it's a pain and hassle to go through.

I don;t have single card that was live 3 years ago, let alone 4.

[Hi]

JustinP1 said:

Hi said:

JustinP1 said:

Why is it imperative that a suspended account must be closed?

It's not imperative, it's just annoying knowing that they have my bank/card details on file, and will do for the rest of time. I have had them charge unauthorised amounts to my card in the past so I fully expect them to do it again. I know I can get them reversed but it's a pain and hassle to go through.

I don;t have single card that was live 3 years ago, let alone 4.

The reason I am only now trying to close it is because my ebay account was in credit to the tune of £250 ish (overpayment of ebay fees, their cockup) and I was previously unable to release these funds as they would only refund them back to the paypal account I used, which I had since closed. However, now that ebay and paypal are separate companies they were happy to refund it back onto my bank card, but that meant updating them with the details of my current bank card, so they do now have my current card details. My bank account is the same one I used years ago too.

I am only really concerned as they have screwed me over before and I don't wan't the hassle of dealing with it again when the inevitable happens.

As Ginge84 pointed out they clearly will keep all my info on file for as long as they want even once the account is closed, so it's redundant now really.

At least I got my account credit refunded (it cleared in my account today), which was my main bug bear.

[Hi]

Hi said:

I didn't make it up, I will get a screenshot of the page I read it on, unless I very much misundertood it I am sure it said that account data will be deleted.

Thanks for those links though.

Annoyingly if I log into my ebay account now it has changed from being 'suspended' to 'blocked' and will no longer let me access the 'account' tab which is where I am sure I read the part about deleting all data (under the link to 'close my account').

It is clear from the links you posted that they won't delete the data though, so either I read incorrect information or I just completely misread/misinterpreted some other text, which is most likely!

[velocefica]

Hi said:

JustinP1 said:

Hi said:

JustinP1 said:

Why is it imperative that a suspended account must be closed?

It's not imperative, it's just annoying knowing that they have my bank/card details on file, and will do for the rest of time. I have had them charge unauthorised amounts to my card in the past so I fully expect them to do it again. I know I can get them reversed but it's a pain and hassle to go through.

I don;t have single card that was live 3 years ago, let alone 4.

The reason I am only now trying to close it is because my ebay account was in credit to the tune of £250 ish (overpayment of ebay fees, their cockup) and I was previously unable to release these funds as they would only refund them back to the paypal account I used, which I had since closed. However, now that ebay and paypal are separate companies they were happy to refund it back onto my bank card, but that meant updating them with the details of my current bank card, so they do now have my current card details. My bank account is the same one I used years ago too.

I am only really concerned as they have screwed me over before and I don't wan't the hassle of dealing with it again when the inevitable happens.

As Ginge84 pointed out they clearly will keep all my info on file for as long as they want even once the account is closed, so it's redundant now really.

At least I got my account credit refunded (it cleared in my account today), which was my main bug bear.

I had my account suspended for 30 days a few years ago for going over my £4k limit. I sold a car for just over £3k so that pushed it over along with some big ticket items.

I never got a true answer from eBay why they do it. I assumed the more you sold the more money eBay would make so it would be in their interest. I now think it is something to do with sales volume and business / powerless status. They want you to sell privately but only so much without becoming a business.

[anonymous-user]

velocefica said:

I had my account suspended for 30 days a few years ago for going over my £4k limit. I sold a car for just over £3k so that pushed it over along with some big ticket items.

I never got a true answer from eBay why they do it. I assumed the more you sold the more money eBay would make so it would be in their interest. I now think it is something to do with sales volume and business / powerless status. They want you to sell privately but only so much without becoming a business.

Here are eBay's current policies, pretty nebulous.
http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/sell/sellinglimits.ht...

[Martin4x4]

FFS, T&C, Contracts, Licences or any other written agreements CANNOT trump statute law.