online
Is ebay legally allowed to instantly suspend my account (with no possibility of appeal) without a valid reason? (Actual reason is: AI algo gone rogue)
<p>I received an email out of nowhere from ebay claiming that my account has been suspended for selling &quot;prohibited items&quot; and there is no possibility of appeal. The items they identified as &quot;prohibited&quot; were</p>
<ol>
<li>A rare Syriac bible.</li>
<li>A vintage keyboard.</li>
<li>A Greek new testament.</li>
<li>A commemorative physical bitcoin.</li>
</ol>
<p>We are clearly not talking drugs, weapons and child pornography here.</p>
<p>I was baffled and contacted ebay via their online chat. The representative was completely unhelpful, refusing to offer any explanation for the suspension and simply repeating over and over again that &quot;I'm sorry, but this suspension is permanent.&quot;</p>
<p>This is ridiculous. This is clearly and obviously unfair, unjust, hateful, bigoted, discriminatory and draconian, but my question now is; are they legally allowed to do this?</p>
<p>update:
I kept talking to chat-help representatives and they literally were copy pasting stock responses at me. Very dehumanizing. Anyway I managed to gather from the representative that my account was picked up on the basis of some artificial intelligence algorithm identifying my account as suspicious, and therefore they don't actually know the exact reason why the account was suspended. Ok, fair enough, but that being the case, why on earth is there no possibility of appeal? Clearly there's a rogue AI on the loose here.</p>

<p>Yes, they are.</p>
<p>A business can decide not to do business with someone for pretty much any reason. The obvious prohibited reason is due to your race. But I don't see how eBay would even know your race.</p>
<p>Some State laws might protect you, but I don't think there's any that applies in this case. For example, California might give you a means of appeal if someone stole your identity and they performed those transactions, not you.</p>
<p>But I don't know of any Federal or State law that would change the very, <em>very</em> basic principle of law that a property owner gets to decide who can and cannot access their property. eBay owns eBay.</p>
<p>One key benefit of ownership is precisely that you can make decisions that other people consider to be unfair, discriminatory (other than the specifically prohibited categories) and draconian. Other people don't have to agree with your decisions for them to be lawful.</p>

<h2>Depends where you are</h2>
<p>eBay does not have the same terms and conditions worldwide.</p>
<p>In the <a href="/questions/tagged/united-states" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged &#39;united-states&#39;" rel="tag">united-states</a>, yes. Term <a href="https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/member-behaviour-policies/user-agreement?id=4259#4" rel="nofollow noreferrer">4</a> concludes with:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The foregoing does not limit or impair our right to refuse, modify, or terminate all or part of our Services to anyone, or to terminate this agreement with anyone, for any reason at our discretion.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>In <a href="/questions/tagged/australia" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged &#39;australia&#39;" rel="tag">australia</a>, no. Term <a href="http://Additionally,%20we%20may,%20in%20appropriate%20circumstances%20and%20at%20our%20reasonable%20discretion,%20suspend%20or%20terminate%20accounts%20of%20users%20who%20may%20be%20repeat%20infringers%20of%20intellectual%20property%20rights%20of%20third%20parties." rel="nofollow noreferrer">4</a> is very different. It says (in part):</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Additionally, we may, in appropriate circumstances and at our reasonable discretion, suspend or terminate accounts of users who may be repeat infringers of intellectual property rights of third parties.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>In the USA, eBay can act capriciously, in Australia it must act reasonably.</p>

<blockquote>
<p>This is ridiculous</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Maybe.  Just because you don't know of a good reason doesn't mean there isn't one.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>This is clearly and obviously unfair, unjust, hateful, bigoted, discriminatory and draconian</p>
</blockquote>
<p>It's not quite so clear and obvious to me.</p>
<ul>
<li>Unfair: maybe, but we really don't know their reason</li>
<li>Unjust: doesn't this mean the same thing?</li>
<li>Hateful:  it doesn't take malice to make a business decision, and there's no evidence of any here regardless.</li>
<li>Bigoted:  not so fast, my friend.  What is bigoted about it?  You think they're applying the age-old Syriac hate doctrine?  Because they know it applies to you?  Really?</li>
<li>Discriminatory: now a more legalese version of bigoted, but what protected class do you think you belong to that has been harmed due to membership in said group?</li>
<li>Draconian: harsh and severe to you, but really your only damage is not being able to use a service they provide.</li>
</ul>
<p>In short, you will get nowhere with eBay directly nor in the court of public opinion with those arguments.</p>
<p>You're mad about their &quot;Rogue AI algo.&quot;  It might be doing exactly what it's supposed to.  Maybe something about your account is associated with high rates of fraud.  So now it's permanently suspended.  They wouldn't tell you the criteria because they don't want people reverse engineering it to avoid getting caught for fraud.  They also wouldn't actually accuse you of fraud, they would just make a decision based on statistics or AI to help their business.  If three dozen scammers sold Syriac bibles so now it's an indicator of fraud, then it's just bad luck for you.</p>
<p>Of course you can be mad.  It's useful, however, to understand the purpose of eBay.  Its purpose is not to make you money.  It's to make them money.</p>
