What 5 Years of Experience Doing eBay Dropshipping Taught Me About Avoiding Suspension

Published by Infinity, Infinity is an all-in-one dropshipping tool for eBay sellers. We deliver hand-vetted, high-margin product leads daily to help sellers grow profitable eBay businesses.

One of the biggest questions I get from beginners is: “How do I avoid getting suspended?”

After nearly a decade in the game, I’ve come to understand exactly what eBay cares about and why most suspensions happen.

The short version? eBay suspends you when it sees risk. And “risk” usually boils down to two things: giving customers a bad experience, or making eBay nervous from a fraud/security standpoint.

Let’s break this down.

Part A: Bad Buyer Experience

Unhappy buyers cost eBay money, whether they ask for refunds, file cases, or leave the platform entirely. eBay tracks four main signals of buyer unhappiness:

Negative feedback
Item Not Received cases
Return requests
You canceling orders

Each of these can harm your metrics, and if they pile up, you’ll get flagged. So how do you stay safe?

Communicate early and often. Most buyers are reasonable if you’re proactive. I even use ChatGPT to help write customer messages, just paste the convo and say “Make this buyer happy.”

Here’s how I personally handle each scenario:

Negative Feedback: Try to resolve the issue via chat. Once the buyer is happy, ask them (nicely) to revise the feedback.

Item Not Received: Don’t just upload tracking, message them personally. Let them know the delivery window and offer a replacement if needed.

Returns: Offer a partial refund first. If they insist on a return, give them a prepaid Amazon label. Always try to handle it before eBay steps in.

Order Cancellations: Avoid at all costs. If you must cancel, let the buyer request it so you can choose “buyer asked to cancel” in eBay’s system.

Part B: Fraud & Risk Management

This is where a lot of people get blindsided. eBay’s bots are very sensitive to “sketchy” activity, especially with new accounts. Here’s what triggers them:

Listing risky products (electronics, high-ticket items) too early
Growing too fast ($0 to $100k/mo = red flag)

My advice? “Warm up” new accounts. In week one, list low-risk items like books or home goods. In week two, slowly introduce dropshipping items.

Also, grow gradually. If you did $1k in sales last month, aim for $2-3k this month. Show eBay you’re scaling responsibly.

Don’t Cancel Orders Unless Absolutely Required

Here’s a massive mistake I see: people canceling orders when the item is out of stock or unprofitable. That’s a fast track to a suspended account.

Instead, here’s what I do:

Message the buyer with an upgrade offer. For example: “Hey, the item you ordered is out of stock due to a supplier issue. Would you be okay if I upgraded you to a newer/better version at no extra cost?”

I also offer a discount code to sweeten the deal. Something like “THANKYOU10” works well.

That way, you look generous, not unreliable. And if the buyer insists on a refund, make sure they say it in writing, then you can cancel safely with the right reason code.

This entire process works so well, I actually save money and build goodwill instead of taking losses. Use ChatGPT to template these messages so they’re fast to send.

Final Tips: