I tried posting this on the ebay subreddit and promptly had it pulled bc it went against the rules (the message said I asked about a scam), so I thought I would try here. I've never posted before, and I am on a mobile, so I apologize for any issues.
I have searched the website, tried using the help, AI chat, tried calling, and tried Google. I tried sending an email through the chat, as well, but that fails every time.
The issue: I had one sale and then was permanently suspended for "actions that put the community at risk." Finally got a human on the phone and we're basically told (it is actually me and my significant other) that because we priced our item too low, that we are risk to other sellers (it was a 10 gallon crock that was cracked on and mostly around the whole bottom, so no longer good for anything but decoration. We listed it for $70 + shipping, and we were told that similar items were priced around $150 - $200, so our price was too low and a scam. We just wanted to be fair and honest.)
Ebay said the funds were on hold until the buyer received the item, so we needed to pay for the shipping up front. That was all good until the permanent suspension email the next morning and the crock being all broken, and now everything I try fails (because of the suspension?) and I cannot get any answers for my questions. I'm super frustrated and about to just give up and let what happens, happen. I'm fighting really hard not to do that, so I'm still trying to find out what to do. We don't have much money and were hoping this would work out for us to pay our, minimal, bills so I'm trying to not just let this go.
The buyer said the item arrived broken in a hundred pieces, and asked what we do now; we're completely new at this, so we do not know. (I should know because I was the seller, but we didn't get to have even one normal sale, start to finish before being told that we are a risk and being permanently suspended with nothing working for me on ebay to get any information, so I have no clue)
I tried messaging the buyer back to ask for pictures, but each time it fails so it looks like we don't care at all when we do - I assume this is because of the suspended account.
I just want to know, how do I do this? Will ebay release the funds they are holding from this sale, like they said before the suspension, so that we are not out basically double the shipping after we got the permanent suspension? We owe the buyer, of course, and want them to get their money back if it was indeed broken on arrival, but I'm lost on what to do when everything I try fails. Can anyone help me, please?