iPhone 8/Plus Tried to sell my iPhone on Swappa. Got banned.

[CE3]

Today I tried to list my unlocked iPhone 8 Plus in excellent condition with AppleCare+ and all packaging and accessories on Swappa. I've been registered there for a while, but this would have been my first sale.

I linked my PayPal account, I listed the item, I uploaded the photos, and an hour later my account was disabled with no notice and no explanation. Just gone as if I'd never set one up with the email.

When I emailed support to figure out what was going on, this was their first response:

Can you please provide some information on where this device was acquired?
Was it purchased through a carrier or factory unlocked?
Thank you for working with us,
--------------------------------------
Swappa - Customer Service

So I responded:

All of my personal iPhones have been purchased unlocked since the 6S Plus. I have used this device in 4 different countries with no issues on both CDMA and GSM networks. Can you tell me what the problem is and why my account is closed? I use a VPN for my privacy and security, does this have something to do with my account being flagged? I went to the trouble of trying to take nice photos for this listing. I followed all your guidelines as far as I can tell, and then my account is closed with no explanation or notice.

Feeling a little concerned here..

They replied:

Hello,

I'm afraid that your account has been disabled due to violations of our terms, policies, or guidelines. Due to this, we are unable to allow you to continue using Swappa.

--------------------------------------
Swappa - Customer Service

I sent them a one-line email back asking for them to specify what terms or policies I'd violated and received no response.

So I created another account with the VPN off just to see if that was the trigger, and the same thing happened again. wtf. This makes me feel like I'm trying to do something criminal when this sale was perfectly legit.

Feeling a little spooked, I even checked the IMEI twice and called my carrier to see if something odd was coming up.

IMEIPRO.INFO:

SWAPPA.COM:

This is the first and last time I'll ever use Swappa. Not only did they lose a potentially good seller, they lost a potential buyer too.

 

[Renho]

That sucks, i wonder what rule you didn't follow. Im sure it had to do with your VPN and them not knowing where you're listing it...

 

[CE3]

That sucks, i wonder what rule you didn't follow. Im sure it had to do with your VPN and them not knowing where you're listing it...

I registered and listed again with no VPN on and the same thing happened. You'd think linking a PayPal account with a verified email would provide enough security.

I guess I'll never know what the issue was because they've not given me any details at all. They didn't even send an email when the account was disabled. Twice.

Terrible support.

 

[I7guy]

I registered and listed again with no VPN on and the same thing happened. You'd think linking a PayPal account with a verified email would provide enough security.

I guess I'll never know what the issue was because they've not given me any details at all. They didn't even send an email when the account was disabled. Twice.

Terrible support.

I'm guessing the VPN access may be what caused the ban. R4 and S2 seem like likely culprits.

R. Access and Interference

Swappa may contain robot exclusion headers that contain internal rules for software usage. Much of the information on the Site is updated on a real-time basis and is proprietary or is licensed to Swappa by Swappa's users or third parties. You agree that you will not use any robot, spider, scraper or other automated means to access the Site for any purpose whatsoever, except to the extent expressly permitted by and in compliance with Swappa's API Terms of Use or otherwise without Swappa's prior express written permission. Additionally, you agree that you will not:

1. Take any action that imposes, or may impose, in Swappa's sole discretion, an unreasonable or disproportionately large load on Swappa's infrastructure;

2. Copy, reproduce, modify, create derivative works from, distribute or publicly display any user Content (except for your Content) from the Site except to the extent expressly permitted by and in compliance with Swappa's API Terms of Use or otherwise without the prior express written permission of Swappa and the appropriate third party, as applicable;

3. Interfere or attempt to interfere with the proper working of the Site or any activities conducted on the Site; or

4. Bypass Swappa's robot exclusion headers or other measures Swappa may use to prevent or restrict access to the Site

S. Breach

Without limiting any other remedies, Swappa may, without notice, and without refunding any fees, delay or immediately remove Content, warn Swappa's community of a user's actions, issue a warning to a user, temporarily suspend a user, temporarily or indefinitely suspend a user's account privileges, terminate a user's account, prohibit access to the Site, and take technical and legal steps to keep a user off the Site and refuse to provide services to a user if any of the following apply:

1. Swappa suspects (by information, investigation, conviction, settlement, insurance or escrow investigation, or otherwise) a user has breached this Agreement, the Privacy Policy, or other policy documents and community guidelines incorporated herein;

2. Swappa is unable to verify or authenticate any of your personal information or Content; or

3. Swappa believes that a user is acting inconsistently with the letter or spirit of Swappa's policies, has engaged in improper or fraudulent activity on the Site or in connection with Swappa or the actions may cause legal liability or financial loss to Swappa's users or to Swappa.

 

[CE3]

@I7guy It seems odd that I can register for an account and go through the verification process like I did weeks ago, and then link my PayPal and list the item today with a VPN on. The only questions they asked me in their email were about the iPhone being factory unlocked, or purchased through a carrier.

Regardless, their support sucks. Swappa could have provided me some clarity as to why this happened and chose not to because they can. I've been an eBay member for nearly half my life at this point and have 100% positive feedback.

 

[Renho]

@I7guy It seems odd that I can register for an account and go through the verification process like I did weeks ago, and then link my PayPal and list the item today with a VPN on. The only questions they asked me in their email were about the iPhone being factory unlocked, or purchased through a carrier.

Regardless, their support sucks. Swappa could have provided me some clarity as to why this happened and chose not to because they can. I've been an eBay member for nearly half my life at this point and have 100% positive feedback.

That’s stupid, they think it’s stolen but I wonder why. Keep pressing them. Maybe call?

 

[44267547]

Swappa is very strict. Sometimes honest mistakes are made, but Swappa doesn’t treat or make ‘selective exceptions’, they treat everyone the same with the rules applied. To be honest, I’m not saying that the OP did anything wrong intentionally or not, (that’s not for me to make that judgment), but I can appreciate Swappa being strict, because they need to make sure that the buyer doesn’t encounter specific issues with the device, as things are so complicated today with selling a smart phone, even though it seems so easy.

 

[Ebok]

Swappa is trying to protect themselves. They probably have many people trying to post fake ads that are untraceable to law enforcement in the event that someone gets scammed.

I don’t see why you need a VPN for swappa anyways.

 

[now i see it]

Unfortunately using a VPN while trying to sell a phone goes against their Terms & Policies. You broke the rules and now have been banned. It's as simple as that. Your online identity has now been flagged either through your IP or another method, and setting up another account won't remedy the situation.

Swappa is enforcing their rules and you unwittingly broke them. Hard knocks. Sorry it worked out that way. But that's why Swapps has a reputation as being a safe place to buy used phones.

 

[TheLocNar]

Yup. It was the VPN. And it was tied to your phone itself.

 

[willmtaylor]

Unfortunately using a VPN while trying to sell a phone goes against their Terms & Policies. You broke the rules and now have been banned. It's as simple as that. Your online identity has now been flagged either through your IP or another method, and setting up another account won't remedy the situation.

Swappa is enforcing their rules and you unwittingly broke them. Hard knocks. Sorry it worked out that way. But that's why Swapps has a reputation as being a safe place to buy used phones.

According to what? I couldn’t find anything in this regard while searching through their FAQs nor through Google.

It IS against their terms to sell outside of the U.S., so maybe the VPN was “putting” him there?

Regardless, pretty terrible service.

 

[nburwell]

Swappa does run a pretty tight ship. With that said, they could have at least responded to the OP's follow up message about what caused them to ban him. We can speculate that it was the VPN that did the OP in, but it's common courtesy to at least provide a response to what specifically caused the ban.

I really like Swappa. But their support certainly can use improvement.

 

[TroyBoy30]

dont use a vpn. problem solved. it looks like you are hiding something.

 

[Ebok]

According to what? I couldn’t find anything in this regard while searching through their FAQs nor through Google.

It IS against their terms to sell outside of the U.S., so maybe the VPN was “putting” him there?

Regardless, pretty terrible service.

Sorry, terrible service how?

I’ve never used swappa in my life but from everything I’ve read it’s the safest way to purchase a phone.

The OP, unknowingly, violated terms. Swappa doesn’t have to explain themselves to anyone because it opens themselves up to scammers trying to bypass whatever system they have in place.

The OP, and no one, is owed nothing from swappa.

It sucks that he got banned but upsetting 1 person is better than dealing with the headache of multiple scammers.
[doublepost=1558104289][/doublepost]

dont use a vpn. problem solved. it looks like you are hiding something.

Exactly. Whether your intentions are good or not, a VPN will set up multiple flags for anyone.

We all know the real reason VPN’s were made.

 

[willmtaylor]

Sorry, terrible service how?

I’ve never used swappa in my life but from everything I’ve read it’s the safest way to purchase a phone.

The OP, unknowingly, violated terms. Swappa doesn’t have to explain themselves to anyone because it opens themselves up to scammers trying to bypass whatever system they have in place.

The OP, and no one, is owed nothing from swappa.

It sucks that he got banned but upsetting 1 person is better than dealing with the headache of multiple scammers.

1. Terminated account without explanation.
2. Citing terms violations without explanation
3. Not having alleged violated terms easily found.

Seriously, can you find where on their terms/FAQs pages it mentions VPNs (because I couldn’t).

I’ll wait.

P.S. How/Why the OP uses VPN isn’t relevant and is a completely moot point.

 

[Renho]

Sorry, terrible service how?

I’ve never used swappa in my life but from everything I’ve read it’s the safest way to purchase a phone.

The OP, unknowingly, violated terms. Swappa doesn’t have to explain themselves to anyone because it opens themselves up to scammers trying to bypass whatever system they have in place.

The OP, and no one, is owed nothing from swappa.

It sucks that he got banned but upsetting 1 person is better than dealing with the headache of multiple scammers.
[doublepost=1558104289][/doublepost]

Exactly. Whether your intentions are good or not, a VPN will set up multiple flags for anyone.

We all know the real reason VPN’s were made.

Swappa doesn’t have to explain them selfs?! Yes they kinda do. Everybody who gets fired gets an explanation. Every girl who breaks up with you gives an explanation. It’s the right thing to do.

 

[superleakTx]

why not on ebay?

 

[willmtaylor]

why not on ebay?

B/c that’s not pertinent to the OP’s question and therefore not this conversation.

 

[laptech]

If the IP of the VPN you are using shows that you are outside the US, the site's robot will flag it as being someone outside the US is trying to make a sales ad. This breaches their T&C's, so naturally, the bot banned you.

 

[superleakTx]

B/c that’s not pertinent to the OP’s question and therefore not this conversation.

don't be too smart!

 

[VertPin]

It was the VPN. Also, your email response about using it in several countries without providing where you bought it from looks suspicious. I’m not personally saying it is but from their perspective it may.

 

[CE3]

Update: Swappa has just contacted me

Hi _____

Regarding your account: xxxxxxxx

Sorry for the delay in following up here. When you created your listing for this device, we saw some very direct links to previous fraudulent accounts here on Swappa from last year: xxxxxxxxx

However, your account has now been reinstated for use as we request a bit more information regarding this device and listing to make sure everything checks out.

We will need to request additional verification for this listing. Please visit the following page for more information on how to complete this process: xxxxxxx

Please also ensure that you're logged into the same Swappa account you used to create this listing. Otherwise, you may have issues accessing the page we linked to above.

Just to clarify, the photos uploaded to the private page we've linked to here will be sent to our support team directly, so please ensure that they're not uploaded to your public listing page.

Once an additional verification photo has been uploaded using the page linked above, we can review your listing from there. Thank you

This is more in line with the response I should have received after perhaps a quick “were looking into it” email. Not “I'm afraid that your account has been disabled due to violations of our terms, policies, or guidelines. Due to this, we are unable to allow you to continue using Swappa.”

So it sounds like the VPN was the culprit, but they’re still being vague, and I’m not sure why their only response yesterday to my inquiry was with questions related to the device itself.

If the IP of the VPN you are using shows that you are outside the US, the site's robot will flag it as being someone outside the US is trying to make a sales ad. This breaches their T&C's, so naturally, the bot banned you.

To be clear, I rarely ever select locations outside of the US unless I’m actually outside of the US.

I stated my reasons for using VPNs in my email to them and agree that this is beside the point of this discussion. I’m not concerned with “what it looks like” to some corporation (or anyone on this forum). I’m fully acquainted with—and understanding of—the security flags VPNs sometimes raise, and I’m always willing to take the extra steps required to confirm my identity.

Before I picked up my new XR from the Apple store earlier this week I had my eye on a new 128GB model on Swappa for $775. I almost bought it 3 times. Now I’m glad I didn’t.

When they disabled my account it completely disappeared. When I tried to reset my password, I got a message that said no account was associated with this email like there had never been one in the first place. They had no system in place that sends an automated email informing of me their actions, no steps to appeal or resolve the matter, and no intentions of contacting me. I was left completely in the dark.

I’m glad they’re willing to reinstate my account, and I’m fully supportive of Swappa having strict policies in place to prevent activity that harms buyers, sellers, and their brand. But after the way everything was handled yesterday (watching my account go POOF in the blink of an eye) I wouldn't feel secure buying and selling on their website and won't be using their service.

 

[MacDawg]

We all know the real reason VPN’s were made.

I use a VPN on my MBP at home and a separate VPN on all my VMs
I also use a VPN on my MBA on the network where I work
In addition I use a VPN on my iPhone

I think it is a best practice for privacy and for safe computing
Your mileage may vary

FWIW I use nordvpn

 

[CE3]

After more communication with support, my conclusion is the main issue that caused the ban had more to do with the device itself, and less to do with the VPN.

I purchased the iPhone last August on eBay brand new and unlocked with a full Applecare+ warranty. The serial & imei number were clearly visible in the listing, and I was able to check the device and call Apple with some questions as well before purchasing. The AppleCare+ didn't even begin until I activated the phone.

After providing Swappa with more details about when and where I purchased the device, they told me this explained a lot of the concerns they had with the listing, and as long as I don't create any listings in the future with a VPN on, everything should go smoothly. While they didn't specifically say what their concerns were, my guess is the seller had this iPhone listed on both eBay and Swappa.

Although I will likely not be creating any listings on their website, the support I received today was friendly, professional, and they apologized for the hassle. I consider this matter resolved and hope that some of the feedback I provided might prevent this from happening to another innocent buyer or seller in the future.

 

[maxjohnson2]

Swappa is very strict. Sometimes honest mistakes are made, but Swappa doesn’t treat or make ‘selective exceptions’, they treat everyone the same with the rules applied.

I can't agree with this, as a Swappa user since 2012 who successfully sold 25 phones there so far. (This was back when they were partnered with xda-developers and I used my xda account to log into Swappa.) Swappa for a while now have been really gearing toward mass resellers. Seems to me these resellers get preferential treatments over individual sellers, who are the ones who made them and spread the word for them in the first place.

They were strict with how individual take pictures of their phones. One of the moderator required me on top of my already abundant detailed photos, to take an extra photo with the phone with the screen on + all accessories + code in one shot. Now what I'm seeing is these mass resellers been selling poor quality phones with all kind of dings and scratches and listing them as 'Good'. Half of the time they don't even have to post actual photos of the phone, just stock photos without code. And I've gotten a bad phone from one of them myself with a battery that last and hour and half. I've had good experience with them too, but it's coming to the point where it's not much better than eBay unless you specifically look for the individual sellers who are the original owner of the phone they're selling.