'I went to the bank and withdrew $50 in 2 dollar bills': Online seller needs to reach 100 sales, maliciously complies to earn top rated seller status

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Ben Weiss • Writer and Editor
Dec 31, 2023 8:00 AM EST

There is nothing quite like the satisfying feeling that comes with finding a loophole that actually works. Here, we have an online seller who was hoping to achieve a top rated seller status and had already earned over $6000 for his sales. However, he achieved this with just 75 sales, and according to eBay, he needed to earn at least $1,000 but with 100 sales. You would think what this online seller achieved would be more than enough to earn that status. In fact, it's much more impressive, but I suppose rules are rules…

That's where this online seller started to get creative. Since he only needed 25 more sales, he decided to withdraw just $50 from the bank but in 2 dollar bills. He then sold all of those bills online, earned a profit, and finally achieved his much-deserved top rated seller status. he then shared his story via this thread on Reddit's r/MaliciousCompliance subreddit. Keep scrolling below for the full story and the best reactions. When you're done, here's a story of a receptionist who stood up to their boss and was let go on the first day.

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  • 01
    2ABC "I decided to cheese the system" Anula
    via Eduardo Soares
  • 02
    r/r/MaliciousCompliance Posted by u/IAbstainFromSociety 10 hours ago I need 100 sales to reach top rated seller status, regardless of what they are? Got it. S OC
    via u/IAbstainFromSociety
  • 03
    I resell on eBay. At the time, I had around 75 sales worth $6,000+. The eBay requirements for a top rated seller are $1,000 in sales, but it also requires 100 sales.
    via u/IAbstainFromSociety
  • 04
    So I decided to cheese the system. I went to my bank and withdrew $50 in 2 dollar bills. Listed them for $0.99+ whatever the cost of a stamp was at the time each. They all sold within 2 days, and when I was evaluated next month, I was a top rated seller. After fees IIRC I only lost around $35, and I got to deduct the loss off my taxes. I've made way more than $35 from being top rated in the time since.
    via u/IAbstainFromSociety
  • 05
    Elmarc DeVaca. 8 hr. ago When a measure becomes a target it ceases to be a good measure. Goodhart's law
    via u/IAbstainFromSociety
  • 06
    ChiTownBob. 10 hr. ago Dang, I missed out on a deal there :)
    via u/IAbstainFromSociety
  • 07
    jesjimher 5 hr. ago I did something similar back in time, when Dropbox gave you an extra 250 MB for every "friend" who signed up using your referral link. I started a Google ads campaign where my ad consisted in my referral link, with a generic text "Sign up with Dropbox here". I put a limit on how much money I wanted to spend in the campaign (about 10 bucks), and in a matter of minutes I toppled my referral limit, so I got (and still have) about 10 extra GB.
    via u/IAbstainFromSociety
  • 08
    Social Winker 7 hr. ago Hahaha I bought a few $2 bills from a guy on eBay a few years back. I figured it was a situation like this, or a new seller trying to get some sales and positive feedback. I wonder if it was you?
    via u/IAbstainFromSociety
  • 09
    hippywitch 10 hr. ago And if anyone called you on it you could claim insanity. This is top tier.
    via u/IAbstainFromSociety
  • 10
    appleblossom1962 9 hr. ago Can you sell them to yourself, mom or close friends
    via u/IAbstainFromSociety
  • 11
    IAbstainFromSociety OP . 9 hr. ago That's a very easy way to be permanently banned. It's not technically a violation of TOS but it's well known bans can happen if you sell to friends to pad sales. I'd rather spend $35 and do it legit then risk that.
    via u/IAbstainFromSociety
  • 12
    Savvy Sillybug 4 hr. ago I've done a thing like that before. I wanted to sell a rare game key on g2a or some similar website. They kept telling me I wasn't a trusted enough user to sell such a high ticket item on their website and I'd need to do this or that to become trusted enough. At one point they told me I'd need to do 100 sales within one month to qualify.
    via u/IAbstainFromSociety
  • 13
    Alright then. I bought a couple of random key bundles off their own website, something like three bucks for ten garbage games nobody wants, and then checked what each of them was worth, and listed them one cent lower than the current price. Nearly all of them sold within a day and I broke even.
    via u/IAbstainFromSociety
  • 14
    kept moving the goal posts on me and then it was 100 sales a month for six months and I was just done with it. Way too much work to sell a $300 Steam key.
    via u/IAbstainFromSociety
  • 15
    ProductionsGJT. 8 hr. ago "I went to my bank and withdrew $50 in 2 dollar bills." Do banks just randomly have 25 2-dollar bills sitting around for someone to withdraw? Everyone I know hoards those things and would never deposit them in a bank...
    via u/IAbstainFromSociety
  • 16
    Boogada42 3 hr. ago In 2014 a German political satire party sold 200.000€ in 100€ notes to indivicual buyers (I think it was like pay 105€ for a couple stickers and a 100€ note, postpaid). There was some financial support that was calculated based on total revenue. It helped them to gain another 80k in financial grants. This was challenged in court, but the Party won and could keep the money. I think the rules about the grants was changed eventually.
    via u/IAbstainFromSociety
  • 17
    TeacherAccording6183. 7 hr. ago This is similar to kickstarter where they will promote your idea if it gets x pledges within x time. Someone very smart asked all their friends and family to pledge $1 and they got their project on the top which from there snowballed. Over $1mm raised in 1 month. Cheesing the system works.
    via u/IAbstainFromSociety
  • 18
    Also sending clients who purchased a notification you'll be selling $2 coupon for $1 (kind of like people selling chase bank offers). Or telling friends and family to help support your way to top seller status with a $1 pledge with a digital thank you card, etc etc.
    via u/IAbstainFromSociety

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Tags

bank malicious compliance malicious-compliance-reddit loophole sales reddit thread Reddit malicious compliance reddit money ebay
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