Topic: Wrongfully Permanently Banned from PlayStation - Seeking Advice

Hey everyone,

I'm in a bit of a sticky situation and I was wondering if anyone here could offer some advice. Recently, I received an email from PlayStation stating that I had been permanently banned for allegedly attempting to sell things on the platform.

The thing is, I was just making an innocent non-offensive joke to my friends about some soccer cleats, and I had absolutely no intentions of selling anything. Unfortunately, PlayStation didn't seem to get the context and banned me anyways.

I just want to clarify that I've never said anything offensive or cursed on PlayStation. I've always tried to be respectful and follow their guidelines. I've been a long-time user of PlayStation and have spent hundreds of dollars on in-game content. I also spend hours playing with my friends on this account, so you can imagine how frustrated I am right now. I've tried contacting PlayStation multiple times via phone and live chat, but I've just been hung up on.

I've also reached out to the Better Business Bureau (BBB) to file a complaint against PlayStation and I'm currently waiting for a response from them.

I really don't want to lose all the progress I've made on my account and all the money I've invested in it. So, I'm hoping someone here might have some advice for me. What should I do in this situation?

Thanks in advance for any help or suggestions you can provide.

@mj88 Unfortunately, the only people who can restore your account are Sony themselves. Short of advice forthcoming from the BBB or taking PlayStation to court, you'll have to keep trying the helpline in the hopes of finding a sympathetic employee who's prepared to listen.

Real sorry this has happened to you. No system is perfect. I'm sure that, if you can get through to the right kind of person, you'll be able to find a reasonable solution.

they don’t care , making a new account is the only option

playstation became so strict over the years with their ToS , they’re softer than nintendo .

@mj88 Your best bet as stated is trying PlayStation support over & over again. Unless your account has been flagged before, you should come across a sympathetic CSR that will lift the ban. Happens pretty frequently- from bans to refunds (as long as you feign ignorance).

Also if you just sent the message to 1 friend, wouldn’t they have to report you?
I doubt there is an auto detect for using the words ‘buy’ or ‘sell’. Credit card details, sure.

@Fight_Teza_Fight they say it’s impossible to unban an account once it happens , have u heard of a situation where someone got their account unbanned that wasnt because of a chargeback ?

I don't take the chance of discussing anything directly over PSN, precisely because of potential issues such as this. Losing any digital games, all that save data, everything.

Whether you're right or wrong makes no difference if Sony choose not to reverse the ban because what can you do about it? Nothing - there's legalese in the PSN TOS that gives them the power to do it, and you agree to all that when you first sign up to the service.

@nomither6 You’ve got to try, right? The OP has stated that they dropped a lot of money into the ecosystem that they no longer have access to. They probably have some sort of case.

PS also doesn’t give out refunds, but we know that they do.
They don’t want to be held responsible for 3rd party sales on their platform- so they try & cover their a##es.

@mj88 I never realised they were so strict over these kinda things, glad you pointed it out. A while ago me and other guild members got banned from elder scrolls online for utilising a glitch on a trial when there was no malice involved. After about 3 weeks of back and for, they rescinded it. So all I would advise is just keeping trying and be hopefully they should see you had no malice in your chats

@Gamer_Guy yeah and there’s a 99.99% chance they won’t reverse his ban . neither MS or sony does , and chances are if some random employee/moderator did they’d get fired . if they reverse the ban for him they’d have to do it for the countless accounts they’ve banned .

“ Losing any digital games, all that save data, everything.”

• that’s pretty much the reason they got rid of memory cards (aside from maybe hacking) and everything is now tied to your psn account instead of hardware . if we still had memory cards, an account ban wouldn’t mean anything. i remember when you could put games on USB drives on Xbox360 too.

@Fight_Teza_Fight “ The OP has stated that they dropped a lot of money into the ecosystem that they no longer have access to”

They don’t care. but its his account so it’s worth a try sure , but a permaban is no joke . they never revert them and even go as far as to state(lie) that “they can’t” .

Get a Series X and tell Jim Ryan and Sony to go screw themselves.