The infamous "violating terms of sales" ban
Okay, so me along with many other people encountered the same situation so I am posting it here, maybe it could help others in the future.
after lots of searching on my end it's safe to say that it's almost a sure fire method of recreating this ban to do the following:
have a steam account with no EA account linked to it -> buy an EA game on it and open it -> it will ask you to login with an EA account so you register a new one on the spot -> that account will get perma banned about a week after for violating "terms of sale"
and you lose the ability to use your steam account with EA games cause it's now linked to a dead EA account.
No matter how many appeals you submit they will give you the same AI-like responses about how they investigated so hard and found out that the ban was placed correctly and therefore it should remain in place.
so it's safe to assume that their system detects that a game was added to this newly created account without a transaction, but that's because you created the account AFTER the transaction, so the system thinks it's some kind of a fraudulent payment???????
Honestly what a joke, it's laughable to think that such a big company in the gaming industry can't hire a decent QA team which detects such a very blatant issue in their system.
and they can't hire a decent customer service that would actually for once take the appeals of the users seriously instead of just assuming that a "banned user would say anything to get himself out of a ban".
Basically, no one can help, but you did nothing wrong.
you bought the game on steam cause it was there, you created a new account cause you didn't have an EA account before.
and this issue have existed for years and they still haven't addressed it.
And I tried to dispute but the limit is only 3 so all hope is gone for unbanning the account.
I'm truly lost for words....
Hi HumiliatorDA ,
I want to address a few points in your post directly, because some of the assumptions about how this works aren’t accurate.
Creating an EA account after purchasing a game on Steam does not trigger an automatic “Terms of Sale” ban. That flow — buy on Steam → launch → create or log into an EA account → link — is a normal and fully supported process used by many players every day.
A “violating Terms of Sale” action is not applied simply because an account was newly created or because the EA account did not directly process the purchase. Steam purchases are validated through platform entitlement checks, not by matching an EA Store transaction. The system does not assume fraud solely because an EA account was created after the Steam transaction.
When a Terms of Sale ban is applied, it is tied to specific signals related to payment risk, chargebacks, unauthorised payment activity, or marketplace violations. These reviews are not triggered just by account age or by linking behaviour.
Regarding appeals:
- Appeals are reviewed by the Terms of Service team.
- Each appeal is manually evaluated against the account history and the enforcement reason.
- If a decision is upheld multiple times, it means the review found supporting evidence in accordance with policy.
I understand how frustrating it feels when you believe you did everything correctly. However, the scenario described — purchasing on Steam, creating a new EA account, and linking — is not, by itself, a bannable action and is not a known systemic issue affecting all new accounts.If someone believes an enforcement was placed in error, the only path to review is through the official appeal channel. Forum staff cannot override or modify account-level enforcement actions.
If you or others are encountering this, the best next step is to:
- Ensure no payment disputes or chargebacks have been initiated for the Steam transaction.
- Confirm that the Steam account and EA account are both owned and accessed solely by you.
- Submit a clear, factual appeal focusing on the transaction details and timeline.
We want players to access the games they’ve purchased, and linking a new EA account after a Steam purchase is a supported and expected process.
