What to do the day you are served: a seller's checklist

A federal lawsuit arrives without warning. For most eBay sellers named in a Schedule A defendants case, the first sign of trouble is not a court notice – it is a frozen PayPal or marketplace balance discovered during a routine payout check. By that point, a temporary restraining order (TRO) is already in place, assets are frozen, and the clock on the first response deadline is already running. The window to act is short, and the earliest decisions carry the most weight.

TL;DRBeing served as a Schedule A defendant on eBay means a US federal court has issued a temporary restraining order against your account, typically without advance notice. The order usually freezes both your marketplace funds and any linked payment accounts. The day you are served is the most consequential day of the case: preserving evidence, getting specialist legal counsel, and understanding the exact terms of the order can determine whether the freeze is lifted quickly or becomes a default judgment against you.

This checklist walks through six phases, in order of urgency: confirming what you have been served with, securing your records, understanding the TRO and its asset-freeze terms, making the right legal contact, evaluating your substantive options, and deciding how to engage on the merits. Each phase contains the specific checks that matter most in the first days after service.

Phase 1: Confirm exactly what you have been served with

The first thing to establish is whether you have actually been served with a valid federal court summons and complaint, or with something less formal – because the procedural rules and the urgency level differ significantly between them.

In matters we handle, sellers frequently conflate an informal demand letter from brand counsel with a federal court filing. They are not the same. A federal court summons carries a case number, a court name and district, and a deadline for response that is set by the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. A brand-side demand letter does not. Misidentifying the document leads to either unnecessary panic or, far more dangerously, a missed response deadline that produces a default judgment.

Check the following on day one:

• Does the document carry the name and seal of a US District Court – typically the Northern District of Illinois, the Southern District of New York, or another major commercial venue?
• Is there a case number printed on the top right of the first page?
• Is there a summons page, separate from the complaint, addressed to you or your business by name?
• Does the summons specify how many days you have to respond to the complaint?
• Is there a TRO or preliminary injunction order attached, or referenced by order number?
• Does the complaint identify you as one of a list of "Schedule A" or "Doe" defendants?

If all of those boxes check out, you are dealing with a live federal action. If the document is only a cease-and-desist or a demand letter, the urgency is real but the procedural posture is different. For the TRO and asset-freeze analysis that follows, this checklist assumes you have confirmed an actual federal filing.

One procedural reality is worth stating plainly: Schedule A complaints routinely name dozens or hundreds of defendants from a single complaint, and the TRO covering all of them is often granted the same day the complaint is filed, before any defendant is notified. That is not unusual or inherently improper – it is the design of the SAD scheme – but it does mean the order has legal force the moment you learn about it, even if you received no advance warning.

Phase 2: Secure your records immediately

Before you respond to anyone, before you call the plaintiff's lawyer, and before you contact eBay or any payment processor, preserve every record you have that relates to the products at issue.

This is not optional. Courts take document preservation seriously. If evidence is lost or deleted after you are on notice of litigation, the court can draw negative inferences or impose sanctions, both of which damage your position far more than the underlying IP dispute would have. The duty to preserve attaches the moment you receive actual notice of the claim – which is, at the latest, the moment you are served.

We regularly see sellers respond to a freeze notice by immediately removing listings or deleting product data from their eBay Seller Hub. That instinct is understandable – you want to comply – but it can destroy evidence you need to mount a defense or negotiate a dismissal. Taking down active listings of the accused products to comply with the TRO is appropriate; permanently deleting historical sales data, sourcing records, and correspondence is not.

On the day you are served, take the following preservation steps:

• Screenshot or export all eBay listings for the accused products, including listing ID, category, item specifics, and pricing history.
• Download your full eBay sales history for the accused product category for at least the prior 24 months.
• Locate and save all purchase invoices, supplier receipts, bills of lading, and customs declarations for any stock of the accused products – including stock still held at a warehouse or fulfillment center.
• Preserve all supplier correspondence: emails, WhatsApp threads, Alibaba or DHgate message logs, and any product authenticity certificates or brand authorization letters your supplier provided.
• Capture the current state of your eBay account dashboard, payment account balance, and any freeze notice or platform communication you have received.
• If you have a company, preserve the corporate registration documents, operating agreement, and any documents showing the legal relationship between you and the eBay account.

Store copies in at least two separate locations – cloud and a local drive. Do not forward the complaint, the TRO, or your underlying sales data to anyone outside your legal team until you have counsel in place.

Phase 3: Read the TRO and understand the freeze's exact scope

A TRO in a Schedule A case typically does two things: it prohibits the defendant from selling or transferring the accused products, and it freezes all assets in the defendant's accounts up to a specified sum or, in some orders, without a stated cap. Understanding exactly what your TRO says determines what you can and cannot do with your account and funds during the pendency of the case.

The asset-freeze provisions are the most immediately damaging part of the order for a working seller. The freeze is typically directed at the marketplace (eBay in this case) and at any linked payment processors, meaning the platform is legally required to hold your funds regardless of whether you believe the underlying complaint is meritorious. A belief that the case is wrong does not unfreeze your money – a court order or a settlement does.

Read the TRO carefully for the following:

• Which accounts are covered? The order may name your eBay account by username or ID, your PayPal account, or both. Some orders sweep in all accounts associated with the same person or entity.
• What is the frozen amount? Some orders cap the freeze at a stated dollar figure (often tied to claimed damages or sales of accused products); others freeze the entire account balance.
• Does the order permit you to pay ordinary business expenses or legal fees from the frozen funds? Some TROs include carve-outs; most do not. If there is no carve-out, spending frozen funds can constitute contempt of court.
• What deadline does the order set for the preliminary injunction hearing? That hearing is the next scheduled adversarial event and is often the first realistic opportunity to contest the freeze.
• Does the TRO require you to produce an accounting of assets, sales, or financial records by a specific date?
• Are there any product disposal or notice provisions – for example, a requirement to identify and quarantine inventory at a third-party location?

Every one of those provisions creates a compliance obligation. Violating any of them, even inadvertently, can result in a contempt finding. That is why reading the order – not summarizing it, reading it – is the first substantive task of the day.

Phase 4: Contact a Schedule A defense lawyer before contacting anyone else

This is the phase most sellers delay, often by a day or two, and the delay is the most common source of avoidable harm we see. The preliminary injunction hearing – which is the window for formally contesting the TRO and asking the court to modify or dissolve the asset freeze – comes on quickly. Courts in Schedule A cases move faster than in most commercial litigation.

Before you call the plaintiff's counsel, before you respond to eBay's legal notice, and before you post about the case in any seller forum, speak to a lawyer who handles Schedule A TRO defense specifically.

What the right legal contact does on day one:

• Confirms service was valid and the response deadlines are correctly calculated.
• Reviews the TRO and identifies any defects in the order – overbreadth, jurisdictional problems, or procedural deficiencies that support a motion to dissolve or modify.
• Assesses the strength of the plaintiff's IP claim on the merits: is the trademark or copyright registration solid, was the accused product actually infringing, or is this a misidentification?
• Determines whether the case is suitable for early settlement, a contested motion to dissolve the TRO, or a challenge to personal jurisdiction or joinder.
• Files a notice of appearance, which puts the court and plaintiff on formal notice that you are represented and stops direct communication from plaintiff's counsel to you personally.

A home-goods seller on eBay (summer 2025) came to us two days after a TRO had frozen his payment account. He had already emailed the plaintiff's lawyers asking what it would take to settle. We identified that the TRO had been obtained without adequate notice and that personal jurisdiction over his business was questionable in the filing venue. We moved to dissolve the TRO and challenge jurisdiction, which materially shifted the settlement dynamic. Had he continued negotiating alone, he would have conceded jurisdiction by participating in the venue without contesting it.

For a clear picture of how the overall procedural path unfolds after service, the Schedule A TRO defense complete guide for sellers covers the full sequence from complaint filing through final disposition.

The steps above describe the standard sequence. Your situation turns on the exact wording of the TRO, the account structure that is frozen, and the plaintiff's IP registration history – which is what we review first. For a read on your specific order, email info@tutamenlaw.com.

Phase 5: Evaluate your substantive options and trade-offs

Once you have counsel, the strategic evaluation begins. Being named as a Schedule A defendant does not mean an automatic loss. The range of realistic options is wider than most sellers initially expect, and the right path depends on a combination of factors that only a review of the actual complaint and TRO can answer.

In many matters, the early analysis focuses on three threshold questions.

First: is the plaintiff's IP claim valid and correctly applied to your specific listings? Schedule A complaints frequently name large numbers of defendants on the basis of automated marketplace scanning. Not every seller identified in that scan was actually selling infringing goods. Sellers who were selling authorized products, liquidation merchandise from legitimate wholesalers, or products that were simply misidentified have a substantive defense that is worth raising – and raising early, before the preliminary injunction locks in the freeze.

Second: does the court have jurisdiction over you? Many Schedule A complaints are filed in a US District Court that has jurisdiction over the plaintiff or the marketplace platform, not necessarily over the individual defendant. If you are a foreign seller or a seller in a different US state, personal jurisdiction can be a legitimate contested issue. Challenging jurisdiction at the outset, before responding on the merits, preserves the argument; once you participate without raising it, the argument is generally waived.

Third: is joinder of all the defendants in one complaint procedurally proper? Federal courts require that defendants joined in a single case have claims arising from the same transaction or occurrence and sharing common questions of law or fact. Large Schedule A complaints that lump together hundreds of unrelated sellers have been successfully challenged on misjoinder grounds, leading to severance and, in some instances, dismissal without prejudice. That outcome does not end the case, but it disrupts the plaintiff's strategy and reopens the asset freeze for challenge.

The realistic options, depending on what the review finds:

• Motion to dissolve or modify the TRO – if the order was obtained on a deficient factual showing, or if its scope is broader than the harm alleged, a motion can reduce or eliminate the freeze on a shorter timeline than waiting for trial.
• Settlement on negotiated terms – many Schedule A cases resolve by settlement, often including an agreed-upon sum, a consent injunction, and a release. The settlement value is directly affected by how early and how forcefully the defense is contested.
• Jurisdictional challenge and motion to dismiss – where jurisdiction is genuinely absent, this is both a legitimate defense and a negotiating tool.
• Default avoidance and eventual dismissal – plaintiffs in large Schedule A cases sometimes do not vigorously pursue every named defendant; appearing through counsel and responding to the complaint avoids default while keeping the case on a path to resolution.

For a detailed account of how those options play out in practice, the seller's real options as a Schedule A defendant covers each route and what changes when you move from one to the other.

Phase 6: Manage your account and operations within the TRO's constraints

While the legal proceedings are under way, you still have a business to run – or at least, a business to preserve. The TRO imposes constraints, but it does not necessarily require you to shut down all operations. Understanding what you can and cannot do under the order is a practical daily concern.

What is typically prohibited under a Schedule A TRO:

• Selling, listing, or fulfilling orders for the specifically accused products.
• Transferring, withdrawing, or spending any funds covered by the asset freeze.
• Destroying, concealing, or altering any records related to the accused products or the frozen accounts.
• Opening new accounts on the same marketplace in your own name or the name of a related entity, while the order is in effect.

What is generally not prohibited, absent specific language in the order:

• Continuing to sell other products not identified in the complaint.
• Paying ordinary business expenses from unfrozen accounts not covered by the TRO.
• Communicating with your counsel, preserving records, or building your defense.
• Requesting a modification of the TRO through proper legal channels.

An apparel seller on eBay (winter 2025) came to us after a TRO had frozen her payment account but had left her eBay selling privileges intact for product categories not mentioned in the complaint. She had stopped all selling activity on the assumption the TRO covered everything. We reviewed the order, confirmed the scope was narrower than she assumed, and she was able to continue generating revenue in the unaffected categories while the defense proceeded. That distinction – understanding exactly what the order covers and what it does not – has real commercial consequences.

For a seller-level walkthrough of how the procedural path from TRO to resolution actually unfolds, a seller's path through a SAD scheme lawsuit traces the timeline from complaint through final resolution and maps the key decision points along the way.

If a first response or a solo negotiation attempt has already been made and the freeze remains in place, a second review can identify what was missed and what, if anything, is still open. To weigh a motion to dissolve against a negotiated settlement, contact info@tutamenlaw.com.

Related areas

• Schedule A / TRO Defense – federal defense for marketplace sellers named in intellectual property complaints
• Amazon Account Reinstatement – Plan of Action drafting and appeal strategy for deactivated Amazon seller accounts

Frequently asked questions

How long does resolving what to do the day you are served usually take on eBay?

Resolution timelines in Schedule A cases vary considerably, depending on whether the matter settles early, proceeds through contested motions, or runs to default. In matters we handle, early settlements often close within several weeks to a few months of the TRO hearing. Contested motions to dissolve or modify the TRO are typically heard within days to a few weeks of filing. Cases that proceed to a preliminary injunction hearing and then to full settlement negotiations can take several months. The key driver is how quickly a well-evidenced response enters the record – which is why the day you are served is the most consequential day of the timeline.

What are the main risks if I handle what to do the day you are served alone?

The primary risks are missing a jurisdictional challenge by participating in the case without contesting venue, inadvertently destroying evidence through well-meaning compliance steps, and negotiating directly with plaintiff's counsel from a weak position before your substantive defenses are on the record. A default judgment – which enters if you do not respond to the complaint within the deadline – can result in a permanent injunction and a damages award based on the plaintiff's stated figures, with no opportunity to contest either. In Schedule A cases, that outcome is avoidable in most circumstances where a timely response is filed.

Do I need a lawyer for what to do the day you are served?

Federal court rules require that a corporation or LLC be represented by licensed counsel; an individual can appear pro se but faces the same procedural rules as any other litigant. In practice, Schedule A cases move quickly, involve federal civil procedure, IP law, and asset-freeze mechanics simultaneously, and are often filed by experienced plaintiff-side teams who run these cases at volume. The disparity between a self-represented seller and an experienced plaintiff firm is significant at every stage – from TRO analysis through settlement negotiation. Attorney-led representation, with fees quoted up front, is the realistic baseline for effective defense.

About Tutamen

Tutamen is an independent law firm for online marketplace sellers. We represent Amazon, Walmart, Etsy and eBay sellers in account deactivations, frozen-funds recovery, intellectual-property disputes, arbitration and Notices of Dispute, and US federal Schedule A defense, plus EU marketplace regulation. Our work is attorney-led and confidential, with fees quoted up front. We act for founders, brand owners and in-house teams who need a specialist for a marketplace dispute. All matters are handled on a strict confidentiality basis; fees are fixed and quoted after a short review of the actual order and account facts. To discuss your situation, email info@tutamenlaw.com.

Disclaimer: This article is general information, not legal advice, and does not create an attorney-client relationship. Marketplace policies and the law change, and every account and case is different. For advice on your situation, contact Tutamen at info@tutamenlaw.com.