What to know about what to do the day you are served on eBay

TL;DRBeing served as a Schedule A defendant in a US federal lawsuit means a judge has already signed a temporary restraining order – often before you received any notice. On eBay, that order typically freezes your PayPal or managed-payments balance and suspends your listings simultaneously. The day you are served is not the moment the case begins; it is, in most situations, days or weeks after the TRO was entered. What you do in the next 48 hours matters more than anything that comes later.

This page answers the questions sellers actually ask on the day they discover the lawsuit: what the paperwork means, what the asset freeze covers, whether ignoring it is an option, and what a realistic defense path looks like. If you want the full procedural picture first, the complete guide to Schedule A / TRO defense for sellers covers the entire lifecycle in detail.

What exactly does "being served" mean in a Schedule A case on eBay?

Service in a Schedule A case means you have been formally delivered the complaint, the TRO order, and the supporting papers – which together tell you that a federal court has already granted emergency relief against you without your participation. In matters we handle, sellers often describe receiving a thick envelope or an unexpected email that contains a court order, a list of frozen accounts, and a deadline that is already days away.

A Schedule A complaint lists defendants by number rather than by name on the public docket. You are typically identified by your eBay store name or seller ID. The plaintiff – usually a brand owner or a law firm acting under a repeat-plaintiff program – obtained the TRO on an ex parte basis, meaning the court heard only one side. That is lawful; the rules allow it when a plaintiff can show that giving you advance notice would let you move assets or delete evidence. Whether that showing was genuinely warranted in your specific case is one of the first questions your counsel should assess.

Service can happen several ways: personal delivery, email to the address eBay has on file, or publication by the court's own process. By the time paper lands in your hands, the freeze has usually been in place for some time. The timeline matters because most TRO orders contain a date by which you must either comply, negotiate an agreed modification, or appear to contest the order.

What the order does not mean is that the case is over or that you have lost. It is an emergency measure, granted on a low evidentiary standard, and it is fully contestable. The myth that being named in a Schedule A case equals an automatic loss leads many sellers to delay or default – which is the one outcome that really does end the case against them, and badly.

What does the asset freeze on eBay actually cover?

The asset freeze in a typical Schedule A TRO is broad by design: it covers the funds held in your eBay managed-payments account, any associated PayPal balance linked to the same seller account, and sometimes downstream payment processors. In matters we handle, sellers are surprised to find that the freeze can extend to accounts not directly tied to the eBay storefront if the order was drafted broadly enough and the plaintiff served the relevant payment provider.

eBay complies with a valid federal court order quickly. The practical result is that funds that were sitting in your managed-payments balance on the day the order was served become inaccessible. New sales proceeds may also be held rather than disbursed, depending on how the order is worded. Your listings may be taken down at the same time, cutting off incoming revenue.

What the freeze does not do, in most standard orders, is reach your personal bank accounts, real property, or business assets held outside the accounts specifically named. That boundary matters when you are assessing how much breathing room you have to fund a defense. The freeze amount is also typically capped – tied either to the alleged damages in the complaint or to the balance available at the time of service, whichever the order specifies.

One critical point: touching frozen funds – attempting a transfer, withdrawal, or reallocation – after you have actual notice of the order is a contempt risk. Do not move anything until counsel has reviewed the specific language of the order. That review takes a few hours; the contempt exposure lasts for the life of the case.

What should I do in the first 24 hours after being served?

The single most important action in the first 24 hours is to read the order for its compliance deadlines and the date of any preliminary injunction hearing. Everything else flows from those dates. A TRO hearing date is often set within days of service; if you miss it without appearance, the court can convert the TRO into a preliminary injunction on the plaintiff's terms.

Practically, here is the sequence we walk sellers through in the initial call:

1. Identify all papers received – complaint, TRO order, any supporting declarations, and the summons. Do not discard or alter any of them.
2. Locate every account named in the order and confirm what is frozen. Log the current balance if you can still see it.
3. Do not contact the plaintiff's law firm directly. Anything you say, even an informal email, becomes a record in the case.
4. Do not attempt to transfer, withdraw, or convert any funds covered by the order.
5. Write down, with timestamps, everything you remember about how you sourced the products at issue: supplier names, invoices, authorization letters, purchase records.
6. Contact a lawyer – ideally one with Schedule A experience – before the end of the business day. Most TRO orders carry a response clock measured in days, not weeks.

That sixth step is not just practical advice. The motion to dissolve or modify the TRO requires a lawyer to sign and file it in federal court. You cannot file that motion yourself as a business entity, and even individual sellers who are technically permitted to appear pro se are at a severe disadvantage in a federal IP proceeding where the plaintiff is represented by a specialized firm that files dozens of these cases annually.

Is ignoring the papers a realistic option?

No. Ignoring service in a Schedule A case almost certainly results in a default judgment against you – which is final, converts the TRO into a permanent injunction, and can expose you to a damages award that includes the plaintiff's legal fees, statutory damages, and any profits the court determines you made from the alleged infringement. Default in federal IP cases is not a procedural inconvenience; it ends your ability to contest anything.

We regularly see sellers who waited, hoping the case would resolve itself or that the freeze would lift automatically. It does not. The clock on a TRO is short, but the clock on a default is permanent. Once a default judgment is entered, setting it aside requires a separate motion showing excusable neglect and a meritorious defense – a much harder standard than simply appearing at the TRO hearing in the first place.

The SAD scheme – the informal name for the wave of Schedule A Defendants litigation that has moved through US federal courts – has been criticized by courts and commentators for its breadth, its use of sealed proceedings, and the asymmetry it creates between sophisticated repeat plaintiffs and small marketplace sellers. That criticism is now part of the record in multiple federal districts. Courts have, in a number of cases, dissolved or significantly narrowed TROs on motion. But that outcome requires a timely appearance and a factual record. It does not happen by waiting.

For a fuller account of how these cases work and what options remain at each stage, see what sellers should know about being named as a Schedule A defendant.

What are the real decision points and trade-offs?

Once counsel has reviewed the order and the underlying complaint, you typically face three paths: contest the TRO aggressively, negotiate a settlement, or some combination of the two. The right answer depends on your actual exposure – meaning the evidentiary strength of the plaintiff's claim, the size of the frozen balance, your supplier documentation, and whether the product at issue was genuinely infringing or was a legitimate authorized sale that was caught in a broad sweep.

Contesting the TRO through a motion to dissolve or modify is the path that gives you leverage. If counsel can demonstrate that the plaintiff's ex parte showing was flawed – overstated damages, incorrect product identification, jurisdictional reach that does not hold up – the court may dissolve the order or release funds pending a fuller hearing. Courts have done this. It takes time and resources, but it resets the negotiating dynamics entirely.

Settlement is the path most Schedule A cases ultimately take. The question is not whether to settle but when and on what terms. Settling before the TRO hearing, under maximum pressure and with frozen funds, produces worse outcomes than settling after a court has seen the defendants' evidence and noted concerns. The detailed breakdown of the seller's real options inside a SAD scheme lawsuit covers how to read a settlement demand and what terms matter most.

A third consideration is joinder. Schedule A complaints name dozens, sometimes hundreds, of defendants in a single filing. Courts in several districts have questioned whether joining unrelated sellers in a single action is procedurally proper. A joinder or misjoinder challenge, if it succeeds, breaks the case into individual actions – which changes both the economics for the plaintiff and the path for the defendant. Whether this argument is available depends on the specific complaint and the district where the case is filed.

The decision matrix in practice: if the frozen balance is modest and you have weak supplier documentation, a quick settlement may be the most commercially rational exit, particularly if counsel can negotiate a release of most of the frozen funds. If the balance is significant or if you have clean authorization paperwork, contesting the order is worth the additional effort. If there are grounds to challenge jurisdiction or joinder, those should be assessed before any settlement posture is taken, because they affect what the plaintiff needs to spend to maintain the case.

A home-goods seller on eBay US (spring 2026) contacted us the day they received service. The complaint alleged trademark infringement on a product the seller had sourced through an authorized US distributor. We obtained the distributor's letter of authorization, reviewed the chain of title, and filed a motion to dissolve the TRO on the grounds that the sale was authorized and the plaintiff's ex parte showing was factually incomplete. The order was modified within a short period to release most of the frozen balance while the case continued, and the matter settled on terms that preserved the seller's ability to continue selling the product through authorized channels.

How does personal jurisdiction and venue affect an eBay seller's defense?

Personal jurisdiction is the court's legal authority to enter a judgment against you. Most Schedule A cases are filed in the Northern District of Illinois or the Southern District of Florida, regardless of where the defendant seller is located. If you are a foreign seller – including many eBay sellers based in China, Hong Kong, the UK, or elsewhere – the question of whether a US federal court has valid personal jurisdiction over you is a live one, not a settled issue.

US courts have held that selling into the forum state through a marketplace can establish minimum contacts sufficient for jurisdiction. But that analysis is fact-specific: the volume of sales to buyers in the forum state, the degree of marketplace targeting, and the structure of the defendant's operation all matter. A foreign eBay seller who made one sale to one buyer in Illinois has a different jurisdictional argument than one with hundreds of forum-state transactions.

Venue objections are related but distinct. Even if jurisdiction exists, venue may be improper if the defendant and the operative events have no meaningful connection to the chosen district. Raising these defenses early – in a pre-answer motion rather than buried in an answer – preserves them. Failing to raise them in the first responsive pleading usually waives them permanently.

We work through jurisdiction and venue analysis as a routine part of the initial case assessment. For sellers based outside the US, we work with appropriate local counsel on any cross-border procedural questions while handling the federal court defense directly.

What does the defense process actually look like, step by step?

A Schedule A TRO defense on eBay follows a compressed but fairly predictable sequence once counsel is engaged. Understanding the steps helps sellers calibrate expectations and prepare the right documents.

Step 1 – Initial review (Day 1). Counsel reads the complaint, the TRO order, and the supporting papers to identify the claims, the court, the frozen accounts, the hearing date, and any immediate compliance obligations. This is the step that determines which of the three strategic paths is available.

Step 2 – Supplier and authorization audit (Days 1–2). The seller gathers every document related to the products at issue: purchase orders, invoices, authorization letters from the brand or an authorized distributor, import records, and listing screenshots. The strength of this file is the single biggest factor in the case's trajectory.

Step 3 – Motion practice or TRO hearing preparation (Days 2–5, depending on the court's schedule). If the facts support it, counsel drafts a motion to dissolve or modify the TRO and files it in advance of the hearing. If settlement is the more rational path, counsel prepares a negotiating position and opens a channel with plaintiff's counsel.

Step 4 – The hearing (within days of service in most jurisdictions). If the TRO has not been dissolved or settled, the court holds a hearing on whether to convert it to a preliminary injunction. This is the pivotal moment. A well-argued motion can result in full dissolution, a partial fund release, or a negotiated standstill while discovery proceeds.

Step 5 – Ongoing case management or settlement. If the case does not resolve at the TRO stage, it proceeds through the ordinary federal litigation calendar: discovery, dispositive motions, trial or settlement. Most Schedule A cases settle before trial, but the terms of settlement shift significantly based on what happened at steps 3 and 4.

A second micro-case: a collectibles seller on eBay UK-facing (winter 2025) was named in a Schedule A complaint filed in a US federal court alleging patent infringement on a product the seller had been listing for several years. We assessed the jurisdictional facts, concluded the plaintiff's minimum-contacts argument was weak for that seller's transaction profile, and raised a pre-answer motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction. The case against that seller was dismissed without prejudice shortly after the motion was filed.

Related areas

• Schedule A / TRO Defense – federal IP defense for marketplace sellers named in Schedule A complaints
• Amazon Account Reinstatement – Plan of Action drafting and appeal representation for deactivated Amazon sellers

If a first motion or response has already been filed and did not go well, a second review can identify what was missed and what, if anything, is still open. Email info@tutamenlaw.com with the case caption and the dates on the order, and we will tell you what we can do.

Frequently asked questions

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

The timeline depends on whether the case settles at the TRO stage or moves through full federal litigation. A TRO hearing typically occurs within days of service; a motion to dissolve or modify is usually filed and heard within that same window. Cases that settle early – often within several weeks of the TRO being entered – resolve fastest. Cases that involve contested jurisdiction, joinder challenges, or protracted settlement negotiations can run for months. In matters we handle, the TRO phase is the most time-sensitive and the phase where early action has the most leverage on the overall duration.

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

The primary risk is default. Business entities cannot appear pro se in US federal court; they must be represented by a licensed attorney. Even individual sellers who are technically permitted to appear without counsel face severe practical disadvantages: missing the TRO hearing deadline, failing to raise jurisdictional defenses before they are waived, inadvertently making admissions in communications with plaintiff's counsel, and accepting settlement terms that could have been significantly improved with legal representation. A second risk is contempt – attempting to move frozen funds without a court order releasing them. Both risks are avoidable with timely counsel engagement.

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

If your eBay seller account is a business entity – LLC, corporation, or similar – you are legally required to have a licensed attorney appear for you in US federal court. There is no exception. For individual sellers, the practical answer is also yes: the procedural stakes, the compressed timeline, and the adversary's institutional experience make self-representation a high-risk path in virtually every Schedule A case. What varies is the type of engagement needed. Some sellers need full litigation support; others need a narrow motion filed and a settlement negotiated. A short initial review determines which applies to your situation.

Can the asset freeze be challenged or partially lifted?

Yes. A motion to modify the TRO can seek a partial release of frozen funds, particularly if the amount frozen exceeds any plausible damages calculation or if the plaintiff's underlying showing was factually deficient. Courts have granted modifications releasing working capital or a portion of the held balance while the case continues. The strength of the motion depends on the quality of the seller's supplier documentation and the legal arguments available – jurisdiction, joinder, and the adequacy of the plaintiff's ex parte showing are the most common grounds in the matters we handle.

What happens if I do nothing?

Inaction in a Schedule A case results in a default judgment. A clerk's entry of default can be requested after the answer deadline passes; a default judgment can follow shortly after. Once entered, the judgment is final and enforceable – meaning the plaintiff can seek to collect from any unprotected assets, not just the frozen eBay balance. Setting aside a default requires a separate motion and a showing that the neglect was excusable, which is a higher bar than simply appearing in the case in the first place. There is no version of waiting in which the case resolves favorably without engagement.

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. Our Schedule A practice covers TRO dissolution motions, asset-freeze challenges, joinder and jurisdiction defenses, and settlement. To discuss your situation, email info@tutamenlaw.com.

Page authored by Noah Brennan, Federal Litigation & Schedule A Analyst, Tutamen.

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.