Ebay does it again- money hold 21 days

D

Dan Daniel

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Considering that many people here use Ebay, I'll consider this post appropriate, but if the powers that be feel otherwise and remove it, well, understood....

Been on Ebay since 2001. Mainly buy, every now and then I'll sell something. Buy regularly, a few thousand dollars each year. In the last year I've sold maybe 5 items total of $1700 or so. I pay quickly, work with buyers or sellers to solve any problems, no strikes in 17 years.

Just sold something and get a cryptic email from Ebay saying that my money is on a 21 day hold. No explanation for why, no links to learn more, just "there is a hold." This is five days after another sale with no hold.

So I call, wait for 30 minutes through some of the most horrific guitar jangle digital sludge muzak. The rep, who was civil the whole time, reads some boilerplate words as to why my money might be on hold. After five minutes she finally gets that I do not want to hear generic crap, I want to know why MY money is on hold.

I am a "casual seller" to them. And someone recently tweaked their computer to start enforcing a policy. 25 sales or less, money will be held. So now Ebay will be sitting on how many thousands of dollars for 3 weeks (interest adds up when you deal with their numbers). I bet some MBA type is gloating that generating this extra revenue is his ticket to being an even bigger ****.

So nice of Ebay to-

* force me to make them a short term loan.
* provide no explanation for why
* make me sit on hold for 30 minutes rather than pay to staff their call center at a reasonable level (i.e. I am providing free labor to Ebay)
* offer me the option to call after the item is delivered (i.e. spend another half hour on hold) to get my money released if I wish

(aside: bless the customer service people, who have to take the anger and abuse due to decisions made by so-called 'people' who make these idiotic decisions)
 
Sorry to hear this. Paypal sometimes does stuff like this as well - was yours a ebay/paypal transaction?

I highly recommend ebay for buyers but it can be rough for sellers, so they are my next to last resort for selling.
 
Had that trick performed on me too about a year and a half ago. Their excuse: I sold on eBay UK 'and had not established a reputation as a seller there'. After some 175 positive feedbacks selling in Germany and Holland...

I'm not selling on eBay no more. Both the company and the buyers scammed me multiple times: standard scripted replies on complaints from me regarding blatant feedback blackmail, with the result that the seller has ripped item and money, has ripped my seller credibility to shreds too, and eBay stood by them all the way.

I hope they burn to the ground, twice over.
 
Dan Daniel said:
Considering that many people here use Ebay, I'll consider this post appropriate, but if the powers that be feel otherwise and remove it, well, understood....

Been on Ebay since 2001. Mainly buy, every now and then I'll sell something. Buy regularly, a few thousand dollars each year. In the last year I've sold maybe 5 items total of $1700 or so. I pay quickly, work with buyers or sellers to solve any problems, no strikes in 17 years.

Just sold something and get a cryptic email from Ebay saying that my money is on a 21 day hold. No explanation for why, no links to learn more, just "there is a hold." This is five days after another sale with no hold.

So I call, wait for 30 minutes through some of the most horrific guitar jangle digital sludge muzak. The rep, who was civil the whole time, reads some boilerplate words as to why my money might be on hold. After five minutes she finally gets that I do not want to hear generic crap, I want to know why MY money is on hold.

I am a "casual seller" to them. And someone recently tweaked their computer to start enforcing a policy. 25 sales or less, money will be held. So now Ebay will be sitting on how many thousands of dollars for 3 weeks (interest adds up when you deal with their numbers). I bet some MBA type is gloating that generating this extra revenue is his ticket to being an even bigger ****.

So nice of Ebay to-

* force me to make them a short term loan.
* provide no explanation for why
* make me sit on hold for 30 minutes rather than pay to staff their call center at a reasonable level (i.e. I am providing free labor to Ebay)
* offer me the option to call after the item is delivered (i.e. spend another half hour on hold) to get my money released if I wish

(aside: bless the customer service people, who have to take the anger and abuse due to decisions made by so-called 'people' who make these idiotic decisions)
Click to expand...

Yeah, they're using your money for as long as possible.

I quit doing business with ebay when, my bank manager told me that ebay was requesting info on any other bank accounts i had other than the one i used for ebay. They requested the info without my knowledge or permission. Luckily the branch manager is a friend and spotted it. He held the disclosure pending my permission. **** ebay.
 
I agree that eBay has become the venue of last resort. I have been an active buyer and seller on eBay for about 15 years. It ain't what it used to be. The fees are the biggest turn off, in addition to the scams and other nonsense you have to put with as a seller. I once had a buyer ask for a refund because the Nikon zoom lens I sold him was putting spots on his images. What? Another one filed a claim for a partial refund, and when I disputed the refund, his response was he does that with everyone. I blocked him from future auctions.
Enough with eBay. This forum and others are much better and safer venues for selling photo gear.
 
I don't like ebay, and downright hate paypal (what a word!). But they have the stuff. Usually. I seldom sell there anymore, maybe three sales a year, but recently sold an enlarger,and they didn't put a hold on anything. Sometimes they will tell people this and that is a new policy, but it's usually that the rep has no idea what happened, so they begin to dissemble.

I agree, their selling fees are outrageous. Takes a big chunk out of the sale.
 
They are officially big enough to destroy themselves

They are officially big enough to destroy themselves

Dan Daniel said:
Considering that many people here use Ebay, I'll consider this post appropriate, but if the powers that be feel otherwise and remove it, well, understood....

Been on Ebay since 2001. Mainly buy, every now and then I'll sell something. Buy regularly, a few thousand dollars each year. In the last year I've sold maybe 5 items total of $1700 or so. I pay quickly, work with buyers or sellers to solve any problems, no strikes in 17 years.

Just sold something and get a cryptic email from Ebay saying that my money is on a 21 day hold. No explanation for why, no links to learn more, just "there is a hold." This is five days after another sale with no hold.

So I call, wait for 30 minutes through some of the most horrific guitar jangle digital sludge muzak. The rep, who was civil the whole time, reads some boilerplate words as to why my money might be on hold. After five minutes she finally gets that I do not want to hear generic crap, I want to know why MY money is on hold.

I am a "casual seller" to them. And someone recently tweaked their computer to start enforcing a policy. 25 sales or less, money will be held. So now Ebay will be sitting on how many thousands of dollars for 3 weeks (interest adds up when you deal with their numbers). I bet some MBA type is gloating that generating this extra revenue is his ticket to being an even bigger ****.

So nice of Ebay to-

* force me to make them a short term loan.
* provide no explanation for why
* make me sit on hold for 30 minutes rather than pay to staff their call center at a reasonable level (i.e. I am providing free labor to Ebay)
* offer me the option to call after the item is delivered (i.e. spend another half hour on hold) to get my money released if I wish

(aside: bless the customer service people, who have to take the anger and abuse due to decisions made by so-called 'people' who make these idiotic decisions)
Click to expand...


Dear Dan,

I'm sorry for your troubles. Ebay is now so big that they will lead to their own demise.

I buy from Ebay, but I'd rather donate to Goodwill, or throw something away, before I sell it on Ebay.

Regards,

Tim Murphy
Harrisburg, PA :)
 
Thanks for the comments. I've had two sales for two or more times the price of this present sale in the last year, no holds.

I used to work at a place which used Ebay for both buying and selling. We were a mid-small operation. And Ebay treated us like crap. It seemed that someone with 30,000 sales could do whatever they wanted and Ebay wouldn't touch them. You have 300 and you are a nuisance to Ebay, you have 30 and you are a liability to them.

Lesson learned. Motivation to develop new ways to sell! Anyone know if there is any place for medium format film cameras on Fred Miranda? Other places beyond here and APUG/Photrio?
 
Dan Daniel said:
Thanks for the comments. I've had two sales for two or more times the price of this present sale in the last year, no holds.

I used to work at a place which used Ebay for both buying and selling. We were a mid-small operation. And Ebay treated us like crap. It seemed that someone with 30,000 sales could do whatever they wanted and Ebay wouldn't touch them. You have 300 and you are a nuisance to Ebay, you have 30 and you are a liability to them.

Lesson learned. Motivation to develop new ways to sell! Anyone know if there is any place for medium format film cameras on Fred Miranda? Other places beyond here and APUG/Photrio?
Click to expand...

the subreddit /photomarket is decent.
 
Ebay or PayPal?
If you have pause with sales, then your seller account is reset.
If you are on reset, it means they will withhold payment to make sure item is received.
I can't tell for sure if it is ebay or paypal.
But I resolved it with PayPal couple of times. I'm not high volume speculant.
 
Ebay did that to me on an M6 I sold to a guy in Paris from the US. That was it for me with eBay and PayPal. Never again.
 
same here, after similar experiences I use eBay/Paypal only as buyer and only if there's no other way around to get a special item. Sadly there are no serious alternatives on the horizon with a similar functionality and such wide audience.

Jürgen
 
Selling on eBay is a nightmare, yes, it's the biggest market we have but every time I sold something I had to pray for more than a month for: the item to arrive, to arrive in good shape, the buyer not to fill a complain as item not received nor item not as described, to ebay or paypal to release the money and so on.
Now, I only buy on eBay and sell in forums or FB marketplace.
 
ptpdprinter said:
How does eBay hold your money? How did the buyer pay?
Click to expand...
The buyer used Paypal. I don't know the mechanics of the hold. Paypal sent me an email saying that Ebay had put a hold on the funds. That's it. No details except a link to a page that shows a generic list of possible reasons.

Ebay sent me nothing. No email, no message on the site. Pretty rude if you ask me.

Oh, but they have already added their fee for the sale to my bill.

I don't know who has the money at this time. Paypal? Ebay? Do they split the interest they earn or does one of them get it all? What is my cut of this?

And when do I get paid for the half hour of time I spent on hold in order to save them from having to have proper staffing levels?

So many questions!
 
I’ll try being devils advocate, perhaps unwisely. :)

People complain about bad transactions, unreliable sellers that don’t post perfect photos or have full and complete expert descriptions, sellers that take too long to ship, scam sellers that use photos from previous auctions, etc etc. Everyone wants a perfect and pleasing transaction, right?

One way to filter out bad actors is to put funds on hold. They’ll state 21 days but will release the funds much earlier if the buyer posts positive feedback.

They’ll also put limits on the number of listings and dollar amounts, too, with new sellers.

Are they doing this to simply collect interest on the funds?

It’s important for buyers to feel that their purchases are safe, which is why they offer buyer protection. There is little to no risk for buyers, this gives buyers confidence and keeps them visiting the site and keeps them shopping. If a buyer is scammed, and eBay covers the loss, the funds come from the Ebay fees that sellers pay.

If you’re a casual seller it is pretty easy to put in a little work with some small sales in order to create a positive sales history. This will not only give your potential buyers confidence via your feedback score, it will help to increase sales limits and get your funds faster.

It’s all about building credibility with eBay via sales history.

I have several Ebay accounts (one major one for selling, and several for buying) and often get promotions from eBay to entice my buying accounts to start selling. These promotions can be varied, such as a reduction in Ebay fees, or even cash credits based on the sales volume; I.e., sell $500 of stuff within 30 days, get $50 and zero Ebay fees, or something similar. I took advantage of some of these and since the accounts had zero sales history the funds were held. With quick shipment and positive feedback the funds were released in only a few days.

Email your buyers and remind them to post positive feedback.
 
Zero issues with this and ebay/paypal personally. Ever. It sounds like the policy is documented and a few others above have cleared it up.
 
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