Ebay does it again- money hold 21 days

[Dan Daniel]

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.

I do not agree that 'the policy is well documented' nor do I agree that 'a few others above have cleared it up.'

 

[splitimageview]

I took one of my buying accounts and started to make a listing. I’ve never sold on that account before.

When doing so, I was shown the hold notice and the “learn more” link.

The link looks fairly detailed to me, including scenarios of how long the funds are held depending on ship method, tracking, etc. and how to minimize it.

 

[noisycheese]

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 set 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)

I have bought and sold stuff on ebay in past years with no problems, but reading the horror stories of ebay's arbitrary and abusive treatment of its buyers and particularly its sellers has made me unwilling to risk subjecting myself to said arbitrary and abusive treatment.

Other than TSA and some airline employees, no other business entity or organization feels it is their God given right to piss on customers the way ebay does.

To hell with ebay - the sooner it is sucked under, the better.

 

[splitimageview]

Please explain how taking steps to ensure that sellers are legit is 'pissing on customers' and is 'abusive and arbitrary.'

 

[jvo]

i suspect it also has to do with their guarantee policy... if the business does not allow returns, eBay provides a guarantee to the buyer if the sale/ product is not as described, not rec'd, or other problem. They will return your money including shipping costs -and usually within 5 days.

It happened that way to me - 2 times. One time, the seller sent me faulty equipment, then disappeared. The second was a fraudulent Chinese seller/scammer who was generating listings with no product at all, just using pictures from the net, getting the payment and disappearing - apparently a big problem for eBay.

It helps if they don't have to chase the "legit" sellers if the buyer is unhappy - but of course, sucks if your a seller!