Why, after 15 years, is eBay asking for my bank statements "WITH transactions?

[melvic4m]

Why, after 15 years, is eBay asking for my bank statements "WITH transactions?

[stephenmorgan]

I did not know they would ask for Bank Statements.

They are required to verify information about a person to be able to send them payments.  

[12345jamesstamps]

When I wanted to have "Instant Funds" where I can withdraw "available funds" every day 25/7 :

I had to submit the first page of my bank statement with the "bank logo" on it. It worked and now I have available funds anytime. And nothing bad happen. Bank printed a first page statement for free to me...and bank thought nothing strange about it.

And I do have two different debit bank cards from two different banks.

I am not sure why they are requesting something from you. Just thoughts here. 

Being on eBay for many years on eBay or positive feedback doesn't matter much in this situation.

There might be some different identification from bank(only you on it?), address change? stuff like that will also get this to happen.

[inhawaii]

Did you ask why?

[fab_finds4u]

https://www.ebay.com/sellercenter/resources/inform-consumers-act

[lakefor94]

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@fab_finds4u wrote:

https://www.ebay.com/sellercenter/resources/inform-consumers-act

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@melvic4m 

All the major online selling venues have to do this. On EBay and Amazon, in the past year, I have had to do Bank Statements, driver's license,  telephone number and address. I don't think eBay verified address yet. Bank Statements twice on Amazon.

Amazon is sending postcards with a code you have to enter into your seller account to verify address.....

If they don't get verification,  they shut you down and then you end up in account verification purgatory. Not a good place to be if you happen to be a serious seller. It is easy to get in but hard get out.

[steannieplus1]

Going through this exact mess right now. 

I’ve been on ebay for 20+ years but don’t sell often so I didn’t realize that there was a restriction on my account. Ebay still allowed me to post a listing and sell an item but when it came time to collect my money, that’s when they decided to pump the brakes. 

I was also asked to RE-verify my ebay account by uploading a copy of my drivers license (no problem) as well as a copy of my bank statement which:

• Includes the name and address of the account owner or business entity 
• Includes the bank's name 
• Lists the bank account number (at least the last 4 digits) 
• Is less than 3 months old 
• Includes transaction details

I tried to upload a copy of my statement with all of the requested information minus the transaction details, asking them to explain why it was needed but kept getting the following automated response:

In order to complete our verification process, we are asking you to provide a bank statement including TRANSACTION DETAILS. Your bank statement will be used to validate the identity information you provided previously. Until you provide us with this documentation, your payouts are on hold.

I called to inquire about the alternative method to verify my account using two micro deposits as documented here https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/getting-paid/registering-seller?id=4792 and was given instructions how to do this. I was assured that once I re-verified my account using the micro deposits, I would no longer be required to send my statement. Great!

Once I completed instructions to re-verify my bank account, I received the following email:

We verified your bank details and you’re all set! If your payouts were on hold, you’ll start receiving funds to your bank account, provided there are no other issues that need your attention.

But when I logged into my account, I was still seeing that there was a restriction on my account. 

Chatted with another representative who told me 

Thanks for sharing this. I see that the back office team has checked the documents and required the bank statement with last 3 month transaction detail in order to verify the account.

(Now they are demanding 3 months of my transaction details?!)

And also

I can understand your point and I would like to inform you that we can not check the call records and apologize for the misinformation given by the previous agent on call. 

This also contradicts the information provided on their own website(link provided above).

Finally, I asked to close out my account because I don’t want to work with ebay based on principle anymore and at this point, I would rather to get my money from the state even if that means I have to wait for it. 

I got the following email just now:

Thanks for sending us your request to close your account. We need some help from you before we can complete the process. 

Here's what you need to do

• You have available funds. Get in touchso we can help you withdraw your money. 

• There's a restriction on your account. You'll need to contact us to get this resolved. 

Once this is done, send us a new request to close your account and we'll be happy to finish the process for you.

What an absolute nightmare this is turning out to be.

Someone inquired why they were requiring this and this is what I was told  

These checks are conducted periodically whenever our systems detect any risks in order to avoid payout failures in advance. This in turn helps maintain accurate details of your bank account which is necessary for a smooth selling experience.

So their excuse is that this is for MY best interest. Keep in mind this is the same bank account I’ve been using for 20+ years. 100% positive feedback. Zero issues with payments or payouts. 

[lakefor94]

Perhaps getting outside the automated verification process has caused problems.  Involving eBay was a mistake. 

Feedback rating has absolutely no bearing on this process.

Nice presentation on the post. You can get verified if you wanted to.

[steannieplus1]

not sure what that's supposed to mean. ebay was involved the minute they decided to hold my funds. my account went from being verified for 20+ years to magically not. 

yes, I can get re-verified if I choose to blindly do as I'm told but I'm not afraid to call them out on their **bleep**. they do not need to see 3 months of my transaction details to verify my identity and no one I've spoken to can properly explain why it is being requested. 

I smell a class action lawsuit coming. 

[dryophelia]

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@steannieplus1 wrote:

I smell a class action lawsuit coming. 

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OPA!

[steannieplus1]

Quick update to let you know that I finally got my money and no, I didn’t have to send a bank statement. But I will never sell on this platform again. 

[howieandricky]

I am having the exact same issues and everytime I request a supervisor to explain why all of a sudden they need a bank statement after I’ve been on eBay for so long and never had before I get told the same **bleep**.  Never get to a supervisor and was hung up on.  There is no need to have my bank statement after I have already been verified and have never had any issues.  This has scammers written all over it.  Every single major corporation that has ever had a data breach had also said that they have secure systems in place to protect our information. 

[steannieplus1]

What finally worked for me was to take a screenshot of the email from ebay saying that my bank had been verified and uploading that as a copy of my bank statement. I didn’t get the same automated response so I took that as a good sign.

A few days later, I got an email saying that my account was placed on a rolling 30-day transaction hold (whatever that means) which I ignored. I got another email the very next day that my payout had been sent. Note that it hadn’t yet been 30 days since I got paid so whatever the issue was seems to have been resolved. I’m no longer seeing the error message when I go to my payouts. From what I can observe, there seems to be some disconnect within eBay’s own departments. 

That said, that was far too much trouble, jumping through hoops to get my money. I will no longer be selling on ebay anymore (I primarily sell on other platforms anyways). 

[lakefor94]

Glad you hear you have received your money.

Best of luck elsewhere. 

[steannieplus1]

Thank you 🙂