eBay holds funds for a much more valuable reason than most think

[dgway_78]

The biggest reason eBay holds funds is so the funds can sit somewhere they accumulate interest. With them holding everyone's funds even for a short time, the amount of money they hold can make some significant interest for them. Everybody is aware of how eBay is a pretty awful company and they most definitely care about buyers 10 fold to their sellers. Just wanted to give everyone some food for thought.

[inhawaii]

Thank you for that information.

I will take the appropriate action.

[buyselljack2016]

yup, I will add this thread to my list of 4,983 others that have been posted to inform us of such.

[powell-memorabilia]

Have you done the math?  Really, they would not make much.  Math is a pretty good tool.  Really, do the math - eBay would earn peanuts.  The reward would not be worth the risk - not even close.

Truth is that holding funds doesn’t affect most sellers at any given time.  New or infrequent sellers, sure.  Big ticket items from sellers with a lack of a good track record with such sales?  You bet.  

[chapeau-noir]

Uhhh...most people know this already?

[dhbookds]

My opinion.......if they didn't earn interest on it, they would be poor business people......

If I remember correctly.......paypal (when it was owned by ebay) stated they didn't earn interest on it......which I thought was odd........I believe they stated with the present money processor they do receive interest on it.......  Other than new/sanctioned sellers, sellers have the option of having the $$ sent to them daily.....which wouldn't provide much gain for ebay...but it would be foolish to leave it sitting around earning nothing for the rest. 

[bonjourami]

Wouldnt those funds have to go into an interest bearing account, rather than just 'holding' them? And as mentioned, since millions of sellers are paid daily,or bi weekly,or weekly, that doesnt make sense.

[ten_o_nine]

It's against the law to do that. I am sure no company in the USA would hold funds just for the interest. 

[dhbookds]

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@ten_o_nine wrote:

It's against the law to do that. I am sure no company in the USA would hold funds just for the interest. 

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against the law to do what?   Certainly, companies hold money in  an account and earn interest.......what do you expect them to do with cash they receive?

[gurlcat]

For future reference, any time you have a question or want to make a bold claim, there is a way to check and see if you'd be wasting others' time or making yourself look foolish.  

[kensgiftshop]

The biggest reason they hold funds is to make sure the money is there in case they have to refund a buyer because the seller didn't ship the order or a buyer wants to return an item.

[hartungcards]

You don't need a question mark at the end of a declarative statement.

[inhawaii]

Can i do that same search on "slow sales"?    😉

[janet9988]

Ebay DOES earn interest on the funds on hold.

https://pages.ebay.com/payment/2.0/terms.html

[gurlcat]

LOL there's a forum called "I Got My Refund" that people start flocking to around January 1st, to compare notes and gossip related to when the IRS will issue tax refunds.  I'm an addict of about 7 years now, partly just because it's a hoot and a half every time, just what you would expect from a group of people including those desperate for money and people who have strong opinions about the government, etc.  -One of the most common outcries there is about the banks not making the funds available for a day or two (plus however long the tax preparing company holds it before sending to the bank, in cases where the filer opted to have their prep fees taken out of the refund) .  Every year there's this same claim about doing it to collect interest comes up.