DOES EBAY HOLD ANYONE ELSE'S FUNDS AS A LOAN?
I’ve been selling on eBay for over 6 years, and I’ve never been this frustrated.
eBay has been holding my funds for almost a month now, with no clear explanation other than vague “trust and safety†reviews.
They keep asking me for proof of delivery on orders I already refunded, or on items that were already confirmed delivered (I even provided UPS tracking links). Instead of checking, support just keeps giving me copy-paste responses and running me in circles.
Meanwhile, they want me to basically “loan†them thousands of dollars by reshipping items at my own expense while they sit on my money. They’re making fees off every transaction while I get nothing.
This isn’t about “buyer safety†anymore – it feels like eBay is just using sellers’ cash flow for themselves.
Has anyone else gone through this? How did you actually get eBay to release your money?
babyers88
·10 months agoyou can go to the ebay seller hub, click on performance, then on the left side bottom of the list you will see SERVICE METRICS. click on that and it may show you something in relation to your peers.
also as far as the documentation request, that is what is called VETTING it shows that you are legit, so all of those doc's must be document form i.e. .pdf, ms office doc's, excel etc and must be verifiable with the company or dealer purchased from with your matching name/address/telephone number/state issued id etc. (photo's are not accepted for any of it)
trust and safety will review them and get back to you sooner or later..... meaning it could be 2-3 days or 2-3 weeks or even longer.
beyond that like in most cases, the buyer is always right, even if they are wrong, and ebay looks at it just like that.
soh.maryl
·11 months agoGiven the state of your feedback profile, it's more than a little surprising that you are getting sales at all.
And in the several pages of back and forth messages here, you don't seem to want to address those negatives or the awful replies you left.
heckofagame
·11 months agoGood luck to you.
underscoresmilez
OP11 months agoIt's comical get me to do the same thing every single time. They really want me banned off here.
We have placed your eBay payouts on hold. We have taken this action to help ensure a safe trading environment for you and the eBay Community, as well as to confirm that your use of the services meets the guidelines of the eBay User Agreement.
Thank you for the additional information about order xxxxxxxxxx. After verification I can confirm that tracking number xxxxxxxxxxx does show the custom clearance being pending, which falls under buyer's responsibility.
In order for us to review your account we now ask that you please upload the following information:
- Documentation that shows that you purchased the items recently listed for sale on eBay. Documentation that will help us verify your items can include either manufacturer invoices or receipts. Unfortunately, we will be unable to accept photos of the items to fulfill this requirement. (NOTE: This documentation must show your suppliers' information, items purchased, quantity purchased, price per unit and your payment information.)
-- Important --
- Make sure that your name and User ID appear on each document that you submit. If this information is not included, it cannot be processed.
- Be sure your submitted documents are current, valid, and legible.
To submit the requested documents quickly, please click on the following link and follow the steps below:
https://ocswf.ebay.com/mudcwf?deptName=CRM
1. Click on the above link and sign in using your eBay user ID and password.
2. Click ‘Continue’
3. Select the documents needing to be uploaded by clicking ‘Browse’. Once they are selected, choose the Document Type from the drop down list.
4. Select send and wait for the confirmation to appear to ensure your documents have been submitted for review.
orangehound
·11 months agoTo me, this reads that you are being investigated for violating eBay's drop-shipping policy.
https://export.ebay.com/en/services-tools/shipping/shipping-tips-and-best-practice/drop-shipping/
jameshen1
·11 months agoExactly. Pretty apparent. But by pointing that out to the OP, you will be accused of working for eBay or something.
underscoresmilez
OP11 months agoPretty apparent im drop shipping? **bleep** are all of you on
hartungcards
·11 months agoI'm pretty jagged up on coffee at the moment.
momtoabeautifuldaughter
·10 months agoYou actually have 2 of the commercial freeze dryers? You are using stock photos of new items but listing says used *red flag to eBay*
Multiple Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max
Listings serval expensive watches
underscoresmilez
OP11 months agoHonestly idgaf about ebay anymore. My attitude is a reflection of them. I provide receipts to them like every quarter now. These idiots make me do this all the time. And guess what, I pass all the time.....
Honestly might be best if i just leave....
Everyone on here assumes the worst and just d rides ebay.....
GO AFTER THE HOARD OF SCAMMERS ON THIS POS
slati_2013
·11 months agoWell, you are done here on eBay. Good luck wherever you land.
momtoabeautifuldaughter
·10 months agoYou're being investigated for drop shipping.
Also on presale items you have to have the date of when the item will be shipped.
mam98031
·10 months ago@momtoabeautifuldaughter
On some of their items they could be dropshipping but on many others the pics are clearly theirs. Although I would not that not all listings using stock photos are drop shippers. I would add that drop shipping isn't a dirty word or means a seller is doing anything wrong.
The use of stock photos is NOT a clear indication that the buyer is drop shipping. I use stock phots all the time if they are a true representation of what I'm selling. All my items are 100% stocked / purchased by me and stored in my home.
I drop shipped fragrances for years. I stopped because it was way too much work. IMHO doing it the right way can make for a successful seller. However the work that goes into making this a good alternative IMHO is a lot harder than most think.
I would only use vendors that gave me / emailed me an inventory report every day. On that report I was notified of new things that came into stock, things that had price increases and things that are now out of stock. I went through that report every single day to ensure my listings were correctly representing what was for sale. In the years I did this it was very rare for me to have to cancel an order because I was OOS.
I personally wouldn't drop ship anything that I could not get such an inventory report from the supplier. It is likely just me as I do not like flying into the blind.
glorybells
·10 months agoI’ve always wanted to have personal possession of everything I list, although I’m trying to talk a friend into letting me list her artwork, then she would ship it.
momtoabeautifuldaughter
·10 months agoSame, I have almost 3000 items for sale but they are in a dedicated room in my home.
itsjustasprain
·10 months agoI am not seeing that exactly. On many others the pics are clearly amateur photos - but vary so wildly in quality and (especially) backgrounds that they appear to have been 'borrowed' from someone else. (Look at all the different backgrounds and angles of photos in the Pokemon listings.) I am not talking about Ebay catalog photos but simply images lifted from elsewhere such as the golf clubs on a couch which Google image search identified as originating from a Reddit post several months earlier. Other photos were taken using a smartphone in a department store or big box store.
It does not look like dropshipping from a contracted supplier but retail arbitrage. The OP feedback includes instances where it looks like the sale went sideways because the OP could not find an example on sale to ship to the buyer.
The OP is spectacularly evasive in ignoring any and all questions about how they got the items (if they even have them) or where the photos were taken. Their problem is that although we can be ignored - Ebay can not.
mam98031
·10 months ago"It does not look like dropshipping from a contracted supplier but retail arbitrage." What tells you that? How do you know they don't have a contract with their vendor? I'm just curious as to how you made that observation.
It is not unusual for an OP not to participate in a thread they created. We see it all the time. But I sure agree with you that it would help if they participated. With that said, some of the posts certainly would not inspire the OP to post.
itsjustasprain
·10 months agoThe stock photo listings are a tossup. It was all the other photos (ESPECIALLY the ones taken in department stores or big box stores as well as the ones that were simply lifted from other listings) coupled with complaints about long shipping delays and 'out of stock' issues that indicate that the OP did not actually have the items on hand but would attempt to buy them someplace if a sale occurred.
The OP was posting up until it became apparent that the audience was not agreeing with her. Questions were ignored even though they were the same questions about how she sourced the items as Ebay was wanting to know. The OP was in similar hot water back in 2021 and stopped responding there also when questions were raised about where she was finding all those PS5s:
https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/EBAY-SUSPENDS-FOR-no-reason-multiple-times-asking-for-the-same/td-p/31629192
mam98031
·10 months agoStill that is a guess, not a fact. There is no way for any of us to know if they have an agreement with any vendor.
Yes that tends to happen when us natives get a little hostile with the OP. I can understand why they would not want to subject themselves to it intentionally.
orangehound
·11 months agoThe funds withholding seems to be an acute symptom of a larger problem that eBay is seeing with your account. Like someone wrote earlier, you should be more concerned with your account getting permanently suspended.
If I were you, I would remove all the drop-selling listings and all the pre-order listings. I might even do some things to accommodate the tariff issues between the US and Canada, or stop selling to the US until this tariff mess gets sorted out.
Yes, that may mean less money for you for a period, but better that than losing everything.
gloryglorygifts
·11 months agoHave you tried contacting the ebay reps at facebook, instagram, & twitter or are you just chatting through here? I would try talking to the ebay reps at facebook and see if they can provide any kind of help to you. They are probably your only resort. Here's the link. Give them a day to get back to you. https://www.facebook.com/ebay.
Good luck to you.
gone.c-33
·11 months agoeBay will never force you to re ship an item.
In the case of the customer hanger, if they don’t pay the customs, the item will come back to you. So you refund. Shipping another item will again have the item stuck in customs. Don’t ship anything that is not DDP to the US at the moment.
underscoresmilez
OP11 months agoWhat do you mean. Ebay is forcing me to ship the item again. Its the only way they will release the funds. Do you want the email for your sanity? Do you suggest me to just wait another month or how ever long it takes?
Why do all you people all assume that I am doing something wrong. Okay feedback might not be so great but all these people are karens with nothing better to do. Open a case on me instead of leaving a feedback that I can't dispute. It's all assumptions from morons that ebay sides with 90% of the time. Everything i say gets swept under a rug or I have to message them the same thing 50 times. It's a complete waste of time. Just like this forum.
Tell me how they won't remove a feedback that insinuates I am a scammer. Obviously if that's the case then why am I still here.
I cannot even contact an agent anymore through the phone. They never call back and im stuck typing to a brain dead CS staff that take hours to reply.
But I will provide any and every detail I can regarding this for people to see im not a scammer. 1 negative feedback and everyone becomes hysterical. Gotta love it.
Anyway I have to go now.
golfingaddict
·11 months agoSince you are registered in Canada, things may be a bit different.
We are just users, like you, and have no ability to help you with funds that are being held. No matter how much you would like a quick answer and resolution, my experience with other sellers that have similar issues, is that eBay will hold them until they don't and you can't "demand" they change this.
Here is the US version of Payments on hold. Payments on hold | eBay
The thing you need to understand is that eBay won't tell users exactly why, when, how they ultimately determine payment holds because they don't want sellers to find ways around it.
I will say that your feedback profile is disturbing and may offer clues to why you have payments held.
I simply do not understand why you say you are shipping another item to a buyer simply because it is held up in customs, particularly because you say it might be a bad address. That does not make sense.
Here is the eBay Canada help. Payments on hold | eBay
There is also a link to contact an agent on that page. They may be able to tell you more than anyone here can. We just see a seller with questionable listings, a lot of complaints in feedback and a quick number of high end sales that did not end well.
eBay is not holding your funds as a loan. That is just a silly distraction in your title. They are holding funds to assure that they don't lose money, the customer does not lose money and to assure you are going to do what you promise in your listings and when you agreed to the user agreement.
Good luck.
underscoresmilez
OP11 months agoWe have placed your eBay payouts on hold. We have taken this action to help ensure a safe trading environment for you and the eBay Community, as well as to confirm that your use of the services meets the guidelines of the eBay User Agreement.
I acknowledge that:
-order xxxxxx being a presale, we are waiting for the tracking to be uploaded as soone as possible when item is available
-order xxxxxx2 is showing as delivered on tracking site
To appeal this payout hold, you'll need to:
- Provide the new tracking and proof of delviery for the order xxxxxx2 that you are re-shipping. When you are able to successfully confirm the delivery of the xxxxxx2 sold on your account, you may appeal this restriction further. At that time, please reply to this email to continue the appeal process.
-- Note --
- It may take up to 3 business days to review your information.
We appreciate your cooperation in resolving this matter as quickly as possible. We look forward to working with you to restore your payouts.
Kind Regards,
Emmanuelle
eBay Trust and Safety
toysaver
·11 months agoWhat do you expect when you sell items on preorder????????????????????
underscoresmilez
OP11 months agoPreorders are allowed under ebay policy as long as the listing discloses it. The issue isn’t that I sold a preorder, the issue is ebay withholding funds even after items are delivered and confirmed, or when refunds have already been issued. Thats outside of their own stated policy
mam98031
·11 months agoThey are. But in many of your PreOrder listings, you do not even state the date of release. Ebay has specific rules for these types of listings and you aren't complying with the policy.
https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/listing-policies/presale-listings-policy?id=4252
underscoresmilez
OP11 months agoI understand your points, but here’s the problem:
I’ve been fully transparent with eBay. I’ve provided tracking numbers, refunds where required, and even direct UPS links confirming delivery. Despite that, I’m still being asked for the same information over and over, and my funds have been locked for weeks almost a month.
It’s not about me refusing to provide info. It’s that eBay support is either ignoring the proof or bouncing me around different teams who don’t seem to communicate.
When you’re running a business, this isn’t just “inconvenient.†It creates real financial strain. I’ve been on eBay for over 6 years and seen this play out numerous times.
My question isn’t whether eBay can hold funds — I know they can under policy.
My question is: What has actually worked for other sellers to get funds released when eBay keeps ignoring proof that was already submitted?
momtoabeautifuldaughter
·10 months agoAre you dropshipping?
glorybells
·11 months agoEven someone who can’t see all of the details of your account such as those of us here can see that your account activity looks high risk. And when you received the negative feedbacks, you had 3 options . . . say nothing in response to, write a very professional response that would put you across as a seller to be completely trusted, or shoot yourself in the foot by writing an UNprofessional response blaming the buyer. Unfortunately you took the last option.
And if eBay is asking for information, why do you have a problem providing it?
underscoresmilez
OP11 months agoI have been in a back and forth with their staff. I am an open book with these people.
itsjustasprain
·11 months agoIt does seem strange that you cannot find the option for using the buyer funds to purchase the shipping.
What might be raising Ebay suspicions are the listings themselves. They are all big ticket items but the listing photos are all over the place. Some are obviously stock photos. Some look like they were snapshots in a Big Box store. There are Halloween decoration listings showing displays outside various houses but nothing of the item alone or its package. Others are amateur photos of varying quality and with wildly different backgrounds.
Other listings are barely there: you have a listing for Jordan shoes that has only one photo showing one side of one shoe and a vapid AI description and yet you advertise having seven different sizes.
In short it is possible that Ebay thinks you do not actually own these items but are running listings using artwork from elsewhere and then hoping to buy one yourself whenever someone purchases your listing. It would probably help if you took your own photos and made the listings more consistent. Show that you actually have these items on hand and ready to ship. Good luck.
underscoresmilez
OP11 months agoIve already sent eBay everything theyve asked for receipts, invoices, confirmations, you name it, multiple times.
At this point Im just spinning in circles. Today I got yet another email saying they need “one last order confirmed."
That order is a high-value item currently stuck in customs. The buyer isn’t paying duties, won’t respond to my messages, and now I’m being forced to reship the same product to them at my own expense. To make matters worse it looks like a address error on the buyers end.
Yesterday it was another situation: two low value pokemon cards shipped without tracking. The buyer claimed non-receipt, so I just refunded to keep things moving.
And still, when I try to appeal the funds being held, ebay keeps asking me for proof of delivery on items that are already confirmed delivered. The whole process feels like talking to a wall
itsjustasprain
·11 months agoYou can account for the source of all the items you listed and you do have them in hand - is that right? You did mention 'pre-order' for one or more items and for those it is extremely unlikely that Ebay is going to release pre-order sales in particular until you can show that the items have actually been delivered.
You did not address anything regarding your listing photos. Are you taking those yourself or downloading photos from elsewhere?
Why would you reship a high-value item to a nonresponsive buyer at an incorrect address? Can you try phoning your buyer at the phone number listed for him in the Order Details?
If you were using Ebay Standard Envelope to mail those (not sure if it is or is not available to you) those do not have actual tracking to confirm receipt (just routing codes to show sorting along the way) but you can file to be reimbursed by Ebay up to $20 if that is the case.
Best you can do in that case is to provide what they are asking for even if you have done so previously.
From reading the Ebay messages you posted it seems like they have seen enough red flags that they want you to account for your sales starting at the delivery end and maybe working backwards toward your suppliers and how you got the items in the first place.
I have to say that the listing photos combined with the AI non-descriptions do not give any clue that you actually own the items you are selling. If Ebay can match your listing photos to the same photos used by other sellers that may be setting off alarm bells. For example - your Pokemon card listings seem to have numerous different backgrounds for no apparent reason. The one photo you show of the Kirkland golf clubs sitting on a couch is copied from a Reddit post of three months ago. Other items seem to have been photographed on display in a store to which you will presumably return if a sale occurs. Ebay is putting all this together and deciding that it needs further scrutiny.
underscoresmilez
OP11 months agoYou must work for ebay 😂
albertabrightalberta
·11 months agoJust because you don't like what is advised doesn't mean the poster works for ebay.
Everyone who has responded is trying to help you, point out the red flags in your listings and advise on the way to get funds released and possible removal of limits.
Why did you come here if you only wanted people to commiserate with you?
itsjustasprain
·11 months agoI do not work for Ebay but it took all of maybe 10 minutes to find those issues with your listings. Imagine what an actual Ebay employee can see.
Your continued evasiveness speaks volumes. Good luck with your future endeavors.
bonjourami
·11 months ago"I have been in a back and forth with their incompetent staff. I am an open book with these people. Probably more than people like you that kiss their rear end."
Thats really uncalled for, your belligerence comes thru loud and strong,as it probably does to Ebay too. Citing the sellers criteria for returns is not "Kissing their rear end', you would do well to study some of those return rules. Weird thing to say.
tobaccocardyahoo
·11 months agoYou have been wasting your time with Ebay customer service. They have no ability to override the trust and safety policies which your performance record and sales patterns have triggered.
Ebay has worked for years to overcome the bad reputation it earned in its early years. You are a risk to the expensive efforts to improve its reputation.
You find little support among the posters on this forum who are business people. We can see, with the limited public information available, why you are experiencing holds. And you need not be a thief or a scoundrel to have earned these precautions.
bonjourami
·11 months ago"Meanwhile, they want me to basically “loan†them thousands of dollars by reshipping items at my own expense while they sit on my money."
You can use your pending funds for shipping. But looks like you cancelled a couple of transactions too, thats the kiss of death for any seller here. I agree with the previous poster, your account is on thin ice here,you've had five very unhappy customers.
underscoresmilez
OP11 months agoNo I am not able to use those funds as shipping.
bonjourami
·11 months ago"No I am not able to use those funds as shipping."
Sorry to hear that, then obviously Ebay is blocking you from using those pending funds..unusual.
slati_2013
·11 months agoYou are selling very expensive items, you have a 90.2% feedback and a buyer has called you a scammer. I am afraid to tell you this but this is the beginning of the end of your selling on eBay. You fall into what eBay calls a risk to the platform. Are you dropshipping?
How about the unprofessional reply to negative feedback first saying they are a reputable seller and then calls the buyer names….reputable…..I think not.
Appears to be dropshipping, I wouldn’t be surprised if eBay asks for receipts as proof of purchase.
eBay has a payment hold policy @underscoresmilez that you should read. Assuming eBay holds funds to use as a loan is absurd.
underscoresmilez
OP11 months agoLol, yes I am a scammer for immediately refunding the buyer at his request. So you are telling me I should ship an item to him after he opens a refund request?