No early-release path when the buyer has confirmed delivery in writing
Summary: kibble-net explains that even if a customer has received an item and left feedback, they might still return it, necessitating a hold on funds. They emphasize that eBay holds funds to ensure refunds are available if a customer changes their mind. Once sellers are established, these holds are lifted, and new sellers are advised to understand this policy before listing items.
I'd like to raise something with the community and any staff who monitor this board, because I think it points to a real gap in the funds-hold process.
My situation: I shipped an international order with tracking. The buyer confirmed receipt in writing through eBay Messages and left positive feedback. But the carrier marked the parcel as "returned" instead of "delivered" — an error on their end. Because the hold releases only on a carrier "delivered" scan or a fixed calendar date, my funds stay held until that date, even though the buyer, me, and eBay's own message records all confirm the transaction completed successfully.
What I find hard to understand:
1. There seems to be no mechanism, and no agent discretion, to release funds early when the buyer has affirmatively confirmed receipt on eBay's own platform. The strongest evidence eBay actually holds — the buyer's own written confirmation — appears to count for nothing.
2. The policy leans entirely on carrier tracking, a third-party source the seller can't control and that can be wrong. Mine doesn't just lack a scan — it shows an incorrect "returned" status the buyer's confirmation proves false. So a known-erroneous data point is being trusted over direct confirmation from the buyer.
3. The hold is meant to protect against a false "item not received" claim. Once the buyer confirms receipt in writing, that risk is gone — eBay holds that confirmation on file and could deny any later claim instantly. So what is the continued hold actually protecting against here?
A suggestion I'd put forward: let documented buyer confirmation of receipt (via Messages or feedback) act as an alternative release trigger, or at least give support agents discretion to release on that basis. That would protect buyers exactly as today, without penalising compliant sellers for carrier errors they can't control.
Two questions for the community:
- Has anyone found a way to get funds released early in this exact scenario (buyer confirmed, carrier scan wrong)?
- Are any staff able to weigh in on whether buyer confirmation can ever be considered?
To be clear, I'm not looking to re-argue my specific order — I have a release date. I'm raising it because the process seems to ignore its own best evidence, and I'd like to understand whether that's genuinely intended.
Thanks.
kensgiftshop
·4 months agoYou're a new seller and it sold for more then $1000, so they are going to hold the funds for 30 days, tracking or not.
44012
·4 months agoUnfortunately, eBay's Money Back Guarantee overrides everyone's no return policy.
A customer can still file a claim for a variety of reasons, not as described, missing parts or pieces, broken etc..... You would either need to accept the return and refund or just refund if this occurred.
In your case a buyer cannot claim is a remorse return with your no returns policy.
ped_pedro
OP4 months agoThanks both for the helpful replies on this thread. Combined with what I now understand about new-seller status and the fact this likely qualifies as a higher-priced item, the policy makes more sense to me — the hold isn't really about the tracking issue alone, it's the stacking of factors. Appreciate the clarifications.
44012
·4 months agoIn my earlier days here, I was not able to get funds released with a bad scan even though customer received and left feedback. This was when I was a new, infrequent seller.
The reasoning I believe, but not completely positive, is due to the fact that even though the customer received the item and left feedback they could still possibly return the item.
I eventually received the funds.
kibble-net
·4 months agoWinner, winner, chicken dinner.
Ebay is simply ensuring that the funds are available to refund the customer in case they change their mind.
Once you're an established seller, ebay will stop holding your funds. Highly recommend all new sellers familiarize themselves with the holds policy and use that information to better decide whether it's worth selling BEFORE they begin.
ped_pedro
OP4 months agoRight, but is that applicable even if my listing had the "seller does not accept returns" ?
ryry-jj
·4 months agoYes, doesn't matter if you don't accept returns, you are required to accept all INAD returns. And that money comes directly from you. The hold periods for new sellers mostly revolves around funding returns and ensuring sellers learn and know how the platform work. The fact that you think, not accepting returns protects you from return cases, proves ebay's point of new sellers not fully understanding how the platform works. Just that statement you made would make me hold your money past the 30 day MBG period
The bigger problem in the scanning showing "returned" is if the buyer opens a INR case...which they can do
marnotom!
·4 months agoAre you able to elaborate on this point, @ryry-jj? My understanding is that buyers forfeit their protections under the Money Back Guarantee if an item is undeliverable to the address provided at checkout.
soh.maryl
·4 months agoActually, since the OP states that the buyer has posted FB, this item was apparently delivered.
marnotom!
·4 months agoNot according to the tracking, though, and that’s what eBay takes into consideration.
soh.maryl
·4 months agoYou might want to get a better grip on the "no returns" status.
An important bit of knowledge for all eBay sellers is that you can state "No Returns", but that doesn't mean "No Refunds". Can't tell whether or not you know this, but, if a buyer opens an item not as described case, the seller is obligated to send a prepaid return label if he wants the item back and to refund in total when it arrives back to the seller. This is in no way negotiable.
ped_pedro
OP4 months agoThanks for the clarifications — to be clear, I wasn't expecting "no returns" to mean "no refunds," or to be a way to refuse legitimate complaints. I understand that an INAD case obliges me to refund and provide a prepaid return label regardless of the return policy I selected, and I'd honour that without argument.
What "no returns" meant on my side was simply: no returns for change-of-mind or buyer's-remorse reasons, where the item is exactly as described. If something is genuinely wrong with what I sent, of course I'd refund — that's basic fairness, not a concession.
On the INR risk from the "Returned" tracking status — fair point that it's a real exposure in principle. The mitigating factor here is that the buyer confirmed receipt in writing through eBay Messages and left positive feedback, so any later INR claim would be directly contradicted by eBay's own records. That was actually the underlying point of my original post: the buyer's own documented confirmation ought to be admissible as evidence, not disregarded.
soh.maryl
·4 months agoAs others have pointed out, you're a new seller who has sold a high dollar item.
eBay does not look at each individual situation and assess whether or not the seller's funds should be released. It's a one-size-fits-all world at eBay.
ped_pedro
OP4 months agoYes, that was mainly my point — the buyer confirmed both through eBay messages and in the feedback that the item arrived exactly as described
@soh.maryl wrote:
Right, from that perspective I guess it makes more sense. In my case it's a sealed collectable so the 30-day safety period doesn't really make sense after the buyer confirms all is good. But if it was electronics for example, the item could stop working after a few days... And there must be a one-size-fits all as you mentioned.
soh.maryl
·4 months agoClarification for you: You are expecting eBay to go beyond its usual procedure in your case and to release your funds because it's documented that the buyer has received the item.
eBay is cookie cutter rules where one size fits all.
wiljone-68
·1 week agoThat’s bull I’m established seller for years and payment hold for weeks when it used to be days why