"Infrequent Seller" Ebay Payment Holdouts
Summary: clothingroyale expressed frustration with eBay's policy of holding payments for 'infrequent sellers,' despite having been an established seller. They have faced difficulty getting clear answers or resolution through customer service. mam98031 empathized with the situation, suggesting further investigation and providing contact options for eBay support. luckythewinner speculated on eBay's complex algorithm determining holds. bamagirl3388 shared a similar experience, criticizing eBay's treatment of honest, infrequent sellers. The discussion highlights dissatisfaction with eBay's policies and the challenges sellers face.
I have been an established seller on ebay for over 3 years
Recently I made a sale and it was not even much more expensive than some of my higher end sales I have made not too long ago
Ebay claimed I was an "infrequent seller" and now my money is on hold until the item is settled after 15 days after the sale was made
I have had a good amount of sales come in frequently in the past 90 days
I called customer service 2 times and both time they just submitted complaints to ebay that this is incorrect and there was nothing thet could do
I asked what the threshold was to be considered a frequent seller and the agent could not give me a specific answer, said they had no idea, and agreed it was a shady practice
The past couple years have been slower and I have heard that from other sellers too and this was never an issue until recently
It is absurd ebay continues to punish sellers and frequently changes things thinking that it will be of benefit when things were fine before with little issues
It is a horrible look for the company to withhold payments from sellers who count on the money and to not give that to them is just terrible
This needs to change ASAP
I am disgusted with this corporate nonsense
So was all the money I made them through fees not enough to let me have my own money?
bamagirl3388
·4 days agoI posted my story about this last night and the 2 comments I got were the epitome of what my grandmother used to say about if you have nothing constructive or worthwhile to say then just dont say anything and we will all be better for it. I dont complain, I get run over because I dont like to cause trouble, but i think this. Is terrible for ebay to treat anybody this way. Ive always been an infrequent seller and they have never held my money except the very first sell I made. Since then ive held up my end of the buyer/seller relationship period. I pkg safe and ship USPS Ground adv if its a 1.00 item. Im not a condition liar and I try to help and send freebies. If I had done something wrong then I could see it but I havent and ive been on here gor 5 years. Doesn't that count? Sadly if you've been on here for a month and have alot of sales and returns and negative comments, your money won't be put on hold. People that are honest and infrequent sellers are punished.
chapeau-noir
·4 days agoIf your infrequent selling includes gaps of 90 days or more, or if one's selling pattern drastically changes, the payment hold kicks in. I've sold here for 25 years (too long IMHO) and used even to be full time, and I'm subject to payment holds since I now sell only part of the year.
We're just vendors on a managed marketplace and can come and go for all Bay cares. Taking it personally gives eBay too much power over yourself. Just keep going and use eBay for what it can do for you and nothing more.
luckythewinner
·3 weeks ago · EditedMy guess is that the determination of a hold is a complicated scoring system based on a number factors, not just a simple numeric threshold. That is how most of eBay's algorithms seem to work. And since those algorithms are complicated, they choose to use shorthand terms like "infrequent seller" or "risky transaction" instead.
The money you made them is not enough for them to waive their policies just because you don't like them.
mam98031
·3 weeks agoYou are NOT being "punished", this site has had these rules on money holds for many years now. There are very good reasons for these policies to be in place. I do however respect and understand how it can be difficult for a seller to wait a couple weeks to get paid. We are certainly a bit spoiled with how fast money can move around now electronically instead of via the mail.
With that said, when I look at your account I don't see why Ebay would be applying this rule to you. You have plenty of sales in the last 90 days to bypass this policy. I think you got some BAD information and I would encourage you to contact Ebay again and try to get to the bottom of this. The information below is all the ways in which you can contact Ebay. You may want to drop all the way down to the bottom and just have them Call you. But Social Media is usually pretty good too. But before you do that, check your Seller Dashboard and your Service Metrics Dashboard to make sure you aren't having problems there that would cause the money holds. If you do find issues there, come back and tell us about it and we can try to help.
Here are your options for contacting Ebay Customer Service. Please be aware that for social media CS, you send them a Private Message and briefly explain what your problem or issue is. Feel free to leave your Name, address, phone number and/or your email address in this message. It is private and secure and it may help to speed up the response for you.
https://www.instagram.com/ebay/
https://www.instagram.com/ebayforsellers/
Your options will be on the left. If you use the link below you can only get to the Automated Assistant or Chat box type AGENT or ask an Agent to call you, in the box and hit enter. You will then get more options. Not all options are available 24/7. It will depend on staffing available. So sometimes you can request a call back and sometimes you can't. Sometimes you have the Chat option available and other times it won't me. If it is important to you to use one of those options, just try back later.
If you use a cell phone or other mobile device, you may need to turn off your Spam filter so that Ebay can call you.
If you are a seller outside of the US or Canada, you will need to use the Chat Option.
https://www.ebay.com/help/eua?id=5275&mkevt=1&mkpid
From this link you can request Ebay to call you in the USA. The option is available when Staff is available to respond, so NOT 24/7/365.
https://www.ebay.com/help/home
clothingroyale
OP3 weeks agoThank you so much for your kind and informative response
Some of the responses here just virtue signaled and basically said I was not a good enough seller passive aggressively
mam98031
·3 weeks agoIDK why anyone would say that to you. It simply doesn't make sense. From time to time even the most experienced and sellers of good standing have this issue. There is always a reason for it but unfortunately, as happens all too often, it isn't clear in the beginning.
Seems to me you are doing just fine. But do some of the research on your numbers that I previously suggested and let us know if you see anything. It may help us figure out why.