My final post
This will probably be my final post in this forum. I have recently become frustrated once again by eBay. I've mentioned having lost 50 pounds since August (ask me how). Because of this I am replacing my wardrobe. I am disabled and receive a monthly SSDI benefit (my only income). These funds are placed on a government-issued debit card. With this debit card I conduct all my business involving money. I pay for goods and services in person, I order from Amazon and Walmart; I even pay my rent. The problem: with eBay I can use this card to purchase But-it-Now items, and I can bid on items not requiring immediate payment. I CANNOT bid on items requiring immediate payment and as I found out yesterday I am not allowed to receive money Sellers have paid me for my items on this card OR to even use those funds to purchase items on eBay itself. Let me be clear about the last one: When I sell something and get paid, eBay holds on to the funds in my name. I am NOT allowed to use these funds to purchase items from eBay nor am I allowed to have these funds transferred to this debit card. It's funny -- I've been on eBay since January 2000, over 26 years, both buying and selling, probably a total of 3,000 items. Coincidentally I starting buying on Amazon.com at the same time, learning about Walmart.com a bit later. Everyone makes mistakes -- we're human. BUT when Amazon or Walmart makes a mistake they cheerfully correct it. In fact, they provide customer service that is rivaled only by fabled Nordstroms. What about eBay? Well here my experience is very different. Even when it is something like the different treatment they give the SAME debit card, their response is ALWAYS (and say this in the voice of a gorilla if a gorilla could speak English), "me eBay, me never wrong." The good news is there is very little I can't get at Amazon and Walmart that I was buying on eBay. I am fortunate enough to live in Denver where there are 8 Goodwill stores where I can buy exactly the same labeled used clothing (and for about half the price). And Denver has a number of highly rated consignment shops that specialize in men's clothing. So I'm done. You win, eBay. We've had a good run. But you're the King of the zoo . . . .
soh.maryl
·5 months agoThe majority of sellers on eBay, I believe, are individuals or only small businesses.
To compare eBay to Amazon or Wal Mart is way, way beyond apples and oranges.
powell-collectibles
·5 months agoLarge percentage of sellers on Amazon and walmart.com are small sellers. Regardless of average seller size, the issue OP is having is with payments - not something that the independent sellers on eBay, Amazon, or Walmart.com control.
rumpnstillskin
OP5 months agoOnce again you miss the point. I have nothing but respect for Sellers. eBay is a multi-billion dollar company as is Amazon and Walmart. Remember, Google can be your friend, too. I don't know of a single seller that has customer service representatives, right, so what could I have possibly be saying? I thought I was clear. I was comparing and contrasting (remember High School English class?) my experience with customer service representatives of Amazon, eBay, and Walmart in which I find eBay seriously lacking . . . . I simply don't know how to make it any clearer.
inhawaii
·5 months agoEbay is such a dreaded place.
Sometimes I don't even know why i'm here.
Perhaps it's because they put money in my bank account every day.
(A bank account I opened for free and use strictly for ebay.)
christworks
·5 months ago@rumpnstillskin What keeps you from opening a bank account? There are many, free online options. Chime is a great example. If you need cash, you can normally get it for free at places like CVS and Walgreens. SoFi is another good one. You get free checks with them.
powell-collectibles
·5 months agoWhen you indicate that eBay won’t let you use your sales to buy things, does that mean that you are not allowed to sign up for spendable funds? I’ve been curious if a seller could forgo signing up with a bank account, and just opting for spendable funds.
rumpnstillskin
OP5 months agoYou're the second one to mention this option. To be honest, I have not heard of this, although eBay itself does not list it as an option in any of the articles they offer under the rubric, "How do I get paid?" I will look into it if I decide to list a small number of remaining NWT, NWOT, NIB, and shirts featuring such a great plaid that I believe I can still make more on eBay than a consignment shop. I invite you to take a look in the coming days. Thanks again for the suggestion.
onefootflipper
·5 months agoEbay isn't making it difficult for you to purchase things, the government is making it difficult with the SSI debit card and you are making it difficult by refusing to have any other form of payment.
Also, ebay does have "Spendable funds" why don't you turn that on? Why are you continuing to sell on ebay if you can't get the money.
None of this makes any sense. I am disabled. I have a bank account. I have a credit card too.
dhbookds
·5 months agoDon't you have to have a bank account to sell here?
onefootflipper
·5 months agoThe root source of the problem here is likely either being listed on Chexsystems (thus inability to get a bank account) or attempting to hide ebay income from SSI.
rumpnstillskin
OP5 months agoNeither, actually. But thanks for playing . . . .
onefootflipper
·5 months agoThen why not just get another form of payment. You could have gotten another form of payment in the time it took to post this thread.
tools*
·5 months agoIf you need a bank account, you can open a fee-free Capital One 360 checking and savings account online in a few minutes.
fern*wood
·5 months agoHow? That's awesome!
tools*
·5 months agoEat less and get more exercise.
rumpnstillskin
OP5 months agoI was on Wellbutrin for depression. I knew the makers had paired it with their drug Naltrexone, called it Contrave, and marketed it for appetite suppression. I had my doctor add Naltrexone. It has been nothing less than life-changing. I don't ever think about food. I go into a grocery store and say "oh, so that's food; I wonder what it's for." I CAN'T smoke on it; I tried. And it has made this daily drinker a social drinker. Whereas I used to buy liters, I now but pints that last a week! It may be a cure for alcoholism.
oldwestcoins
·5 months agoSo, we should all take heavy meds for depression and become alcoholics to lose 50 lbs. Okay, thanks for the weight loss advice, but I'll pass. Geez, where's Jerry Springer when you need him? 😝
toomuchstuffagain35
·5 months agoIf you read their post properly, it actually says the meds combo STOPPED them from using alcohol (mostly).
rumpnstillskin
OP5 months ago[Removed by moderator] I WAS ALREADY DEPRESSED AND ON WELLBUTRIN, as I made clear. I read about the combination of Wellbutrin + Naltrexon on reducing appetite. Regardless of whether I am an alcoholic or not (and I DID NOT take it for that reason -- reading comprehension IS a thing), I found that as an unintended side effect, it prohibited me from smoking (a big win) and made me into a social drinker. This last is consider the Holy Grail in substance abuse treatment. No one, and I mean absolutely no one, claims (or has every claimed) to be able to take alcoholics and make them into social drinkers. Up until now it was considered an impossibility. Now, I didn't do it, either. But I inadvertently found a way to make it happen. BTW, your government literally spends hundreds of millions of your tax dollars yearly to research treatments for substance abuse - I don't know, what do you think? Might someone be interested in my experience? That I took to pills, each costing about a dime a day in their generic form, and succeeded where SAMSHA (Google it) has failed year after year. You probably aren't aware, but Viagra was originally a drug to treat high blood pressure; Rogain, a heart medicine. [Removed by moderator]
meme6253
·5 months agoThere are ways you can rectify this situation as others have pointed out, But it is clearly your choice, Good luck to you whatever you decide on doing.
pickapaper
·5 months ago@rumpnstillskin wrote: "This will probably be my final post in this forum. I have recently become frustrated once again by eBay."......" I am disabled and receive a monthly SSDI benefit (my only income)."
You said this is your final post on this forum but you did not say if you are going to stop selling on eBay. You said your SSDI is your only income but since you are a seller on eBay (your profile says you have sold over 1,000 items over the years), you do have some other income coming in.
Just for a FYI, you have this comment in your listing descriptions: "Therefore, there will be no refunds and no returns." This statement is not true because if a buyer files an "Item Not as Described" claim against you, because of eBay's Money Back Guarantee (which overrides your return policy), you either have to accept the return and send a label for the buyer to return the item and issue a refund when you get the item back, or if you don't want the item back or it isn't worth it to pay the postage to get it back, you can just issue a refund and let them keep the item. If you do not do this, the buyer can ask eBay to step in and eBay will force a refund from you, let the buyer keep the item and give you a defect.
rumpnstillskin
OP5 months agoYou have a firm grasp of the minutiae. I did say I would be taking my clothes that I would sell on eBay to those Denver consignment shops I described. I mentioned SSDI as my only income to explain how difficult eBay makes using THAT income to purchase things on eBay itself. eBay completely prohibits using the income from my sales to buy items on eBay, a fact I did mention. Some sellers offer returns; I don't. I suppose any court of competent jurisdiction could also force me to return funds to a buyer. So could anyone willing to personally threaten me with a firearm. I still don't OFFER refunds. I'm curious, how would you phrase that prohibition so as not to offend a pedant like yourself?
itsjustasprain
·5 months agoIf you mean that you cannot use SSDI funds as a payment source then obviously you will need a different account instead. You have received several suggestions already. Others have also pointed out that you are in fact selling here - so where do you receive your buyer funds?
Oh come on. Ebay releases your buyer payments to you somehow - right? If you cannot use that account for purchases (I do not see why not) then move the funds to a new checking account as already suggested. Better yet - just open a new checking account now and use THAT to receive your sale funds.
It would not go that far. If you dig in your heels and refuse to refund a buyer who has filed a claim with Ebay then Ebay will simply refund the buyer in full themselves and then come after you to reimburse them. They can refer the debt to a collection agency if the amount you owe them is sufficient.
No idea what you are referring to here.
I would not bother to mention the 'prohibition' in the description at all. Ebay lets you declare No Returns and will show that in your Payment Details section of your listings. (I am sure you already know that No Returns does not mean No Refunds.) Experienced buyers will know that a Not As Described complaint will trump a No Returns setting anyway. I use 30-day Free Returns (seller pays return shipping) in all my listings in my selling account and I absolutely cannot remember the last time anyone returned something to me.
rumpnstillskin
OP5 months agoPedantic. Distinctions without differences. But have a good day anyway . . . .
pickapaper
·5 months agoI once had someone on here (who "disagreed" with what I said) accuse me of being drunk and on drugs (neither of which were true) but I think this is the first time I have been called "a pedant". I don't know whether to be impressed or insulted.
chapeau-noir
·5 months agoIs this you???
pickapaper
·5 months ago@chapeau-noir wrote: "Is this you???"
Nope. Sorry, not me.
rumpnstillskin
OP5 months agoNo but that's awsome! In a completely different context, I posted on a Facebook thread about Claus von Bulow and wife Sunny's "problematic" relationship: "at least he gave her a daughter who was actually beautiful," thinking that that was pretty snarky (and a dig against her other two hateful children). But you, Sir, win today . . . .
soh.maryl
·5 months ago"So could anyone willing to personally threaten me with a firearm."
What does that mean, exactly?
rumpnstillskin
OP5 months agoAlright: it means that just because a person could threaten to kill me to get a refund, or a court could order me to give a refund, it does not take away from my statement that these little sales are not mortgages, or sales of Birkin bags, and so I am NOT VOLUNTARILY offering refunds. I still think this is pretty clear, but okay.
bonanza125
·5 months ago"It's funny -- I've been on eBay since January 2000, over 26 years, both buying and selling, probably a total of 3,000 items."
Ok well your situation has since changed from 26 years ago. You are collecting SSDI benefits. I know people who had to stop using Ebay all together because of things like this. Yes Amazon and Walmart do offer similar items want to know why? That's because many sellers use both Ebay and Amazon. I purchase items from the exact same sellers on both sites. As far as stuff you can find at Goodwill well there is no comparison. Ebay nor sellers are in competition with Goodwill.
If you can't bid on items which require immediate payment just use buy it now for purchases. No bid deal. You buy things now on Amazon and Walmart.
tinsoldierunderground
·5 months agooldwestcoins
·5 months agoNot to seem insensitive, but all I see are excuses. Also, you seem to overthink and complicate matters when you don't have to. You mention eBay holding your funds. Everyone knows that, and you agreed to it when you signed up to sell here. Work with what everyone else has to on eBay payments, etc. Accept it, then move forward. Take the advice that others have provided here. Oh, and you still have items listed, so maybe this isn't your last day on eBay. I wish you the best.
kalyoth
·5 months agoYeah - as required by Tax Law, the funds go to a registered checking account. Same people that gave you the debit card also wrote the laws for this form of financial payout. Sorta funny how the tax laws are funding that Debit Card eh?
jewelbiz
·5 months agoI’m giving you the last 2 words of your post!
APRIL FOOLS…
OK ✅ you said it + got it all out. Good.
Now change your mind…+ stay with us!
a_c_green
·5 months agoIn addition to what the others above have said, you might also be able to get a credit union account.
As for banks, ask around locally and you should be able to find and open a checking account with no minimum balance requirements and a free debit card. (Here in the Chicago area, JP Morgan/Chase is one such bank and there are several others with similar availabilities.)
12345jamesstamps
·5 months agoOver 65 years of age one can get a 'US Bank' debit card that has a routing number which one can collect funds from eBay.
Not sure of your age.
There is no minimum funds necessary to keep in the account...it's free for anyone over 65 years of age.
You can have just $1.00 in the account for months and it won't close...
krazzykats
·5 months agoOpen a bank account. There still are free options you can manage online that come with a debit credit card, perfect for receiving eBay payouts and making purchases.
ᓚᘏᗢ
onefootflipper
·5 months agoI have found that every single person I ever knew who didn't have a bank account was listed by Chexsystems and not able to open one anywhere because of it.
tarotfindsandmore
·5 months agoYou do know ebay doesn't even watch this forum, right? Even the mods are not ebay employees.
So, is this just a vent?