Buying Restriction _ I can't bid on anything

[tiamr85]

Hi really hoping someone can help me, seems impossible to actually get the help I need to resolve the issue from eBay themselves.  I just go into an endless loop with their bots which eventually end up not doing anything.  

Some type of buying restriction was placed on my account, but I can't find any way to resolve it.  I don't have any messages about it, I just simply can't bid on anything.  Also, I had a seller, suddenly tell me that they had a family emergency and will not be able to send the item, they've already got payment, but I don't have the merchandise.  Ebay won't let me do anything about it for another week.

If anyone could help, I would appreciate it.

Thanks! 

[stevescho]

It's a Federal /school holiday weekend, probably a temporary issue; try again tomorrow.

[kensgiftshop]

What happens when you try to place a bid?

What message do you get?

If you don't receive your item by the estimated delivery date:

A day after the estimated delivery date Ebay gave you, open an Item Not Received case.
Go to your purchase history and click I didn't get it in the menu next to the item.
The seller will have 3 days to provide a tracking number showing it was delivered or refund.
If they don't, return to the case on day 4 and ask Ebay to step in.

[ebooksdiva]

If you are not able to bid or buy, you could be restricted by eBay or blocked by the seller.

Since your post regarding not being able to buy anything is vague I can only guess.

If you are attempting to bid and receive a message saying the seller has blocked you, there's nothing eBay can or will do about it. Sellers can block you for any reason. Messages to the seller may also be blocked. 
If you are attempting to bid or buy and you receive message saying your buying and bidding has been limited, then eBay has restricted you. 
Read Buying limits and restrictions 

[mudshark61369]

@tiamr85,

eBay is constantly rewriting their policies and the newest rewrite of the info in the link ebooksdiva posted has some info left out now.

  In the list of reasons for having a buying limit the first one was "You are a new or occasional buyer".

New buyers are limited to the amount they can spend and or the number of items they can buy at one time, until they have proven to be a reliable payer.  The limit can also be placed on buyers who haven't bought anything in over a year, or maybe less time if they are trying to buy an expensive item. 

There is also an Open Transaction (OT) limit on new buyers account. Open transactions are items you have committed to buy but have not yet paid for. You are limited to 4 or 5 OTs you can have at any one time.  That is a rolling number.

When you bid on an item or make an offer you have committed to buy if you win an auction, or have an offer accepted.

  Each bid you place on an auction remains an OT until the auction ends, even if you have been out bid. That is because another bidder could retract a bid, or a seller could cancel a person's bid(s)  leaving you the winner.

  Offers remain open until they are accepted, declined, or time out without a response from a seller after 48 hours.

  If you lose an auction, you get the number of bids you placed back to use. If you win and pay immediately the same thing happens.  It can take a few hours for the info to get into ebay's computers.

  The same thing happens with Offers if they are declined, or expire, also if accepted and you pay.

Because of the limit on the number of bids you can place at one time. You should read the information about Automatic bidding in the link below. Also click on the Tips for winning auctions, and when that page opens click on the Bid Sniping link, below the article.

https://www.ebay.com/help/buying/bidding/bidding?id=4003

"I had a seller, suddenly tell me that they had a family emergency and will not be able to send the item, they've already got payment, but I don't have the merchandise. Ebay won't let me do anything about it for another week. If anyone could help, I would appreciate it".

One thing you need to realize is very many sellers on the site even some fairly high volume ones are only 1 or two person operations. They do not have shipping departments who pull and package orders, create shipping labels. Many have full time jobs outside of ebay. Therefore things can happen that can cause them to not be able to ship items out on time.

Sometimes you will get a message making excuses because a seller is a new one or an occasional one has not sold anything in over a year.  Because of that ebay places a 21 day hold on their payments (similar to the new buyer limit).  Many new/returning sellers do not know about the hold or how to deal with it to get their funds released.

  On their account the payment status is marked as Pending, so they do not ship, thinking the payment has not cleared. Some may print a label but do not ship, others make excuses for not shipping on time.  If messaged about when they will ship they will make excuses or not reply thinking the buyer is trying to scam them some how.

  Because of that you need to check the feedback profile of each seller you intend to buy from before committing, bidding or making an offer.  To view a profile scroll to near the bottom of a listing page where you see the seller's username in a large font. Below that will be a few feedback comments then an oval with See all feedback in it. Click on that button to open their profile page. On that page you can see when the seller registered. 

A new or occasional seller could have a fair number of feedback, and even a 100% rating, but all for buying at least in the last year.   You can click on the As a Seller tab, to see only their selling feedback.  If they have none or haven't received any in over a year, it can explain why they may be delaying shipment.  If a seller has received any neutral or negative feedback you can click on the numbers of those, to read only those comments. If a high volume seller has a feedback percentage below 98.6% be wary of buying from them. Never buy from any seller no matter what their percentage without checking their feedback profile.

If you find that your seller is new or a returning one, try messaging them and tell them if they have not shipped, because of the Pending status of your payment, to do a google search for "Payments on hold - ebay", they will give them the info needed to complete the transaction and get their funds released sooner.