Is Managed Payment Nightmare Happening To Others?

[poppystop]

I'm a little hobby seller who has been on and off ebay since 1999 (current account since 2015), with zero account issues, ever.   Received notice from ebay in May or June that if the account didn't switch to managed payments, the account would be restricted, so I activated MP.   June, July and August payments directly deposited to my bank account with zero problems. Shipping and seller fees were withdrawn, no issues.

Come October, checked my bank account and discovered ebay withdrew September seller fees and shipping for all items sold but did not deposit payments for items.  Contacted ebay and was told there was suspicious activity on the account so in order to release the money I needed to send a photocopy front and back of my DL and same with my bank statement! 

Asked what was suspicious and was told the account was flagged and then the call was transferred to another "agent" who said he would clear it up.   He sent an email asking to upload documents showing PROOF of ownership of items sold. 

The next agent said it was a misunderstanding about proof of ownership and the documents required are clear, color photocopies of DL and bank statement.  Explained ebay had already verified the account and it has been working fine without issue and there were ZERO notifications that anything was suspicious or that my account was frozen.   His response was ebay doesn't retain documents so resend the documents if I wanted the “freeze” lifted, otherwise ebay will retain the money and after a certain time will release it to the State.

Not one agent (10 so far) can give a specific answer why the account was suspicious/flagged, only that if I want my money, send documents.   Explained to each “agent” there was no way I would send sensitive personal documents to a company that can't tell me what was suspicious or why they wouldn't retain the information used to verify an account somewhere in the system.

The last straw was a shady looking email signed by "Twinkle" with a link to send documents.   Mind you, the English and grammar in each email is not very good and one of the agents talked to on the phone had kids yelling in the background.   When I called her on it, she put me on hold and then disconnected.

With each email sent to ebay I have requested the Fraud Department and each time just get the generic “send photocopies” response.   After the last request for the Fraud Department all communication from ebay has stopped. 

It certainly feels like a sellers money is being held hostage.  Maybe there's a hack or scam within ebay's system?   Maybe a glitch that they refuse to admit or look into?  

Note, the email below was in my ebay account.

Below is the "meat" of the email from “Twinkle.”

Once you are on the page, please upload all your documents and a relevant department would revert back to you within 3 - 5 business days.   Please do not worry and be assured that we will certainly make sure that we will reach out to you once we have the relevant answer.  

Please Note: The documents you need to upload are given below:

1: Government issued Identity proof like (Passport, Driving License)

2: Bank statement ( should not be more than 3 months) (note): While uploading the documents please make sure that it should be: 1: colored, clearly visible.

2: all four sides of the uploaded documents should be visible

3: the documents should not be expired I request you to kindly wait for the time mentioned above. Please be assured your all information is safe and secure with us. In case, if you require any further assistance or clarification for any other concern apart from this, please feel free to contact us again here on the email customer support or you can also contact us by initiating a new chat session; our Live Chat is available 7 days a week. I wish that when you join us, we are connected again so that I get the opportunity to assist you.

Kind Regards Twinkle, eBay Payments Team

[buybuy42]

Do NOT give out any personal info to Twinkle.

You are about to get scammed.

[mam98031]

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@buybuy42 wrote:

Do NOT give out any personal info to Twinkle.

You are about to get scammed.

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@buybuy42 

The information the OP needs to submit does NOT go directly to any one CSR to include Twinkle.  Ebay has provided the OP with a link via the RED flag on their account so they can safely send in the information.

Twinkle was not the first CSR the OP talked to, they had already spoken to several other CSRs before they came into the story according to the OP.

[Anonymous]

I*'m going through the same thing. They are holding my deposit since Aug. 23 -2021  the same kind of communication as you are going through. I have sent all the information  DL Bank statement an now my account is restricted.  I Have been on ebay since 2003  Have contacted them maybe 10 times in the last 45 days.  Its terrible sad. All of this has taken place after ebay took on their own inhouse banking????

[poppystop]

@Anonymous  Sad you are dealing with this also. 

To others...if there is NO issue with my account, why the freeze and demand for documents?  The emails are not consistent with answers. 

Ebay did NOT contact me with any issues, suspicions, concerns or flags on my account. ONLY AFTER I made the FIRST contact with e bay concerning the situation did an email response arrive. This was the agent transferred after the first agent was called out for having kids in the background. This agent kept me on hold for over five minutes and would check periodically to see if I was still there...then the call disconnected and this correspondence appeared in my email, both personal and e bay.

Would any of you send or resend full color documents front and back of sensitive personal information to this type of email with a link from an "official" e bay payments specialist? 

Hello, a pleasant day to you

https://ocsnext..ebay.com/ocs/mudcwf?deptName=USMemberResolution

Thanks,

eBay

Or, this one?

Also, I would like to inform you that eBay does not retain any kind of information of member, Hence we are requesting you again for the same.

Please refer to the message send on 10th Oct.

Thank you for your patience. For any further assistance please feel free to contact us. Stay safe and have a great day!

Kind Regards,
Mini M
eBay Managed Payments

Then there was the email containing this little blurb from a payments specialist:

"With regard to your account being flagged, let me assure you that there are no issues with your account."

Then, at the end of blurb were links to upload documents if I want ebay to release the money!

So, to repeat again, this account was VERIFIED and working PROPERLY for five years, with no changes to banking or name or address.  The account was opted into the MP system, verified and working PROPERLY for three months.  The ebay seller (me) had to contact ebay to ask what was wrong.  Ebay did not contact first!!!  AFTER this began, the ebay id was changed as well as all passwords and guess what...ALL communication from ebay has ceased!  Not one email has been answered since the changes! 

I have forwarded all the email correspondence to spoof@ebay and requested someone look into this situation.  But, at this point, my confidence and trust in ebay and it's employees is just about below zero.

I will update if ever there is a resolution to this matter. 

*will post this on the other conversation regarding this also.

Thank you to all for your input.  It's appreciated.

[donsdetour]

Well if you did not have a flag for security risks you may have after CS rep asked for proof of goods.

I did a look at say

"14k Yellow Gold Cross Scrolling Design"

Listed with purity of 14K.

This item shows as marked 14KGF PRC.

It is not 14k gold purity:  it is 14K gold filled. Such items can and will cause security issues.

Some one reports such items: were as eBay may not go with it: but will verify you as a seller does happen.

Now this just may be a MP problem. As for info they want. You would have to give it to them;

Note use JPG format. seems such helped others due to problems with other format sent.

Just saying.

good luck with what you do too get back to selling.

[generalsupplyclub]

I just found this problem apparently happened to many sellers recently. Mine included. So did you finally solve this case? Did customer service help lifted the payment held?

[donsdetour]

Payment holds are not just due to manged payments.

There are other issue that can cause this. Usually under security. Such as VERO,

returns,

items that may be restricted due to say law, and so on. etc....

What you are asked for in information may aid you into the whys, If asking for proof of items is one main method,  this is a security issue.

 Verification of bushiness and type is also one.

Manged payment issues are verification of bank, and some times person on account.

Note verification of person on account may also be security issue.

Folks every thing with holds is not just the payment system problems,

Just saying.

[mam98031]

@poppystop 

I respect that from your point of view there is no issue with your account.  But clearly in Ebay's point of view that is not the case.  And since this is Ebay's site, you will need to comply with what they request.  It is the ONLY way you are going to get your account restored.

I completely respect that you feel this is unwarranted and unnecessary.  I really do get that.  But if you want it fixed, your ONLY choice is to give them what they want.  Doing anything less will only cause this problem to continue.  

I wish you the very best on whatever you decide to do.

[mam98031]

@poppystop 

I apologize, I thought you said somewhere on this thread or the other one you have for the same issue that you said there WAS a red flag on  your Seller Hub regarding the issue you are having.  Having two threads going for the same question makes it a bit difficult to follow.  

So you are saying you called Ebay several times and then later down the road there was the email from Twinkle.  If you now feel these were all spoofs, that would mean the phone number you called was NOT Ebay's customer service department.  This can happen if one Googles for Ebay's customer service number.  Below is the link to actually calling Ebay.

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/How-do-I-contact-Customer-Support/m-p/32016431#M1783851

Now with that said and setting aside all phone calls and the email you got as being spoofs, you clearly have a different problem as well.

If Ebay has truly not contacted you yet they are blocking your ability to function as a seller and get paid, you have a serious issue.  No red flags on your Seller hub and the lack of emails from Ebay when something is clearly wrong with your account, is another problem in and of itself.

You know there is a real problem with your account, so you need to call Ebay again, but use the link I gave you above.  Ask for an MP specialist and find out what the issue is.  If you have a ticket number, give it to them and let them look it up to see if the other communications you have had are real or spoofs.

[poppystop]

Interesting.  I put a reply question on my other thread, yesterday July 26, 2022.  The updated information comment was deleted by a moderator and the thread closed "due to age of thread." 

This ordeal is almost a year old now and there is still zero resolution!  I want to close the account and ebay is preventing me from closing the account.  Why?  I contacted ebay security again this July 2022 and was told someone would send me an email explaining what I need to do to close the account.  It's been almost two weeks, today is July 27, 2022.  

As someone who has used ebay for decades, this is just awful customer service.  Anyone have a clue as to what I can say, do, write, buttons to click to get this account closed and my information deleted???

Dear moderator, please do not delete this comment, I really need some help from the community as to how to resolve this situation.  Thank you in advance.

[mam98031]

This thread will also be closed soon because of the age of it.  You'd be better off by starting a new thread.

Do you still have money sitting in your MP account?  When was your last sale?

[kh-cathy]

Hi everyone,

Due to the age of this thread, it has been closed to further replies. Please feel free to start a new thread if you wish to continue to discuss this topic.

Thank you for understanding.