eBay holding funds hostage until I give them a government ID

[edwardkoch1978]

I recently was notified by eBay that I needed to upload a government ID to release my funds to my bank account. They already sent over $2000 to my account recently with no issue, suddenly I'm asked for ID. 

I already, very reluctantly, gave them my full name, address, phone number, banking information, and worst of all my full SSN. 

in 2014 eBay was hacked and over 200M peoples private info was stolen to be sold on the dark web. On top of that eBay sells your data as well. Maybe some people don't care, I do. 

I called eBay to request my funds be released to me, and I would be willing to close my account and no longer do business with this company. I was told the only two options was to upload my ID, or wait 6 months for them to send the money to the government, and they would then send the money to me. The rep could not tell me what government agency would get my money.

This is absurd.  

[coffeebean832]

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@edwardkoch1978 wrote:

The rep could not tell me what government agency would get my money.

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It goes to your state. Once released to your state you can recover it via missingmoney.com

[edwardkoch1978]

In other words, I'm never going to see that money. Pretty wild that eBay can take your money as they please. 

[gjs_16]

Remember all of this is purely voluntary, you do not have to give them any of this information if you do not want to, however you may not be able to sell here because Eaby abides by the law and that means they want to make sure all sellers are paying their taxes, that's sales tax and income tax.

[edwardkoch1978]

Our banks, that the funds are transfer to  already report to the IRS. Wether the government is asking eBay to report or not, eBay is asking for too much sensitive information, again they are not a government body, nor a banking institution. 

[alcoforever]

After all the info you have already given ebay, what's the big deal about a copy of your drivers license?  Save yourself a lot of angst and just give ebay the drivers license.   It can't harm anything at this point.

[buyselljack2016]

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@edwardkoch1978 wrote:

In other words, I'm never going to see that money. Pretty wild that eBay can take your money as they please. 

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Back when this "managed payments" started up it was clear what a seller was getting into.

Unfortunately as they moved along sellers are getting into MP without wanting to, or realizing the consequences.

[mtgraves7984]

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@edwardkoch1978 wrote:

In other words, I'm never going to see that money. Pretty wild that eBay can take your money as they please. 

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@edwardkoch1978 

^^^ That would be your choice, too. I have a brother who successfully reclaimed a couple of old Utilities deposits through missingmoney.com. Good luck to you moving forward.

[kensgiftshop]

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@edwardkoch1978 wrote:

The rep could not tell me what government agency would get my money.

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The funds will go to your states unclaimed property.

[angelno9]

I already, very reluctantly, gave them my full name, address, phone number

eBay policy has required sellers to provide and maintain their full name, address, and phone number for at least 20 years. 

banking information

The same banking information that appears on any check you write. 

and worst of all my full SSN

That is a Federal Government requirement, not an eBay requirement. 

On top of that eBay sells your data as well. Maybe some people don't care, I do. 

What specific data does eBay sell? Are you suggesting they sell your name, address, phone number, SSN or banking information? 

[angelno9]

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@edwardkoch1978 wrote:

Our banks, that the funds are transfer to  already report to the IRS.

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Your bank does not report the very specific information (1099K) that the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 require Managed Payments to report to the IRS. 

[edwardkoch1978]

eBay, just like any website or service sells any and all data they are legally allowed to. That includes names, address, phone numbers, IP addresses, any images or documents uploaded to their servers, who you bank with, what you sell, what you buy, and what you browse. They of course can not sell your SSN, but considering how not secure eBays servers are, that is bound to be stolen at some point. 

"we process your personal data to provide and improve our Services, to provide you with a personalized user experience on this website, to contact you about your eBay account and our Services, to provide customer service, to provide you with personalized advertising and marketing communications, and to detect, prevent, mitigate and investigate fraudulent or illegal activity. We also share your information with third parties, including service providers acting on our behalf, for these purposes."

[gjs_16]

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@edwardkoch1978 wrote:

In other words, I'm never going to see that money. Pretty wild that eBay can take your money as they please. 

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They only took the buyer's money because you chose to use their platform to sell here.

You can have this money, after you fulfill your end of the terms of the user agreement that you agreed to when you first signed up, several stages of policy are revealed to you that you must agree to... Reading this user agreement is voluntary, however the terms are binding whether you read it or not, the only way to get out of the user agreement is to not sign up in the first place.

[gracieallen01]

Was the e-mail through ebay messaging or your ebay email?  And, to whom was it addressed?  Was it your name or something like 'Dear Seller'?

[gracieallen01]

What information would ebay sell?  ebay has referenced that data mining, in one way or another, as a necessary part of their platform design improvement and growth.

Well, for starters, do you have a grocery store 'rewards' card?  Or a drugstore 'rewards' card?  If so, then probably every one of that company's partner's or 3rd party 'subscriber's' knows where you shop, what you buy, how many you buy, what time you go buying, what other stored are in the area, what you are likely to buy, what you 'need' to buy, etc., etc.