ebay ripping off sellers with new payment scam

[direwolf]

I'm glad ebay finally ditched PayPal, but unfortunately they've adopted their illegal tactics. 

I sold an item on Wednesday, they wanted my banking info and I gave it to them.  They said it would take two days to get my funds.  Today (Friday - two days later) I got an email saying that I hadn't filled out the requested info.  This time they wanted new info - info they didn't ask for in the first place.  Then they said it would take ANOTHER two days to get my money - that's Sunday, I can't ship on Sunday.

Meanwhile, my dashboard says I'm late with shipping?! 

IOW, my seller rating will slip because of *EBAY'S* delays.  It's obvious that they're just playing games with the intent of keeping my money in their pocket as long as possible.  

I am not comfortable giving ebay my bank account information in the first place, but I have no choice if I want to sell on ebay.   I have no recourse if I have a dispute with ebay - not only are they are judge, jury, executioner and banker, but they've already got my money in their pocket. 

That's blatant monopoly behavior.  

If you're unhappy with this newest scam, write to your state attorney general's office.  It's not like ebay will change their behavior just because you're unhappy about it.

[mtgraves7984]

The best workaround is to move your Handling Time out a bit. As long as you ship within your listed time, you're gold with eBay... and your dashboard will stay happy. It's a matter of adapting, but it's doable. Good luck.

[direwolf]

You're right ... but.  😕

I've already added a warning in my listings, but that doesn't get me my money any faster.   I'd prefer to keep my "usually ships within 24 hours" - and am very reluctant to change it because of *EBAY'S* games.

[azh-71]

To be fair, eBay has been peppering you with messages about the transition to managed payments and how to get ready for it for a couple of years now.

[mtgraves7984]

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@direwolf wrote:

You're right ... but.  😕

I've already added a warning in my listings, but that doesn't get me my money any faster.   I'd prefer to keep my "usually ships within 24 hours" - and am very reluctant to change it because of *EBAY'S* games.

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@direwolf 

I can dig it. I've been in MP since August, 2019. It used to be really, really slow (6-14 days on funds), but I have noticed since Fall, 2020 that I can count on my buyer's payment being my bank deposit in 4 business days. And I've never had one not  move all the way to 'Completed' once it begins 'Processing'.

If you want to keep your 'usually ships within 24 hours', and don't want to extend your Handling Time... simply change your label cost to pull from your 'Pending' Payouts (instead of PayPal) at the bottom of the label page.

[direwolf]

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@azh-71 wrote:

To be fair, eBay has been peppering you with messages about the transition to managed payments and how to get ready for it for a couple of years now.

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... which still doesn't give them the right to keep my money in their pocket.

[veronicabooksandart]

"If your onboarding is not immediately confirmed, you will receive notification that you have been approved to receive services once we have reviewed your information and can commence conversion of your listings to enable Managed Payments, which may take several weeks in some instances."

"If we are unable to settle the Managed Payments proceeds, then, depending on the reason why we are unable to settle the proceeds, we may refund the buyer (e.g., when we cannot process your information for technical reasons or you violate these Payments Terms of Use, etc.) or otherwise process these funds in accordance with applicable law, including abandoned property laws, such as by escheating funds to a governmental body after the passage of an applicable period of time, or our policies."
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The Devil is in the details.

[azh-71]

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@direwolf wrote:

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@azh-71 wrote:

To be fair, eBay has been peppering you with messages about the transition to managed payments and how to get ready for it for a couple of years now.

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... which still doesn't give them the right to keep my money in their pocket.

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My funds are in my account in about 24 hours after the payout is initiated, faster than it's been with paypal recently.   But your problem is not that the transfer is long or that eBay is holding your money hostage.  The problem is that you originally did not set up your payments correctly.  Did you, by any chance, skip the part where they ask you for DOB and such and imply that it is not a required info at this time?

[direwolf]

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@azh-71 wrote:

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@direwolf wrote:

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@azh-71 wrote:

To be fair, eBay has been peppering you with messages about the transition to managed payments and how to get ready for it for a couple of years now.

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... which still doesn't give them the right to keep my money in their pocket.

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My funds are in my account in about 24 hours after the payout is initiated, faster than it's been with paypal recently.   But your problem is not that the transfer is long or that eBay is holding your money hostage.  The problem is that you originally did not set up your payments correctly.  Did you, by any chance, skip the part where they ask you for DOB and such and imply that it is not a required info at this time?

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They don't need my DOB in order to initiate a bank transfer.  Nor do they need to wait an additional two days before asking for that information.   (nor do they *need* to restrict payment methods - in the early days payment was entirely in the hands of the seller)

"The problem is that you originally did not set up your payments correctly."

No, the problem is that ebay has the monopoly power to dictate what 'set up correctly' means.  If they had to actually compete in an open market, they'd have to choose between pocketing my money and retaining me as a customer.

[releasethekraken_1]

eBay is clearly NOT a monopoly. Plenty of sellers complaining about MP have declared that they're checking out up to a half-dozen sites that are "a lot better than eBay". 

Setting parameters for you to be able to sell HERE doesn't make them a monopoly if you have other choices.

[veronicabooksandart]

True. For instance, a Google search for "Jewelery" returns an earned Etsy category link.
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All things being equal (which they're not), this simple experiment, applied to whatever it is one sells, should best gauge potential sales - if not seller experience.

[genoajib]

I gave eBay all the information, but am still waiting almost two weeks for payments to show up in my bank account. Example: I have a sale that was paid for back on March 8, and then I got an email on March 15(!!) saying that the processing was completed.  It took that long just to get the payment processing completed?  And the money still hasn't shown up in my bank account.

I talked to someone at eBay, and discussed this, and the problem with how I was supposed to comply with a 3-day shipping pledge when it's taking 10-13 days to receive payment. He said they're aware of the problem and are figuring out what to do about it. Right. Hard to believe eBay has done this bad a job at the planning and execution of this new payment plan. It works for them - they've got it set up to get all their fees immediately before funds are transferred rather than waiting until billing the sellers at the end of the month, and also set up to hold onto the money longer before distributing it to sellers. 

[direwolf]

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@veronicabooksandart wrote:

True. For instance, a Google search for "Jewelery" returns an earned Etsy category link.
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All things being equal (which they're not), this simple experiment, applied to whatever it is one sells, should best gauge potential sales - if not seller experience.

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Etsy and ebay are not equal - they're in completely different businesses.  But if you really want to compare apples to oranges, ebay's profits for 2020 are 'between $9.56 billion and $9.76 billion' while Etsy reported a mere $349 million.

A more relevant simple experiment is to ask yourself why you're selling on ebay rather than Etsy.   Another simple experiment would be to ask random people to name three general-purpose, online auction houses.  I sincerely doubt many would be able to name more than one.

The fact is, ebay has the overwhelming majority of the general-purpose, online auction house business.  This allows them to dictate terms - just so long as those of us paying their wages allow them to do so. 

[veronicabooksandart]

That doesn't change the fact that earned Google search category links best drive buyers to sites admitting strongest sales while adding legitimacy. They are, afterall, earned. I sell empty cigar boxes. Per Google, I should sell on eBay or Etsy. Only a fool would try to sell them where I do... they have only 33 employees and a useless ad model!
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But MP TOS is a non-starter. eBay owes me money for overcharged Fed-Ex shipping. They even stonewall Notice of Arbitration.

I still buy here. Things change.

eBay is clearly in decline. They do what is necessary to pay the bills. It's becoming a question of downsizing fast enough.

For my part, I'm only interested in Paypal-driven marketplaces in terms of seller experience.

[releasethekraken_1]

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@direwolf wrote:

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@veronicabooksandart wrote:

True. For instance, a Google search for "Jewelery" returns an earned Etsy category link.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
All things being equal (which they're not), this simple experiment, applied to whatever it is one sells, should best gauge potential sales - if not seller experience.

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Etsy and ebay are not equal - they're in completely different businesses.  But if you really want to compare apples to oranges, ebay's profits for 2020 are 'between $9.56 billion and $9.76 billion' while Etsy reported a mere $349 million.

A more relevant simple experiment is to ask yourself why you're selling on ebay rather than Etsy.   Another simple experiment would be to ask random people to name three general-purpose, online auction houses.  I sincerely doubt many would be able to name more than one.

The fact is, ebay has the overwhelming majority of the general-purpose, online auction house business.  This allows them to dictate terms - just so long as those of us paying their wages allow them to do so. 

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Etsy dictates terms to its sellers. Amazon dictates terms to its sellers. The auction mall down the street dictates terms to its sellers. That's not the measure of a monopoly. Maybe you don't understand what that word means.