Payment Holds - eBay Simply Benefiting from $ Float

[rdltwo]

I’ve been on eBay since 1998, I have 100% positive reviews, and bought/sold almost 800 items on eBay.  As of late, I started to Sell a nuimber of items on eBay.   For no clear reason, other than the eBay Agent telling me it’s a “system made decision”, eBay has started placing a Payment Holds on funds paid to me by multiple Buyers.   This pattern continues, prompting me to sell these items elsewhere. 

I can understand eBay placing holds on funds until they clear the Buyer’s bank.   More recently, after selling a couple items that the funds were released almost immediately, eBay has started to place holds.   I’m being told until one day after the item has been delivered to the Buyer.

I might understand if I was a problem Seller, or a Seller with multiple complaints, or a Seller that hasn’t delivered, or a new eBay member - I’m non of these.   Additionally, the transaction fees eBay is charging to sell items feels exorbitant ~15%.

[reallynicestamps]

@rdltwo 

Yes we can see that.

Your sales over the last 90 days are viewable from the left column on your Active Listings page.

It's a little surprising that your earlier ~$200 sales were not Held, but your steady buying may make a difference to the algorithm.

But $2000 is TEN TIMES more than $200.
And that may have been the tipping point.

As I understand it, your other sales all resulted in transferred payments on the next Tuesday , which is the default?

It's only this last much higher transaction that is being Held?

[mam98031]

Ebay has had a rule for many years that pertains to New Seller and sellers that have been away from selling for 90+ days. The following is the policy that outlines why you money is likely on hold.

https://export.ebay.com/en/fees-and-payments/payments/payment-holds/

https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/getting-paid/getting-paid-items-youve-sold/payments-hold?id=4816&&...

[fashunu4eeuh]

When leaving forum advice, i check the OP’s listings and feedback. While doing so, I found this response left (see below) to one of your buyers in the Left For  Others section in Feedback.

@rdltwo wrote:

“Appreciate prompt eBay Buyer payment. However, as a Seller, the delay between the Seller’s payment and release of funds for “authentication” is hard to take. This isn’t necessarily the Buyer’s fault”

The above comment may violate eBay policy. Sellers can only leave positive comments  in feedback for buyers. Since policy violations are the last thing you need now, wanted to alert you to the rule and suggest using caution in general while trying to get payment holds lifted.

With eBay scrutinizing your account, any violation could set you back in establishing a strong selling history (which you need to get rid of your funds being held.)

 Could you share the motivation that drew you to complain to your buyer about it? It is likely that most buyers are unaware of eBay rules that apply to sellers only (unless they are sellers themselves) and the issue of 

funds holds has no bearing on the transaction from the buyer’s point of view. So why address the subject with the buyer? 

This comment will speak to all your future buyers who consult feedback prior to purchase. As such, I’m not sure this was a good use of the valuable real estate available to sellers in Feedback. Follow-up comments are a prime opportunity to display communication and customer service skills. And prospective buyers are the most important audience we have as sellers.

Our feedback comments have the power to sway buyer opinion. That is the real value of feedback—not in warning fellow sellers, or adressing a current buyer, but reaching the pool of possible buyers who are interested enough in our listings to go to feedback to vet us as the seller.

Complaining to one’s buyer about the delay in getting paid due to the authentication process and payment holds offers no benefit to you that i can see. Can you elaborate on the purpose of bringing the buyer into an issue that they cannot influence? Thank you for any insight.