I've used eBay for 24 years. I've never been a professional seller, but I do sell stuff as well as buy. 21st century garage sale. I just sold a camera lens because I could use the extra cash. In March I sold something and got my payout fast, so it hasn't been 90 days since a sell and I'm not an unknown seller.
Sell the item...days go by...no payout scheduled. And no message as to why. Try to use eBay's help. Land on a page that tells me there's an alert I need to address. But there is no alert. Try the text chat. The "agent" (I suspect it was really an AI bot) tells me there are "technical difficulties" with no timetable. Try the phone. That agent was at least a human being, and she tells me there's some verification in process and that it will complete soon.
I now have three completely different answers as to the problem. Understand I'm already at my limit with eBay. Their fees have never been higher, it has never been more time consuming to list an item, and their web site has an ever increasing number of technical glitches and bugs. (Which eBay doesn't care about at all as there's no place to report them.) I've shipped the lens, but I have no money. At this point meeting someone in an alley for a Craigslist sell seems safer. So I ask to elevate to a supervisor and wait.
A supervisor gets on the line and tells me that I entered tax ID information beginning of May and that's the reason for the verification. I correct him and give him the date I actually entered it. He kind of insists that it was May. I point out to him that I had to update my banking info and add tax ID info for my March sales/payout. Dead silence. Either he got caught in a lie or he just realized their database is that screwed up. No answers from him either. Just boilerplate assurances it will be resolved soon and he will relay my complaints to a manager. A bot would be better because at least a bot wouldn't knowingly lie.
I have other stuff I was preparing to sell, including more camera equipment that is more expensive than what I just sold. Why on Earth would I ever trust eBay and list it now? And if this is how eBay is now treating sellers, why would I ever buy on eBay again?
