Why the hold up?

[wcaw1786]

So I have been a member of ebay for a number of years now. I usually buy, but I have sold a number of Items over the years as well. I have a 100% rating, never had a complaint. So this week, I sold a couple of items and shipped them promptly as usual. They are both domestic, standard USPS. Today is the 10th of January. So the items have already been paid for but, looking at the dates here, Im seeing the funds for one item are on hold until the 25th and the money for the other item is on hold until the 8th of next month. Im not understanding why. Now I know some business's will hold onto money as long as possible to keep in high interest accounts until new money comes into take its place as to maintain a certain balance yielding the high interest but, were talking about days. This is ebay. And they're holding onto it for 2 WEEKS on one item AND A MONTH on the other?!?! Whats the deal? They've held onto my money before but, that was just for a couple days. This is ridiculous. There has to be some type of legality or regulatory body that calls them on this. Its not right.  Had I known this, I would have sold these things somewhere else, because this is really going to screw me up. I have a  bill I need to pay, that isnt going to get paid on time now, which in turn is going to trigger this whole domino effect. Its the reason I sold the items. THEY NEED TO TELL PEOPLE BEFORE HAND IF THEY INTEND ON HOLDING YOUR MONEY FOR THIS LENGTH OF TIME!!!

[mam98031]

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@wcaw1786 wrote:

I sold a $1000 football card last year and it only took 5 days. Just sayin

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Sometimes Ebay doesn't get the hold placed right away.  I understand that you don't like the policy.  I'm not sure that any seller that it was applied to actually does.  I also respect that you want and need your funds.  All I've done and others here is explain to you why what happened happened.  Arguing with us back and forth changes nothing.  None of us here wrote the policy nor do we have any ability to change it.  

All we have been trying to do is help you better understand the position you find yourself in.

[theteamsetguy]

@wcaw1786 ,

Unfortunately, the online selling landscape has changed very rapidly over the last few years. The relative anonymity of the internet has caused illicit activity on the online market places like eBay to skyrocket. This illicit activity includes selling higher priced items than not delivering merchandise, fencing stolen goods which is a huge problem, or selling counterfeit items, just to name a few. With this in mind our law makers have passed legislation to hold the online market places like eBay more accountable. The Inform Consumer Act was passed and went into effect July of 2023 to serve this purpose.

https://www.cassidy.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/cassidy-durbin-inform-consumers-act-goes-into...

Many of these criminals look for dormant or low activity seller accounts with a long history of perfect feedback and will hack into them to list their items because many buyers will not buy higher priced items from sellers with low feedback or new accounts. These crooks are trying to sell as much as they can as fast as they can before they are caught. So, unfortunately your account with a long perfect feedback history is the perfect target for these criminals.

This isn’t just a eBay issue but an issue with all of the other online market places. Unfortunately, the good honest sellers like yourself have to pay the price when ebay has to come up with policies to combat this problem and to comply with the regulations.

Bot 8673509

[fern*wood]

Just because you had no holds earlier doesn't mean you won't have them later on if take a break in selling.   I'm sure if I stopped selling right now for a while (not sure what time frame is used) that I would have holds when I start back up.

Even without the holds, I would hesitate using ebay if I needed the money quickly.  There are too many things that could go wrong and I would have to give it back.

[soh.maryl]

As others have mentioned here, if there's a gap in your selling pattern, eBay considers you to be a new seller and will hold your funds, regardless of how long you've been an eBay user, or how good your FB is.

It's probably explained some place in the information for new sellers, but, since you're not exactly "new", you didn't realize it.  

[jassaf_27]

If I have to hear again “thanks for being a loyal eBay seller for 5 years “ or “wait 3 days “ or “ok I escalated the issue”. I’m going to go nuts.  I relied on much of my eBay earnings to buy my kids Xmas gifts (recent Widow and lost a parent) and to my surprise my payments on hold since Dec 19th!! I’ve called every other day and nothing - i have no open cases.  Pretty good standing as far as feedback.  I did what they asked of me from the “email” snes stating some dumb code m 22.  Now my son’s bday is next week and guess what.  I’m still shopping out and accumulating $ yet I can’t have it? Xmas was a disaster imo-but my kids acted happy for what they got.  Is there some legality issue here ? Now they are saying “restricted” up to 180 days?! **bleep**?! eBay sucked my soul and time I put into it.  

[annadryl]

https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/getting-paid/payouts-work-managed-payments-sellers/payments-hold?i...

[dbfolks166mt]

Unfortunately, the online selling landscape has changed very rapidly over the last few years. The relative anonymity of the internet has caused illicit activity on the online market places like eBay to skyrocket. This illicit activity includes selling higher priced items than not delivering merchandise, fencing stolen goods which is a huge problem, or selling counterfeit items, just to name a few. With this in mind our law makers have passed legislation to hold the online market places like eBay more accountable. The Inform Consumer Act was passed and went into effect July of 2023 to serve this purpose.

https://www.cassidy.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/cassidy-durbin-inform-consumers-act-goes-into...

Many of these criminals look for dormant or low activity seller accounts with a long history of perfect feedback and will hack into them to list their items because many buyers will not buy higher priced items from sellers with low feedback or new accounts. These crooks are trying to sell as much as they can as fast as they can before they are caught. So, unfortunately your account with a long perfect feedback history is the perfect target for these criminals.

This isn’t just a eBay issue but an issue with all of the other online market places. Unfortunately, the good honest sellers like yourself have to pay the price when ebay has to come up with policies to combat this problem and to comply with the regulations.

     I would tend to disagree with you on the connection between the INFORM act and the practice of holding funds. The INFORM act was nothing more than an additional requirement on eBay, and other third party online marketplaces, to validate/verify seller information, something they were already doing to meet the IRS 1099-K issuance requirements. Make no mistake I fully support the act and it's goals. 

     However, eBay has only one purpose in holding funds and that is to cover their own gluteus maximus in the event something goes afoul with a transaction. Given the buyer protection afforded under the money back guarantee eBay mitigates its risk of having to refund buyers with its own funds by holding seller funds and reaping the benefits of earning interest, something they denied for years, while holding those funds. As a publically traded company I can fully understand why eBay does this but it can be an annoyance to sellers. 

     Unfortunately Congress, like eBay only seems to focus on buyers protection and does little to stem the rapidly rising proliferation of friendly fraud and buyer scamming which has become a $100+ billion a year problem. 

[bonjourami]

" i have no open cases.  Pretty good standing as far as feedback."

Sorry for your loss, but I expect the number of unhappy customers you have had is largely responsible for the holds you are experiencing. Ebay wants to make sure you are actually delivering what you sold.

[mam98031]

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@jassaf_27 wrote:

If I have to hear again “thanks for being a loyal eBay seller for 5 years “ or “wait 3 days “ or “ok I escalated the issue”. I’m going to go nuts.  I relied on much of my eBay earnings to buy my kids Xmas gifts (recent Widow and lost a parent) and to my surprise my payments on hold since Dec 19th!! I’ve called every other day and nothing - i have no open cases.  Pretty good standing as far as feedback.  I did what they asked of me from the “email” snes stating some dumb code m 22.  Now my son’s bday is next week and guess what.  I’m still shopping out and accumulating $ yet I can’t have it? Xmas was a disaster imo-but my kids acted happy for what they got.  Is there some legality issue here ? Now they are saying “restricted” up to 180 days?! **bleep**?! eBay sucked my soul and time I put into it.  

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I am sincerely sorry to hear of your enormous loss increased by the financial hardships you are experiencing.  That only makes the mourning process so much harder.

It does appear that you have some misunderstandings about some Ebay policies and that is NOT Ebay's fault, that is the responsibility of each seller to know the policies and the rules of this site.  Blaming Ebay will not serve you well nor will it help you would through your current issues with the site.

"Pretty good standing as far as feedback."  This is one of your misunderstandings.  This is absolutely not true and you aren't in "good standing" with your feedback.  From the comments of these buyers it is clear that there is room for improvement in how quickly you ship, responding to messages and the actual condition of the items you are selling.  I'm not at all trying to insult you in any way.  I'm trying to help you understand your responsibilities.  

I get your frustration and coupled with your mourning it has got to be horrible for you.  ❤️  But even with all that you have to handle and you have going on, your customers must never feel that from you.  You need to up your customer service and always ship within your stated handling time.  Not shipping on time causes Defects in your Account Health.  You should really look at your Seller Dashboard and see what Defects you have that are hurting the health of your selling account.  It is something you should monitor at a minimum of weekly.

https://sellerstandards.ebay.com/dashboard?region=US

Just step up your game and try not to make anymore self inflicted errors [slow shipping & poor customer service].  That is the only way you work out of this.  If your Dashboard shows other areas where you have issues, pay attention to them.  Learn what those errors were and find a way not to repeat them.  All sellers have statistics in which we are eval'd on every single month.  We all have rules to follow, whether you like them or agree with them does not matter.  Learn the rules will only benefit you.

I hope the coming months are much kinder to you !!  😍

[femmefan1946]

But ive sold items of equal and greater value in the past and my money was held for DAYS, not weeks.

Again.

90 days.

You can sell steadily for months , then get a Hold on a specific sale, usually in a high value/high fraud category, for a few days.

But, if you stop listing and selling for months, then the Hold will be for longer.

Just the fact that your money was Held for days, says to me that high value sales are not common for you, and eBay's robots look for unusual sales.

[h494_21]

Get the replies about being covered/policy part but It has nothing to do with making Money on the interest? If not how about then putting held funds In escrow and once they know they are covered (which seems to be the most Important thing)..releasing funds including Interest to the seller? 

[mam98031]

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@h494_21 wrote:

Get the replies about being covered/policy part but It has nothing to do with making Money on the interest? If not how about then putting held funds In escrow and once they know they are covered (which seems to be the most Important thing)..releasing funds including Interest to the seller? 

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@h494_21 

Not really how it works, if you are considering "they" to be Ebay.  The rules for new sellers are / were created to protect both the seller and the buyers.  It prevents sellers that come here to make a few quick bucks and then disappear with the money.  That use to be a real issue for many years.  Buyers can be assured that this won't happen to them here and it is very important that buyers feel secure when shopping on this site.

It also insures that if there is a problem with the transactions, the funds will be there to satisfy any needs in relationship to this.

These rules were created for Site Security, not what you want to have others believe it is for.  As I've said before, these rules have been around many years, long before Ebay was our Money processor and long before Ebay earned interest on funds.

[h494_21]

Ok, Get the policy part and why it's There but doesn't address The questions . otherwise sending seller held funds (once they figure out they're covered) with the interest Wouldn't be an issue. 

[mam98031]

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@h494_21 wrote:

Ok, Get the policy part and why it's There but doesn't address The questions . otherwise sending seller held funds (once they figure out they're covered) with the interest Wouldn't be an issue. 

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What questions does it not address?

[h494_21]

What happens with money while it's bring held? Do they Make money off of the held funds? how is it determined how long funds are held for? And Once they've figured out they're Covered/Protected would they a send any interest made Along with the payout? think maybe was Asking about things Like that And not what the Hold policy is?