Item was accepted at the hub, buyer filed and item not received, and Ebay has a hold on my funds

[childhoodwishes]

I sent an item on Nov 26th, it was accepted at the hub and they have shipped it to the buyer.  The tracking shows that it is still in customs clearance.  Buyer filed an Item not received claim and Ebay has put a hold on my account for that amount.  I thought we were protected from those claims by using Ebay International Shipping.  They said I could step in on the 6th, which I did.  Now they are saying there is a hold until the 16th.  If the documentation is correct, it says that once its accepted at the hub, we keep the sale, no matter what.  If that is true why are they holding my funds?  Has anybody else ever had to deal with this?  Its super frustrating.

[12345jamesstamps]

Item might not had gotten scanned as 'delivered'...at USA hub to the other country.

Not scanned at USA hub is an item not delivered there.

Thus, eBay usually 'refunds' the seller EIS as I believe...maybe I am wrong?

Refunds do not happen over night...or rather releasing your funds.

It might happen sooner than the 16th as to getting your funds...but I wouldn't hold my breath with artificial intelligence.

You are protected...but as a time frame of any refunds...there is no real time line.

[childhoodwishes]

I guess I just don't understand why they are holding funds of mine at all, it clearly shows that it went thru the US hub and is in Austria at customs. I was already paid for the item, now they are just holding funds equal to the cost of the item, in case?????  what?  There is no situation where I should be held responsible, once it is accepted at the US hub, postal insurance is no longer valid, as far as the post office is concerned, it has been delivered, and I have fulfilled my responsibility.  Once they accepted the package and it moved forward, there is no reason why I would be charged for it.  It was scanned at the hub and accepted, its on the tracking.  Also on the tracking that they sent it forward.  Sorry, I am just really frustrated.  Not sure if Ebay International Shipping is worth it, if they are gonna try to charge me for an item that I can't even file insurance on....

And if they aren't going to try and charge me for it, why are they holding that exact amount of my money?

[mr_lincoln]

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@childhoodwishes wrote:

I guess I just don't understand why they are holding funds of mine at all, it clearly shows that it went thru the US hub and is in Austria at customs. I was already paid for the item, now they are just holding funds equal to the cost of the item, in case?????  what?  There is no situation where I should be held responsible, once it is accepted at the US hub, postal insurance is no longer valid, as far as the post office is concerned, it has been delivered, and I have fulfilled my responsibility.  Once they accepted the package and it moved forward, there is no reason why I would be charged for it.  It was scanned at the hub and accepted, its on the tracking.  Also on the tracking that they sent it forward.  Sorry, I am just really frustrated.  Not sure if Ebay International Shipping is worth it, if they are gonna try to charge me for an item that I can't even file insurance on....

And if they aren't going to try and charge me for it, why are they holding that exact amount of my money?

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Hi @childhoodwishes 

eBay International Shipping | eBay

I don't use EIS or ship internationally but I've read the Help page on it in the past.  I was always under the impression that once the item is delivered to the Hub the Seller is done, the Hub handles the package and the finances on the transaction after that in the event of a problem. Here's one excerpt from that policy page:

As well as making your items available to buyers in almost 200 countries, there are several other benefits to using eBay International Shipping:

• When you ship internationally using eBay International Shipping, you're responsible for sending the item your buyer purchased safely to the US shipping hub. If a buyer reports that an item was lost or damaged during international shipping or it is damaged at the hub, we'll work with the buyer to resolve the issue. You're protected from:
  • The obligation to refund the buyer
  • eBay Money Back Guarantee cases
  • Payment disputes
  • Open 'Not as described' returns in your service metrics
  • Negative or neutral feedback related to item handling during international shipping
• Save on selling fees for your international transactions, including no international fee
• All international returns, refunds, and customs clearance will be handled on your behalf
• If you schedule Time Away, the estimated delivery date will be updated to reflect this
• You'll be protected against item not received claims and chargebacks once your item is accepted at the domestic hub

Those blue highlighted points sure sound like the Seller is off the hook so why ANY of your funds are being held is a complete mystery.  I could not find any mention that eBay will hold a Seller's funds hostage while they fulfill their promise of taking full financial responsibility after delivery to the Hub ... or am I missing something???

[stainlessenginecovers]

Contact reps at ebay (on facebook) and tell your story. 

EIS should be protected

Your 'funds' should NOT be held, since you've had plenty of sales. 

[childhoodwishes]

There is a way to contact Ebay on Facebook?  

[childhoodwishes]

Thats what I don't understand.  Everything I read says I am not liable.  I am going to call them again today.  Oh, and they didn't contact me to tell me that they put an extended hold on the funds, I only found out by clicking on the claim.  I didn't get an email or message or anything.  If there is a problem in Customs, I had nothing to do with it, I don't fill out the customs form when using Ebay International Shipping, they do....  I shipped exactly what was listed.  One of the big "side effects" of them holding my funds is that for the first day (until I had enough "over" the held amount) every time I printed a shipping label, they charged my bank account, so I have 8 or 9 5 dollar charges on my checking account and keeping up with that many little transactions is a pain.  I thought that this new shipping was supposed to make it easier for us and this is a nightmare.

[mr_lincoln]

@childhoodwishes 

You are exactly right, this new feature was supposed to make selling internationally a simple fire and forget process for Sellers. 

I have a credit card as my backup payment method which means charges like you describe would be on the card and not come out of my bank account.  Yes, making all of those small entries in a checking account ledger would be a royal pain.  I am on Weekly Payouts for that very reason, one entry per week is a whole lot better than every other day.

[childhoodwishes]

I am also on a weekly payout, and considered putting some money in Paypal and using that as my backup, but it really shouldn't even be an issue.  I called at the time, right after they held my funds, and the person I spoke to assured me that there was no way I would actually be charged for the item, but that the funds would be on hold anyway, which makes no sense at all.  I explained that every shipping label I printed was being charged to my bank account and was told "thats just the way it works".  If it had been a 20 dollar item, it would have caused very little issues for me, but it was over 200 dollars....and I live on what I make on ebay, so it is very significant.  Sorry, just venting at this point....

[mr_lincoln]

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@childhoodwishes wrote:

I am also on a weekly payout, and considered putting some money in Paypal and using that as my backup, but it really shouldn't even be an issue.  I called at the time, right after they held my funds, and the person I spoke to assured me that there was no way I would actually be charged for the item, but that the funds would be on hold anyway, which makes no sense at all.  I explained that every shipping label I printed was being charged to my bank account and was told "thats just the way it works".  If it had been a 20 dollar item, it would have caused very little issues for me, but it was over 200 dollars....and I live on what I make on ebay, so it is very significant.  Sorry, just venting at this point....

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@childhoodwishes 

You have every right to vent ... 

[childhoodwishes]

I just spent 37 minutes on the phone with ebay, and they just kept repeating that my funds were on hold because the buyer filed a claim.  I read their policy to them, they said I was exactly correct and proceeded to say my funds would stay on hold until the case was determined.  I asked if there was any condition where I would be liable and was told when the case was closed my funds would be released (not an answer to my question) I told them that was not acceptable and I wanted to speak to a supervisor, after several minutes on hold the same person came back and said they had tried to speak with a representative in Austria to find out about the package, but they didn't speak any english.  At this point I told them that none of that mattered, I had fulfilled my obligation and I wanted to speak with a supervisor.  Several more minutes on hold, same person came back and said she was filling out a form and someone would get back to me right away.  Something in their system is broken, once the item has been accepted at the hub, a claim by the buyer should have no impact on me.  I am not sure where to go to have this addressed.  I would really like to know if there are others that have experienced this issue.  Surely I am not the only person that has used EIS and had a claim filed for item not received.

[mr_lincoln]

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@childhoodwishes wrote:

I just spent 37 minutes on the phone with ebay, and they just kept repeating that my funds were on hold because the buyer filed a claim.  I read their policy to them, they said I was exactly correct and proceeded to say my funds would stay on hold until the case was determined.  I asked if there was any condition where I would be liable and was told when the case was closed my funds would be released (not an answer to my question) I told them that was not acceptable and I wanted to speak to a supervisor, after several minutes on hold the same person came back and said they had tried to speak with a representative in Austria to find out about the package, but they didn't speak any english.  At this point I told them that none of that mattered, I had fulfilled my obligation and I wanted to speak with a supervisor.  Several more minutes on hold, same person came back and said she was filling out a form and someone would get back to me right away.  Something in their system is broken, once the item has been accepted at the hub, a claim by the buyer should have no impact on me.  I am not sure where to go to have this addressed.  I would really like to know if there are others that have experienced this issue.  Surely I am not the only person that has used EIS and had a claim filed for item not received.

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@childhoodwishes 

I suspect eBay has put programming in place to now automatically place funds on hold for an INR claim on an EIS shipment despite their policy implying otherwise.

You'll be protected against item not received claims and chargebacks once your item is accepted at the domestic hub.

Hopefully another member with experience with this will see your thread and post accordingly.

[childhoodwishes]

Thats what I am thinking.  A 2 minute programming statement would filter out items that met the EIS policy.  It would also be nice if they would train their help desk people to realize that something was wrong, and not just keep repeating that my funds were on hold because the buyer filed a claim.  Ebay needs to realize that its not just the buyers that are their customers, sellers are also their customers and without us they would not have buyers...  Hoping someone will see this post, or one of the many I have posted on Facebook.

[bdmh-enterprises]

Sorry I can't be of more help other than to validate that what you are experiencing is NOT how EIS should be working..

In Dec I had 2 EIS returns. Both emails said the same thing, basically: 'Customer has filed a return. No need to do anything. Thanks for trusting EIS with your order.' No holds placed.

Going to return details it simply says "we took care of this return for you".  What does it say in the return details for your item?

Every EIS I've sent went to IL, so maybe the issue has to do with the KY hub not being recognized by the system??? I can't imagine why, but it's the only thing that stands out about this..

[childhoodwishes]

SO THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS IF YOU USE EBAY INTERNATIONAL SHIPPING - cut and pasted from an email that they sent to me.

We reviewed this case and decided to issue the buyer a full refund.

We didn’t receive valid proof of delivery from you. Sellers must provide tracking information showing the item was delivered to the address provided in the order details. Some orders also require signature confirmation. Learn more about our signature confirmation policy.

A refund of $208.87 was issued on to the buyer. The refund includes the purchase price plus original shipping.

This amount will be deducted from your account.