Ebay Restrictions on payouts - Shall i take my £26k in fees somewhere else??

[prestigecarpartsuk]

Hi, Seems i only come on here to complain about the service received from Ebay when something goes wrong. But i have exhausted my own knowledge and experience of ebay / finance etc, without getting the Financial Ombudsman involved. Which i have experience of !!
I operate a large show selling car parts with nearly 3000 listings totalling around 3.3million £. Most are expensive items that make this up, but there are a lot if smaller items that make up a lot of £. Anyway....
https://www.ebay.co.uk/str/prestigecarpartsuk
Before christmas I had 3 listings for mirror covers flagged up by an email address in the US from Brand Protection. This was delt with as i sell genuine parts not copies of. As soon as this issue was raised ebay had restricted my account payouts and listing updates / additions, noting "We have taken this action to help ensure a safe trading environment for you and the eBay Community, as well as to confirm that your use of the services meets the guidelines of the eBay User Agreement. " the email stated it may take up to 3 working days to review this information. Waiting the 5 days for this to be reverted i still had restrictions. Contacting ebay over the phone "Trust and Safety" team, i managed to speak to someone who told me they sympathised with my issue but that this was something that needed to be done, as above, ensuring safety for customs etc etc. Not very helpful. Emailing i managed to get a reply advising the restrictions had been removed. However,
Noticing on my return after christmas / new year that i had not received the regular daily payouts i looking further any noted that all my listing sales were on hold until tracking shows delivery. Again contacting ebay they were extremely sympathetic but could not do anything.
My biggest grip is that from the 15th to the 20th i understand the need for checks etc. But that noted 3 days to deal with, on complaining they removed the restriction on the listing and listing updates but not the payouts. No one can give me a definitive as to why this restriction will be lifted, 30 days is not acceptable. When i sell an expensive item overseas the postage costs can be anywhere from £100 to £500, and having the funds in the bank the next day enables me to not get in to debt with couriers. But now i am expected to pay for the postage. Sending things overseas can also take anywhere from 2-5 days or even 3 months depending on the courier and the customs processes. Am i expected to wait that long for payment to get to me, how am i expected to pay suppliers, bills etc. At present the amount totals £3544.29 from sales. This will keep going up as i sell things on a daily basis.
Is anyone else had or having this problem, is there a policy change i am not aware of, anyone from ebay can help sort this so its back to what it was. Or should i take my sales over to my website and take my 2023 £26,878.48 selling fees over to google or shopify?
yours Stressed, frustrated and anxious ebayer

[bassoon12345]

Hello,

My advice would be to pass on your problem to the Press....some of the hoops that Ebay make dealers jump through are restricting and extremely frustrating to say the least!

[tribalgiftsuk]

I cant offer any advice but i feel for you in this situation. Thats awful treatment and i hope you resolve it soon. 

[goingfishinguk]

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@prestigecarpartsuk wrote:

 Or should i take my sales over to my website and take my 2023 £26,878.48 selling fees over to google or shopify?

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Firstly apologies for your situation, it's shocking and you have my sympathy.  Unfortunately £26k yearly fees in the big scheme of things is not that much to eBay or it must not be as about 18 months ago I have giving them nearly £80k, sales over £1k a day, now with their shenanigans I'm lucky to get £50 a day.  Basically they do not care, so if you want my advice move away from eBay.  As far as they are concerned you won't be missed and you'll feel better with that £28k in your pocket.

Good luck...

[tommystrezures]

This is an awful situation, however you mention early on in your post that there was an issue with brand protection and the US. There is or are a lot of users that have had this situation arise for various products and I am going to tag one active member on this who may be able to give you better advise than me, as i suspect that the initial email you have received has triggered the sequence of events off.

Lord and Lady M has been very helpful to others so I hope they don't mind assisting you. (thank you in advance Lord and Lady M if you can assist this user)

@lord_and_lady_m 

[prestigecarpartsuk]

Thanks, any help appreciated.

Sent further email to ebay yesterday, mentioned fiancial ombudsman and not had a reply as quick as the others. Maybe there looking in to it.  Anyway. Ombudsman complaint made. Luckily i havent had to fork out for any expensive postage yet. But that may change over the weekend.

[prestigecarpartsuk]

this is interesting. maybe if everyone filed a complaint with the Ombudsman it may raise a few eyebrows. Customer got £100 for 30p wrongfully charged

https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/decision/DRN-4395003.pdf

[magpiecorner1]

Who are you emailing?  The names of the head honchos are public knowledge and they do have teams monitoring emails.  HMRC company registrations is a good place to start!  And they do respond, or at least staff do who can take action very quickly.

Re Ombudsman, they do seem to have a shocking reputation, judging by feedback, but I had dealing with them regarding Midland Bank/HSBC and PPI which raged for years, absolutely amazing help!   Unfortunately takes forever, for the amount you mention with no solution in sight I'd take a trip to Head Office to knock on their door, and I live in Scotland!

[ojewellery]

Happy New Year!  

Not such a fun challenge to start the New Year with, you have my sympathies.   Its really hard not to be flawed by this sort of situation.

It sounds like you're doing everything reasonably you can and things are actually progressing well.  You've got the VERO thing sorted, listing restrictions lifted and now its just the frustration of payout temporary holds.

Payout holds have gone on for years when a querry is raised against an account.  I don't think anything has ever been published on when they get removed.

Looking at it coldly/ objectively from a not personally effected by the situation point of view:

You had a great eBay business, you still do. 

You have a business that customer facing is in great standing with great feedback

You can list and sell without restriction.

You have a (temporary) cashflow issue that is created by the change in payouts.

Looking at a couple of listings it looks like you're sending next day for most items so tracking showing delivered for a no doubt fairly high percentage of your sales causes maybe a one day delay in receiving payment?

International sales however its 5 days - the no doubt far rarer 3 months.

If you sit down and hard look at the numbers (I don't need the answer) what is the cashflow amount you need to free up to alieviate your current stress? 

Say its £5k.  What is the interest cost/ month for you for £5k of borrowing?  Its probably not as high as you think and again looking coldly from the outside its probably a temporary business cost you can write into your numbers.  (frustration of the situation aside)

As for taking your money elsewhere - I'd be careful to ensure you're doing you.  Is that in your best interests to kill your profit making eBay business?  Expanding elsewhere, adding a new channel every 6 months or so, absolutely - all eggs one basket does leave things a bit vulnerable.

Good luck, the situation I'm sure will unwind but the not knowing is very frustrating.