18-02-2025 1:53 PM
Hi everybody!
The Community Chat will open at 2pm and will remain open until 3pm on Wednesday. After that it will be closed for further questions. Of course, we will continue to take care of answering any questions that may still be unanswered—We’ll get to everything as quickly as possible.
Please ask your questions in the thread below. In order to be able to answer your questions as quickly as possible, we ask you to have one question per post. Of course, you can make as many posts as you like in the Chat- the more the merrier!
Our eBay Community Team is made up of kat@ebay , dave@ebay and marco@ebay . Between us, we have knowledge in Buying, Selling, Fulfilment, Payments, and the Community itself. Anything we aren’t sure on we’ll know the people who will be! Please ask us any questions you may have and we’ll do all we can to support. We understand that certain topics, such as concerns about businesses possibly using private accounts, can be frustrating and important to you. Please refrain from asking the same question repeatedly in our weekly live chats. We assure you that we carefully review all posts in the forum and ensure that your concerns are communicated to the relevant teams for appropriate action.
To maintain a constructive and community environment, posts that repeatedly breach this guideline may be removed. Continued violations could result in further action against your community account. We appreciate your cooperation and understanding in helping us keep our community focused and respectful.
To ask your question, click Reply in the lower-right corner of this post, type your question, and click Reply between 2pm and 3pm. The community team will answer each incoming question in chronological order and will quote the original question in each answer.
Please note that any reply without a question to the community team or discussion replies may be removed from the chat. We want to keep on track to get through as many questions as possible. We welcome all discussion to be moved to the discussion boards.
If you missed the weekly chat time, please ask your question in the community boards and tag us or we will be back next week with another chat!
Many thanks,
Your eBay Community Team
19-02-2025 2:00 PM
Payments on hold - business account - no reason given
As a business seller I was rather surprised to get an email saying our payments would be on hold until tracking information uploaded and shown as delivered. This is a new policy for private accounts I understand but not business accounts?
Or does it now apply to business accounts?
I spoke to eBay CS yesterday (Ireland I think) who told me it did not apply to business accounts, and they could not understand why this payments hold was being applied to our account. He transferred me to another call centre (maybe Thailand?), they initially said it was due to a new policy, I pointed out we have a business account, and they confirmed in that case the policy did not apply, but the payments hold was due to a previous account suspension (our account has never been suspended).
They then spent ages looking, and eventually confirmed that it was a mistake and that the payments hold should be lifted.
As of this morning the payments hold remains in place so I requested a call back, this time eBay CS in Berlin called back, and again, couldn’t understand the reason for the payments hold, passed me on to a call centre again (Thailand?) and I was incredibly rudely told that this was a new eBay policy on both business and private accounts and all accounts were effected, when I asked them to point out where this policy was laid out to ebay.co.uk Business users she hung up.
So… still no wiser, why are our payments on hold? does the payments hold apply to all accounts or just private accounts?
What is going on???
19-02-2025 2:05 PM
@reynardnoirrailwayana2015 wrote:
Payments on hold - business account - no reason given
As a business seller I was rather surprised to get an email saying our payments would be on hold until tracking information uploaded and shown as delivered. This is a new policy for private accounts I understand but not business accounts?
Or does it now apply to business accounts?
I spoke to eBay CS yesterday (Ireland I think) who told me it did not apply to business accounts, and they could not understand why this payments hold was being applied to our account. He transferred me to another call centre (maybe Thailand?), they initially said it was due to a new policy, I pointed out we have a business account, and they confirmed in that case the policy did not apply, but the payments hold was due to a previous account suspension (our account has never been suspended).
They then spent ages looking, and eventually confirmed that it was a mistake and that the payments hold should be lifted.
As of this morning the payments hold remains in place so I requested a call back, this time eBay CS in Berlin called back, and again, couldn’t understand the reason for the payments hold, passed me on to a call centre again (Thailand?) and I was incredibly rudely told that this was a new eBay policy on both business and private accounts and all accounts were effected, when I asked them to point out where this policy was laid out to ebay.co.uk Business users she hung up.
So… still no wiser, why are our payments on hold? does the payments hold apply to all accounts or just private accounts?
What is going on???
Hi reynardnoirrailwayana2015, thanks for your question.
This wouldn't be related to the recent changes that apply to private sellers. However, please note that just because you have a business account, your funds would never be placed on hold. There are still a number of different reasons that could place funds on hold even if you have a business account.
If you confirm 1 or 2 examples (item numbers), I can take a look for you no problem to see what's happening.
Thank you,
Marco
19-02-2025 2:07 PM - edited 19-02-2025 2:13 PM
Good afternoon.
Since my Balance went to zero I have sold 4 items and bought a postage label for each via ebay/Packlink. Items 1 & 2 were delivered on 17th and funds were due today (19th).
I am still waiting for items 3 & 4 to be delivered.
I was a little surprised today to find that my funds due for the first 2 items were minus 4 postage labels in total, not just the 2 labels from transactions 1 & 2.
Why is this, please. Surely the cost of postage labels should be taken out the amount HELD BY EBAY for each transaction?
When I buy a label on ebay it states at the bottom of the page:
Pay with your funds:
These consist of your available and processing funds. It also includes the transaction hold from this order.
On the help pages it states:
Your funds will appear as Pending in the Payments tab in My eBay or Seller Hub. You'll be able to use your pending funds to purchase postage labels and issue refunds to the buyer.
So why are ebay taking postage labels from my avilable funds, not (as stated) from my pending funds? Ebay have the money for the transaction, and if I'm buying the postage label from ebay, then that is where the money should come from.
It's bad enough that ebay are holding MY money, but I can live with that, it's just very sneaky to take the amount for postage labels out of my cleared funds, instead of out of the money for the transaction that they are holding.
It also means that I won't get the full amount I am due on items 1 & 2 for at least another 3 days, possiblty longer, depending when items 3 & 4 are delivered. So it's very misleading to say payment will be available 2 days after tracking confirmation.
19-02-2025 2:10 PM
Hi-Ref. item order no. 12-12681-69695 According to the new rules, items under £10 will be paid to seller after feedback received. I received feedback LAST WEEK for this item-STILL do not have my funds!! Thanks.
19-02-2025 2:17 PM
I would like to know if eBay are using customers held funds from private sales to use in a liquidity pool to gain interest on in money markets or similar?
19-02-2025 2:17 PM
This has been discussed quite a lot on the forums, but I wanted to see if you could please give clarity regarding a possible discrepancy with the buyer protection fee as it stands please?
The page here https://www.ebay.co.uk/help/selling/selling/pricing-items/buyer-protection-information-sellers?id=55... states that the buyer fee is "A flat fee of up to £0.75 per item, and 4% of the item price up to £300"
Currently an item listed at £10 has a buyer fee of £1.12 whereas at 4% + 75p you might expect it to be £1.15.
Is this working as intended? I couldn't find the exact post but someone suggested that the 'up to' 75p may mean that you are varying this 'flat' portion of the fee and are in fact charging 72p, could that be the case?
Apologies if this has already been answered, I saw a response about VAT calculation before but I wasn't sure if that was a separate issue.
I have a second question as well regarding charity listings if that's okay?
Under the old system seller fees were discounted if an item was sold for charity, I wondered whether you could clarify what the situation is regarding the new buyer fee on charity listings?
19-02-2025 2:19 PM
@clocla-0 wrote:
Good afternoon.
Since my Balance went to zero I have sold 4 items and bought a postage label for each via ebay/Packlink. Items 1 & 2 were delivered on 17th and funds were due today (19th).
I am still waiting for items 3 & 4 to be delivered.
I was a little surprised today to find that my funds due for the first 2 items were minus 4 postage labels in total, not just the 2 labels from transactions 1 & 2.Why is this, please. Surely the cost of postage labels should be taken out the amount HELD BY EBAY for each transaction?
When I buy a label on ebay it states at the bottom of the page:
Pay with your funds:
These consist of your available and processing funds. It also includes the transaction hold from this order.
On the help pages it states:
Your funds will appear as Pending in the Payments tab in My eBay or Seller Hub. You'll be able to use your pending funds to purchase postage labels and issue refunds to the buyer.So why are ebay taking postage labels from my avilable funds, not (as stated) from my pending funds? Ebay have the money for the transaction, and if I'm buying the postage label from ebay, then that is where the money should come from.
It's bad enough that ebay are holding MY money, but I can live with that, it's just very sneaky to take the amount for postage labels out of my cleared funds, instead of out of the money for the transaction that they are holding.It also means that I won't get the full amount I am due on items 1 & 2 for at least another 3 days, possiblty longer, depending when items 3 & 4 are delivered. So it's very misleading to say payment will be available 2 days after tracking confirmation.
Hi @clocla-0 ,
I can understand on what your advising of with the cost of the postage labels coming from available funds. Let me get this clarified with payments and I will come back and update you.
Thank you,
Kat
19-02-2025 2:19 PM - edited 19-02-2025 2:20 PM
Good Afternoon 🙂
Now that you have bought in buyer purchase fees is now the time to stop deterring those business sellers using private seller accounts to sell and forcing them to upgrade their accounts as it is unfair buyers should have to pay fees on those products.
19-02-2025 2:20 PM - edited 19-02-2025 2:21 PM
Good afternoon team,
I have received an message from eBay regarding our VAT registration...
It has not changed since 2015.
The details were added around then too.
Yet I am sent a message telling me to update my VAT details right away??
Is this some more nonsense that has been sent in error or do I need to do something.
I have followed the links and checked the details are correct.
There is no notification to tell me if I have successfully sorted whatever eBay wants me to do.
So is this an actual thing or what, or has the message been sent to us in error?
The messages starts as below:
"We value you as an eBay seller, so we wanted to let you know that the UK Value Added Tax (VAT) information on your eBay account is either missing, invalid, or displayed incorrectly. You need to update your VAT details right away or your account will be restricted from selling on eBay.
HMRC requires eBay to make sure any UK established business that generates more than £90,000 revenue in the last rolling 12 months holds a valid UK VAT number. Learn more about your VAT obligations in the UK."
This is not on this account and is on our other linked account.
To reiterate, our VAT details are correct!!
Interesting that I have to take action immediately, yet eBay have messed up the VAT on international postage about 4 years ago and still have done nothing about it!!
Thank you
Russ
19-02-2025 2:21 PM
@michauk_xsyi8rq wrote:
Hi-Ref. item order no. 12-12681-69695 According to the new rules, items under £10 will be paid to seller after feedback received. I received feedback LAST WEEK for this item-STILL do not have my funds!! Thanks.
Hi michauk_xsyi8rq, thanks for your question.
The feature in question is not live yet, if you click here, you can our announcement where this would be live by the end of February. However, this hasn't started yet, so that's why your funds are still being held.
Thank you,
Marco
19-02-2025 2:24 PM
Thanks Marco - the info we have been given is very contradictory. Note we have never had any restrictions or account issues.
Item
Order no. / Item no.
- 11-12728-91610 / 256778868517
- 02-12733-36743 / 256778883200
- 20-12716-77808 / 256816026311
19-02-2025 2:25 PM
@krafty-kreations wrote:
Good Afternoon 🙂
Now that you have bought in buyer purchase fees is now the time to stop deterring those business sellers using private seller accounts to sell and forcing them to upgrade their accounts as it is unfair buyers should have to pay fees on those products.
Hi krafty-kreations, thanks for your input.
I will pass on your message as feedback, so this can be taken into consideration.
Thank you,
Marco
19-02-2025 2:28 PM
@dissident_concepts wrote:
I would like to know if eBay are using customers held funds from private sales to use in a liquidity pool to gain interest on in money markets or similar?
Unfortunately this isn't something we would have an answer to, but you can find more information on it in the User Agreement and more detail on how these funds are used in our Payments terms of use.
Thanks,
Dave
19-02-2025 2:29 PM
@ducatimondo wrote:
Good afternoon team,
I have received an message from eBay regarding our VAT registration...
It has not changed since 2015.
The details were added around then too.
Yet I am sent a message telling me to update my VAT details right away??
Is this some more nonsense that has been sent in error or do I need to do something.
I have followed the links and checked the details are correct.There is no notification to tell me if I have successfully sorted whatever eBay wants me to do.
So is this an actual thing or what, or has the message been sent to us in error?
The messages starts as below:"We value you as an eBay seller, so we wanted to let you know that the UK Value Added Tax (VAT) information on your eBay account is either missing, invalid, or displayed incorrectly. You need to update your VAT details right away or your account will be restricted from selling on eBay.
HMRC requires eBay to make sure any UK established business that generates more than £90,000 revenue in the last rolling 12 months holds a valid UK VAT number. Learn more about your VAT obligations in the UK."
This is not on this account and is on our other linked account.
To reiterate, our VAT details are correct!!
Interesting that I have to take action immediately, yet eBay have messed up the VAT on international postage about 4 years ago and still have done nothing about it!!
Thank you
Russ
Hi ducatimondo, thanks for your question.
We've seen reports on this, and we are currently working towards it. Please note that this will not affect your ability to sell on eBay, and you can continue your activities as usual.
Thank you,
Marco
19-02-2025 2:30 PM
It wasn't feedback really but an honest question, I don't think it is right to mislead buyers, but thanks!
19-02-2025 2:31 PM
Buyer Protection Fee
Just a quick question - what's happened to the notification on an item's listing that the new Buyer Protection Fee has been added to the item price? Last week, if you clicked to view a private listing in the appropriate category, there was a statement/banner to show the buyer that the fee had been added, and how much it was. That seems to have disappeared. Even if you add items to your basket, there is no mention of the BPF having been added - I know, 'coz I checked! This is the same in desktop and app.
As a seller, there is nothing in the Seller Hub to show which listings have had the BPF added and there have been no updates from eBay stating which categories the BPF has been added to. At least last week, if I looked at my listings as a buyer, I could see the notification on each listing that the BPF had been added, now, I just have to play guess the fee, and check which of my listings have an odd-looking item price. Turns out, the Books Category now has the BPF added and I've had to go through each listing to change the price so that it still ends in a 5 or a 0 (I like prices ending in 5s and 0s, I don't like prices ending in a random 1 or 3, or 7!) That was a fun couple of hours, working out the sums 😂
19-02-2025 2:32 PM
"This wouldn't be related to the recent changes that apply to private sellers. "
Just as a note the eBay CS in the call centre in ?Thailand? both said it was due to the new policy introduced on 4th Feb...
19-02-2025 2:32 PM
@wellingnorth wrote:
This has been discussed quite a lot on the forums, but I wanted to see if you could please give clarity regarding a possible discrepancy with the buyer protection fee as it stands please?
The page here https://www.ebay.co.uk/help/selling/selling/pricing-items/buyer-protection-information-sellers?id=55... states that the buyer fee is "A flat fee of up to £0.75 per item, and 4% of the item price up to £300"
Currently an item listed at £10 has a buyer fee of £1.12 whereas at 4% + 75p you might expect it to be £1.15.
Is this working as intended? I couldn't find the exact post but someone suggested that the 'up to' 75p may mean that you are varying this 'flat' portion of the fee and are in fact charging 72p, could that be the case?
Apologies if this has already been answered, I saw a response about VAT calculation before but I wasn't sure if that was a separate issue.
I have a second question as well regarding charity listings if that's okay?
Under the old system seller fees were discounted if an item was sold for charity, I wondered whether you could clarify what the situation is regarding the new buyer fee on charity listings?
Hi @wellingnorth,
The flat fee is typically 72p, but we state 'up to 75p' to account for scenarios where variations may occur.
That is a good question regarding the buyer protection fee for charity listings. Let me get this checked with our charity team and I'll come back and follow up.
Thank you,
Kat
19-02-2025 2:40 PM
@reynardnoirrailwayana2015 wrote:
Thanks Marco - the info we have been given is very contradictory. Note we have never had any restrictions or account issues.
Item
Order no. / Item no.
- 11-12728-91610 / 256778868517
- 02-12733-36743 / 256778883200
- 20-12716-77808 / 256816026311
Thanks for your reply, reynardnoirrailwayana2015.
I've just checked for you there, and there is a hold placed on the funds of these transactions and they are correct. However, we cannot disclose publicly the reason of the hold due to privacy and security reasons as discussing members funds is considered to be sensitive information.
Please note that the hold is not related to the recent changes, as that only applies to private accounts, and you have a business accounts. If you contact our customer service team, they can go through the transactions in question with you.
Thank you,
Marco
Welcome to the Weekly Chat with the eBay Community Team! Unless otherwise noted, chats occur every Wednesday from 2pm to 3pm.
Our Community Team will be in the Chats to help with the questions.
If you have multiple questions please open a post per question so we can get back to them individually. If it's something we can't answer right away we will get back to you after the chat has finished.