Ebays new policy for sellers is dangerous and gone to far!

[pinkrabbitprinces82]

There have been thousands of us now across facebook ebay groups and ebays own facebook page, expressing our more than anger and disgust at the upcoming change for sellers. I raised some points with ebay not only through the website but their facebook page a swell and they send joke replys back that havn't been read properly. I along with many will no longer be selling after 3rd February unless they change it beforehand, many of us are putting notes on our listings to say so!

I have set up a petition at change.org here if people are angry enough please sign and also make sure you confirm your signature via e-mail!

Firstly I must stress any company putting 100% faith into a system or in this instance a tracking system to work 365 days a year without problems or glitches on couriers website is dangerous! Technology should NEVER be trusted 100%.

Sometimes I have noticed items I've sent have shown only as posted or in transit for many weeks, and show not delivered on the main couriers website, yet some have left feedback saying they got their item. Now everyone lets you know they got their item. So what then? How do sellers get their funds released if ebays or the couriers system shows item still in transit due to a glitch that's never fixed? Yet the buyer hasn't complained they didn't receive their item. If the system of releasing sellers fund is solely based on tracking showing as delivered and there are serious tracking glitches, this is dangerous for ebay to trust & put faith into technology working 100% at any time!

Secondly in relation to paragraph above, it means nobody can now offer to send very cheap items under £20 untracked. Royal mail cover item of £20 in value even if sent with no tracking if they get lost, yet there will be no tracking to show It's been delivered, so therefore again as there is nothing to show It's even delivered, means funds won't be released to the seller. So therefore everyone will have to only send via tracked services which cost more to post.

Thirdly and VERY IMPORTANT! Some items sellers are selling are large/heavy and very high value items! Anybody who ever sent anything like this with values over £100 and then into the thousands will know not only how expensive it is for uk postage but internationally as well.

As an example on such item I'm selling is going to cost £295 to post to Australia fully tracked as this was the only service that would cover over £1000 in value! If ebay hold ALL my funds till delivery, where am I going to get £295 from to pay the courier to post my item to Australia?

I feel a business seller who possibly makes a good profit may have this amount as back up funds in the bank to pay out whilst they wait for their funds. But where is the average private household seller who isn't a business, likely to find that amount to pay a courier to post the item, who is only selling personal possessions?!

So therefore if ebay hold my funds I will certainly not have nay funds to that amount in savings to pay a courier to post internationally let alone uk on most of my items. therefore this is most certainly restricting me from selling abroad the most.

So this means I will certainly NOT be able to offer international postage as international costs even on smaller lower value items are costly and you will have to find the money to post it, so therefore my sales will be restricted even more so, yet my biggest audience is international people outside the UK!

Ebay mention nothing about what happens if item is returned and you receive it in bad condition? How do I prove it wasn't me who did the damage, say a costume I sold was sent clean and came back with un -removable stain. What then as couriers only let the SENDER make a claim, NOT the recipient!

[10.20]

eBay already keeps your money for a month, quite often which is a nuisance but you do get it, I don't see it being that much different.  What will you do if it's a 295 delivery to Australia item and eBay decides to hold your funds for a month, no different. Maybe those month holds are being done away with and it will be shorter.

[pinkrabbitprinces82]

no it doesn't hold you money it never has and i've been with ebay for nearly 17 years, you clearly haven't read my points properley at all. £295 postage is alike 3/4's of a months wages for me if ebay hold your funds as sellers where do we get the postage money from to pay the courier, i certainly don't have £65 to post one of my items of high value/large/heavy size to uk let alone £295 to Australia if it should sell their. ebay have only just messaged everyone about this policy coming in form 4th February 2024, and people are not happy. happy the amount of comments on their facebook page pouring in has been unreal. people are angry, you have not understood and if they already held your funds then why would I be posting this I wouldn't even be selling on here if they did that. also we have a very good idea why they are doing it and they changed it a few months ago so money is not sent to your bank straight away but to an ebay balance like paypal. ebay balance is basically their own bank, it sits there till you transfer it or ebay transfers it. in the meantime I think they will be putting our money in their banks to gain interest whist tit sits there. i think that's whart's it about. they must of thought some of us were born yesterday! so do you have over 100 items on sale some very high value items that cost a lot of post and  have mega bucks in your savings to pay the postage costs whilst you seem happy to wait for your money for 1 month?

[tressygirl]

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@10.20 wrote:

eBay already keeps your money for a month, quite often which is a nuisance but you do get it, I don't see it being that much different.  What will you do if it's a 295 delivery to Australia item and eBay decides to hold your funds for a month, no different. Maybe those month holds are being done away with and it will be shorter.

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Under the new system, if there is no tracking to show delivery,  eBay hold those payouts for 14 days,  not a month before release.

Currently you can withdraw your money as soon as it is available in your Payment Summary, mine seems to appear hours after payment for it to be withdrawn if I wish.

@10.20 

[papso22]

I don't think you understand how buyer protection will work, or looked at how simple delivery works now as a proxy for how it will work in the future.

If you read the many threads on the main selling boards, and published ebay policy, you will see where you are going wrong.

[tressygirl]

Have you replied to me @papso22   😶

[10.20]

eBay does hold your money for a month, it held 700 and 500 of mine and other amounts but it might depend what you sell, how much seller feedback you have, etc. you are getting worked up about not much, just make sure you have some money in your bank to cover postage, (from the last thing you sold before you spend it) if you are selling lots of high value items it's not that difficult, what would you do if if you got a chargeback? your car breaks down, unexpected bill, you can't survive with a completely empty bank account all the time. eBay aren't doing this to keep your money in their bank it's to offer something new to buyers, assurance they wont be charged if they don't get / until they get the item.

[papso22]

I have now, but not with this earlier post which was to the OP.

[papso22]

Ebay has different reasons for delaying payment, currently (and going forward) there is the 'payment hold' policy, which you presumably came up against, and then there is the new delay as part of buyer protection, where you may have to wait 14 days for payment if there is either no tracking, or the tracking doesn't say delivered.

[secondchancetreasures61]

I totally agree,, I am a small time seller  who makes little profit anyway. I post the items from the funds I receive so if no funds received how do I pay for postage? The only people eBay is helping is themselves. I think it’s a total kick in the teeth for the loyal sellers and hopefully it will back fire on them as I am currently looking for a new platform along with many others so I can wave goodbye to eBay.

[10.20]

I've changed my mind on this and agree with the op, why should the buyer have the item for 2 days and play with it in some case break it or even steal things off it an send junk back before I even get the money! I know you can't avoid unfair chargebacks at times and I've never had one but it's annoying me the buyer has my item I haven’t even got paid. It should released on delivery, that encourages people to send quick, no point holding it for 2 more days when it can be reversed up to a month anyway. Then again I didn’t even mind when it was a lot of money holding it for a month and it might have been difficult to cover a chargeback after spending some of it, but with low cost every day items, it's like eBay is saying we don't trust you. I suppose eBay is operating in difficult economic times and can't afford to chase people for small amounts of money after disputes and people's bank accounts are empty. From a buyer point of view it's good and should cut down on those people who take your money and never bother to send the item. And the ones that seem to want a free payday loan. Payment on delivery would be fair, for domestic postage anyway, if that's what they actually did.

[a45heaven]

 What was buyer protection like before ebay dictated holding monies from Sellers ? 

Are the buyers not ebay members who were given an open door to join the club ?, and have been criticised for ages by these boards , and now rather than dealing with the problem - ebay abdicate and give the onus to the Sellers to feel the pain and deal with the buyers. 

[pinkrabbitprinces82]

thank you so much I hope you signed my petition after you signed and confirmed your signature via your e-mail you can leave a comment at the very bottom left hand side of petition page. as I made a point to ebay in personal complaints they say they understand how frustrating it will be to sellers, but yet don't understand. As one example I gave them also stated in my petition as an example, 1/2 my items are high value 1/4 are high value/large/hevay items which cost way mor eto post within the uk let alone abraod. one item based on £1,350 value is going to cost £65 to post uk, £160 usa/can and £295 australia, where i get that money from ebay won't say. i'ts disgsuting. the balance is never good betwene buyer selelr protections, buyers get away with so much and i've seen many story's on social media as well as my own experiences of what they get away with on ebay, which they wouldn't in a proper court of law. I said to ebay if they are allowing cases and putting themselves in charge of begin judge and jury they should look at both sides equally, but they don't. and now we have to pay for buyer protection we already have, how much more protection can you have. the answer is no, and then you start thinking what is it really about and it's nothing to do with extra so called buyer protection at all. i think many of us have figured that out and commented on their (ebaysuk) facebook page. we wonder what they are doing with the money in the meantime? it's in ebays bank doing what, gaining interest for themselves in the meantime, then you still don't get your money for extra 2 days afterwards, anything can happen to your item in somebody's possession for 2 days. many of us have tried to explain to ebay that tracking is no always accurate. take a lot of the screen shot I enclsoe in reply to you, about tracking. the legally stated that funds are only released on tracking showing delivered. I just posted an item to Australia 3 weeks ago, yet the tracking with royal mail via ebay show item only just left uk and not delivered. Yet they left feedback saying they got their item. I checked the Australian courier website and it says delivered. but ebay say they can't release my funds because the tracking has to show delivered, a buyer leaving feedback they got their item and happy with it, is not evidence apprantley. That's an outrage and it would be strong evidence in court.

[pinkrabbitprinces82]

I hope you read all my points on my petition as there's more than one bad reason why. Mnay of us have tried ot ask ebay where we get the funds to pay the courier. As one example I gave them also stated in my petition as an example, 1/2 my items are high value 1/4 are high value/large/heavy items which cost way more to post within the uk let alone abroad. one item based on £1,350 value is going to cost £65 to post uk, £160 usa/can and £295 Australia, where i get that money from ebay won't say.£295 is like 2 weeks wages for me!

i'ts  disgusting. the balance is never good betwene buyer seller protections, buyers get away with so much and i've seen many story's on social media as well as my own experiences of what they get away with on ebay, which they wouldn't in a proper court of law. I said to ebay if they are allowing cases and putting themselves in charge of begin judge and jury they should look at both sides equally, but they don't. and now we have to pay for buyer protection we already have, how much more protection can you have. the answer is no, and then you start thinking what is it really about and it's nothing to do with extra so called buyer protection at all. i think many of us have figured that out and commented on their (ebaysuk) facebook page. we wonder what they are doing with the money in the meantime? it's in ebays bank doing what, gaining interest for themselves in the meantime, then you still don't get your money for extra 2 days afterwards, anything can happen to your item in somebody's possession for 2 days. many of us have tried to explain to ebay that tracking is no always accurate. take a lot of the screen shot I enclsoe in reply to you, about tracking. the legally stated that funds are only released on tracking showing delivered. I just posted an item to Australia 3 weeks ago, yet the tracking with royal mail via ebay show item only just left uk and not delivered. Yet they left feedback saying they got their item. I checked the Australian courier website and it says delivered. but ebay say they can't release my funds because the tracking has to show delivered, a buyer leaving feedback they got their item and happy with it, is not evidence apprantley. That's an outrage and it would be strong evidence in court. As you say anything can happen to your item in 2 days and also only the sender can make a claim via the courier NOT the recipient. please sing if you havn't and also send you complaints to ebay as well and via their facebook page on messenger or by phone. I have done e-mail and messenger and will be phoning next week to say i took all my 135 items off sale after 3rd february after 17 years on ebay i'm done! 

https://www.change.org/p/ebay-gone-to-far-with-new-policy-change-from-4th-feb-2025

[pinkrabbitprinces82]

thank you yes we all know buyer & seller protection as never equal before but now it's even worse, anythign can happen to your item after 2 days as well in somebodys possession. a retialer would expect to by paid in adnvace befor sending anything out and this is just it, business shop sellers arn't effected but the general public are is not fair! i ended all my listings a few days ago on ebay after 17 years of selling i won't be buying either, as why should buyers be paying a fee for protection they already have. how much more protection can buyers have? Many of s have realised it's not about buyer/seller protection at all, but what they doing with the money they are holding in the meantime? are they putting it in a high interest daily account as there is no law as to what a business does with your money. but how they can hold you money for so long and dinternational deliverys take much longer, on item/s they don't own i don' t know. So i'm writing to my mp on this and some laws need putting in place. please make sure you complain to ebay as every personal complaint they receive adds up to them being red flagged by the governemnt for receiving to many complaints. yet they may give us some waffle back like they did to me but it all counts. ebay or any company.  can't legally take comments as a complaint. please sign share my petition:- 

https://www.change.org/p/ebay-gone-to-far-with-new-policy-change-from-4th-feb-2025

[pinkrabbitprinces82]

If you think this is about so called extra buyer protection you need your head examined! many of us have figured it out, that's it not about extra so called buyer protection never ever believe what a company say upfront because threes always other reasons hidden underneath, i've learnt that years of experience how companys work. because buyer/seller protection was never equal anyway, buyers got away with so much from my won experiences and seeing hundreds of thousands of peoples story's about buyers and trouble with sending proof& visual  to ebay and buyers getting away with all sorts. how much more protection can we have, and why are buyers being charged a fee for this so called protection that should and has always been fee for over 18 years! ebay always go with the buyer I have had a hard fight on my hands with ebay at times legally and if they allow cases to be open and put themselves in charge of being judge and jury they should look at both sides eqauly but they don't and as said i've experienced that even with my photograph proof and videos of item/s. some of my items had been tampered with and opened when most are sold never removed from box and i photograph every single angle and video every single angle i can and video myself packaging items up.  yet ebay still go with the buyers, they claim damage when there hasn't been damage, the item is either not my item or they taken it out of the box and parts had move that were securely strapped in for years since I bought them at retail. yet in a court of law my evidence would of been 100% stronger against a buyer. I think what some buyers do is they had a a doll or toy figure set the same and got broke, they take photos of the broken item, and then attempt to claim and they get away with it. one lady one eyay bought a never removed from box toy figure set from me, she claimed one had damage she sent a photo of one of the figures foot inside the box still, the tie in place, and there was a mark on the foot of the figure. i checked my photos careful and noticed the tie holding the foot down in the box had been moved at least 1cm or more. yet ebay again go with the buyer and refund them. if you ask me and others buyers get away with to much already before this policy and now they can have your time for 2 more days! Like i said many of us have been wise enough to figure out it's not about extra buyer protection because you cannot and ebay cannot offer any more protection that we already have as members before this obscured new policy change on 4th feb 2025.

ebay say they take an equal stance but they don't it was never equal before.

[pinkrabbitprinces82]

oh my god maybe your made of money you seriously didn't read my points on my petition link in original post above. especially one such item of £13.50 value i'ts the max measurement for largest size box a courier can legally take from the pubic, it's also 6 kg's. the cheapest and best quotes i could find is £6uk, £160 usa/can and £295 Australia. What you are saying is those of us on the bread line without savings shouldn't be selling! that's a disguting comment indeed, against our human rights! were in cost of living crisis., many like myself don't have savings, all our money goes on rent and bills and that's it we have nothing left.

i ended all my items after 3rd feb, if had them on now and that item sold to Australia where do i get £295 from? that's 2 weeks wages to me thanks very much! and if I sell more than one item in one go or one week in which some of my items are high value/heavy bulky and cost a lot to post.

your comment that maybe people shouldn't be selling if they can't afford the postage costs is despicable, you should be ashamed of yourself! maybe you don't find it difficult to come up with £295 to post an item abroad, but most of us do!

I also don't have a car, honestly your car breaks down like you know what I own! ebay holding our funds on items they don't own is disgusting!

[pinkrabbitprinces82]

at least having payment in advance means you can pay the courier to post your item/s. If it gets lost you make a claim with the courier, but the difference is ebay state in their new policy word for word that funds will only be released when tracking shows delivered, as many of us know and have commented as such on ebays facebook page and i've made a point to ebay that couriers tracking is not always accurate. they won't accept feedback or messages from buyers saying they are happy and got their item as evidence, they said that to me in the very beginning before the policy started and already people are complaining trying to g et their funds released and ebay are refusing. I to have had items supposed to be signed for thrust through the letter box not even scanned or singed for and still shows it's not delivered tome on tracking.  when you sell on ebay now it means you have agreed to their policy wording, if they state they will olyl release your funds IF you use a tracked service and tracking shows not delivered then they are legally within their rights to hold your money forever. so the buyer hasn't complained they didn't get their item, and never opens a case and ebay say they legally don't have to release funds to seller. I took posted an item in Janaury this year through ebya to austrailia it was low value item  this time and even now the tracking says it's not delivered, yet the buyer left me feedback 2 weeks later syaing "very happy got item, excellent seller". but yet ebay won't see that as evidence. of I had posted it under this new policy now, I would be in the same boat as everyone else who are screaming and complaining cross many internet forums and ebay's uk facebook page on their posts, to get my money released, which of course ebay don't have to do becuase I agreed to their policy when it sold, it's then a legally biding contract by law that I or you as a seller agreed to their terms. so there is a big DIFFERENCE INDEED!

[pinkrabbitprinces82]

um I think i and many others do know exacltey what it's about and it isn' anything to do with so called non exsistant extra buyer protection as buyers already get away with to much, there's more problems and peoples statements about scam buyers than goods sellers like myself with 100% feddback of 17 years! it isn't about buyer protection and why should buyers pay a few for protection they already have. Since buyers can open a case within 14 days of receipt, what's the extra 2 days hold on funds for anyway, if you search deep enough you will find the answer and it's certainly no about so called buyer protection that ebay put out as a reason!

[*help_no_brakes*]

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@pinkrabbitprinces82 wrote:

um I think i and many others do know exacltey what it's about and it isn' anything to do with so called non exsistant extra buyer protection as buyers already get away with to much, there's more problems and peoples statements about scam buyers than goods sellers like myself with 100% feddback of 17 years! it isn't about buyer protection and why should buyers pay a few for protection they already have. Since buyers can open a case within 14 days of receipt, what's the extra 2 days hold on funds for anyway, if you search deep enough you will find the answer and it's certainly no about so called buyer protection that ebay put out as a reason!

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"buyers can open a case within 30 DAYS of receipt" on eBay & much longer with PayPal or their credit provider.