Theft of our goods by Ebay!

[louri8190]

I have just sold  a pair of binoculars for my husband on Ebay.

My first sale.

I tried to send them to the buyer using Evri but the system does not have our postcode on it. We live in a new build.

I was told that it would take months for the system to be updated so I should use Royal Mail. I did.

The binoculars are now in the post via Royal Mail. 

I was forced to open a PAYPAL account to pay for the postage. I did not want it. However, I now have it.

After paying postage and putting them in the post EBay have closed my account!

They will not tell me why or discuss it.

They put the phone down on me and closed my account.

I therefore have no way of recovering the money owed for them.

If we do not receive payment I will go to the police for theft.

We have written to the buyer by snail mail to explain and can only hope he is decent about it.

Any advice please?

Thank you.

[arkwebus]

All very strange as there is no sold item on your account which seems open as you can post on it.  If eBay closes an account they will usually close all "linked" accounts. 

You certainly don't need Paypal to "pay for the postage"   - you simply trot along to the Post Office and hand the parcel in with a corresponding amount of cash for the stamps/label and send it off with tracking.   You say this was "your first sale".  When that happens eBay usually holds the cash for up to 21 days but you are still required to send the item.  Did you do that?

As to "theft by eBay" you would need to get the police involved as it is a criminal matter.   Unless the amount is vast I am afraid that I doubt they would do anything even under the "new rules".   @louri8190 

[louri8190]

Thank you for your message.

I agree it is strange.

My husband and I are solid salt of the earth retirees. 

Completely trustworthy.

I am horrified to have my relaibility questioned by Ebay or anyone else.

Ebay have removed both our sold item - binoculars - from our account and the scope I also put on has gone.

We have sent the binoculars to the purchaser who now has no way of paying for them.

I thought we needed a pre-printed label to send them. Hence I paid in advance by PAYPAL after setting up an account - and then my husband took them to the PO.

They are now in the postal system.

Yes, EBAY have witheld the payment and YES we have sent the goods.

We are therefore out of pocket as I expalined to ROXY an American customer services lady who put the phone down on me and told me that she would not expalin the problem to me and nor was there an appeals process.

THIS IS SCANDALOUS BEHAVIOUR. NO POWER TO THE CUSTOMER. OUR GOODS HAVE BEEN STOLEN.

I am going to the Police and press if this isn't resolved to my satisfaction.

We have done nothing wrong just trusted the untrustworthy. 

NEVER AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[arkwebus]

Yes, EBAY have witheld the payment and YES we have sent the goods.

It may simply be that this is eBay's usual system and - after delivery - you will get the money.  The system is that the buyer pays and eBay "holds" your money.  It is perfectly safe.

We have sent the binoculars to the purchaser who now has no way of paying for them.

EBay's scheme in common with most others is that the buyer pays before despatch!  If they really ahve not paid they can send you a cheque.      Most buyers are honest!    @louri8190 

[roger_roger_over_and_nowt]

"If we do not receive payment I will go to the police for theft."

Take some tissues for when they yawn coz they will do nothing.

You should maybe pursue other avenues and also have a full read of Ebays and Paypal's user agreements

[roger_roger_over_and_nowt]

You appear to have sent the items without actually being paid ,i don't understand how that can ever happen.

Being retired means what exactly ?.

[Anonymous]

@louri8190  Somethings are not quite right here.

This account was only opened today, so clearly not the account you sold the binoculars on as unless you are a very speedy retiree (I'm a bit slower myself these days ) you wouldn't have had time to sell or post.  

When signing into ebay if you select to complete via google or other options it opens a new account which obviously has no selling or buying history.   So a few questions below:

Did you open this account just to be able to post here??   (If not sign out of this account and use your original account details to sign in - hopefully being older like me, you will have written it down somewhere)

How did you know that ebay had closed your account?  (you would have got  standard reply along the lines of "to keep a ebay safe place" .

When you listed the items did you sign up for managed payments (ie give your bank details to ebay).

How did you know you'd sold the item?   Did it show as sold under selling, tell you that payment had been made and it was OK to send.  

[louri8190]

Our account clearly said that payment would be witheld until the buyer had had sufficient time to decide that he was happy with the goods as supplied.

Apparantly this is normal for new sellers these days as explained above.

I was unable to print a label to send them without paying for postage. I paid and posted them.

Simples. 

Retired means we have both completed a full working life and now stopped and are of pensionable age. 

What is your point exactly?

[louri8190]

I opened the account on the 4th Sept.

No I wouldn't be so childish as to open an account just to post.

I have better things to do with my time.

I received an email from Ebay telling me the buyer had agreed to buy and that payment was not required until he was satisfied after receipt. Naturally I trusted the contents. 

It was not until after we had posted the items that I was asked for feedback on the process.

I fed back that it had not been possible for me to use Evri as our postcode was not on the site as a new build and that I had been asked to use Royal Mail. I did so.

I was told that it would take months before the system could be updated with our postcode so the only option was Royal Mail.

Then in order to print the lable I had to agree to a Paypal account. I only agreed because I did not want to keep the buyer waiting.

At all times I have done my best to be fair and do the right thing.

I now feel I am being criticised for I know not what.

As I said before, NEVER AGAIN.

DISCRAGEFUL SYSTEM TAKING ADVANTAGE OF DECENT HONEST PEOPLE.

To refuse to discuss the reason for closing our account whent they know we have sent our goods and to state there is no appeals process stinks.

[geosacha007]

That sounds like a fake email.  Ebay would never tell a seller to send the goods before the buyer has paid.  Though they might  tell the seller to send if the buyer has paid, even if ebay will withold the funds for a while.

The buyer may have sent the fake email to try and get the goods for free.

People are asking you if this is a new account because there is no sign of you listing anything on this account either in live or completed listings.

[louri8190]

I agree with some of what has been said.

The buyer does appear to have paid and ebay wish to hold on to the money because this is a new account.

We were expecting to be paid after the buyer received the goods and was happy with them.

We didn't mind that.

What we mind is that after we sent the goods, which ebay knew to be the case, they then decided to close our account and remove our 2 listed items.

Therefore the buyer's money is with ebay and we do not have a live listing through which to receive it.

I discussed this over the telephone with a girl called Roxy at ebay who said they still intended to close our account removing both listings, would not tell me why and that there was no appeal. Our money is therefore stuck with ebay.

I am sure that our buyer is honest just as we are. No reason to think otherwise.

I have now taken advice on this and will wait until the date has passed at which we should have been paid and then use a recommended consumer rights champion to achieve the payment of our money if necesary.

We have however learnt our lesson and will not sell this way again. The system is too heavily weighted in favour of ebay who have behaved like a giant bully boy with honest folk just doing their best. 

It is a shame becasue there were lots of people interested in our second lot.  

[thesmi42]

I can understand that those who have responded are puzzled (like I am) by the evidence they can (or cannot) see. There does seem to be something strange going on though, as your visible details shows 1 item sold... but no information about that sale. Your account does not appear to have been closed either.

The email you received from ebay should have indicated that the buyer has paid and it was OK to despatch the item. It would also have shown the item number.

Could you have another look at that email and post back here with the item number? With that bit of info someone may be able to unravel the problem.

[louri8190]

Thank you for your constructive response.

I have checked the email as you requested and the item number is 134715971496.

It was after receiving this that I tried to print a postage label for Evri and could not because our postcode was too new (March 2023) to show on their system.

I used chat to take advice and was told that it was OK to go ahead and to use Royal Mail.

That is what I did. The item was put in the post. 

I then received an email to say that my account had been temporarily restricted and that I needed to contact them to get up and running again.

This was when I spoke to them on the phone and was told that the account was to be permanently restricted and closed due to concerns about it that they would not disclose.

If you are able to shed any light on what has happened I would be grateful.

I have no idea what went wrong or why. Was it our postcode or something else?

Surely our buyer will tell them when they receive the goods and that hopefully they are fine? What will happen then?

I know that I was told that we couldn't go ahead with the transaction but what happens to the buyer's money that he has paid over?

Surely they cannot justify keeping it if the goods are accepted?

I just do not understand. 

Many thanks

[arkwebus]

I am totally bemused.  I cannot really establish whether the buyer has paid and the money is being held by eBay until delivery or whether you have in some way fallen foul of a spoof e-mail as above.  Binoculars are not - to my eyes - a scam magnet.  A thought occurs - of what make and nationality are we talking?  How much are we talking about here please?    Did you use tracking?   I'm guessing so if [as earlier] you bought a label through Paypal where it is added automatically to the sale summary.

The system for a buyer is that he buys the item by clicking on the "Buy it now" [or wins the auction] and eBay reminds him to pay!   When that happens eBay notifies the seller to despatch.  This applies even if eBay chooses to hold the money.   Otherwise with "experienced sellers" the money goes into their bank account and they despatch.   [If they do not despatch the buyer can get a refund and if they are slow to despatch they are marked down by eBay]     @louri8190 

[thesmi42]

I cannot find the item, I wonder if anyone else can?

As has previously been explained, temporary restrictions on new sellers is common. Permanent restrictions can happen as a result of various circumstances, so hard for ordinary members to explain.

I wonder if your account has gone into a black hole because of the lack of a post code.

Perhaps @ dave@ebay  could have a look at this case and see if there is a logical explanation, especially the lack of visibility of the sold item?

[louri8190]

Hello again and thank you for looking.

The buyer paid £110.00 pluse £5 for p&p.

On my account which seems to be open still it shows the buyer has paid and the binoculars have been dispatched.

My bank account has not been verified because I have not received the micro payments to allow me to do so.

I have no idea whether they have been sent having been told the transaction cannot proceed.

Unless this is resolved ebay could not pay me even if they wanted to and they said they did not?

[sabe5994]

If you can see via your account that the buyer has paid and you have dispatched it (hopefully with tracking), then you have access to your account. Your listing will not be live anymore if it has sold. (It will appear in sold items). 

You should be able to see when your funds will be available by clicking on the payments tab.

You will need to verify your bank account for fees/payouts or a restriction will be in place. 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/sellercentre/selling/managed-payments

Did ebay send you any info on what they need from you to unrestrict your account?

[louri8190]

Thank you for that.

Yes, the binoculars show up in sold.

Yes, I did use tracking. 

It states that the funds should be available on 8th October.

I cannot verify my account unless the micropayments are received. They have not, I keep checking.

Ebay told me by phone that there was no way to unrestrict my account and the decision was permanent. They wouldn't tell me why or discuss it.

They just told me that I had no right to the information and that the transaction could not proceed.

I am not sure what their current view is or if these decisions are ever reversed?

Would they tell me?

[louri8190]

A little bit of progress.

I have this morning received my micropayments and verified my bank account.

There remains a message to say that my payments are on hold becuase the account is restricted and I will start to be paid when the account is reinstated.

As I have been told it is permanently restricted with no appeal route I do not think there is anything further I can do?

[technthread · Accepted solution]

You need to ring eBay and speak to someone in Ireland. Generally if you call in the morning a customer service agent in Dublin could answer the call, they are who you need to speak to. 

A family member of mine opened an account and was suspended in 15 minutes. Same sort of situation, told they were permanently banned, no explanation, insulted, call cut off etc as you experienced. Please don't take it personally or give up. When we spoke to their team in Ireland the guy asked a few questions, took the time to review the account and it was up and running again. 

I think the system is overly sensitive. If you had family or friends who also use eBay log into your internet, you let someone use your phone to log into their own eBay once, the previous homeowner at your address was banned off eBay and so on... my guess is it is things like this that are causing the flag on people's accounts. I think eBay are just summarily suspending accounts when it isn't necessary for stupid reasons.