Under 18

[nicolmoor-19]

Hi all, please I don’t need judgement just help. My son has set up an eBay account and sold and posted his golf club for £193. EBay have suspended his account without paying the money to him as he is under age. He is 15. He didn’t read the terms and conditions and now wishes he had. He understands he has done wrong in setting up an underage account, however we are trying to now get the funds paid to him or me as his parent as eBay said he needs to wait till he’s 18. Can they do this? Can anyone point me in the direction of who to contact or how to get help? Thanks 

[jckl1957]

I don't think this is an issue that other members will be able to help you with.

[tressygirl]

You will need to contact eBay Customer Services as to how to proceed here.  You may well experience a long wait for that money to be released.  I strongly recommend contacting CS very first thing on a weekday morning when the lines first open at 8 a.m. as there's more chance of Dublin answering.

This is the easiest and quickest way to contact eBay Customer Services, for a Call Back option.

 https://www.ebay.co.uk/help/eua?id=5275&mkevt=1&mkpid

Lines open between 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. on weekdays.

9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on weekends.

As said, I recommend contacting CS very first thing in the morning, when the lines first open,  as there's more chance of Dublin answering.

@nicolmoor-19 

[nicolmoor-19]

I was just wondering if anyone else had been in this situation and knew what to do. Feel like a very bad parent right now with a very upset child
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[nicolmoor-19]

Thank you! Feel like a very bad parent here

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[tressygirl]

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@nicolmoor-19 wrote:
I was just wondering if anyone else had been in this situation and knew what to do. Feel like a very bad parent right now with a very upset child
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Don't feel bad,  your son may be showing that he can be an enterprising seller, but of course started a little too soon on eBay!

Someone may come along with the same experience,  but I do recommend as above to contact CS tomorrow   morning at 8 a.m.  it's a lot of money so the sooner you're told how this can be released the better.

@nicolmoor-19 

[plum993]

In accordance with ebay and your son using the site while being under the age of 18,the money will may be returned after/within 180 days.Hopefully his birthday is within this time limit and any money is returned earlier,but there is no gurantee,if ebay can't verify his bank account 

QUOTE:

User agreement and terms.

We also may cancel or freeze the settlement of your proceeds as necessary to comply with our legal obligations in connection with fraud prevention, risk management, or regulatory compliance. Any hold placed on your funds will be lifted when the issue is resolved.
Unless your payout entity is eBay Sarl or ECUK, we may retain an amount that we reasonably believe may be necessary to pay for any refunds, reimbursements, or other payments associated with returns, Disputes, or other post-transaction activities, when your eBay account is closed. Unless otherwise required by law, we will settle any unused retained amounts to your Linked Financial Account within 180 days of your eBay account closure.

[nicolmoor-19]

Unfortunately he isn’t 18 for another 2.5 years. EBay said he must wait till he can prove he is 18 for the funds to be released. I would accept 180 days night now 😞

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[*guinevere*]

You could get yourself a free half hour with a solicitor to hopefully find out what your rights are, if you have any. 

As the parent of three boys I can sympathise with this. It's exactly the sort of thing mine would have done when they were younger.

[nicolmoor-19]

Thank you. He knows it was stupid, by god I have told him, but to keep his money is wrong, plus eBay have allowed him to trade with as a minor for a year and allowed his to set up an account without proof of ID so they’re also at fault. It’s just so safe and frustrating.

[papso22]

Unfortunately as your son is under the age where he can legally enter into a contract, nothing in the user agreement applies and ebay have no obligation to release the funds at all.

If they have said he has to wait until he is 18, that's positive, but it's also long enough for them to not pay when you get to that point.  Do they know it's 2.5 years?

There are other posts on the main discussion boards about the same situation but the posters never come back and give us an update on when, or if, the funds were ever released.

[nicolmoor-19]

Yeah they know it’s 2.5 years away, but will not budge. I’ve sent an email and will log an official complaint all to gather evidence for if I have to wait the duration. I don’t understand why they can’t release funds then suspend the account. They have paid out of previous transactions. My other point is that they allowed him to enter into a credit agreement without providing any ID which is wrong and misleading.
I am very frustrated
Thanks for your advice. I know I can’t be the only one this has happened to, therefore eBay should change the ability for minors to do this surely. Unless they don’t want to ……for their own financial gains?

[papso22]

He hasn't entered into any legal agreement with anyone, he is a minor.

Obviously when they got to the KYC checks they discovered that he was underage and froze the payments.

I don't think it's ebay you should be annoyed with.

[red_magpie]

eBay said he needs to wait till he’s 18

My instinct is that this is nonsense. I imagine that eBay's reasoning is that as your son is under age, if they releases his payment they will be legally unable reclaim it in the event of a chargeback from their payment provider.

However, I would be surprised if this entitles them to hold it beyond the time limit for any payment reversal until he is aged 18! This sounds like another example of eBay's self-styled omnipotence since the introduction of managed payments.

I think you need to take legal advice, or perhaps start by consulting Citizens Advice. It might also be interesting to take a view from the financial conduct authority. Unlike eBay's money back guarantee, their managed payments system is regulated by the FCA.

[nicolmoor-19]

Hello all,

I wanted to give an update on this. We finally got the money paid to my son. To do this I emailed
Email: ebayukcomplaints@ebay.com
They started the process. However as they were still not communicating I LinkedIn with the COO of eBay in the UK who put this to executive escalations. They supported me and we did not need to wait till he was 18 thank goodness. Took about 4 weeks and it was paid out.

If anyone needs a payout, contact the top

Thanks for you advice earlier


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