Payments Still on Hold Despite Performance & In-App Notification

[retailcain]

Hi all,

I’m posting here in the hope of gaining some clarity or hearing from other sellers who may have experienced something similar.

We are a UK-based, top-rated business seller, currently processing around £50,000 in monthly sales, around 6000 orders. We've consistently met eBay's performance standards and upload full tracking for all orders.

In August 2025, our payouts became subject to a delivery-confirmation hold. We assumed this was a temporary safeguard and expected it to lift as we continued trading reliably at scale.

About two weeks ago, we contacted eBay support by phone. The representative reviewed our account and confirmed:

• We are in good standing and top-rated

• Our order volume and sales performance would typically qualify us for standard payout timelines

• We should have “graduated” out of the restriction by now

Shortly after that call, we received an in-app notification stating:

“Great news – Due to your performance, your payments will be released sooner, normally within 48 hours.”

Naturally, we took this to mean that our payout schedule was improving — but no changes have occurred. Our payouts continue to be held until the buyer receives the item, as they have since August.

On a follow-up call with eBay support, we were told the opposite — that this restriction is permanent, and cannot be appealed. This is obviously confusing and frustrating, particularly given the positive messaging we received through the app. The hold is starting to impact our business, and preventing us in scaling on the platform. The only solution we have found is to cease trading for 4-5 days every few weeks, allow the held funds to all catch up and empty, then start the process over again

Has anyone else run into this situation — particularly long-established UK business sellers who found themselves under a payout hold with conflicting messages?

If so:

• Did the hold eventually lift on its own?

• Was further escalation needed?

• Did anyone see changes after a fixed period (e.g., 3 months)?

Any insight from other sellers or moderators would be hugely appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

[retailcain]

kat@ebay

I saw you mention this in another thread : https://community.ebay.co.uk/t5/Business-Seller-Board/New-Payout-Rules-for-Business-Accounts/m-p/787...

Can you shed any light on what the actual facts are with this, and how we speak to someone? Last contact was on telephone where the final response was "Thats it, and you have to deal with it".

[kat@ebay]

Hi @retailcain ,

Thank you for your post.

I understand your frustration with the holding of your funds and not being happy with having to wait the 72 hours. eBay regularly review accounts and may place certain limitations/restrictions/ holds due to compliance or risk reasons.  Given that your funds have been held for the 72 hours since August this is for the longer term on your account so the recent customer contact advice is correct. 

We don't have access to action taken by risk teams and as this is a public forum we cannot discuss individual accounts.  Any further appeals for this need to go through customer support.

Thank you,

Kat

[retailcain]

kat@ebay 

Thank you for getting back to us. Can you please let me know how, and who exactly we need to speak to about this to even discuss what is happening to our account?

We have spoken to around 6 people over the phone, each who give a different story:

Told that this is normal.
Told that this is being rolled out to all sellers.
Linked to help articles to view details about private sellers.

Told it would be removed after review.

Told tough, and this is how it is.

No-one seems to grasp exactly what the issue is with our situation, and we are unable to speak to the department that applied the hold.

Can you please advise how we escalate this, even to just discuss the state of our account ? Generally we list more items daily, causing more sales each day, meaning the held pot is growing, and growing, causing more issues to compound as more and more funds are held.

Thank you

[retailcain]

kat@ebay 

Any updates ?

[kat@ebay]

Hi @retailcain ,

Thank you for your reply.

We don't have contact names for these restrictions. As mentioned earlier these are public forums so we are unable to discuss accounts or the action taken.

Any further follow up or escalating will need to go through the regular customer support channel. 

Thank you,

Kat

[retailcain]

kat@ebay 

Like I mentioned, every staff member we speak to gives a different response, quotes support articles unrelated to the topic, or is simply unable to discuss this in detail.

Can you let me know specifically what department or team we need to escalate this to in order to have an actual discussion ?

[kat@ebay]

Hi @retailcain ,

It still needs to go through the main customer support channel and be directed from there. Its likely here the funds hold is not appealable so this may be why they are unable to transfer further. 

Thank you,

Kat