Buyer Protection Fee funds - New ebay department

[prom22]

I have been in contact with a customer service rep today regarding a Royal Mail tracking matter.

In the course of this conversation I was told that ebay are setting up a new department - something like a 'Funds on Hold' dept - which should have the ability to:

1. alter a sales record to be 'Item Delivered' if the Royal Mail Tracking number is saying delivered but ebay records are not updated.

2. release funds early for sellers with a proven track record if the buyer has left Feedback confirming receipt of an untracked item.

The rep agreed that if one sends items via Royal Mail Untracked post then one would have to make a phonecall to ebay everytime this happened to get the funds released early!

I think this matter will probably be solved via this method!

[moldosgifts]

The rep agreed that if one sends items via Royal Mail Untracked post then one would have to make a phonecall to ebay everytime this happened to get the funds released early!

Or they just told you what you want to hear to clear the line, which they do especially if an overseas rep.

The Irish call centre will give you better advice.

[prom22]

I don't think so.... she offered to put me through to them if I had further questions !!!!!

[jow1995]

with 25k of sales, it may be best to upgrade to a business account, then the new rules will not apply, only snag the fees are much higher

[prom22]

From reading the Community Boards, whilst some sellers may benefit from becoming business sellers, there are a lot of people out there selling small numbers of items or small-value items who cannot afford the luxury of waiting a fortnight for their money. This is apart from the ethical point of ebay holding your funds unnecessarily and earning interest on them.

Such cases include pensioners selling their various collections (e.g. postcards) to replace the Winter Fuel Allowance, or people selling secondhand items to make ends meet. Not everyone is a potential business seller by any means.

[jow1995]

yes totally agree with some of your points, but unless you have a massive collection of new jam jar seals you have collected over the years you a certainly running a business, and not being registered as such are under cutting genuine business sellers trying  to earn a living.

[johnwash1]

Small numbers and/or small value, means not much money in total.  Beats me why any such seller would be concerned about waiting a fortnight.

Why get irritated by this?  Consider other situations where there are better reasons for bringing forward payment, e.g. someone working on a monthly salary having to wait until the end of the month, or, even worse, Universal Credit being paid out far in arrears.

[prom22]

You are missing the point.

I am posting this information to help those people who are going to be seriously affected by ebay withholding their funds for 14 days - from what I read there are a lot of sellers out there (and probably increasing) who have a degree of hardship already without having more.

My circumstances are irrelevant.

[jow1995]

If you are just selling off your unwanted items what is the problem waiting? If you need  the money to buy stock/postage different story. Just bite the bullet and upgrade to correct account. 

[vintique*violet]

There is no requirement to hold a business account on eBay if you are a private seller selling your personal items... I am unsure as to why anyone would think this is a " solution" to do so to prevent " funds held." 

Purchasing "stock"  to sell on at a " profit " is entirely different and is trading.

Postage... eBay will allow " pending funds " to be used to purchase postage labels and /or send refunds. 

[thesmi42]

Perhaps if the 'new dept.' becomes inundated with traffic from 'private' sellers who should be business registered then eBay's hierarchy might take a different approach.

[insidethe93]

thesmi42 said "Perhaps if the 'new dept.' becomes inundated with traffic from 'private' sellers who should be business registered then eBay's hierarchy might take a different approach."

I wonder how long the 'new dept' will be easily accessible? Judging by threads throughout the discussion boards, customer services doesn't have a good reputation so good luck everyone.

[jow1995]

Yes totally agree with that statement,  but if you have sold 25k of new items, it is a good solution to the problem.

[tressygirl]

@prom22   wrote      The rep agreed that if one sends items via Royal Mail Untracked post then one would have to make a phonecall to ebay everytime this happened to get the funds released early!

I think this matter will probably be solved via this method!

Whilst that is true now, but for Private Sellers it's not the correct information  when Special Delivery comes in sometime before end of March.

Then, eBay insist on tracking showing delivery, anything untracked or tracking added but not showing delivery, funds will be held for 14 days,  phone calls to that new CS dept won't help .

[prom22]

Disregarding un-tracked mail (which is usually small-value items), this policy will not please sellers who sell high-value items which are sent tracked but not scanned (and therefore do not show delivered) - surely it would be better to implement some form of delivery status via feedback as well?

Never having dealt with funds on hold - is there a current procedure if the seller feels the funds are being held unjustifiably?

[papso22]

I will be very surprised if ebay change this policy to take feedback into account. Previous policies, including those relating to claims under the money back guarantee, have always ignored feedback as it can be left in error. 

[game_raid]

If an item hasn't be scanned then it hasn't been delivered so a claim can be submitted after x amount of days but with simply delivery eBay will be refunding the buyer and seller not the courier in the event of a claim.

From what I understand neither the buyer or seller has access to the funds while an item is in transit, some seem to think the buyer is going to leg it with their item and money if they request a refund.

We have a 99.9% scan rate with RM and those that were not scanned were claimed under the insurance they offer and paid out without issue.

If you sell a high value item without tracking then I have no sympathy for any seller that does this, it is asking for trouble.

[vintique*violet]

Well, isn't this up to  eBay to  " question" any private seller " offloading"  25K of items? They have the tech and resources to do so. It is a long standing issue, and if  they had addressed it  way back, there would not be this problem, at least probably not on this level. 

[theelench]

I agree, this is a problem caused by incorrectly registered businesses.

Ebay should take action against them. 

Correctly registered private sellers are not part of the problem but will suffer all the disadvantages of ebay's 'solution'.  The payment holds and ebay restricting delivery options.

WE are not at fault here, ebay is for not tackling the problem, no matter how blatantly some businesses have abused their  private registration.  Nor are we guilty of being incorrectly registered.

To me private sellers are being dragged into this 'solution' solely so ebay can recoup fees it gave-up by its panic measure of declaring the site Free to Sell on for private sellers.

It's an insult to all the honest private sellers who have been selling here for years, have put up with all the changes that made ebay more business friendly, but worse for private sellers.  Now we are all deemed to be so untrustworthy that buyers need protection if they risk buying from us.

I hope it back-fires royally and every private seller stops listing and buying to make sure ebay suffers a massive loss of sellers, buyers and sales.

[sunshinedior67]

eBay's systems should reflect the delivery true delivery status from start. Why should sellers direct eBay to look at the same information that both seller & buyer have access to? If eBay are say ( after we confirm delivery) that's what they need to do or they should state ( when you prove delivery). As for their policies they break the ones they've made. I've just had a non delivery case closed in my favour after a buyer failed delivery on 4 occasions with a final RM entry saying recipient no longer at address return to sender. eBay stated delivery attempts are classed as successful delivery & it's the recipient responsible to take delivery. The item was dispatched on time & tracking uploaded on ebay. The buyer then managed to reopen case & get a refund including post which was deducted from my credit balance . I'll be in the phone tomorrow as eBay don't understand their own policies .