Ebay Refusing to pay your money

[livingterracotta]

How many people here have had their money " withheld" with the Ebay scam !!

They accepted my buyers payment, took their commision plus advertising fee and then decided to put a restriction on my account.

Now they are asking for proof of delivery for all my past sales when I use Royal Mail untracked before they will lift the restrictions. Thats something they know I can't supply.

"Ebay you are distroying any respect you had" enjoy your money!

We need to get together to bring them to justice and make them accountable for their actions

please put your case below so we can bring this to their attention because im sick of speaking to the junior clerk thats told what to say

[alfagg35]

I'm  in the same position they are withholding £3,800 saying they are investigating suspicious activity, that may impact the eBay community, I have supplied all the requested documentation to no avail, the buyer has part positive feedback, now they are refusing to answer my emails. They are saying that it's covered under their t&c's, I am currently awaiting a reply from the FO's office. They will not tell me what suspicious activity or give me any inclination of what they suspect, oh and the investigation may take up to 170 days to complete.

[theelench]

"They will not tell me what suspicious activity or give me any inclination of what they suspect,...."

To me that's the more worrying aspect of so many of these Holds.  Since MP we've seen sellers denied their funds because their bank details or personal details are questioned, but ebay can't / won't tell the seller which particular part of the details they question. 

There have been many threads about ebay putting Holds on payouts under various pretexts which may well be justified under the U.A, which has been re-written regularly since M.P (particularly the bit concerning Payment Holds) but a common theme through so many of them is this.

Ebay allows the listing, the transaction to complete and takes its fees.  Only then is the seller informed that ebay sees some reason to hold the sellers part of the payment, far too frequently refusing to give the seller a detailed explanation of the reason so they can speedily rectify the situation.

That is the part of this that needs to be emphasised to the FCA and / or the FOS.  If, for whatever reason, ebay decides it has good reason to hold a payment (or sometimes multiple payments), that reason should be readily available to the seller to enable them to clear up whatever concerns ebay has in a timely manner.  Not fumbling around in the dark because ebay keeps its reasons secret.

The reason that many victims of Holds think it is an ebay scam is because it looks like a scam.  The victim being lured into a situation where ebay has got hold of their money, only then imposes the Payout Hold, frequently starts by saying the Hold is for up to 30 days.  Then extends the Hold further, all the while refusing any explanation of the cause.

[alfagg35]

I literally gave them everything they asked for

Bank statements 

Receipts 

Proof of delivery 

ID

Utility bill

Yet still they will not release my money.

This is the last email I received,

This is Lacey with the Executive Escalations team,

I hope this email finds you well.

As per our email that was sent to you on the 10th of November, our trust and safety team have noticed activity on your account that is a risk to our community.

While we cannot give you the details of what was found to avoid circumvention on our site, this decision is final and cannot be appealed.

The funds are being held in line with our terms and conditions which you agreed to when you started selling on eBay on the 25th of October 2023.

Please note that, at this time, we have provided you with all the information available in line with our site policies, as agreed upon by you when registering your account on http://www.ebay.co.uk/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">www.eBay.co.uk..

Therefore please note this email as our final position regarding this matter. I have to advise you that future appeals/ emails may be read, but not necessarily responded to.

Kind regards,

Lacey Roberts,

So where do I go from here as I said I am waiting on the Financial Ombudsman office to respond to the form that they sent me.

[tressygirl]

Now,  @livingterracotta  forgive me I have got the wrong end of the stick here,  if I have,   just ignore this whole post.

Firstly, I understand fully the annoyance when you sell something and money is witheld from you. seemingly for no reason.

Yes,  seller fees are paid the second an item sells,  yes any optional upgrades are paid the second the item goes live,  but I see although you have an account of nearly 20  years standing,  you have had a little break from selling and returned?

Have you fully registered for eBay's Managed Payments?  PayPal is no longer used for receiving payouts from sales.  If you haven't registered and eBay see a dormant account is suddenly activate with a sale of £300 + including postage charge ,  it raises red flags.

Many dormant accounts are hijacked,  a fairly high value item sold on a rejevunated account brings this to eBay's ' security eyes'.

It could be a security measure,  they wish to be sure it is you,  the genuine owner of the account returning to sell. Therefore,  this hold is placed on that payout until proof of delivery is shown. If you have sold a high value item with a £45 postag untracked,  then only feedback from the buyer may release  your payout sooner.

If this hold wasn't in place returning sellers could come back to hacked accounts,  showing many items  'sold' on their accounts, and a host of seller fees to pay.

It's a security measure.

As said ,  if you have fully and correctly registered with eBay's  Managed Payments,  ignore all of the above,  if not see this link here:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/help/help/selling/getting-paid/introducing-managed-payments-ebay?id=4795

[alfagg35]

Not sure how you could see my history, yes I had an account for many years bought and sold a lot of stuff, I started getting some rather spurious communications from supposed other users so I closed my account, I went to a few auctions on other sites, then we decided we were going to move house, I had opened another account with a different email hoping that the spam wouldn't start again, I purchased a few bits but had not sold anything. After we decided to move I thought I would sell a couple of pieces that I had bought and use the money toward the move, things had changed with regard payments, so I just followed what I was sent and connected my bank account and such like then I sold an item and then it started. The user paid I sent the item tracked, it was received and the user was happy and left feedback, I updated my account and then I got an email saying my account was suspended and here I am about to move with some big bills to pay and I can't get my money.

[theelench]

Looking at your history is easily done and nothing sinister, anyone can do it just by clicking on View Listings > Sold Items and your Feedback score next to your name on all your posts.  @tressygirl  didn't actually reply to your post, but her points about security and bank verification are still applicable.

After a break from selling your sale on 5/11 is bound to raise flags with ebay.  These days ebay will put a hold on payments of even small amounts if the seller is new to selling, a returning or an infrequent seller.  Until the seller has proved that they send the goods and don't get complaints or returns.  So your payment would most likely have been held whatever you sold.  (Whether or not ebay should make this clearer to sellers counted as any of the above before they make a sale is the sort of thing that the FCA might take an interest in if it gets enough complaints.)

Having said that, you've verified your I.D and address.  If there is a problem with your bank account ebay will usually tell you that you don't have a valid payment method, although often they won't tell you exactly why it isn't valid.

You've provided a receipt, proving ownership of the goods.

The buyer has left FB, proving delivery and saying they are happy with the goods.

For such an amount, I would expect ebay to still hold the money for 30 days just in case the buyer opens a case and wants to return the item under the Money Back Guarantee.  

Although I'm not a fraud or criminal investigator and no expert in either, I can't see anything left to verify or investigate.  So I wonder what is ebay investigating and why should it take "up to 170 days"?

In your place I would report this to the FCA, who will give you a reference number so you can update them on future developments.  You may not be happy about it but the UA does enable ebay to hold your money for 30 days and I would wait it out.  You might find that if the buyer hasn't opened a return case ebay will make the payment after the 30 days have elapsed.  If not I'd email ebay again to find out why not and if they don't reply, add that to your FCA report and if possible to your FOS case.

You can also return to this thread with an update and perhaps get further advice.

Good luck.

[tressygirl]

Sorry, @theelench  yep sent my answer to wrong poster, just went to top of page and found the original question.

My reply was meant for @alfagg35   hope it's of help understanding the hold.

@livingterracotta  sorry my long post was not meant for you but to the above,  I obviously need more coffee in the mornings !

[dougbat20]

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@livingterracotta wrote:

How many people here have had their money " withheld" with the Ebay scam !!

They accepted my buyers payment, took their commision plus advertising fee and then decided to put a restriction on my account.

Now they are asking for proof of delivery for all my past sales when I use Royal Mail untracked before they will lift the restrictions. Thats something they know I can't supply.

"Ebay you are distroying any respect you had" enjoy your money!

We need to get together to bring them to justice and make them accountable for their actions

please put your case below so we can bring this to their attention because im sick of speaking to the junior clerk thats told what to say

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@livingterracotta did you actually get your money back from eBay now (the money they were refusing to pay you)? Since it's now Feb 2024, and you created the thread in Nov 2023, I'd say this is a reasonable enough period of time to consider escalating things further if you haven't received your funds yet.

[alfagg35]

I received my money in January, I had started a complaint with the FOA, but they took so long and still had not assigned my case to an investigator after 2 months so I just told them to cancel it, the only claim I could have made was for any interest that I would have accrued had the money been in my account and not theirs. It would appear that this is not an isolated case as there aren’t many others who have had the same thing happen to them. I for one will not be using EBay again, I had used eBay for many years but this incidence has left a very bad taste and a total lack of trust, so my account will be closed and good riddance

[nigel_paul_wright7557]

I joined ebay in 2008.

I quickly found I was getting item not received claims.

So changed over to 2nd class signed for and they stopped immediately.

So either RM is more careful with items signed for or the buyers are pulling a fast one.

Make the buyer pay the extra as its cheaper in the long run.

[dougbat20]

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@nigel_paul_wright7557 wrote:

I joined ebay in 2008.

I quickly found I was getting item not received claims.

So changed over to 2nd class signed for and they stopped immediately.

So either RM is more careful with items signed for or the buyers are pulling a fast one.

Make the buyer pay the extra as its cheaper in the long run.

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A lot of buyers prefer cheaper, or free, postage - a better way than paying over £4 per small parcel is to use the Tracked 48 service, costing £3.29. This has full end to end tracking so the buyer knows where their item is, and can't "pull a fast one" as there is delivery confirmation via the tracking!

An alternative is to use a tracked courier, which again provides full tracking. 

Note. Royal Mail usually provide a "delivery recorded" scan on standard 1st and 2nd class but if the postie is too lazy to scan the barcode/enter the 2D number, there won't be a delivery status. Hence it is a good idea to use Tracked 48 or an economy courier!

[electro-coin]

E bay have been witholding money from my recent sales too. There are lots of reasons they can dream up to withold your money.  The reason they gave me was that i did not have a payment method for the fees. I try to avoid e bay these days it's just a scammers paradise . e -bay included as they indeed are legal scammers.

[tranceenthusiast]

I've been selling on here for 4 months had no issues. Since last week they have started putting my payments on hold. They say it's because I am a new seller. And they need to verify I will make delivery l.. Firstly I don't make delivery Royal Mail does.. As sellers we simply dispatch, once this is done our end of the barging should be complete (assuming we are sending item as described). I have used tracked services for all my sales and purchased labels through eBay, so they add tracking automatically.

"There is absolutely no need for eBay to put my funds on hold now because I am a good seller with a good record".. The words of eBay's own customer service rep.. Yet the rep can not manually get me out of payment hold jail.

Meanwhile I'm sending items and losing postage on every sale, potentially to not get paid, or possibly get paid as and when eBay see fit to release my funds.. 😂

[tranceenthusiast]

@electro-coin Did you get paid in the end? 

[*knight-rider*]

Just read the one negative about the tiles and the seller followed it up about Ebay holding their money, so i have to ask, what the hell has that got to do with the buyer not getting what they paid for, Ebay holding your money is not their problem or their fault!

[dougbat20]

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@*knight-rider* wrote:

Just read the one negative about the tiles and the seller followed it up about Ebay holding their money, so i have to ask, what the hell has that got to do with the buyer not getting what they paid for, Ebay holding your money is not their problem or their fault!

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But it's not the sellers' fault either that eBay are holding £1300 of the sellers' money - for such a high value transaction, I'd want the money in my bank account before anything happened at all with the item. £1300 is a lot of money to lose, and a lot of money to have to chase down the Small Claims Courts to try and get back.

I note from the feedback that eBay were determined not to pay the seller their funds they were entitled to. Unless small claims court action actually took place and was successful, or people who whinge about sellers' payment holds (like, for example, "what the hell has that got to do with the buyer...") are generous enough to just pay the £1300 out of their own pockets to the adversely affected seller in question, I cannot see how this could have ended any differently!

[*knight-rider*]

I didn't say it was the sellers fault Ebay are holding their funds, i asked where it was the buyers problem,  because all the seller talks about in the followup to the feedback, is that issue, no apology or explanation to the shortfall in their order 😉

[dougbat20]

So if it's not the seller's fault and it's not the buyer's fault, then by definition, it is eBay's fault and eBay needed to (in that case) release the funds to the buyer without the need for anxiety inducing actions such as having to go to a court to get that money.

[*knight-rider*]

Your not reading my posts properly, i'm not talking about Ebay withholding the sellers money at all, i'm talking about the negative he got and rather than acknowledge the issue of the buyers order, the seller talks about Ebay holding his money, which is of no concern to the buyer, they just want what they paid for and didn't get.

As for Ebay holding the funds, i agree with you, the seller should be paid, but thats between them and Ebay 😉

[darsait1986]

My payment from a buyer is blocked saying update bank card...but I can buy from ebay with  same card.. nightmare whats going on