FUNDS HELD NEW EBAY POLICY! CLOSING ACCOUNT AFTER 19 YEARS!

[tricia-o]

Im absolutely furious! Ebay have changed their policy and are now refusing to pay monies (which belong to the buyer) until the item has been posted and received!!

I have been selling on Ebay for 19 years and this is how we are being treated?

I will NOT pack and post my valuable antiques until I have been paid! I have never heard anything so ridiculous! Can we not be trusted? Shame on you Ebay! You are the loser here! I have now cancelled all sales and 67 listings and I will find another platform to sell my antiques with someone that values me!!

[tricia-o]

But Vinted worked this way from the outset! These weren’t the policies with eBay when we started (in my case 19 years ago)! Surely there must be some guidelines? If eBay are running a business surely they can’t keep moving the goal posts to suit themselves? There must be a governing body?
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[andha-21]

Isn't that an assumption? How many years was it before Dixons Group were taken to court for their extended warranties?

The Geek Carphone Warehouse went on for 7 years off memory before someone reported it.

I just wonder if people confuse what is for what should be by law. 

"If it's there it must be right." Sorry, I just don't think that way. Never have. It implies I trust others to do the right thing for me. My experience most people do the right thing for themselves.

[tricia-o]

I’m writing to Martin Lewis tomorrow. Hopefully he can shed some light on it!
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[fashionista27]

if you use Global Shipping Programme you will get funds 24 hours after it is delivered to the UK hub. I confirmed it today. A different question is would you use GSP? Posting that way can be more expensive. I use it for my peace of mind and simplicity.

[jonatjonatjonat]

If eBay are running a business surely they can’t keep moving the goal posts to suit themselves?

of course they can.  Most businesses change policies and terms and conditions all the time.

[papso22]

They can move the goal posts as often as they like.  As soon as a buyer or seller uses the website to buy or sell after the goal posts have moved they have agreed to them.

No-one has to use ebay.

[roger_roger_over_and_nowt]

"if you use Global Shipping Programme you will get funds 24 hours after it is delivered to the UK hub."

That doesn't mean that funds are 100% safe.Ebay's MBG still applies and buyer can still claim not as described and have a full refund at seller's return cost.A buyer can also get a refund if item is delayed for some reason,again under the MBG.There are many other posts about this.

Chargebacks etc......

Sadly the MBG routine is fully automated,run by bots,not humans.

[tricia-o]

True!
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[fashionista27]

They can but what other sellers question is how it is done. We were told that selling is free. Ebay keeps proudly advertising that selling is free for sellers but it is not entirely true. Ebay was not transparent about changes coming. This created confusion not only in sellers but their reps who were unable to answer questions due to constant changes.

[the_book_seekers]

If eBay are running a business surely they can’t keep moving the goal posts to suit themselves? 

ebay has been doing this for years. After managed payments this is the biggest thing to hit private sellers for sometime.

[fashionista27]

I say that using GSP saved me from a chargeback worth £200. A seller based in the US claimed that someone used her credit card without her permission. It seemed to be a lie as the item was sent to her home address. Paypal asked me for proof and if not for GSP I would have lost my case. They keep all the details of each transaction. At the end I didn't pay £200 from my pocket as ebay confirmed it was shipped and delivered to her address. Another international buyer requested a return. I was professional and she was willing to pay for shipping from her own pocket. I don't have issues with GSP. It makes things easier for me and I don't see how this supposed to increase any risks associated with selling abroad. it is what it is. Some buyers will request a return. I have to accept it. Frankly, international buyers seem to be accepting and understanding. I enjoy selling abroad. Those buyers are ready to pay higher prices and the encounters were very pleasant.

[the_book_seekers]

I follow Martin Lewis and all I've seen from MSE is warning that the Buyers Protection fee was coming. I don't think the new fee has impressed MSE from the tone of the articles, but there has been no comment on the legality of it that I've seen.

[the_book_seekers]

They can but what other sellers question is how it is done. We were told that selling is free.

Exactly - for private sellers ebay has moved the goal posts several pitches over recently.  Simple delivery, buyer's protection and payment holds - that's a hell of a lot to cope with in a very short space of time and the introduction has been up to ebay's usual standard. 

Technically selling is still free - it's buying that isn't. 

[abrahamtoast]

I know some of the posters on this thread are new to the topic, but, quite frankly, it's been done to death on many other threads. Take some time and read them.

None of us here are going to stumble upon something eBay has missed with regard to legality. From the timings of posts on this thread, it is obvious posters are reading a post, googling it, and coming back, presenting their new-found "knowledge" as if they knew all along. You're not going to find something in a two minute Google search, which eBay and their high-powered lawyers have completely missed in months, if not years, of planning.

I'm not sure if eBay is acting as it should, morally, and I do think they risk damaging their brand with all these changes, but I don't for a minute believe that any of it is illegal.

[papso22]

Well said!

[tricia-o]

Thank you.
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[edwardian-dreams]

They obviously need the money sitting in their account to  earn interest 

or some other reason bleurgh

yeah if they managed before to pay sellers immediately what exactly was the problem so they decided to keep them waiting 

[the_book_seekers]

ebay is all about revenue streams. Managed payments, fees on postage, and promoted listings in all its many forms are revenue streams.  Simple delivery and buyers protection fees are new revenue streams. Holding back private sellers money will probably earn ebay some money, perhaps not directly. Managed payments is run for ebay by Adyen (I think this is still the case. I haven't seen any news of this changing) and Adyen will be holding the money. I'd image that if money is made on the payments being held back I can't see that ebay won't receive a cut of  it some how. Sales as a revenue stream seem almost incidental these days.

[andha-21]

Don't bite my head off. Just writing this down as it's in my head, mainly so I don't forget it. Feel free to rip into any flaws though.

BPF = Buyer pays eBay for protection on private sales

If buyer pays, eBay sells? 

If eBay are selling to the buyer doesn't it create a B2C contract?

If so, doesn't that mean the buyer now has statutory rights as they are paying for a service from a business (regardless to whether the end goal is to buy from a private seller)?

The seller isn't selling the BPF to the buyer. 

If they were why the break in fund transfers? 

So buyer pays eBay for service, eBay pays seller for delivery of product. 

So 

[porte2425]

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@the_book_seekers wrote:

Managed payments is run for ebay by Adyen (I think this is still the case. I haven't seen any news of this changing) and Adyen will be holding the money.

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I didn’t realise that. (But I only learnt today that Packlink isn’t owned by eBay either.)

How did eBay go from owning PayPal, to not even managing payments on their own platform?

So are eBay having to take such a big cut of their customers’ money because they have to pay so many third parties to run their site for them!