Identity verification failed - funds on hold

[doxaaletheia]

I'm a private seller with over 5 years of selling items on eBay. I've recenty moved to a new address. After updating my details under accounts -> addresses my seller's account became restricted for some reason. There's a notification in red 'Your payouts are on hold until you update your account details. Please update by 21 Feb, 2024 to avoid further restrictions'. eBay requested that I submit my ID for verification, which I did.

I have Indefinite Leave to Remain in the UK and a UK goverment-issued BRP card. I don't have any other documents as I've not visited my country of origin for more than 20 years. The verification form accepts UK passport, a driving license or 'other goverment-issued ID'. I selected the third option and uploaded scans of my ID in high-res and in colour (both sides) as requested. That was done Jan 24. 10-20 minutes later I received a message saying: "We weren’t able to verify your details. Please review the information below." I've resubmitted the documents multiple times in the last few days and each time I get this message in red notyifing me that eBay were unable to verify my document, which I find a bit ridiculous as the document is accepoted by anyone in the UK for any verification puropse as it is an equivalent to a passport or a driving licence.

The first agent I called on Jan 25 said that she could see the document is valid, adding that she would file a complaint on my behalf  my account should be restored within the next 24 hours and the funds released. 

I waited until the next day and then resubmitted by document. 

All the funds I received for the last sales are on hold, we are talking about a sum of more than £400. 

I contacted another agents the next day and was told to wait 48 more hours. I also had a chat with one of the agents who confirmed that in writing.

As of today, my funds remain on hold and eBay still wants me to update my account details. I called another agent about an hour ago who said that since documents are checked by a robot, only passports and a driving licence can be varified, other forms of ID should be verified by a human being which would take up to 5 working days. So when I submit the form with 'another goverement-issued ID' selected, should it not go automatically to the relevant department to be seem by a human being?

The amount of contradictory and misleading information I received from eBay agents is extraordinary. I don't know what it is, incompetance, malice or something else. I will wait until Wednsday-Thursday and if the matter is not resolved I'd need to approach an ombudsman and possibly take a legal action againt eBay who are holding my money without any good reason, hence unlawfully. 

Has anyone had similar experience?

[myriad*seller]

Call early in the morning and keep hanging up until you hear an Irish voice

CS in Dublin will help with your issue

Calling early will get you put through to Dublin 

[marco@ebay]

Hi doxaaletheia, thanks for your post.

I can see this is being escalated for you by our customer service team, I understand that it might be taking longer to what you initially expected. However, you should be hearing from them this week. If you don't hear from them by the end of this week, please let me know.

Thank you,

Marco

[doxaaletheia]

Hi Mark, thank you for letting me know. Only one question why it takes so long to verify ID issued by UK government, I don’t think something unusual with this kind of documents. I use this ID anywhere and also in Lion&Turnbull, Catawiki and Etsy auctions. I can’t understand why it takes so much time to verify it by eBay UK when I more then 5 years on eBay? Thanks

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[jow1995]

looking at your listing,  how are you a private seller? looks like a buisness, I am very surprised Ebay have not mentioned this. With the new Digital selling laws coming in force please be very careful.

[doxaaletheia]

Thanks for your concern. My family member is a lawyer and I'm well informed about all current laws and regulations. I used to have a buisness seller account many, many years ago, and since then my sales have gone down as I stopped investing into goods (I no longer buy with the intenton of re-selling). I sell my own items on this auction, mostly second-hand. If eBay wanted to then eBay would've contacted me by now. My sales apparently don't reach the limit for private sellers. This month I've only listed 23 items of my 200 monthly limit. I buy more items than I sell. Please try to stick to the subject as this comment is unrelated to the topic being discussed.

[marco@ebay]

Thanks for your reply, doxaaletheia.

This would depend as there is not an specific time frame for this, but it normally takes between 3-5 business days. However, this can change from time to time depending on how busy or quiet we are at the time of the revision.

If you need further assistance on this, feel free to tag me here, and I will give you a hand no problem. 

Thank you,

Marco

[suzykinder]

This has happened to me too! I've been selling 15yr a though only a few items 2-3 times a years. A good & diligent seller.

I've just sold something but they're not releasing funds until I verify identity. I did my Bank a/c (which they have listed) but no micro deposits still after 4 days.

I've tried to upload passport details (I have no driving license) 10 times now - with different shots (even got my husband doing it on his phone). We've both been photographers & both have iPhone with clear photos - but it still rejects it. They use a robot I believe to look at it. There's nothing more we can do & I've phoned 4 times but each day slightly different - like there's a glare here or there (there isn't at all). It's their tech wrong & I'm not getting my money. I'm not well at present & neither is my husband. & it's stressing me out. It'll be bye bye eBay once I get my money. The site has got worse & worse since I first joined & eBay got really greedy!

[marco@ebay]

Hi suzykinder, thanks for your reply.

I've just reviewed this for you, and the documents uploaded are not clear enough, and that's why this is not working for you. Please upload a clear picture where we can see the document in full, and make sure that you're not cutting off any part of the document in question off the picture. Once you upload the document again, is readable, clear, has no shadows or glare on it, you should pass the verification process no problem as long as all the information matches.

Regarding your bank account, microdeposits can take up to 5 business days to hit your bank account. I can see they were requested on January 27th, so today would be the 2nd business day. Keep an eye out on your bank account, and feel free to enter them in your eBay account once you receive them to confirm your bank account.

Thank you,

Marco

[the_book_seekers]

I'm afraid length of time on ebay offers no protection against this sort of thing. I'd been an ebay member for just over 18 years when I changed address and had a restriction pop up as soon as I updated ebay. It was more or less instantaneous. I had some problems as my driving licence was away being updated from paper to photo with my birth certificate to back up the application. There was a delay of several weeks for licences to be processed due to covid. Also my passport was out of date. I ended up speaking to someone from Dublin who was able to sort it out for me. There are so many things that can get an application rejected with something on your documents not matching up to your account. When I submitted my documents I was even told not to crop the images so that ebay couldn't see the edges of them as they would be rejected if this was the case.

[suzykinder]

On my photos everything can be read easily & there's no glare (remembering the passport page has a plastic covering over it). I've done it many times & no longer know what 'clear' is. Neither does my husband. I feel I being treated as stupid ( we both have Masters degrees) . I live on pensions & this glitch is getting me really upset. Why can't a Human check'it. It's obviously me - why even do you need a photo? You'll never see me & I have no police record - just a little lady trying to make a little bit of money. I see I'm by no means the only person having this problem so know it not me.

[chris-5643]

I'm having this problem too inrelation to an account I run for an animal charity. As eBay is currently witholding funds from sales, which they suddenly elected to do this without any warning. It is not practicable for us to continue to use eBay while it is doing this and I am therefore suspending all new sales on the platform until this is resolved. I know it doesn't help you if you have hundreds of pounds that have been held by eBay without your consent and with no promise of release, but voting with your feet is the only practical answer I can come up with. In the meantime there is Vinted, Gumtree, Facebook and others.

[extremegc1]

Hello, I had this same problem, unable to verify my identity, a red banner appearing at top of page and " replace file" kept coming up  (which was a photo of my passport) I spent 2 hours on live chat with an ebay agent who was very patient and helpful to be honest and eventually I was able to verify myself.  I use Firefox browser and I was told if I click the top right of the screen - 3 horizontal lines, I can choose - open a private window, this allows browsing without any cookies or other general *bleep* that seems to be able to butt in and screw it up  (this is all very new to me I had no idea) but I did so and then just as before logged into ebay and navigated to the ebay message which asked me to verify my ID, i filled in the page with date of birth etc etc, selected same jpeg picture of my passport and uploaded. This time I got a confirmation and a green tick. Success. Funds were accessable.

[extremegc1]

Try opening a private window in your browser. Top right of screen, in my case 3 horizontal lines, then log into ebay as usual (this time there will be no cookies or other stuff that follows you round and butts into what you are trying to do) after logging in, navigate to the message that asked you to verify yourself, fill in the form as before, upload the same picture (in my case it was a photo of my passport) and instead of the red banner appearing at the top of the page I got a green tick and confirmation of my ID.  Funds now available.

[chriklon0]

Yes I am in exactly the same situation. 

Very frustrating and wasting my time.