Not giving eBay my passport or driving licence

[kiic_47]

Having sold with positive feedback for over a year ebay have now held the £49 in my account until I send them photo I.D which I have refused to do as they already have my National Insurance number and bank details but requesting my passport is I believe a step too far to sell some second hand stuff especially as EBay have had data breaches in the past… After over 90 minutes on chat I have been told my only option is to give eBay my £49 (basically they will clear out my balance and keep it) and then once my balance is zero I can close my account as I have said I will not forward to them photo I.D… I’ve agreed for them to take my £49 as long as it goes to charity which they have said it will do - can anyone confirm my money will go to charity or are eBay likely to keep it? Luckily for me it’s only £49 but giving them my money was my only option to close my account as I had no idea that eBay would suddenly insist on storing my photo I.D (had they asked for this on the day of opening my sellers account I would not have joined here but they clearly wait until you have money in your balance before they ask which then puts you into the impossible position of having to send them more and more details until your funds can be released to you) - I have decided to forfeit my money and not be bullied into giving them more of my details and was told by the chat agent that the money would go to some eBay charity and not into eBay’s bank account - Has anyone else been put into this situation and if so has anyone else been told their money will go to charity if they forfeit it? If it was significantly more money then I’d have to rethink my principals on this but for £49 I’d rather sell the few items I sell on Vinted or Facebook Marketplace than have to deal with a company who demand things like passports so you can sell a few items. It just seems a bit over the top to demand photo I.D for what is basically a internet selling and buying site that has my details already… So getting back to my question, now I have told eBay to take my money and reduce my balance to zero so I can close this account what is the likelihood my £49 will go to charity like I was told?

[sounds_r_us_too]

Hi did u manage to close your account as there refusing to close mine until i provide ID which im not willing to do and my balance is only £7.49

If i had known this sooner i would have cancelled the sales or just gave a refund but i cant do that now because of the time frame

[wintersdawn1]

I'm wondering what triggered ebay to ask for a sellers photo i.d.?

[sounds_r_us_too]

Bet reporting to HMRC has something to do with it 

[wintersdawn1]

They have already given ebay their national insurance number and I do not believe a photo i.d. is a requirement for ebay to send a sellers selling activity to hmrc.

I have been asked and provided my national insurance number to ebay but no request for a photo i.d.

[edwardian-dreams]

Vinted used to ask for these kinds of id s well before the new eu laws on digital sales reporting happened so I don’t think it’s connected 

but what do I know 

[kiic_47]

I was told by chat agent I can request they reduce my balance to zero (basically steal my money with my permission lol) and then once balance is zero I can close the account… It’s pending but I suspect there’ll be a problem no doubt and they’ll keep my account open and not let me leave even though I was told requesting my account be reduced to zero was my only option for escape lol… I think prison escapes are easier than this lol

[sounds_r_us_too]

Chat

I have reviewed the details and as I can see that the verification is triggered on your account and in order to close the account you need to complete the verification.

And that is 

Verify your account details

To verify your identity, please follow these steps.

1. Locate your drivers licence, passport or government-issued ID.
2. Enter your name below exactly as it appears on your ID.
3. After that, you will be asked upload a photo of this government-issued ID.

[wintersdawn1]

This sounds awful, if a seller can't provide a photo i.d. ebay should still allow the seller to transfer their closing balance.

[wintersdawn1]

So some kind of random 'verification', guess any of us could receive the same.

[sounds_r_us_too]

Yes and all i want to do is close my account but i cant because i have funds in there

[sounds_r_us_too]

Its a nightmare

I dont want the money give it to Charity or ebay keep it but they wont close my account

[wintersdawn1]

So you were carrying on normal selling activities, then something triggered a 'verification' and because you couldn't provide one of the photo i.d.'s you couldn't carry on so wanted to close your account but ebay won't let you have your closing balance?

[sounds_r_us_too]

No they wont let me close it because it has money in it and i told them to keep it i dont want it and they told me they couldnt until i provide them with ID

And by the way i havent had any activity for over a year now on Ebay

[wintersdawn1]

Okay.  I still don't understand what triggered the 'verification'.

[sounds_r_us_too]

I dont know either maybe its random

[wintersdawn1]

Someone else who had the same request:

https://community.ebay.co.uk/t5/Seller-Central/I-have-a-selling-account-had-it-for-20-years-eBay-now....

@kiic_47 

@sounds_r_us_too 

[department28]

It's mad that eBay can hang on to the money you have earned on eBay, unless you provide photo id. If they've recently let you pay for an eBay purchase from your bank account, surely they should be able to pay your closing balance earnings into that account?

[kiic_47]

Same here, I sell very little and sold a random football card then got photo ID message and eBay balance frozen - person on chat today said I can make request to have balance reduced to zero then once that’s done I can close account… I will never ever give them photo I.D so just want to leave and hopefully they can just take my money and close my account as person on chat said they could do that if I requested it which I did… 

[sounds_r_us_too]

Let us know how you get on because im having no luck closing mine

[kiic_47]

But I’m 100% not going to give eBay the I.D so close my account - 100% I am not going to do the verification process - I was not asked on day one of selling to upload photo I.D and will never give photo I.D to some internet company - I was told on chat by eBay chat agents I can request my balance be set to zero (so eBay takes my money) then I can leave so I have made that request… never will I send photo I.D to eBay