eBay is profiteering at the expense of Sellers

[wysiwyg_steve]

eBay has given their reasons for the thinking behind the new 'payments on hold' policy. I would ask Sellers to question the integrity of that policy in light of the two following incontrovertible facts:

1) All the while eBay has your money eBay are earning interest on it.

2) All the while eBay has your money you are earning no interest on it.

Each day eBay will have millions upon millions of £ / $ rolling over each day into their accounts.  Because that amount of money is extremely large, it can then attract an extraordinarily large interest rate.  The beauty of this from eBay's point of view is twofold:

1) They literally have to do nothing but sit back and watch the interest increases their bank balance.

2) They can claim that this policy is being done in the best interest of their users.

The definition of profiteering is: "The act of making an unreasonable profit not justified by the corresponding assumption of risk, or by doing so unethically."

 

Food for thought I think.

[valueaddedresource]

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@magpiecorner1 wrote:

I don't think they can profit.

The owner of monies placed in escrow accounts - that is monies kept by a third party until certain conditions have been met - cannot be used to earn interest.

Might be slightly different in US but there only 15 states allow interest to be paid to the person who has lodged the money, so presumably they allow interest to be earned on the money also.  I don't think California is one of those states.

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@magpiecorner1  - where do you get that the money is placed in escrow accounts? I've seen people in multiple places call it that but don't see any reference to escrow in the payments terms of use.

Just because it may seem like the process is similar to escrow or that's how people conceptualize it doesn't mean it's technically/legally actually an escrow account and in fact, the Payments ToU explicitly state in multiple places it is not a deposit account, for example:

"The balance on your payment account is not a deposit. You will not receive interest or any other earnings on the money held in your payment account."

"Funds received by us on your behalf represent an unsecured claim for payment against us, but do not constitute deposits."

As you described, escrow would be a type of deposit account so if eBay says those funds don't constitute deposits, then I don't believe it is actually correct to call any part of this payment process escrow or to assume laws/regulations about escrow accounts would apply.

Not to mention the Payment ToU has explicitly acknowledged eBay earns interest on funds since October 2023 so if the funds were held in escrow accounts that don't legally allow them to do that...pretty sure their lawyers would have either not included that part and/or they would have gotten in trouble for it by now.

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@the_mirror_cracked wrote:

1  How do you think they would make profit?

2  Specifically the UK, as this is a UK only issue, though also EU, as eBay.UK banking is  done in the EU.

3 I felt was worth mentioning as eBay Inc, is in California, therefore the anomaly of overriding state laws re escrow don't come into play either.   eBay doesn't have private sellers in US and doesn't have this condition on US sales.  Therefore I stand by my original comment, I don't think they can profit.

Though I'd like to be a fly on the wall as their accountants and legal eagles argue this this is not escrow.

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@the_mirror_cracked  see my other reply - eBay Payment ToU specifically states in multiple places that payment account balances are not deposits, so I do not believe calling it escrow is accurate or that escrow laws and regulations would apply.

[don10ged]

Steve, this happened to me last November. I sold a bass guitar. The buyer was very happy, and started making changes to it. My money went into my “Ebay Account”, but I had to wait 3 weeks to withdraw it. 
I vehemently complained quoting the reasons you have said. I still had to wait 3 weeks.

My mate has just told me he sold a set of Lawn Bowls. The money went into his “Account”, and he managed to withdraw it right away. This was just a day or so ago…..I wonder if they’d changed their minds. I said I was going to consult a Lawyer, because this was Theft, pure and simply.

[lucy_farmer]

The delay on your funds for the bass guitar was probably because you haven't had many sales and that sale was £450.00.

If you'd had loads of sales or the guitar sold for £50.00, it might have been different!

'I said I was going to consult a Lawyer, because this was Theft, pure and simply.'

Nope, it's not theft.

We sign up for this treatment every time we 'agree' with ebay's latest 'terms and conditions'.  (which we don't even have to tick a box to agree to; we've agreed simply by using ebay's services...)

[don10ged]

Thanks for that Lucy. Mind you, I have sold several sets of bowls, and got my money right away, not long before the bass was sold. I’d also been buying loads of Slide Rules, so I was keeping EBay occupied.

Donald