Paypal - payment held. New policy??

welshboy78

I just sold an item for a fair amount £850 however I notice in the email I received from Paypal that it states:

Please process this order as soon as possible.

Dear blah blah,

You have received payment from Mr X. The payment is in your pending balance and if there are no problems with the order, the money should be in your available balance within 21 days. This will help us continue to be a safer way to buy and sell.

How Can I get my money sooner?

You should be able to get your money within 7-14 days if you:

* Send the item to the buyers address below
* Provide the dispatch details and mark the item as sent

blah blah blah


Is this new??? It sucks that I have to send the item whilst Paypal hold the money. I mean it would be useful to have the money to use for the postage for a start!!

chrisisall

I remember getting this message a few times when I first used them.

welshboy78

Maybe its random then????? I have had a Paypal account for over 10 years

chrisisall

welshboy78 wrote:

Maybe its random then????? I have had a Paypal account for over 10 years

Maybe it's the $ amount? My first couple of sales through them were for a bit of money.

welshboy78

Hmm ive done transactions in the thousands before no problem.

I asked on another forum and a guy reckons its new Paypal policy. He said following and I quite agree with him

I had this yesterday. Spoke to them. You have to update the tracking number with them (or eBay) but the buyer will then also be asked to confirm they received the item and it was in good order. Given the amount of eBay scammers out there I apologised to my buyer after messaging him, and with his permission refunded him immediately as it seemed like the balance of risk had gone completely in favour of the buyer.

chrisisall

Yikes. Yeah, seems like new policy then.

welshboy78

Crazy. Think I will become a buyer only from now on as had so many buyers try it on and now this makes things worse

Smithers500

Welshie, I've randomly had this on a few occasions in the past. I've not queried it as I'm habitually lazy but must confess I was a bit narked to get it as the buyer would have had my item to use and abuse for the best part of a month before I even got a whiff of the dough...

I'd be interested to know what they are playing at...

Higgins

Are you relatively new as a seller?
If not, it may be the relatively high amount?

Or is someone trying to phishing your PP info by sending you a bogus email?
Or is the buyer sending you a faked PP email to give you the impression that the item is paid and can be shipped out?

welshboy78

Been selling for 15 years

Im pretty wary about dodgy paypal emails hence logged onto my acccount and it is 100 % correct.

A few people on another forum say they have also had this and they believe its due to the high amount etc however ive sold more expensive items in the past so guess its a new or random paypal thing.

Either way it sucks as technically the buyer will be using my item before I get paid.

The Domino Effect

Can't remember whether or not I've sold anything for that much via Paypal, but I've sold a fair bit of stuff and never received that message or faced that issue before. It could be something new, or maybe something random? However, I recently returned something that I'd bought from an eBay seller and when he processed the return upon receipt of the item back from me, my GBP150 refund sat in pending in my account for something like 21 days. Now that one made no sense as he had the item and had agreed to the return. I thought perhaps it was a banking issue, ie eBay were waiting to physically receive the money from his bank/card, but I have no idea.

welshboy78

I sell multiple times a month for god knows how many years hence believe this is some new or random action from Paypal.

Its def not the seller using a debit card or cash waiting to clear as Paypal clearly say they are holding it. Sucks but there you go

What irks me is that they hold the postage part of the payment which I think is a bit daft, especially if somebody who is skint is selling which is often the case

superado

Just in March I spoke with eBay or Paypal (don't remember which) about this and they said if you are not a frequent-enough seller, they impose this timeframe on you, of course as insurance in case something untoward thing happens to the product. Don't know if there's a shorter timeframe for more experienced sellers. They definitely put the emphasis on the buyers at the expense of sellers, but on one occasion a buyer tried to scam me by saying a figure I sold him was not as described, but was a used, repackaged figure in a ratty box and surprisingly eBay sided with me, saying that their basis was the number of years being registered and my feedback. Whenever I sell something on eBay, I stay anxious until (1) I get positive feedback from the buyer, or (2) enough time has passed beyond whatever their statute of limitations is for an unscrupulous buyer to file a bogus claim.

welshboy78

superado wrote:

I stay anxious until (1) I get positive feedback from the buyer, or (2) enough time has passed beyond whatever their statute of limitations is for an unscrupulous buyer to file a bogus claim.

This 100%

Quite sad though that it comes to this!

Well the item I have sent is now in the USA (quite poss a member here since Bond related item). I believe even when he tells eBay / Paypal everything is fine that I could still have to wait up to 14 days to see the funds cleared :v

Silhouette Man

Sounds like a pretty crap policy for the seller on eBay to me, though I'm merely a buyer.

welshboy78

Think ive become a former seller )

welshboy78

Update: Item delivered and positive feedback left by buyer.

Now lets see how long Paypal keeps my money - no excuses to hold it now

Westward_Drift

That sucks Welshie. I am curious as to what happens as I plan to sell a few items on eBay/grailed. Nothing as expensive as your items though.

I have sold some items with paypal (outside of ebay) as a seller just a few months ago for a decent sum (less than your sale) and had no hold put on it. Could the fact your transaction was international have had an effect?

Napoleon Plural

Something like this occurred when I bought early on as I had not linked Paypal to my debit card I think, so it took the seller a bit longer to get her hands on the money - about a fiver! - so she was a bit miffed.

welshboy78

It appears to be a random / pattern check thing by Paypal by the looks of it. I checked back and although I have sold more expensive items in the past it has been a few years since I sold anything for over a grand (GBP)

Nothing to do with cards or anything.

Silhouette Man

welshboy78 wrote:

Update: Item delivered and positive feedback left by buyer.

Now lets see how long Paypal keeps my money - no excuses to hold it now

Except for the interest in their account!

welshboy78

Yeah - feckers

welshboy78

Time to drop them a line

No doubt some idiotic reply

Silhouette Man

Well, it's a well-worded question so they should step up and give a reasonable reply. Here's hoping, anyway!

welshboy78

I have got an automated email (I guess it detects Q's) stating that if I marked the item as shipped with tracking on eBay then I should get the funds within 3 days of the approx delivery date. If I need further info reply to the email for a non automated response.

Regardless I am going to resend it on to bug them

welshboy78

Silhouette Man wrote:

Well, it's a well-worded question so they should step up and give a reasonable reply. Here's hoping, anyway!

Well I had a reply.

I am getting the funds tomorrow (allegedly)

With regards to why they held the money? Their answer is:

"I understand that you are not a new seller and I can see the details. We placed the money from your payment to one side, in your pending balance. This may be because there is a higher then average risk associated with this payment"

So I'm still none the wiser???

SilentSpy

When I sold on eBay, I had the payment hold thing. But they did remove it after a few sells. eBay is totally buyer focused though. You are at risk as a seller. Especially if you are a small seller. And I've heard of a bunch of scams that buyers can use and eBay will always side with the buyer.

superado wrote:

Whenever I sell something on eBay, I stay anxious until (1) I get positive feedback from the buyer, or (2) enough time has passed beyond whatever their statute of limitations is for an unscrupulous buyer to file a bogus claim.

The time a buyer has to make a return claim is like 60 or maybe even 90 days now. An absurd amount of time. And that's even if you don't take returns. I think for their preferred seller status or something like that you have to take returns. eBay and Paypal have been updating their policies.

welshboy78

2/3 months return claim is crazy!!!!

Guess could wear a jacket to a few events, wedding then say it was not as decribed and likely have a good chance to get money back since thats usually the easiest solution for paypal asthey stupidly think both parties benefit this way

The funds were released 3 days after the buyer gave me positive feedback. So glad the buyer was co-operative and genuine guy

SilentSpy

I believe the scammers are on items like watches and other high end items like electronics. Those are the items to be careful for if you are selling. They could use the not as described for even the smallest thing like a scratch that didn't show up on a photo or wasn't mentioned. All this is because eBay is or has moved away from being a place for auctions and more towards being a store. Many items I buy have buy it now listings. I can't remember the last auction I won. And even auctions have the option to buy it now.

Check your purchases or sold items, you'll see the maximum amount of time those will be visible. I believe it's the same amount of time a person has to post feedback. It's a crazy amount of time if you are just a small seller and not a retail store which happens to sell on eBay. They really should make rules for large store sellers and individuals.