72hr Hold Where Is The Justification?!

[syborzrcut]

Thought I would get my epereince out there before I make my financial complaints through the correct channels (watchdog, ombudsman etc).

Firstly my funds were held because of being a new seller on eBay.  I used collectplus standard service and uploaded the tracking number. The item was sent on the 5th and delivered on the 6th, but my estimated payment date was 15th February even after uploading tracking details.

After a chat with someone at eBay they advised that it is this date because of the estimated postage option I chose which was economy service (5-7days) even though it was sent via standard (2days). I was told that it is not an eBay issue as it is PayPal which are holding the funds.

I emailed PayPal and received no reply so I rang customer services this morning and the kind chap I spoke to was able to release my funds instantly as proof that delivery had taken place was evident.

Great I thought, that money which I needed will be in my bank account today..........

Not so, it is now being held for upto 72hrs pending further checks. So after another phone call I have been told there is nothing they can do and it will be 72hrs, not upto but the full 72hrs. Also a figure of 4% was quoted to me, saying they have to perform these checks on at least 4% of accounts!

I have already confirmed and jumped through many hoops so far to receive what is my money, not the customers or PayPals but MINE!

What checks take 72hrs, I was advised checking things like IP address logging, checks against bank accounts etc.

The second person I spoke to said it is basically creating a profile of you to perform these checks against.

Now I understand it is a security measure but why would these checks take 72hrs. Checks of this nature can be made near instantaniously, I have logged on to PayPal via the same computer and IP address, I have already confirmed my bank account, and my phone number.

I escalated the call to a manager who was zero help, saying there is no way of doing the checks manually, and in her expereince it will take the full 72hrs, not upto 72hrs.

I keep seeing on other help pages that this is not unusual and that banks/credit services do these checks routinely...... yes this maybe the case but with ONE big difference...... these checks will be performed within seconds and will either confirm or deny any payment.

So what is different with PayPal?

In an age where most banking services and movement of money can and does happen in a time frame of "usually upto 2hrs", what else are PayPal doing? The line spieled out here is that they can't tell us due to security reasons.

The help page doesnt state anywhere that it will take upto 72hrs, nor does it say payments may take longer than this. It states "usually upto 2hrs". Armed with this information I whisked through the withdrawal process and paid my £20.89 eBay fees and a bank withdrawal of £172. I was shocked and dismayed to find that the payment is being hed yet again due to these checks, yet the £20.89 fee's have been debited with no checks in place also PayPal managed to take their £7 fee as soon as the payment was processed via the buyer.

So it begs the question, why when I want to take physical ownership of my money why am  I forced to wait but the same payment from the same funds are instantly debited when paying for fees (eBay & PayPal). Should this money not also be held pending checks?!

Please don't post a link pointing to policies or regurgatate  the blurb, I am fully aware of the T&C's, the reason I am posting is to get my experience out and hopefully prevent some people being stung in the same ways.(Although you will probably be reading this after the fact)

I would love also to get some answers as to why these checks take so long when I have already verified my account to the nth degree.

Good Luck to everyone trying to get what is rightfully theirs!

Sy

[Fowlernine]

In the same boat same experience, withholding funds and now withdrawal pending. The reason being is they earn interest for every minute longer they hold peoples money. Con artists Just out of interest did you have to wait the full 72hours dead on?

[imdanriley]

Im having the same problem ! ,

But i remmeber before christmas using my old paypal account and having money transferd instantly or at max 2hrs .

Now everytime i withdraw my money it takes 72 hrs its ridiculous 

[syborzrcut]

I'm still waiting 24hrs in so far.....

[Fowlernine]

Think about it logically How much money do you think goes through paypal everyday? Bear in mind it's a worldwide company. Now we all have bank accounts and know how faster payment works and most have that standard now, everyday banking is simple, yet paypal - they have all these undisclosed security checks and measures etc etc Now go back to the amount of money that is handled by paypal every day and add the interest for 3 days. There's loads of info on this on the net, they are con artists and scammers but very good at it!

[kernowlass]

When you pay a seller it is never instant > paypal credit the seller for you and then start the process of uploading your funds to paypal from your funding source.

So if you as that seller withdraw that payment instantly then its paypals money you are withdrawing and i reckon the hold is just a precaution whilst they wait for the buyers funds to clear through to themselves.

[syborzrcut]

Kenowlass that is correct if they are funding from an alternative source and not from exisiting PayPal funds.I don't know for sure, and am not prepared to go chasing up the buyer to see how they provided the funds to pay. If anybody else knows if this is true or not in their experience then please let us know.

Thats the risk they should bear or if the eBay buyer is funding from there bank account or card then they should also have to wait for the funds to clear, should they not.

PayPal had no hesitation taking their fee instantly from the funds, and on the same day I got the email saying funds are now available I paid my eBay fee first and then tried to withrdraw my money, again the fee was paid and I was made to wait. Then again no surprise their if they both the same company.

They way I see it is that casual sellers are being given the run around and purposefuly discouraged from small time selling and they only want the power sellers as the volume of sales will mean more profit.

Kind of like a carboot seller vs a shop, they don't want the weekend sellers selling the tat the have accumilated as we are just not profitble enough for them.

Anyway I have swallowed a bitter pill, lesson learnt, complaints made through the correct channels, I was told they process payments at 10:00am, this maybe because my initial request for payment was at 10:01, but the manager did say that all payments are usually processed at this time. I guess I will wait and see.

The only reason I would use PayPal is for eBay and both have just lost a customer in me. No wonder I have been given three £10 vouchers to spend. Well that is just not good enough and the bribery will not keep my custom or my silence lol!