NEW SELLER ON EBAY ! HOW LONG WILL PAYPAL HOLD MY FUNDS FOR ?

[kimbobs]

I am a new seller on ebay and have just set up a paypal account to manage my transactions only to find that paypal are gonna hold my money because i am a new customer , why do they do this and how long will they hold my money for ?? some pls help 

[Ubigdumy]

PayPal will send a refund to a buyer whether you have money in your PayPal or not so I don't see the point for the hold either. On another note, PayPal does not care for the seller at all. My brother closed his PayPal after he sold an item on eBay for $250 and the buyer said they did not receive it. A case was opened on eBay at which point the money was obviously held by PayPal. UPS luckily takes pictures with their handheld device when leaving an item on the porch so it showed the item was delivered and left on the porch. UPS and eBay agreed my brother sent the item and fulfilled his responsibility as the seller and PayPal released the money. About 2 months later the crook buyer opened a case with PayPal and PayPal agreed to refund his money although eBay and UPS agreed the buyer received the item months ago. My brother's PayPal account was deducted the refund, so now he has no money and no product while the buyer obviously lied and received a $250 item for free now. Needless to say he closed his PayPal account but the way eBay scares buyers that don't pay with PayPal his sales are minimal compared to before. So don't tell me that PayPal holding my $5 is for the safety of both parties if they can just take the money from me whenever somebody wants their purchase for free. I wish their was a better way but until we get eBay to stop pushing PayPal payments from buyers (because no matter how you pay eBay will still refund your money if the seller really does **bleep** you over so using PayPal is moot) and letting them feel safe whether it's by credit card or any other online money transfer company then we are bullied into their rules of operation.

[kernowlass]

@Ubigdumy

You are correct in that paypal refund the buyer anyway whether funds are held or not. But the difference is that Paypal would refund with THEIR money and then they have to chase the seller to pay them back again, whereas if the funds are on hold they are available to send back to the buyer.

That is why for 'new sellers' with unproven records they hold the funds for a period of time to protect themselves (not the buyers) from having to pay off if a new seller takes the money and runs.

As for your brother normally a dispute for non receipt of item fails if the seller provides trackable proof of delivery of the item to the buyer, supply that and you don't lose out.

[Ubigdumy]

I agree with you that with proof of delivery they usually will not refund but I was helping him in this situation and the UPS tracking was there. I wouldn't believe it myself if I hadn't tried to respond for him but they said unless we had new evidence of delivery the money will be refunded. I don't know who he knows at PayPal because like I said this was over 2 months after the sale and eBay closed the case on him. So I'm just letting everybody know that if it comes down to it, PayPal couldn't care less of you as a seller. Also if you want free stuff just say it was never delivered.

[kernowlass]

@Ubigdumy

Did you phone customer services and ask why the buyer was refunded if you have trackable proof of delivery?

Or was is over the xxx amount that means you have to have signature confirmation as well?

[AnnikasAttic]

This seems insane we have just started a small business and online we have managed to sell a fair amount of stock now through our new ebay account. HOWEVER having to front the postage, some to south korea!! while not being paid is becoming tiring and not only do ebay instruct paypal hold the funds for 21 days including postage we then find out paypal hold for a further day once the funds have been released. This does not help small companies and we  are now winding up our short lived ebay business, i can imagine thousands of others have also done the same its a really awful and not welcoming service for new companies.

[kernowlass]

@AnnikasAttic 

The ''hold'' inself doesn't last long and you can understand why ebay and paypal do it.

If a buyer files a dispute and you refuse to refund then ebay or paypal have to refund under their buyer protection scheme.

So for new sellers until they have built up a selling reputation they hold the funds until tracking confirms receipt + 1 day.

After all you wouldn't want to 'front' funds without hope of getting your money back would you?

[AnnikasAttic]

Really?? so the fact that we have a registered bank account on file, business details have been passed and a genuine track record of 25+ items delivered we still have to suffer because of a paranoid built system that can easily charge back on the registered card if there ever was a problem . There is nothing about ebay that helps new sellers, we have also found that all items have been invisible from the public for one to two days meaning we have been mis sold 3 day . 5 day auction advertising promise we have paid for. Items on a 3 day auction are only being public for a day and a half before the auction ends meaning less bids, less income and then we still have to wait 21+ days for the money including postage.

Really bad designed system and no good for small business trying to expand im afraid, reviews going up.

[kernowlass]

@AnnikasAttic 

They can't 'easily chargeback' if the payment was via bank transfer or a debit card or paid from funds in the senders paypal balance can they !!

As for the rest why not ask on Ebays forum, this is Paypals which is a completely separate company.

I don't sell on Ebay anymore so not as clued up on how their 'hold' works.

However if you don't like them then don't use them and go and sell elsewhere, its not compulsory you know.

[AnnikasAttic]

Sure they are separate but ebay and paypal are intertwined as we all know and we have to use one with the other, i am allowed to voice my opinion on these matters because there are many many many people complaining about this very issue. Its the 21st century, business needs to move faster than this, this whole system seems more designed to find any excuse to hold payments. We have items delivered and good feedback but hey still no funds available in paypal, then when they are Paypal add another hold as if we have not already been waiting a month for the funds, its pathetic. The founders of paypal and ebay need to listen to what people are saying then maybe they will grow a lot bigger and have less negative feedback constantly or maybe they are more concerned about making interest on all these held funds?

[96marrs]

I’ve just fallen foul of this very issue, sold a laptop to a non paying bidder, had to wait a week to relist it, then sold to someone who PayPal wouldn’t allow to pay more than £500 because because they didn’t have ever detail of his life on file and finally sorted that to find my funds are now on hold, strange how eBays fees aren’t on hold. It’s like something from the 1990’s, absolutely ridiculous. #jokers