I received an email today saying that all my payments will be held for 21 days. Im already dealing with 15% overhead for ebay and paypal fees, and now I find out I have to wait 21 days for my money? Thats just not fair. I read the email and I understand that the intent is to protect buyers from predatory sellers. I also read the list of things they look at when they consider doing this to a person. I am not all together against this practice as a reformatory tool for sellers who have had issues with buyers. However, I am completely appaulled that paypal would paint with such a broad brush and do this preemptively. I've never even had a dispute, much less an unresolved one. It is unfair.
My question is one that was not answered by the email. What interest will paypal be earning on the money during the 21 days they hold it? Also, what portion of that interest will be paid to the seller. Presumably, all interest gained over the 21 days should be paid to the seller whos money created that interest. This information was conspicuously absent from the email.
Text of the email is pasted below:
We're writing to let you know about a change to your PayPal account.
Starting 9/17/2011, money from payments you receive will be placed in a pending balance for up to 21 days. By doing this, we're making sure that there's enough money in your account to cover potential refunds or claims.
Even though you can't access the money right away, please ship orders quickly and communicate with your customers. After 21 days, you can withdraw money from each payment as long as the customer hasn't filed a dispute, chargeback, claim, return, or reversal.
The money may be available sooner if:
We can confirm that the item was delivered.
Your buyer leaves positive feedback. (Applies only to eBay items)
This change isn't necessarily permanent. We'll review your account every 35 days and re-evaluate if we should continue to hold your payments. If we decide to stop holding payments, we'll email you to let you know.
Why are my payments being held?
We reviewed your account and determined that there's a relatively higher than average risk of future transaction issues (such as claims, or chargebacks, or payment reversals). We understand that it may be inconvenient to have your payments temporarily held but please know that we didn't make this decision lightly.
Before deciding to hold payments, we consider many factors. These factors include account and transaction activity, the rate of customer disputes, the type of business a seller runs, average delivery timeframes, customer satisfaction, performance and history.
Questions? Let us know
We understand you’d like to have immediate access to the money you receive and we’re here to answer your questions about this change to your account.
For more information and tips on what you can do to avoid having your future payments held, please see our Frequently Asked Questions. To speak to a Customer Service representative, log in to your PayPal account and click “Contact Us” at the bottom of any page.
Thanks,
PayPal
