HORRIBLE IDEA TO HOLD FUNDS FOR 21 DAYS!!!

[gearhed78]

  Holding funds from sellers until the buyer leaves feedback is the worst idea EVER! Since when does Paypal become an authority on buyer satisfaction?? A smooth transaction is all that I wanted from Paypal. If they are going to hold funds, then they should make it very clear BEFORE you use them!  Keeping my money in their account for 21 days is a HUGE disadvantage of using Paypal. Stick to transferring funds,not trying to be a satisfaction authority!

[Backbutton]

This PayPal procedure is rather ridiculous, and I have not encountered this before.  Sorry about this hiccup and complication.  It was and could be straightforward. 

If you give me positive feedback, without seeing the machine, they will release the funds after one day, unless you give them a call the day you give the feedback, and they will release it same day—but this option is not fair to you, being sight unseen. 

The way I see how this could work is if you see the machine and then use my computer (or your own computer) at my house to log into your ebay account and give me the positive feedback in my presence, and then call PayPal and ask them to release the funds immediately, and then you take the machine. 

Alternatively, we wait 21 days for the funds to be automatically released.  That is not fair to you either, nor to me.  PayPal has the money on hold, presumably investing the funds and earning interest on the float on the funds, meanwhile we both wait.  In the meantime, they have already deducted $90.06 as their fee.

One of the things PayPal said is that they need proof of shipment by a carrier, such as a tracking number.  They said they would not accept a non-third-party form of proof of shipment or transfer, such as a receipt from you given to me showing pickup of the item.  I explained to them that since this is a local pickup, no carrier is involved, such documentation would not be available.  They would not relent.   

So I don’t know how we should do this.  This is an unnecessary complication.  Maybe I should refund the payment to you. 

Perhaps the e-check option will be best—PayPal will only hold for 5 to 7 days.

I will call you tomorrow.  I am currently in California attending a wedding. 

I will also contact PayPal or eBay again to point out to them how ridiculous their holding of funds is.   

The machine does not have the leg support—it is available as an add-on accessory from NuStep.  My mother had left-sided paralysis, and I was going to get the accessory as an attachment to help her recover leg function or at least get range-of-motion exercise for the bad leg—which was what the physical therapists were doing anyway. 

I will speak to you or email you.  

Regards,

Chien-sheng Tsai

06N72742TG163093W

Putting the payment on hold is ridiculous and makes it difficult for buyer and me (seller) to complete the transaction.  Your stated reason for putting a hold on the funds were:  1) high value of transaction, and 2) the fact that I, the seller, do not have over 100 feedback points.  There is no dispute between buyer and seller, so why is PayPal putting a monkey wrench into the transaction, impeding rather than facilitating? 

This is a local pickup transaction.  What should have been an easy, quick, and smooth transaction is now being fouled up by PayPal--why?  If PayPal does not have the hold on the funds, upon my getting payment, I arrange for buyer to pick up Item, if he is satisfied, he picks it up, if not, he does not take possession, and I refund him the payment—and if I don’t refund the payment, he files a dispute, and gives me negative feedback as well.  That’s it, end of story; transaction completed.  Instead, PayPal is making it difficult for buyer and seller to complete this transaction.  It is a disservice to both buyer and seller. 

Options suggested by PayPal were 1) waiting 21 days for timed clearance, 2) getting positive feedback from buyer, or 3) refunding payment to buyer for replacement by e-check and thus shortening hold to 5-7 days from 21 days.  I have discussed with buyer, none of them were comfortable to both of us. 

This transaction is a local pickup due to the 200 lbs. plus weight of the exercise machine and thus high shipping cost.  I (seller) am not comfortable in releasing the $3K plus Item to buyer without cleared payment—buyer could take the item and then give me negative feedback and thus the funds will not be released—that is a risk I, the seller, am not willing to take.  Buyer is not comfortable giving me positive feedback prior to seeing the Item, just to release the funds.  Buyer is not willing to issue an e-check.  So we are stuck and unable to go through with the transaction unless the buyer is willing to wait 21 days.

I REALLY REGRET USING PAYPAL, AND SHOULD NOT HAVE DONE SO, AND WOULD NOT HAVE DONE SO IF I HAD KNOWN BEFOREHAND.  Prior favorable impression and experience with PayPal is fast dissipating--IT IS RIDICULOUS FOR YOU TO HOLD THE FUNDS.  PayPal is not protecting either the buyer or seller in this situation.  The only beneficiary seems to be PayPal—you get to earn interest on the float on the funds for 21 days, and of course, PayPal has immediately deducted the $90.04 fee for itself—why don’t you put a hold on your fee also?   By this action, it seems quite clear that PayPal is more concerned about its own interest rather than the interest of either the buyer or of the seller—what is the benefit to us—the buyer and seller—when there is no dispute between us? 

So please re-examine your hold on the funds—it does not make sense!

[RSPAWN]

THe described transaction here  is repeated thousands of times daily. This reminds me again of the wise guys in Chicago & New York, that held you up for protection money from themselves. This simply put is, a semi-monopoly that can do about anything it wants. Reguatlions are few and far between on these guys.

ONe thing I don't know if someone would help with this. Is eBay the only entity that Pay Pal holds funds on, or do they do it world wide on every site they are optioned on?

if not, I FEEL DESCRIMINATION COMING ON.

STAY ANGRY MY FRIENDS, POST SOON, POST OFTEN, DON'T LET THEM WIGGLE OFF THE HOOK!

[garykaye99]

Sold a $2500 item, buyer received it, I get no money. Wonderful system - this policy is a big, big mistake.

[MamaMia72]

garykaye99 - Did the buyer leave positive feedback?  If feedback not left, suggest you contact the buyer and ask them to let you know that they are pleased with their purchase by leaving positive feedback.  (Indicate that your goal is 100% buyer satisfaction and 5 stars on every transaction.)  This is what I do, and thankfully I haven't had the hold problem.  After positive feedback is received, contact eBay/PayPal again.  Hope this helps.

[fjp800]

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@MamaMia72 wrote:

garykaye99 - Did the buyer leave positive feedback?  If feedback not left, suggest you contact the buyer and ask them to let you know that they are pleased with their purchase by leaving positive feedback.  (Indicate that your goal is 100% buyer satisfaction and 5 stars on every transaction.)  This is what I do, and thankfully I haven't had the hold problem.  After positive feedback is received, contact eBay/PayPal again.  Hope this helps.

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This is something I do all the time.. Even before the new policy... But not every buyer gives feedback.. I am a volume seller and this causes a problem for me.  I send all items via a tracking number and PayPal still hlds the money past the three days after the notice of receipt... I have to call PayPal and complain.. Then they tell me it was an oversight on their part.."sorry"  This is simply not good enough!!!!!!!!

[Ashlynne]

100% Positive feedback.

No customer complaints!!

I will be closing my paypal account after they release all my money.

70% of people do not leave feedback right away!! So, you will have to wait 3 weeks to get your money??

This is BULL *^%$$%^&!!

PAYPAL....You will be losing a lot of customers!!

Farewell!!

[RSPAWN]

I am responding to a couple of posts here.

One wrote that "they" are killing eBay. I hope so. After all, eBay owns Pay Pal, so let them both strangle one another into oblivion. I can't wait to see the headlines, "eBay releases last hold before closing shop!"

I applaud you leaving Pay Pal. THere are alternative sites. I am really leaning towards Craig's List. I have found great "stuff" at even better value, AND, you can drive right up to the owner, or he to you, see the item, pay cash,get your stuff and move on the the next thing. I know that some prefer to work on line to avoid the personal contact, and there is a bit more variety on eBay, but this is an alternative and has been working for me.

Also, take a minute file on line complaints with BBB and Consumer Affairs Dept.

[autonutt]

Imagine my surprise logging in to PayPal today and discovering that my account is now under "hold" status!!  After 11 years of problem-free selling on eBay, the only change that I can detect is that I recently made my first sale in the consumer electronics category.. a whole 55 stinking dollars!  Maybe it's because I shipped the phone using PayPal shipping labels, then transferred the remainder of the balance immediately?  Or because I mainly use PayPal for other auction sites that don't soak the life out of you with excessive fees (Bonanzle, AlsoShop)?  I am appalled.. but instead of sitting around hoping PayPal will reconsider, I immediately added Google Checkout to my shipping options at my other selling sites.. and will seriously reevaluate my future use of eBay.

[MPA]

This 21 day hold is complete BS - I've e-mailed PayPal cust svc twice with proof it was delivered and no response from them either time. They couldn't care any less obviously. I'm also getting no response from the buyer.

Had I known of this in advance I would've just sold it locally. I only have an ebay rating of 89 (ebay should change it so feedback only counts if both the seller and buyer leave it), 100% rating and have been using it since '01 - PayPal since '01 as well.

Oh well - Sunday the 25th my money should finally be free of paypal's oppressive system 😉

[RSPAWN]

DOn't beat yourself up at all for your rating. It would make no difference. THEY ARE GOING TO HOLD THE MONEY!. While I only have 27 transactions with 100% both seller and buyer rating. They held me as well. This was a $475.00 hold, that was to pay my electric and cable bill. I too raised sand and got no where.

They purposely set the criteria so high as to snag the majority of the money being handled. This was a calculated measure to boost sagging profits due to a diminished market. It was kind of like the banks taking billions in TARP money, saying they had money to lend at bargain rates.........Oh, but you had to have a 720-750 FICO and positive equity ( you know how many people have positive equity now, right),   mean while they sit on it so they can "pretend" they have a positive reserve in order to pass the "stress" tests. 

Short story...... Them who have it, keep it and continue to take it from those who don't. Contact the BBB and your Consumer Advocacy folks in your state government.  Also, if you do use eBay, ask your buyer if they would send cashier check, do not be shy as to why you are asking. Google is another way to conduct this type of business.

Also with eBay, use the US Postal Service they are less expensive than UPS, and eBay won't get their cut of that money either. Just manually add the tracking number and list POST into eBay system as carrier.

Stay Angry my Friends!