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!

[GulfBill]

One has to wonder if Paypal ever reads any of this stuff.   My guess is no....

I won't use them much any more and I have to think lots of others are in the same situation.   I was like the guy above paying bills and mortgages with the money and a 21 day hold is like not getting paid that month.   The surprise and level of harm they do to their core merchants and clients is unforgivable.

Other comments are right, demand cashiers checks and tell the customer why.  And offer alternative auctions and payment means since Paypal obviously doesn't care anyway.

As someone else noted...   Stay Angry!   

[Kritter]

I have to agree, Paypal does'nt read this stuff nor even care, However how do you make buyers pay with cashier's checks or M.O's when eBay rules forbid it?

eBay / paypal have a monopoly, and they know it. It's time we start looking at other outlets for our goods, The only thing eBay will pay attention to is a mass migration, and bad press,

So, Please look around to try to find alternate sources such as Boocoo.com ( Operational, but  appears disorganized,) or Auction junkie, (Still working out bugs - But owners are user friendly,) one possible funding sourse is AlertPay, I haven't tried them but hear good things,

Has anyone else heard of any other websites? They don't have to be eBay, They just have to have the potential.

At the same time contact the press, (any press!) even the fishwrapweekly! and give them this story, So far I've contacted MSNBC, FOX, CNN (All the CNN links were dead ) and reuiters, Look for FAIR.ORG, If one person alone contacts the news it simple whining, If multiple people write it becomes news.

Meanwhile DO keep your eBay and Paypal open, Empty, log on once or twice a week, just to keep your account open.

[Bruce_Kirn]

In the words of Tennessee Ernie Ford "I owe my soul to the company store". ( I know, he didn't write it!)

This was a true story of  indenturing or "slavery" in the 20th century. Basically workers worked in a coal mine and bought all of their goods from the company store in the "coal village" where they lived. The store charged them interest and allowed the workers to become so indebted that they could never pay it off and spent their whole lives there. "another day older and deeper in debt"...

This was eventually stopped by unions and by the feds and eventually the companies were forced to be kinder. The GOVERNMENT AND WORKERS actually had to man-up to stop the cruelty of large organizations!

Paypal and Ebay are doing the same thing. In my case I was put on "the hold" because 2.17% of my buyers in a given month left me a DSR less than 3 stars. In the next month I had to ship from my own pocket, something that was nearly impossible for me and I suspect truly impossible for many thousands of sellers. So the logic is, or ILLOGIC is, to ensure you ship faster we will hold all of your money and make it impossible for you to ship on time or at all. The punishment for the crime is to make you a bigger criminal. And on a larger scale, this is what they are doing. They talk about security for the buyers, and neglect the sellers. The real problem is that sellers are being fleeced by unregulated thieving buyers with no recourse, and on the back of it Ebay and Paypal fine us for getting negatives and poor DSR's left by cruel scammers who stole from us in the first place. This makes for a "no-win" situation that a seller must stay in for months or years, until the the loss of their account or the sweet release of death allows them to finally stop. It was illegal then, and is, even now, as it's being done to middle-class folks! Instead of making Ebay "more secure" they have caused widespread fraud directly traceable to this policy. When a seller sees the writing on the wall... he will get as much money as he can and close up shop! Close his bank acct, and let Ebay hang for the fees they want to charge. Meanwhile buyers won't get their items and will think that it was because of some dishonesty on the sellers part, not that he was forced out of business and also to commit fraud. This is the worst thing I've ever been privy to. I hate being in the middle of it,  but I want to do something about it. I will try

If I were a lawyer or just knew the mechanics to file a class action suit, I know this would be a winner. You can't indenture people like this, even if they need the work, even if they click the "I agree" tab on their application.

Stay ANGRY! And be pro-active.

[DISBELIEVER]

I just wonder if PAY PAL is related to the dictator POL POT. Same number of letters, same PP, same morals and scruples ..... hmmmmmmmmmmmm

[cphoenix2]

FYI!!! ***DO SOME DIGGING!!!***  THE BETTER BUSINESS BUREAU is not a government agency, but is listed as a CHARITY, which means it relies on 'CONTRIBUTIONS' (JUST LIKE THOSE IT GETS FROM PAYPAL). Look up "BBBOnline" and see the AA+ rating it gives paypal! The BBB lists only a few paypal disputes and reports them to be "SATISFACTORALLY RESOLVED". THE BBB DOES NOT HAVE ANY AUTHORITY OVER THE WAY A BUSINESS IS RUN, AND HAS NO AUTHORITY TO HOLD A BUSINESS LEGALLY RESPONSIBLE...IT IS NOTHING MORE THAN A PLACE TO 'PARK' YOUR COMPLAINTS. DIG AROUND...YOU WILL FIND THAT BBB GIVES BAD RATINGS TO THOSE CO.'S THAT DO NOT CONTRIBUTE!!!!

[mweimer]

I got some good (and rather surprising) news yesterday.  I got an e-mail from PayPal that said, "Because of your consistently good performance, we're removing your account's payment hold."  No other details.  Sure enough, I logged into my account and the banner announcing the holds was gone.

This does not mean there are not still problems.  This only affects future payments.  The money that already has holds placed on it still has the holds in place.  And I still had to call this morning to request the release of payments that had already received positive feedback and already had confirmed delivery, since the system failed to automatically release them. 

Their sudden release of the hold is as baffling as their sudden application of it.  (I'm not a new seller, not selling high-risk items, not selling in new categories, over 1000 feedback, all 100% positive, never a complaint filed against me, and all the Detailed Seller Ratings scores are 5 out of 5.  An e-mail I sent requesting an explanation when this all started went unanswered.)   And while I am relieved to have the hold released, it comes after a month and a half of dealing with past-due bills and other hassles that resulted from not being able to access my own money.  Not to mention, there is no guarantee they won't slap on the hold again whenever they feel like it, for whatever mysterious reason.  And nobody has actually sent me a payment since yesterday so I could test this new situation.

I am still very frustrated with PayPal over this policy.  I am unable to give advice about how to get the hold released, since they gave no specific explanation, and since I don't think I'm doing anything differently than when this started.  I'm just writing to give a note of hope, if it's of use to anybody.

[Bruce_Kirn]

The policy that got you was the new DSR policies. And even though your DSR's may be high or "perfect" You may in any given month receive some low ones (3 or less stars) and if  "your have more than 1% low dsr's  for domestic buyers in the "item as described" or more than 2% in the other areas, you can get the CLAMP (or the 21 day hold). Supposedly also neutral FB and other factors apply, but most of the people here can answer their questions by checking their sellers dashboard. This is a VERY unfair policy because one seller who buys a few Lp's from me can put my account in the tank BY THEMSELVES!... %1 in the item as described is also very low when a person who has 99%+ feedback has a good record...

[PC]

I couldn't agree more with the angry posts on here, regarding Paypal's unscrupulous policy of randomly keeping (floating) funds they've collected without releasing it. I'm so spitting mad that they've done this. I do not believe it's legal. I am a small fish in the big ebay pool. I don't sell thousands of things. I've bought and sold a total of 68 items since joining several yrs ago. I have 100% feedback. My kids had game boy units they no longer played with and I let them sell them on ebay. 3 different transactions. Paypal only put a hold on one of the sales. When I phoned last week, and again this morning, speaking with someone named "Eugene" (real name???) he gave me all kinds of excuses why paypal did this. First, he said since there was a decrease in the amount of ebay activity and sales, that paypal wants to boost consumer confidence, by holding the funds, in case of a dispute. First off, I told him, that anyone with a brain knows that the reduced activity in sales is because of the overal economic downturn in America. Everybody knows that! Has nothing to do with my son selling a $49.00 game boy! Next, I was told that this is considered a "high risk item"  uh...NO! if that were the case, they should've put a hold on the other two game boy units we sold! Then I was told that the 21 day hold protects the buyer. Well, since paypal has my bank acct. info, and access to it, seems like they could always take the money back out! So that excuse didn't hold water either! Besides, Paypal is to be used as an intermediary to collect and disburse funds. Since when were they determined to be the one who decides if and when sellers can receive their money. Plus, if it's truly to protect the buyer, then why isn't paypal targeting sellers with less than stellar reputations? Then Eugene tried telling me that ebay wants paypal to hold money. Uh, I don't think so! I ask, in my exasperation, to speak with a manager. After several minutes, "Lynne" comes on the phone, and spends 15 minutes repeating everything Eugene said. But when I told her that not one single excuse they've given makes any sense, that none of it appies and none of the excuses are logical or hold water, her final statement was, "well, it was random to put the pending hold on!"  So you see, when the customer points out that all of paypal's excuses are weak, and I flat out told them I didn't think it was legal for them to hold our money., they just resort to saying, "sorry, it was random!"

  You'll be pleased to know that I repeatedly brought up to her, saying, "Lynne, why don't you on your lunch hour, read the 19 pages of complaints on YOUR (PAYPAL'S) own community help forum, and see how your clients feel about being treated like this!" I also openly said to her that it seems to me that paypal is running a scam similar to "kiting" where they're using customer's money and floating it for their own use for 3 weeks at a time. Now my kids' $49.00 may not amount to a hill of beans to them, however, if they do that to millions of customers, ah-ha!!! they've suddenly got a huge amount of money to use (note this....INTEREST FREE!!!)

  Before this scam paypal started pulling, I thought it was a good company, and a good arrangement, for them to collect and distribute funds for a nominal fee. But now I understand why some sellers say, "will not accept Paypal"  I may become one of them too!

  "Lynne" ended up assuring me that she'd be passing my comments along. Yeah, right....would that be after 21 days? if at all?

[hamgal]

Have used PayPal for many years. Have a new online business started earlier this year and use PayPal. Had no problem with the initial "new biz" holds. Then, PayPal emailed they were lifting the payment hold. Now, two weeks later, they have placed the hold back on my account. No issues, no negative feedback on eBay, so what is up with this? I am looking into other payment services for my business. Fees may be a little more, but being able to speak with a professional and better business ethical practices are worth the little bit more.  

MA

[RSPAWN]

I saw today where there apparently is a law frim that thas taken the case. I hope they (we) are sucessful in prying a fine out of Pay Pal. I have recently purchased 2 items relating to other items offered on eBay. In other words I bought around the system because I needed a related item, not the onfe offered on eBay. I made the order, sent money order got my parts. NO FEES, NO HELD FUNDS for the seller, and NO MONEY FOR EBAY OR PAY PAL. TRI_FECTA!!!!!!!!

Look at letssuepaypal (.) com for contact info.

Stay Angry my Friends!