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!

[drwho304]

You are correct, it is my assumption PayPal is holding our collective money to increase their bottom line. I have sold many items through PayPal without them ever holding money, all of a sudden they say I haven't sold enough to make a quality seller and is holding my money for about a month. I don't like this new tactic on their part but it's hard to boycott the service.

[firefighter23]

What is this "still pending" stuff? I guess it is time to go back and start using merchant accounts or just accept money orders only. I mean, 21 days? COME ON! I started using Paypal since it was marketed as fast but since that is no longer the case it is time to save money and just accept money orders. Why pay for someone to hold our money and collect interest on it and THEN charge us for it?

[MuzikMan]

I'm not sure why PayPal has changed it's procedure, but this one is very frustrating.  Let's look at this from the business perspective.  If I go to the store and purchase something, I have a number of days to bring it back.  The merchant already has their money, and the customer has their merchandise.  However...If there's a problem with it, the customer can take it back and get a refund (in most cases).  

I can understand holding the funds until the customer gets their merchandise.  When they leave positive feedback, the funds should be released at that point.  This is the way PayPal used to operate just a couple of years ago.  I've now sold a couple of items on eBay and have run into the same problem as many others.  The customers have received their merchandise and have left positive feedback, yet I don't have access to the money.  I've provided shipping information in both PayPal and eBay, but here's the unique situation.  The courier delivered the merchandise but didn't mark it as delivered.  Now I'm stuck waiting on PayPal to release my money.  

I guess I will just have to start using Craigslist (although I hate having to negotiate with people about the price).  

[julesdc]

This is the email that I received after contacting them.  I asked for specific reasons as to why my account was on hold.  I also, like the many others out there, have 100% feedback on all of my sales and have never had any problems with a seller.

------------------

-When you signed up for our services, you agreed to our User Agreement, Privacy, Acceptable Use Policies, and others.

- The decision to place a limitation on your account was based on terms outlined in these agreements.

- Generally, we place limitations on an account to learn more about you, your account activity or your transactions. To appeal an account limitation, we might ask you to take various steps, provide us with information, or supply us with certain documents.

- In some cases, we may decide that we can no longer offer our services to you.

--------------------

They couldn't give me a reason, excpet for it says you agreed to our User Agreement.  Hmmm. 

[Hope4help]

PAYPAL / EBAY Recently started this with one of our accounts it is BS, I asked themto direct me to the section of the users aggreement that specifies that I agreed to allow them to hold funds for upto 21 days and that I would ship ittems out to buyers without having the funds in hand. All I got back was "you agreed to our User Agreement". I have printed the users agreement out in detail and my BOSS an attorney has promised to read it through for me and reccomend any actions that could be taken. WE AGREE THIS IS JUST MORE OF PP/EBAY BIG BROTHERISM

[I3ongwat3r]

---

@Hope4help wrote:

PAYPAL / EBAY Recently started this with one of our accounts it is BS, I asked themto direct me to the section of the users aggreement that specifies that I agreed to allow them to hold funds for upto 21 days and that I would ship ittems out to buyers without having the funds in hand. All I got back was "you agreed to our User Agreement". I have printed the users agreement out in detail and my BOSS an attorney has promised to read it through for me and reccomend any actions that could be taken. WE AGREE THIS IS JUST MORE OF PP/EBAY BIG BROTHERISM

---

This took me all of five minutes to find.

10.4 Actions by PayPal - Holds.

a. Risk-Based Holds. PayPal, in its sole discretion, may place a hold on any or all of the payments you receive when PayPal believes there may be a high level of risk associated with you, your Account, or any or all of your transactions. PayPal’s determination may be based on a number of different factors and PayPal may rely on information it receives from its third party partners such as eBay. If PayPal places a hold on a payment, the funds will appear in your “Pending Balance” and the payment status will show as “Completed - Funds not yet available”. If PayPal places a hold on any or all of the payments you receive PayPal will provide you with notice of our actions. PayPal will release the hold on any payment after 21 Days from the date the payment was received into your Account unless you receive a Dispute, Claim, Chargeback, or Reversal or PayPal has taken another action permitted under this Section 10. PayPal, in its sole discretion, may release the hold earlier under certain circumstances, for example PayPal may release the hold earlier if you have uploaded tracking information. If you receive a Dispute, Claim, Chargeback, or Reversal, PayPal may continue holding the payment in your Account until the matter is resolved pursuant to this Agreement.

b. Disputed Transaction Holds. If a User files a Dispute, Claim, Chargeback or Reversal on a payment you received, PayPal may place a temporary hold on the funds in your Account to cover the amount of the liability. If you win the dispute or the transaction is eligible for PayPal Seller protection, PayPal will lift the temporary hold. If you lose the dispute, PayPal will remove the funds from your Account. This process also applies to claims that a buyer files directly with eBay through the eBay resolution process if your Account is your reimbursement method for buyer claims.

relevant

5.2 Assignment of Interest to PayPal. You agree that you will not receive interest or other earnings on the funds that PayPal handles as your agent and places in Pooled Accounts. In consideration for your use of the PayPal Services, you irrevocably transfer and assign to PayPal any ownership right that you may have in any interest that may accrue on funds held in Pooled Accounts

and one more

In Section 10 relating to your liability and the actions we may take.

Rights, responsibilities and liability under this section have not changed except for the addition of your acknowledgment that our decision to take certain actions such as holds and reserves is based on confidential criteria, and your agreement that we have no obligation to disclose the details of our risk management or security procedures.

[hbogdon]

This is such a crock. The only way we will stop them from doing is it to start closing down our ebay and paypal accounts. We have to hit them where it hurts in the pocket. I'm closing both of my accounts down today and will never deal with ebay or paypal again

[I3ongwat3r]

Proper posting etiquette

1.  Ignore all previous posts

2. Do the internet equivalent of mumbling incoherently

YOU'RE DOING IT RIGHT!

[I3ongwat3r]

Paypal your censorship criteria is prejudice...

I guess I am lucky you share your risk assessment procedures with me at all

[BarkingSpider]

I just got off a rather long frustrating call to e-bay/paypal  customer support regading  the "pending" status of recent payments made to my Paypal account.

The recent blanket application of this 21 day holding policy to "new accounts" was explained, after a fashion.
I can't help feeling that it's unfair to be punished because some other sellers have bad records, but I have no recourse other than complaining so there ya go.

If one has more than 25 sales, apparently it's o.k. So I am not trusted to have access to my own money for another three transactions, fine. And the requirement for tracking information, despite the fact  that Canada Post DOES NOT provide tracking information for large envelope and regular parcel.

Being forced to use the more expensive option of Expedited parcel is just wrong. Some might even descibe it as extortionary, considering that E-bay collects an even larger final value fee for the shipping, right?

So no tracking information (because it doesn't exist). But the packages have been sent AND received, and the buyers have left positive feedback, proving that they recieved what was paid for, and still Paypal is holding the money.

How is this fair? How does this protect anybody? How are honest sellers who have never had a complaint against them supposed to beleive they are not being taken advantage of?

But policy is policy, apparently it's carved in stone or something.