Paypal Holding Funds - Should I just sit and wait?

moody

Hi, I was hoping for some advice. I recently sold an item on Ebay - which was classed as an MP3 player. As such, Ebay and Paypal identified it as a high risk item and are currently holding the funds from my sale until the buyer leaves positive feedback or 21 days have elapsed since the auction closing without a dispute.

Unfortunately, despite having posted the item a week ago, the buyer has not left feedback nor responded to messages asking if he received the item. Luckily I sent it by Special Delivery, the online confirmation of delivery is available and I have saved a copy of it. I think the buyer may be slightly annoyed as he actually paid more for the item than I bought it for, which he would have realised as I sent the item with it's original receipt for warranty purposes.

I'm quite happy to wait the 21 days, but was just a bit worried in case he tries to open a dispute. Is there anything I can do in the meantime to protect myself or is it just a case of sitting and waiting?

Apologies for the lengthy post!
Thank you for any advice.

catmiaow

Sorry its a case of sitting and waiting. If he doesn't open a dispute after 21 days then Paypal should release your funds, however someone on here was saying they had to wait a week after this to get the money.

I would not post anything without receiving the funds first.
The buyer could open a dispute or do a chargeback and you have no item or money. Worth baring in mind for the future.

Hope it works out!

catmiaow

You could request the buyer contact details maybe ring them see if everything alright? Maybe that will prompt them to leave positive feedback. but dont request they do this and they either leave you a negative or dont do it out of spite.

moody

Thanks for the quick responses! I did actually have communication with the buyer whom I asked to leave feedback the day before the item was posted. He said he was very happy with my communication and would leave feedback!

With regard to waiting to receive the funds, my Paypal account actually says 'On Hold - Post Now,' implying that I needed to post the item to receive the funds. Is this advice then incorrect?

I was led to believe that this was in fact a blanket policy applied to all items in sold in the MP3 player category, if so, then how should one go about selling MP3 players or the like on Ebay? Would it be appropriate to wait a few weeks for the funds to clear before posting the item?

Sorry for all the questions, I thought I had acted correctly, am a bit worried now!
Thanks for your advice

catmiaow

Paypal say that as technically you do have to post the item before receiving the funds. But if you owned a shop and someone came in and took an item worth say £200 and said i will pay u in 21 days would u be happy with that?

I would not post anything without receiving funds, I asked a buyer to pay via an alternative paypal account which they did then i posted the item.

You have followed their procedure problem is that it is not very safe in regard to getting your money.

moody

Point taken! But I thought the whole point of Paypal was to act as an escrow service in situations like this. If a dispute were to be raised, would my Special Delivery receipt, signature etc be any use?

catmiaow

It would be in use for item not received claims, but it would not be off use in regard to item not described claims. Which means paypal could continue to freeze your money while the claim goes on which could be months(they take their time) or the buyer could do a chargeback if they used a credit card which means that paypal would refund the payment back to them. In some small cases they will fight chargebacks though.

Brooker_Dave

catmiaow wrote: »

Paypal say that as technically you do have to post the item before receiving the funds. But if you owned a shop and someone came in and took an item worth say £200 and said i will pay u in 21 days would u be happy with that?

To be fair to paypal most merchant accounts only pay out monthly, and some keep a float to sponsor chargebacks.

That said Paypal does seem to misguided in it's new holding policy, as it puts people off using it, and given that paypal is now aiming for more than just ebay users, that can be doing it's plans for world domination any good.

Plus when a cheque only takes 6 days to clear for ever, and electronic payment system taking almost a month to pay out and charging high fees for a slow service is lame....

catmiaow

Brooker_Dave wrote: »

To be fair to paypal most merchant accounts only pay out monthly, and some keep a float to sponsor chargebacks.

That said Paypal does seem to misguided in it's new holding policy, as it puts people off using it, and given that paypal is now aiming for more than just ebay users, that can be doing it's plans for world domination any good.

Plus when a cheque only takes 6 days to clear for ever, and electronic payment system taking almost a month to pay out and charging high fees for a slow service is lame....

Yes but Paypal a totally different ball game to say Protx, and shouldnt be compared as only paypal can be used on ebay. Also ebay can be a scammers paradise.

With a cheque u would wait for it to clear before you would send and its the same for paypal. without cleared funds why should u send?

Brooker_Dave

catmiaow wrote: »

Yes but Paypal a totally different ball game to say Protx, and shouldnt be compared as only paypal can be used on ebay. Also ebay can be a scammers paradise.

With a cheque u would wait for it to clear before you would send and its the same for paypal. without cleared funds why should u send?

I know what you mean.

Since ebay force people to use paypal it should guarentee the payments.

Amazon do that?

soolin

Brooker_Dave wrote: »

I know what you mean.

Since ebay force people to use paypal it should guarentee the payments.

Amazon do that?

Not entirely, if someone wants a refund and claims under the A - Z rules for any reason they get their money back..some of the seller stories are quite frightening.

OP, have you added the tracking number to your paypal transaction..I just wondered if it might help to show it tracks to delivery.