Paypal - 21 Day Hold On Account???

susieh_2

Hi,
Was wondering if anyone can help.

I have recently - in the last 2 months - sold a few items on Ebay. They are mainly clothes (6 items), 1 PSP and a B & Q garden marquee all the items were ours and are from having a clear out and have received payments through Paypal.

I have also paid for some stuff for my sons X-box through Paypal.

I have never had any problems and have 100% positive feedback.

Have now received and E-mail from Paypal saying they are placing any money I receive into a "pending account" for 21 days until they have prove that the items has been delivered, that I have received positive feedback and that there are no disputes - this they say is to protect my customers - I'm not a business.

I'm confused and a bit perturbed - feel like I've done something wrong - has anyone else had this happen to them.

Susieh

hermum

They often do this to new sellers, maybe you've sold a high value of items over the last 2 months. This could possibly have flagged your account up.
The best way to look at it is they are protecting you as well, if your account had been hijacked & someone was selling on your account, taking the money out & not delivering the goods, paypal would be coming to you for the refunds.
If you leave your buyers FB then they will hopefully leave for you then the funds will be released quickly. (Don't be tempted to ask for FB though as that can be annoying).
If someone buys from you they are your customers regardless of whether you're a business or a personal seller.

susieh_2

Thanks for that hermum.

That makes it clearer and makes me feel better that it wasn't something I'd specifically done.

Cheers.

sharpy2010

Sorry to bring up an old post... If you google this, you will find LOADS of people have been affected by this now. I think PayPal have realised that by doing this they can get an extra 3 weeks interest on your cash, so they're doing it to as many people as possible.

soolin

sharpy2010 wrote: »

Sorry to bring up an old post... If you google this, you will find LOADS of people have been affected by this now. I think PayPal have realised that by doing this they can get an extra 3 weeks interest on your cash, so they're doing it to as many people as possible.

It's called protecting buyers and it is a good thing. The more comfortable buyers are the more they spend- which means more profits for us all.

sharpy2010

soolin wrote: »

It's called protecting buyers and it is a good thing. The more comfortable buyers are the more they spend- which means more profits for us all.

Unfortunately eBay and PayPal are far too skewed in favour of the buyer at the moment, and they don't protect the seller at all.

Be fair to BOTH parties, rather than JUST the buyer I think... After all, its the sellers who pay all the fees, not the buyers.

Also, its worth mentioning that the buyers will have no idea at all that the funds they send to the seller are being held. If they knew, it may give them added confidence, but they won't know, so it can't make the buyer more comfortable as they simply don't know about it.

soolin

sharpy2010 wrote: »

Unfortunately eBay and PayPal are far too skewed in favour of the buyer at the moment, and they don't protect the seller at all.

Be fair to BOTH parties, rather than JUST the buyer I think... After all, its the sellers who pay all the fees, not the buyers.

Also, its worth mentioning that the buyers will have no idea at all that the funds they send to the seller are being held. If they knew, it may give them added confidence, but they won't know, so it can't make the buyer more comfortable as they simply don't know about it.

Why do buyers need to know, it doesn't affect them at all, nor should it.

I pay for something and I expect my goods, what would I do differently if I knew funds were being held for a new or high risk seller? Surely I would be pleased if anything.

The hold only applies to new or high risk newer sellers, so a very small proportion and funds are released as soon as buyer leaves feedback- I don't really see what the issue is here.

Crowqueen

Buyers know they will get their money back anyway, but Paypal know themselves they are not left chasing scammers with debt collectors to get the money they are owed.

eBay has to be skewed in the buyers' favour; the selling process itself is heavily biased towards the seller, particularly online, and therefore eBay rules, Paypal rules and consumer law all redress that balance. If there were no rules, the seller could simply list an item they don't have, collect the buyer's money and then make off with it leaving the buyer high and dry. And, yes, in eBay's history, there are plenty of people who would do that, so they had to tighten up their policies - and the government itself tightened up the law considerably - so if you want to sell online, you have to make things buyer-friendly.

It really shouldn't cost you overly much if you were going to do all those things anyway. Paypal release monies on positive feedback for eBay sales or proof of delivery for non-eBay sales, and it's quite probable that they will also release on proof of delivery for eBay sales as well if tracking is uploaded to the sellers' information in eBay.

There are two parties to the transactions, and as a seller you have much more responsibility than the buyer does, so the buyer gets the rights.

RFW

sharpy2010 wrote: »

Sorry to bring up an old post... If you google this, you will find LOADS of people have been affected by this now. I think PayPal have realised that by doing this they can get an extra 3 weeks interest on your cash, so they're doing it to as many people as possible.

They aren't allowed to earn interest on the funds here in the UK and even in the US where they are they hold the interest in a separate account and pay it back upon request, so it really is something they do for security, possibly overly so. As with most things it's the honest majority that get affected as a result of actions of the dishonest few.

George_Michael

RFW wrote: »

They aren't allowed to earn interest on the funds here in the UK.

Yes they are.
Any company or person that holds funds that belong to their customers is allowed to deposit those funds in a designated "client account" and earn interest on it.
This interest doesn't have to be passed on to the customer unless it exceeds £20 per transaction.

macfly

Strange how ebay and paypal have managed to hypnotise rational people. Holding funds for any amount of time is outrageous. If your bank did it with your salary there would be uproar.
I have np problem with their checks before opening an account, that's their right. If that process is not stringent enough, that's where they should improve.