eBay blocked my £2k and asks for my personal data

downwithpcn

eBay restricted my money after the transaction, and now asks for my personal data to release the fund to my bank account, here is the story:

I've been with eBay for 15 years. I normally buy things, but occasionally sell too (once or twice a year).

Recently I sold electronic equipment for about £2k. The buyer paid and collected the item, but my payouts are on hold due to a verification issue. Something I had never heard before. I contacted eBay and they want me to upload either my driving license or my passport in order to release the fund. I contacted eBay and they replied:

As we are into Managed payments, system requires any Government issued photo ID to complete the verification process successfully. As a payment processor, we are required to ask for some personal and business information and must verify that identity, business and bank information meet country regulations. We implement this just to avoid any financial losses as for now eBay is taking care of all the money movement.

I believe that they need my personal data for Ayden, another third-party processor like PayPal which isn't owned by eBay. But I'm worried about what's going to happen to my data? Who are they going to sell it to? How long they are going to keep it?

Above all, why they are asking for my ID after the transaction? Isn't this verification system supposed to be done before I'm even able to list an item? If I know in order to sell an item I need to give away my personal data for them to pass on to a third party, I wouldn't have sold it in the first place.

Ayden is a European company, eBay is an American company, none are covered by the Financial Ombudsman, eBay says it cannot sign up to the Ombudsman service because it simply operates a marketplace for others to use. eBay isn't governed by anyone but themselves. If you want to complain, you complain to eBay themselves by writing to the address in Dublin. So the whole personal data collection business is worrying me.

Here is my question, do I have any chance of getting my money without giving away my personal data? If I don't is a copy of my passport is a big deal in case of eBay or Ayden gets hacked?

Many thanks to you all

soolin

You will have a long wait for your money if you refuse to verify yourself. This process is quite normal and many of us have already gone through it.

I did it a couple of times with paypal as well during the many years I used them- usually triggered by reaching certain payment limits .

cx6

Agree - the world is fast moving to a state where a lot of things will need ID verification. 

Just upload what they want. 

jon81uk

Its likely due to the value of the sale, I've never had to verify with photo ID but I barely sell a few hundred pounds worth a year. Whereas a single £2k transaction would likely be a concern and eBay/Adyen (and PayPal before them) have to comply with anti-moneylaundering regulations.

pulliptears

I submitted my driving licence four times in a week, it repeatedly kept asking me to do it even after I had uploaded it.  Gave up in the end and cancelled the item I was selling.  I really cannot be bothered with it any more.

downwithpcn

Thank you everyone for your comments, it really helped. All the best

girlchops

In terms of keeping your ID and associated data securely and appropriately it's not really the Financial ombudsman's domain. They are there to investigate the financial wrong doing side of things then penalise or compensate accordingly. 
If Ayden are registered in the EU as you say they are, then they will be subject to GDPR legislation.
This was/is the 'new' data protection legislation introduced in May 2018.
Organisations based in the EU or collecting data about subjects based or otherwise resident of the EU are subject to its obligations.
If you suspect a breach has been committed you'd need to go to the ICO (information commissioner's office) for them to investigate the breach. They do take it seriously and also penalise those seen to be flouting data privacy laws. 

prowla

I'm uneasy with ebay taking it upon themselves to be a financial service, rather than there being a separation of the auction/marketplace and the financial transaction; basically they hold all the cards.

soolin

prowla said:

I'm uneasy with ebay taking it upon themselves to be a financial service, rather than there being a separation of the auction/marketplace and the financial transaction; basically they hold all the cards.

I understand your point but it is something that people selling online will need to address at some point. Etsy, Amazon etc all use their own systems , currently the only real contenders that don’t are places like Gumtree and facebook who leave it up to the buyer and seller to sort out. However there have been rumours for a few years now that Facebook will take over their marketplace sales and manage the money ,  and it has already happened in the US. In fact MSE did carry a warning that they had information this was definitely going to happen in February this year, but I asked about the source of that information and never got a reply and I haven’t seen any firm dates mentioned anywhere else at all.

Obviously no one has to sell online , but if they do they may need to take a pragmatic approach and if they are nervous, set up a standalone bank account to handle all online stuff. Buyers and sellers have been moaning for years that online places don’t offer enough protection from scammers, when a level of proof of identity is required it seems they don’t like that either, look at ebay, a lot of the Far East sellers have disappeared now due to the location and ID requirements, which is exactly what users wanted.

Buster_Danog

To my knowledge if you do not provide ID your account may be suspended. At that point you may need to contact a department in ebay that deals with unclaimed revenue in order to obtain your money.

I am in a similar siutation but for less than £40. I also refused to provide ID and my account was eventually suspended with the help of a dimwit at customer services. The real unfair part of this is they seem to treat you as they do with other suspended accounts even though you have just failed to provide ID. I'm sure there are people doing far worse things but lumping everyone into the "suspended" category, which supposedly uses tracking details for ip addresses and bank accounts that they would use on fraudsters is a bit harsh.

Spoonie_Turtle

Buster_Danog said:

To my knowledge if you do not provide ID your account may be suspended. At that point you may need to contact a department in ebay that deals with unclaimed revenue in order to obtain your money.

I am in a similar siutation but for less than £40. I also refused to provide ID and my account was eventually suspended with the help of a dimwit at customer services. The real unfair part of this is they seem to treat you as they do with other suspended accounts even though you have just failed to provide ID. I'm sure there are people doing far worse things but lumping everyone into the "suspended" category, which supposedly uses tracking details for ip addresses and bank accounts that they would use on fraudsters is a bit harsh.

To be fair, the ID requirement is to help prevent against fraud, so if you're refusing to provide it then they really can't quite be sure.