eBay payments to bank disappeared

Aloysius1972

I changed banks earlier this year but unfortunately neglected to change my bank details on my eBay account. Since then, I have made a number of sales on eBay and the payments are showing on my account as having transferred to my (closed) bank account and there are no bouncebacks of funds showing on eBay (which is what would normally happen if the bank details were defunct or incorrect).eBay insist that the payments have been made to the bank successfully and referred me to my bank. My bank insist that no payments could have been made to that account as it is closed and that there are no records of any declines/disputes associated with the closed account. They have referred me to eBay. 

So I am now caught in the middle with no way to resolve the issue. Does anyone have any advice please?

I know it is my error for not updating my details but the bounceback process should still have worked and this kind of 'no accountability' problem for a disappeared transacttion could have occurred even if the bank account was open.

jon81uk

You'll need to contact eBay and hopefully they can trace the payments coming back to them and reissue to your new account.

Aloysius1972

I have spoken at length with eBay twice. They say the payments have been sent but not returned so they must sit with the bank and there is nothing else they can do. The bank are equally adamant and say there is no evidence of any transactions arriving with them so there is nothing they can do. eBay have told me to quote a bank reference ID for each transaction but the bank tells me it is meaningless to them as there are no records to match it to.

RhondaD

Unfortunately I think you're going to have to follow the internal process and make a formal complaint with the bank, then go to the ombudsman.

Olinda99

 If the bank account is truly closed and therefore it is an invalid account number and sort code combination then what will happen is the same as what will happen with a payment to any invalid account - the payment will bounce back to the payee ie eBay

Aloysius1972

Olinda99 said:

 If the bank account is truly closed and therefore it is an invalid account number and sort code combination then what will happen is the same as what will happen with a payment to any invalid account - the payment will bounce back to the payee ie eBay

That is what is meant to happen but in this case it hasn’t. There have been a number of sales since I closed the account in April this year and none have bounced back. This is why eBay won’t help as they say the bank must still have the funds. But the bank have no record of receiving anything (or declining anything) since I closed the account.

zackary71

It's more probable the funds are sitting in a Suspense account with the Bank, as the funds can't route to an open account. If you can get eBay to provide an ARN number for at least one of the transfers, it might help identify where the funds are.

Olinda99

"That is what is meant to happen but in this case it hasn’t."

You mean eBay says it hasn't.

Aloysius1972

Olinda99 said:

"That is what is meant to happen but in this case it hasn’t."

You mean eBay says it hasn't.

At the moment both eBay and the bank are telling me they are 100% sure they are right, but I have no means to know who is correct. The funds are ‘somewhere’, they cannot just disappear.

Aloysius1972

zackary71 said:

It's more probable the funds are sitting in a Suspense account with the Bank, as the funds can't route to an open account. If you can get eBay to provide an ARN number for at least one of the transfers, it might help identify where the funds are.

I tried asking for a ref for the underlying finance transfer but eBay couldn’t or wouldn’t provide. I thought ARN was for credit cards. Is there an equivalent for a transfer intended for a current account?

zackary71

Aloysius1972 said:

zackary71 said:

It's more probable the funds are sitting in a Suspense account with the Bank, as the funds can't route to an open account. If you can get eBay to provide an ARN number for at least one of the transfers, it might help identify where the funds are.

I tried asking for a ref for the underlying finance transfer but eBay couldn’t or wouldn’t provide. I thought ARN was for credit cards. Is there an equivalent for a transfer intended for a current account?

ARNs apply for debit transactions too. Hope you get sorted.