eBay withholding payment till I prove my ID

System

This discussion was created from comments split from: Ebay withholding future payments.

Swinglebum

I've had an eBay account for well over 10 years. They allowed me to sell 3 items and owe me £900, which they are withholding until I provide them with a Copy of my Passport.  Who in their right mind would give a copy of your passport to an American Commercial Organisation, when the guys whom will be processing your Photo ID are in Columbia.  eBay locked me into a contract of sale, well knowing that they were not going to pay-out without my providing them with Photo ID.  The account was on hold, as soon as I was paid for the first item.  I didn't have a chance to cancel the other items.
So far I have provided then with a old Green Driving Licence (no photo), Birth Certificate, Council Tax Bill, Water Bill and an Electricity and Gas Bill and validated Bank Account. Next they will want a Blood Type and DNA Sample.  
I have spent 6 hours on the phone with eBay.  Each time the agent tells me that it's all sorted and still they want more.. They want my Passport. They won't commit to providing a certificate of personal data destruction after my 'identity' has been validated.  They should not have accepted the sale, knowing that they were going to withhold payment.
Surely this has to be an abuse?

soolin

Swinglebum said:

I've had an eBay account for well over 10 years. They allowed me to sell 3 items and owe me £900, which they are withholding until I provide them with a Copy of my Passport.  Who in their right mind would give a copy of your passport to an American Commercial Organisation, when the guys whom will be processing your Photo ID are in Columbia.  eBay locked me into a contract of sale, well knowing that they were not going to pay-out without my providing them with Photo ID.  The account was on hold, as soon as I was paid for the first item.  I didn't have a chance to cancel the other items.
So far I have provided then with a old Green Driving Licence (no photo), Birth Certificate, Council Tax Bill, Water Bill and an Electricity and Gas Bill and validated Bank Account. Next they will want a Blood Type and DNA Sample.  
I have spent 6 hours on the phone with eBay.  Each time the agent tells me that it's all sorted and still they want more.. They want my Passport. They won't commit to providing a certificate of personal data destruction after my 'identity' has been validated.  They should not have accepted the sale, knowing that they were going to withhold payment.
Surely this has to be an abuse?

It’s for legal verification, it used to be done via PayPal it’s now done via eBay. In fact it’s done on most online selling sites, Vinted always catch people out as the level there is much lower, around £250 before they demand ID and proof that you are who you say you are.

I haven’t verified on eBay for years, but on Vinted the only proof is photo ID via a passport or driving license, that’s it, and unless you can use one or the other then they will hold your funds for 180 days. 

It is required and yes you have the choice, verify yourself with the photo ID required or let them hold your funds and all future funds for a period of time. 

Suddenly lots of sites are getting stricter with verification,  suspect it is somehow linked to the new automatic reporting to HMRC. 

Incidentally, I’ll get the forum team to move this to a new thread. 

pfpf

this has got me a little nervous. is the ONLY ID ebay will accept a passport, or will they accept a photo DL?

i havn't been asked for ID as yet but i don't have a current PP.

soolin

pfpf said:

this has got me a little nervous. is the ONLY ID ebay will accept a passport, or will they accept a photo DL?

i havn't been asked for ID as yet but i don't have a current PP.

It’s usually passport or driving license (if it has a photo). 

jon81uk

Swinglebum said:

I've had an eBay account for well over 10 years. They allowed me to sell 3 items and owe me £900, which they are withholding until I provide them with a Copy of my Passport.  Who in their right mind would give a copy of your passport to an American Commercial Organisation, when the guys whom will be processing your Photo ID are in Columbia.  eBay locked me into a contract of sale, well knowing that they were not going to pay-out without my providing them with Photo ID.  The account was on hold, as soon as I was paid for the first item.  I didn't have a chance to cancel the other items.
So far I have provided then with a old Green Driving Licence (no photo), Birth Certificate, Council Tax Bill, Water Bill and an Electricity and Gas Bill and validated Bank Account. Next they will want a Blood Type and DNA Sample.  
I have spent 6 hours on the phone with eBay.  Each time the agent tells me that it's all sorted and still they want more.. They want my Passport. They won't commit to providing a certificate of personal data destruction after my 'identity' has been validated.  They should not have accepted the sale, knowing that they were going to withhold payment.
Surely this has to be an abuse?

What in the Privacy Policy makes you think eBay UK will transfer your data to Colombia?
User Privacy Notice | eBay

It is clear on the page about registering as a seller that you may need to provide passport or drivers license.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/help/selling/getting-paid/registering-seller?id=4792#Confirming Your Identity
You sending them all sorts of random documents has probably put you at more risk than just providing your passport. Passport doesn't have your address or many of the other details you have given them proof of!

mrcol1000

pfpf said:

this has got me a little nervous. is the ONLY ID ebay will accept a passport, or will they accept a photo DL?

i havn't been asked for ID as yet but i don't have a current PP.

I don't have photo ID and contacted Ebay customer services who allowed me to send a photo of my bank card.

RFW

mrcol1000 said:

pfpf said:

this has got me a little nervous. is the ONLY ID ebay will accept a passport, or will they accept a photo DL?

i havn't been asked for ID as yet but i don't have a current PP.

I don't have photo ID and contacted Ebay customer services who allowed me to send a photo of my bank card.

I didn't have a valid passport for a while as I didn't need one. It started to become a problem for various things, so I ended up getting one. If you're selling long term on any platform it's simpler to have one and comply with what they want from you.
Amazon want far more info from professional sellers than Ebay and they require it at least once a year.

soolin

RFW said:

mrcol1000 said:

pfpf said:

this has got me a little nervous. is the ONLY ID ebay will accept a passport, or will they accept a photo DL?

i havn't been asked for ID as yet but i don't have a current PP.

I don't have photo ID and contacted Ebay customer services who allowed me to send a photo of my bank card.

I didn't have a valid passport for a while as I didn't need one. It started to become a problem for various things, so I ended up getting one. If you're selling long term on any platform it's simpler to have one and comply with what they want from you.
Amazon want far more info from professional sellers than Ebay and they require it at least once a year.

You will recall me mentioning previously that the ID system on Amazon was what made me give up my selling account many years back . My name, let’s say Soolin Smith was on all my bank accounts ID etc as my legal name , but my user name on Amazon was for instance pink fluffy bunny books . I supplied as requested a passport and a driving license in my legal name and was told to supply more ID, I sent in bank statements showing my legal name on the account that Amazon used to pay out my balance, that wasn’t enough. It got to a point when I was told both on the phone and in an email that I needed to prove that I was pink fluffy bunny books - but as that was just a user name I couldn’t do it. I even ended up supply HMRC i formation Including my UTR but they said that wasn’t what they wanted.

I was not alone in this issue at the time, admittedly Amazon seemed to realise that the system was asking for something that users couldn’t supply and changed their verification a few weeks later, I didn’t bother retrying as I had reached the end of my tether with them and it was no longer a viable site for me anyway as books had stopped selling almost overnight, so I just closed my selling account. 

The current site which is causing grief is now Vinted , it is a bit lawless there , virtually no buyers rights at all, and sellers are being asked to verify themselves after they take a certain amount of money (it’s about £250, but not stated anywhere. I am surprised at how many people there don’t have a passport or driving license and there are endless threads every week asking how to get round the ID rules - and also the common ‘is this even legal?’ (Clue the answer is yes). 

I assume Etsy also need verification, but so far I haven’t ever sold enough to make any real money there. 

ih8stress

I have been having real issues with Ebay for the whole of November, trying to get my ID verified (20 year account) as I can't have a driving licence and have no passport for photo id.

After sending numerous letters and documents instead (with personal information not required covered up) they have now said that they will accept my Marriage AND Birth Certificate and a Government related letter that I have previously uploaded BUT they insist that ALL details must be uncovered.

I obviously do NOT want to give them things like my mother's maiden name (a favourite security question by many organisations) or father's address. 

In the meantime they are with-holding a large sum of money from items sold and despatched during this time.

Can they insist on this? 

Thanks

km1500

mother's maiden name is discoverable on sites such as freebmd and anyway you should never use the correct one for security questions.