Hey guys, I just found out an interesting things that I'm pretty well pissed off about and thought I'd warn you of.

I seldom sell things on ebay, I was already pissed that they somehow get away with forcing you to take payment via paypal so they can double dip on charges (ebay fee and then paypal fee, they own both) if that isn't some sort of conflict I don't know what is. But I needed to sell a scope and obviously the audience on here wasn't big enough, so I went to ebay and figured I'll take the little bit extra hit.

They used the buy it now, I was excited I have it sold, I should be getting money soon. Now these f*#&kers say that Paypal is holding my money for up to 21 days!!!!! That's right, here's what it says:

Why aren’t my funds available as soon as my buyers pay?

Here are the most common reasons why:

You have a Below Standard seller rating on eBay
You have a limited selling history on eBay, which means that any of the following are true:
It’s been 90 days or less since your first successful sale on eBay, or
You’ve made 25 or fewer sales transactions on eBay, or
You’ve sold $250 or less on eBay
We believe there may be a high level of risk associated with your account or your transactions. This can include risk that your account will have a higher number of eBay Buyer Protection cases, PayPal disputes, PayPal claims, buyer chargebacks or other reversals.

What can I do to help get my funds more quickly?

Typically, you’ll get funds in 21 days – even sooner if you follow good shipping practices:

If you print shipping labels through eBay or PayPal, funds should be available 3 days after we can confirm that the order was delivered. Your tracking information uploads automatically, and you’ll get funds to help cover shipping, too.*
If you ship directly using USPS, UPS or FedEx and manually enter shipment tracking information on eBay or the PayPal Transaction Details page, funds should be available 3 days after we can confirm that the order was delivered.
If you mark the item as shipped in My eBay but don’t upload tracking information, funds should be available 7 days after your latest estimated delivery date OR
If you don’t provide tracking information, mark the item as shipped, or the estimated delivery date cannot be calculated, funds should be available in 21 days.

Please keep in mind that it may take longer to get funds if your buyer reports a problem.
At what point will my funds be available as soon as my buyers pay?

The best ways to get funds immediately are to establish a successful history of selling on eBay and achieve and maintain eBay’s Standard, Above Standard or eBay Top-rated seller status by consistently satisfying your customers.

In most cases, eBay sellers with an established selling history and Standard or Above Standard performance rating in their eBay seller dashboard, or who are eBay Top-rated sellers, aren’t affected and will receive funds when a buyer pays.

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Read it all and the fastest I can get my money is 10 working days!!! that's right, if you figure 4 to ship, 3 days after that they release, then 3 days to transfer to my bank.

complete and utter bullshit, and they didn't once tell me when creating the listing that they were going to do this. For all our esteemed lawyers out there, why is there no class action suit against these fu*&kers? Everything else our government regulates and they let ebay/paypal shaft people repeatedly in new and creative ways.

I'm calling them tomorrow, and frankly I'm of a mind to just cancel the deal. those bastards have it wrapped up to where you almost can't do business online without paypal.

beware

Red

Just to rant a little more, the fastest way to get my money is if I print the label through paypal or ebay, why not just do that? because it requires two trips to the post office, I don't know for sure that it'll fit in the medium flat rate box so I put that guessing it will, willing to eat the difference if I have to go larger. so I have to go get a box and box it up, then print my frickin label and go back again. complete assholes.

I'm leaving Jan. 31st for Nicaragua, I want money to take with me, so I'm selling shit, I should have no problem getting this money before then, but what if my auction had closed next week?

Red

That happened to me too, when they first adopted that policy, about a year ago as I recall, maybe longer. I had around 95 transactions, with 100% positive feedback. There was nothing really that I could do. It pissed me off too. Since then I've had about 4 more transactions, all purchases, no sales. So, Im up to 99 transactions now, still 100% positive.

I just went to Gunbroker for sales and for the most part purchases too. Apparantly Ebay's policies gave Gunbroker a real jump in listings and sales. I see that Ebay now allows many of the items previously banned in gun parts. Maybe they decided they didn't want to give away those sales after all. Obviously it isn't about serving the seller or the customer.

I still use Ebay some, but avoid them for the most part. I don't like being yanked around. Maybe their policy ultimately will result in less rip-offs, and bad sellers. I suspect that was actually becoming a problem, and I encountered some real jerks for sellers on Ebay, but not lately, but I haven't been buying much there lately either.

Anyway, I'm not a happy camper re Ebay, and I haven't forgotten their behavior. I have no intention of going back with forgivness. Frankly I got the impression that they designed their policies to weed out the small time seller, and perhaps low volume buyers too. The problem, from a very practical view, is that Ebay is a powerful market place. If you want something, or to sell something, it just works, and gets it done. I look for alternatives whenever possible, especially re gun stuff. I think the other online marketers, such as gunbroker deserve appreciation.

In my book, Ebay is a necessary evil, and they are not forgiven. I've had good luck on Gunbroker, and have over 130 positive transactions. I don't mind waiting for the payment to arrive in the mail, and I don't mind waiting for the purchase to arrive. It's sort of like snail mail, but I don't mind because each transaction spites Ebay, and I feel good about that. I like the old fashion simplicity of receiving payment, THEN shipping the item sold.

I've had very few problems on Gunbroker, but certainly it's not without a few problem persons. In reality, the problems I've had were all related to buyers or sellers with low feedback numbers, percent positive and/or low volume. That's the sort of thing that Ebay took it upon themselves to resolve. I'm sure they made a dent in it, but there is/was collateral damage.

I've had far better luck here on AR with purchases than I've had with sales. It's probably because my asking prices are too high. I'm sure if I offered stuff cheap enough it would sell right away. I rarely sell stuff here, although I have listed some items. They just don't sell here, but will eventually sell on Gunbroker. Frankly, it may work out in the long run that I net about the same, considering fees, and lowering the starting bid until it sells, if I would have patience here on AR. I just have a low tolerance level for dickering.

KB

FYI
As soon as the buyer marks it as recieved or the delivery co. marks it as delivered they will clear your funds. If you didn't send it with delivery confermation then you can mark it as delivered your self, and the funds will clear. I've been through the same crap.

Hope that helps

I specify in my ads that I prefer USPS MOs but will accept PayPal if absolutely necessary.

PayPal or non-USPS MOs leave an easily-tracable paper trail while USPS MOs are cashable at the PO with no necessity for deposit into any individual's account.

I don't cheat on my taxes but I see NO REASON to give those IRS bastards any more info than absolutely necessary!
Regards, Joe

Moved to 'Miscellaneous topics'.

The Classifieds are not a discussion forum.

George

apologies George, thanks for moving it. I figured since it was meant as a warning regarding buying and selling classifieds would have the right audience.

I quit doing ANY business through eBay about 5 years ago. Since then I've sold quite a few items at Auction Arms.

Not near as big exposure as some of the other auction sites maybe, but no hassles, they do allow "reserve" prices to be set, and every single thing I've put up for sale sold above my reserves.

I always just have the buyer send me payment via a USPS postal money order BEFORE I ship the goods unless they have bought several items from me before.

FWIW, I had someone manage to breach my PayPal account several years ago and try to wire a bit over $1000 to an offshore account using Western Union. I was backing my PayPal account with a dedicated credit card at the time, and thankfully the folks that I got the card from had an oversight company watching for odd transactions... they called me about 9:00 am one Sunday morning asking if I had authorized the transaction. Of course I had not, so they suspended the card and issued a new one.

Shortly thereafter I wrote a note to ebay and told them I would not sell on their site any more, and why. Never got a response of any kind, and at the time I had over 200 transactions, with a 100% feedback rating...

I have since almost completely quit ebay. I still bid now and then (rarely), but I always ask if the seller will take another form of payment prior to bidding. I have yet to be told "NO", and frankly, most of the time the response I get back is that I don't hate PayPal as much as the seller does. Go figure!