Recent Feedback
I am a seller of merchandise on eBay and they have a policy where they withhold payment to me when a buyer has paid for the item through Paypal. My question is . . is this legal? They are making a general level decision to hold a person's money until that person has proven himself to be a 'good' seller.Seems to me that this is similar to considering a person guilty before innocent. Paypal is a subsidiary of eBay and, as a financial institution, should be subject to federal guidelines. Suppose a bank decided to withhold cash from customer 'A' just because 'A' was a new customer. Wouldn't that be the same thing?Wayne E.
Optional Information: State/Country relating to Question: California Already Tried: Have only talked to a customer rep from eBay.
Hello and welcome! If you have any other questions, please let me know or please click Accept.
It is legal because this is contractual between you and Ebay, not necessarily Paypal.
If you use paypal directly, none of your money would be withheld.
However, if you are choosing to use Ebay as your marketplace to sell items, you have to abide by their rules or you cannot use them as your marketplace.
It is done by ebay in order to protect their buyers from sellers who may not be honest and may not send the merchandise or may send faulty merchandise.
Thus, if you were to sell your items in a consignment store, they can set up the same terms even if they make the buyers use a specific form of payment to make their purchases.
To the best of my knowledge, I never entered into any sort of contractual agreemet with eBay. I understand your point, but I think that you have misunderstood my meaning of 'withheld'. No one is holding back a portion of my payment (other than what I agreed to as 'fees' from eBay and Paypal). Rather, eBay is holding
oops...mistake. Hit the enter key. What I was saying is that my payment is being held up. I agree to paying for the fees that are imposed. My area of concern is that eBay has made the statement that they delay the payment to me until I have proven myself to be a good seller. I have sold about $800 worth of merchandise i the last month, and suddenly they start holding up the payment of my funds. Paypal, as a subsidiary of eBay, is benefiting from the use of my money (and the money of MANY other sellers) just as any bank does. I am out the interest that I could have made on that $. Granted that my $ is insignificant, but what about when you multiply it by untold thousands of times? This whole thing just seems wrong to me.
To the best of my knowledge, I never entered into any sort of contractual agreemet with eBay. I understand your point, but I think that you have misunderstood my meaning of 'withheld'. No one is holding back a portion of my payment (other than what I agreed to as 'fees' from eBay and Paypal). Rather, eBay is withholding the entire payment and not just some portion.
I understand your frustration. However, this is the decision of the marketplace and not the actual bank participant (paypal). Paypal on its own does not do this (you can request money, etc., and they would not hold the money). However, if you choose to use ebay as your marketplace, you agree to abide by its rules. Just like in Justanswer.com, until you answer a certain amount of question, you get a lower percentage of the amount paid by the customer (until you prove yourself worthy of the designation of a higher percentage by answering more questions and becoming a more valued and productive member of the community).
Thank you Linda. I guess that as much as I hate the policy, I must abide by their rules.
Experience: In-house, Bankruptcy attorney