Commentary from the staff of Auctiva.com
‘New Seller’ Hurdles
8
Not having been a new eBay seller for more than a decade, I am not exposed to the numerous hoops, red tape and runaround that newbie sellers face today. But while mentoring my co-worker Ryan and helping him sell on eBay for the first time, I saw firsthand the maze he had to go through to collect his $31 for an item he sold late last month.
While I think adding an extra layer of security when sellers first begin selling on eBay is a good thing in general, you have to draw the line somewhere. In Ryan’s case, it seemed that the line had not only been crossed, it had been cleared by a mile. It happens to thousands of other new sellers just like him every day. Here’s what happened:
Ryan sold his item and waited patiently for the buyer to pay. Four days after the sale, the buyer did, and he shipped the package the same day. Because Ryan’s PayPal payment was being held—PayPal does this for sellers who have little or no selling history—he had to use his credit card to pay the postage fee when he printed the shipping label. PayPal notified Ryan in advance that because he was a new seller his funds would be held for up to 21 days, so no big surprise there. Fine.
Two weeks have now passed since the item was shipped out, and because the buyer hasn’t left feedback, PayPal is still holding the funds. And Ryan’s PayPal account has a big notice in red that reads “As part of payment holds for new eBay sellers, we’ll hold the money from your eBay transactions for up to 21 days. Find out how how you may get your money sooner.”
He clicked the “Find out how how” link (yes, there really were two “hows” in the link) and it took him to a nonexistent page on PayPal.
But that wasn’t the end of it. Ryan also received his invoice notification from eBay for his March fees, totaling $8.33. Unfortunately, he cannot pay with his PayPal balance because the funds won’t be released until after the invoice’s due date. Back to the credit card!
All in all, Ryan will have put about $14 on his credit card while waiting for the release of his $31.
Just for fun, I sent Ryan the link to an enormous thread on PayPal’s Community Help Forum about the very topic he was dealing with, so he’d know he wasn’t alone. So if you’re going through the same thing, know you’re not alone, either.
Have an experience similar to this? Tell us about it below. Any advice for Ryan?
About the author
Rebecca Miller is Auctiva.com's Product Manager. As an eBay seller of more than 13 years, Rebecca is well tuned into the needs of online sellers, and serves as an internal advocate for merchants. She continuously monitors Auctiva's Community Forums, answering customer's questions and taking their feedback to developers for future enhancements. Rebecca continues to sell on eBay, and has experience as a PowerSeller and a Top-rated Seller.
I have had issues with this same problem, and I have been a customer of eBay and PayPal since 2004. It seems that if you don’t sell often on eBay, then PayPal makes it difficult to get your money.
Basically, you have a few options. First, you can plan on having this issue for a while with PayPal unless you sell a significant amount of products on eBay. Second, you can set up your own merchant account and use PayPal’s gateway service, thereby getting your money faster.
If you choose to continue using eBay with a small amount of sales and don’t want your own merchant account, you are left with the two ways you can get your money faster. They are, when your customer leaves positive feedback, or 72 hours after the item is confirmed to have been delivered. Some sellers indicate in their post that in this event they will not ship the item until positive feedback is left. I don’t recommend this because it will discourage many buyers and give them reason to not shop with you next time.
Here is the best solution I have come up with. It’s not perfect, but it will help. Once you receive notice that payment has been made, use eBay or PayPal shipping (either way the label is printed through PayPal). If there is not enough money in your PayPal account, there is an option to use another payment source. When you use this method, the tracking info is stored in your PayPal account. When the item is delivered, PayPal will wait 72 hours (or 3 days) and then release the funds. Please keep in mind that PayPal doesn’t always release them automatically as they say they will, but if you call them after these terms are met, the rep will release it. Also, if you choose to use a different method either online or offline to ship your items, you must enter the tracking number in your account to receive your funds with this option.
Feel free to e-mail me with any questions about this at panheadcooper@gmail.com. I have had many issues of this kind with PayPal and hopefully I can help someone avoid those problems.
Hi Ryan
Here’s my advice to you. Any business (including PayPal) requires a commitment from the seller in the form of dollars. You need to put in cold cash into your PayPal account of at least $1,000. That will solve your problems. Keep that $1,000 in, always. (After all you are a businessman). This should solve your problems with PayPal, now all you need are the orders.
If Ryan shipped the package through PP or submit proof of shipment to PayPal, PP will release the S&H portion of the sale price to him.
As to the holds. While I do think they are important, I also believe that PP makes it extremely difficult on new sellers. With that said, if Ryan shipped with tracking [which should always be done with eBay transactions], then he should put the tracking number into PP.
Now to get those funds released. Yes, if the buyer leaves feedback, then PP will release the funds within 24 hours or so. But if the buyer hasn’t left FB and you have DC on the package, you can get your money released 72 hours after you can prove the package was delivered. So it is important to put those tracking numbers into PP.
Just as an added note. Don’t send multiple e-mails to the buyer requesting that they leave FB and certainly don’t make a bunch of comments regarding what can be perceived as unfair practices by PP for holding your money. Most buyers are not aware of the rule and it will only cause your buyer to be concerned about your truthfulness as well and lack of professionalism. I’ve seen several other sellers make this mistake and their FB suffered for it.
Good Luck !!
My advice is don’t sell on eBay anymore. Most people start an eBay business with the intention of becoming their own boss and owning their own business. When you sell on eBay, Amazon or any of these third-party platforms you are not in control of your business or your customers. We were heavy volume sellers on Amazon for a few years, one day out of the blue Amazon decided that our “product failure rate” was 0.5% too high. When asked what that meant they said too many returns and exchanges. We sell dog clothes so returns and exchanges are expected. They held over $11,000 of our money for 5 months. At first they said 21 days, then 60 days, etc. This almost put us out of business. We are still trying to recover. Seems like eBay is headed down “the river,” too.
It is clearly stated that Postage/Shipping & Handling purchased on eBay will be deducted from the PayPal balance regardless of the HOLD. This is also true for seller fees/monthly invoice. I have just gone through this with a friend and the Shipping & Handling were deducted from the PayPal balance.
The difficult part no one mentions is the 10 item, $500 limit per month until the seller develops a reputation or is “trusted”? My friend was up to 16 Positive Feedbacks and still was being blocked from listing more items. Clicked on the “How to Remove These Restrictions” link and were confronted with several questions that had nothing to do with my friends identity and was rejected. I suggested to keep on trying and after the 4th try, finally got the “Congratulations your identity has been confirmed.” This took over 2 1/2 months. They should just say, New Sellers Need Not Apply.
I have moved away from the biggies like Amazon and eBay. I am not a big-time seller, and quick turnaround is crucial for my business. Holding funds for weeks at a time almost put me out of business. Now I sell on boocoo. Sales are not quite as high as on eBay and Amazon, but turnaround is quicker. I hope the volume increases as they gain a larger customer base.
I applied for a PayPal debit card. After receiving it, it doesn’t seem to matter what the status of my account is, as soon as I receive payment from a sale, the money is always available right away. It seems that they trust their debit card holders more than the normal user.
As others have indicated, the postage and continuing hold could and should have been averted with some knowledge of the system.
PayPal will release the amount of funds needed to pay for postage. The seller may have to request this.
PayPal will release the full amount to the seller within a reasonable time frame after delivery is proven via online delivery confirmation.
If Ryan wasn’t told about the need for delivery confirmation, or PayPal’s policy of releasing postage, or releasing the entire amount after delivery is proven, Ryan isn’t getting very good mentoring.