Payment blocked - complete lack of information - Brick wall
Summary: The discussion concerns an issue with a blocked payment and the complete lack of information from the services in charge. dottorsocrates expresses frustration with the "wall of rubber" they seem to run into when trying to find details, while other participants such as marioelegio, cizeta1964, and vonbalden contribute to the conversation by looking for solutions to the problem.
Good morning, I’ve been on eBay for about 20 years.
I’m not particularly active, I have 68 feedbacks and they’re all positive.
I have a serious problem that I can’t seem to get to the bottom of.
I sold 2 watches for a total of about 7000 euros. The person who bought them won both auctions. I made one single shipment with the buyer’s consent. The buyer is Dutch. The shipment was made on time. The satisfied buyer left 2 positive feedbacks, confirming the authenticity of the items.
At this point the ordeal begins.
I’m waiting for the crediting of the 6772.25 (7000 - fees) but the money is first blocked because they tell me that since I hadn’t had any buying and selling activity for more than 90 days, as a precaution they had to block the money for a few days. Then after this crediting doesn’t arrive I call support and they tell me I have to reconfirm the bank account. I say, excuse me, but the current account is the same one where you credited the money to me in March, I don’t understand. But since I didn’t want to get into any further arguments, I do the procedure on December 1 at 1526 and they reply that reconfirmation takes up to 48 hours. OK, even more annoyed, but fine. Yesterday at 16:00, so after the usual 48 hours, the funds still show as blocked and I get the following message "Your incoming payments are blocked because your eBay account is subject to restrictions. Go to the Messages section of My eBay for information about your account status."
I don’t understand, I check the message dashboard and also the associated email account but I can’t find any message. I call customer support several times and they bounce me from one Albanian call-center operator to another without even them understanding the reason. The only thing they can tell me is to stay calm and that the solution can be found. Result: yesterday afternoon 4 calls and money still blocked, above all without any explanation. At this point I write a detailed email and they reply with the following supercazzola "
We are writing to you regarding your recent contact with our Customer Service.
The interaction was documented as a complaint. Your complaint reference number is 2-100588622174.
An eBay specialist carefully reviewed the issue and determined that you received the correct information based on our rules and that the appropriate decision was made.
Since no further action is currently required from eBay, we would like to inform you that your complaint is now closed.
We hope that the outcome is satisfactory for you, but if you still have questions and wish to contact us, please send us an email at ebay-eu-management@ebay.com. Please include your reference number in the email and we will be happy to help you.
Thank you for your cooperation."
As you can see, they basically replied without saying anything.
This morning I called again at 9 and first a lady answered, who after keeping me on the phone for 10 minutes (at this point I started recording the calls) passed me to another department and the nice lady told me, "I don’t know why they blocked your account, I don’t have access to that information but I do know that your account will be deleted." I said to her, "I don’t understand why, since I haven’t done anything at all," but they should let me speak to someone. She replied that the reason had to be given by the first lady and that eBay would reply to me in writing within 24/48 hours! So I called support again and, as calmly as possible, I explained everything; fortunately the Albanian guy understands Italian well, and he started fiddling around on his console looking for the problem and how to get out of it. But after 15 minutes on the phone and checking, he too told me, "look, I have to transfer you to another department, I’ve made all the necessary reports but I don’t understand the problem because it tells me the funds are available" I told him it also tells me the funds are available, but there’s the message above saying they’re blocked because the account is subject to restrictions." In short, another transfer to another department, which told me they had reported the case to a supervisor and that they would let me know later today! Can anyone shed some light on what I should do? Of course I recorded the last 2 phone calls. Honestly, I haven’t done anything at all. Zero. The only odd thing that happened in one of these last 2 auctions is that one watch shot up very high and basically within 12 hours it went to about 7500€ then the first bidder withdrew the bid and the second wrote to me asking why I had allowed the bid withdrawal and that therefore his bid was uncovered. I said, look, I didn’t allow anything, the first bidder did everything with the reason wrong amount. Then the second bidder did the same. Also him wrong amount and bid withdrawn. And the third bidder did the same. All wrong amount. One of the two even did wrong amount twice. Result: the watch that was at 7500 after 48 hours had gone back down to 1500€. Honestly, not being very experienced, I didn’t pay much attention and left it alone because I knew full well that the price would rise again given how rare it is. Which is what happened and the auction closed at around 5200€, by the way awarded to one of the 3 who had withdrawn the bid. I didn’t make a fuss, I didn’t report it and I waited for payment, which duly came through.
Could you help me explain what I should do at this point?
Thank you
Mario
marioelegio
·10 months agoMaybe the problem is exactly that strange thing that happened; someone may have suspected that some bids were rigged to drive up the auction price, and may have reported you to eBay.
In general, if there are no restrictions, the payout date for new or not very active sellers can be found here ... https://www.ebay.it/help/selling/getting-paid/getting-paid-items-youve-sold/payments-hold?id=4816&st=3&pos=1&query=Pagamenti%20in%20sospeso&intent=fondi%20sospesi&lucenceai=lucenceai&docId=HELP1450
hi
mario
dottorsocrates
OP10 months agoThanks marioelegio for your kind reply.
But this story has been going on since November 26, and above all I’m not getting any explanation. If they would just tell me, look, the reason is “this.” Instead, there’s a total lack of explanations or reasons. They even had the nerve to tell me we wrote to you “in your messages.” There’s nothing at all in the messages. That’s what’s driving me crazy. As for the listings I wrote, I checked and they’re all “foreigners,” people I have the faintest idea who they are. What I sell, though, is stuff for people who know the product pretty well; it’s usually not the first kid who goes on eBay.
cizeta1964
·10 months agoAnyway, for new and/or infrequent sellers, the funds are held for about 15 days - eBay policy - and, since these are such high amounts, it's possible that eBay will extend the hold period.
dottorsocrates
OP10 months agobut for what reason? Then too infrequent.
If being infrequent means 0 or 1 transaction, that’s fine.
But in 18 months I’ve probably made at least 20 transactions. And all for amounts that weren’t small either, up to €3500 per single transaction. This one is higher because it’s the total of 2 sales. One for about €5000 and one for €1900.
But I don’t think it’s fair or right to have a block without a reason, without information, or like eBay did by telling me first on Saturday 29 Nov “the funds are unlocked, on Monday they’ll be in your account”. Monday 1 Dec nothing shows up, and they make me confirm the account and the process takes 48 hours, and they write to me “after 48 hours the funds will be unlocked”. Yesterday the usual 48 hours pass and I get the “vague” message where I’m supposed to go into my messages to figure it out. But there’s nothing in my messages.
cizeta1964
·10 months agoWe may apply a transaction-level hold based on your seller status, any changes related to your account status, or other factors we take into account to help ensure platform safety across all categories, regardless of whether the transaction is covered by the eBay Money Back Guarantee:
Payment dispute holds
Payment dispute holds are applied to the corresponding funds when a buyer reports a problem, regardless of whether the transaction is covered by the eBay Money Back Guarantee.
For example, if a buyer reports that an item never arrived or is significantly different from the listing description, we hold the funds until the dispute is resolved and closed.
The held funds can be used to refund the buyer for the same transaction.
vonbalden
·10 months agoWhen expensive luxury items, or rather extremely expensive ones, are offered on the platform, it is necessary not to get carried away by the enthusiasm linked to a buying interest, but to proceed with extreme caution. There are clear clarifications in eBay's rules. But beyond that, it is the seller who must act cautiously. Are you a 'Dutchman' who made me an offer? Sure you did? Answer these questions in Dutch then. I have to ship to Holland, right? No? As a buyer, you don’t satisfy me much. It may be that I no longer want to sell my watch. It is just a plausible scenario that the savvy seller considers. The process described is typical of a situation where factors of doubt and uncertainty are at play. Exactly like when closing a bank account. The user is pestering, my money! He runs, asks, shows bitterness and insecurity and gets nothing. Because the institution doesn't care. Then come the very long technical delays as usual and the user is bounced around left and right seeking answers that do not loosen the purse strings. You are not very active and 7500 euros is no small change. One should not risk selling items of this caliber online. Especially if they are not vintage. Don't call anymore. Wait. And never sell anything again that exceeds 500 euros. Greetings from von.
dottorsocrates
OP10 months agoVonbalden what I sell is only vintage. I have sold and bought for amounts over €3500 without any problem. I've been using eBay since 2004 just for vintage watches and accessories, so I don't need a lecture. On eBay there are goods that are much more expensive than mine, even from non-professional sellers.
"Are you a 'Dutchman' who made me an offer? Sure you did? Answer these questions in Dutch then. I have to ship to Holland, right? No? As a buyer, you don't satisfy me much. It could be that I no longer want to sell my watch. It's just a plausible scenario that the savvy seller considers. The process described is typical of a situation where factors of doubt and uncertainty come into play"
Honestly, I didn't understand anything you wrote.
To close a bank account it takes about 2 minutes. You transfer the money to another account. Leave 1 euro in it, then send a certified email to the institution with your account number and in about 15 days the account is closed.
dottorsocrates
OP10 months agoGetting seriously angry while recording the calls (which I said) strangely enough gets things sorted out.
For the record, I didn't provide any information. But oh well
Dear dottorsocrates,
We are pleased to inform you that, after reviewing the information you provided, we have removed the restriction on your account. You can now buy and sell items on eBay.
We are aware of the inconvenience this procedure may cause, but it is essential to ensure that eBay continues to be a safe environment for you and all our users.
We thank you for your patience and look forward to continuing to work with you on eBay.
Thank you,