dodgy ebayer? do paypal withhold funds?!?!

[Bowen4Horses]

so... i managed to buy a bargain on ebay after much searching.. i got a Wintec 2000 for 85quid... whooppeeee!

paid by paypal this morning, very excited!

just got an email that said

"Hi, money has gone to paypal but they wont release the funds to me until you leave positive feedback. Could you do that before I post saddle to you."

is this taking the mickey? has anyone ever heard of paypal holding the money until positive feedback is given? i replied and said i wasn't happy with that - as she could just not send it, and i'll have no way of complaining!

but now i'm pooping my pants that she'll get in a moody and not send the saddle... which, let's face it, is a bargain...

hmmm....

 

[Rana]

Sounds strange to me. After all, you can't leave positive feedback until you receive the goods?!

 

[Shipley]

Paypal hold saddle transaction funds for 3 weeks I have heard as they are high risk, however i have not sold one so may be wrong. I would not leave feedback until the saddle is recieved tbh

 

[SpottedCat]

No, it is completely true - I had the same and got into a strop with paypal - I was the seller.

In the end I had to send the saddle and hope it worked out ok, which annoyed me so much I have vowed never to use paypal/ebay for saddle selling again! The risk is the sellers, not the buyers IMO, and ebay/paypal are weighted so heavily in favour of the buyer these days it makes it not really worth it.

Tell her to send you the saddle - don't leave feedback first or you'll have no comeback. She'll find this whoever she sell to.

 

[china]

No i have never heard of that i think shes taking the pee, you musnt give feedback untill you recieve it! if she doesnt send the saddle you may open a dispute with paypal to get you money back! if in doubt, contact pay pal and see what they say!
ETS- just read other posts, i have sold two saddles on there and havnt had any problems. i got money and sent saddle they gave me feedback

 

[louisevictoria]

can you contact paypal and check with them?

Sounds like there is something wrong with the item that you are going to comment on as soon as you receive it. However I may be wrong.

 

[SilverSkye]

Yes i have heard of paypal doing this it only happens when they keep getting complaints about products not being sent though and keep having to refund money, i wouldnt leave the feedback till you get the saddle yes its a bargain but if you have left positive feedback and never receive the saddle you might not be able to claim.

 

[Bowen4Horses]

thank you for all your responses... i'm slightly relieved to see other people have heard of this, so she may not be totally dodgy...

also, slightly embarrassed by the grumpy email i just sent which included the line "well, i've sold loads of things on ebay and i've never heard of this"...

but, if i leave positive feedback, she could just not send the saddle. if she posts it today first class, i'll get it tomorrow. i think she's desperate for the money - so it'll benefit her to post it quick... xxxxxx

 

[MontyandZoom]

[ QUOTE ]
Yes i have heard of paypal doing this it only happens when they keep getting complaints about products not being sent though and keep having to refund money, i wouldnt leave the feedback till you get the saddle yes its a bargain but if you have left positive feedback and never receive the saddle you might not be able to claim.

[/ QUOTE ]

That makes alot of sense if they are having trouble with a particular seller. I would definately wait until the saddle arrives. There is no threat to her since the money is already with paypal so if she is genuine, she shouldn't have a problem with it.

 

[Bowen4Horses]

[ QUOTE ]


That makes alot of sense if they are having trouble with a particular seller. I would definately wait until the saddle arrives. There is no threat to her since the money is already with paypal so if she is genuine, she shouldn't have a problem with it.

[/ QUOTE ]

that's a good point, it's not as if i'm not going to pay, or demand my money back... makes me wonder if she doesn't dispatch the 'bargain' items... i sometimes sell things and don't get as much as i'd want for them... and it breaks my heart posting them... it must be tempting to pretend they got lost in the post.,.

 

[china]

[ QUOTE ]
but if you have left positive feedback and never receive the saddle you might not be able to claim.

[/ QUOTE ]

very good point, then you would loose your money, ebay is fab most times but unfortunatly you never know.

 

[Hippona]

yes- it happened to me -I sold a saddle and e-bay hung onto the payment for 3 weeks- I did get an -email from e-bay saying NOT to send the saddle until the money had cleared...which it did, and then I sent the saddle.

Not sure why, I cant remeber the reason given but Iwas a abit naffed off at having to wait for the money.

 

[Smurphy]

I have had this problem as a Sellar- What people dont realise is that the funds are in your paypal but you cant withdraw it untill + feed back is left or 21 days has lapsed.

Unless she is sending something that is not as decribed the the sellar shouldnt have a problem with it.

I didnt mind sending my item that I had sold as I was confident I had listed the condition honestly and wasnt expecting bad feed back

 

[nijinsky]

There's nothing strange about that, it happened to me three times as the seller.

Basically if you have sold less than 50 or 100 items they withhold payment to you until you get positive feedback left. The money has been paid by your buyer, it is in your account but you won't get it until your buyer leaves you positive feedback.

It's so frustrating, I've been an ebayer for 6 years, have 100% positive feedback but I've sold less than the 50 or 100 items. I think this is quite a new thing, because I've sold "high amount" goods in the past & never had this happen.

Each time it happened to me I let the buyer know exactly what was happening, posted the items out quickly and luckily my buyers were quick to put the positive feedback up, then I phoned paypal and asked them to release the funds immediately. It is not paypal doing it, it is ebay.

 

[Spyda]

Presumably, as the seller who chose to sell the saddle through eBay and receive the payment via PayPal - it's her business to know about the potential 21 day delay?

You CANT leave positive feedback for something you haven't yet received FGS.

Call PayPal!!! You have to log into your PayPal account and locate the 'Contact Us' icon and phone them. Explain what you've been asked to do and ask them what you should do to protect yourself. Explain why the seller is asking you to do this, but explain that her request puts you in a vulnerable position should the saddle (a) not arrive or (b) arrive misdescribed or damaged in transit. PayPal needs to be made aware of the problems some of their policies cause. Make THEM sort out your problem!

Whatever you do, DONT leave feedback for an item that's not yet been sent, or delivered to you in perfect condition. Saddle trees can become broken in the post so there is no way you can state now the condition its going to arrive in after passing through either a couriers hands or that of Royal Mail. Trust me!

 

[Spyda]

[ QUOTE ]
It is not paypal doing it, it is ebay.

[/ QUOTE ]

Nah, sorry. Wrong. They're the same people in reality.

EBay owns, runs and dictates all PayPal policy.

 

[nijinsky]

Just re-read your post - do not leave the positive feedback before you get the saddle, the seller must post the saddle to you for you to leave the feedback. She can't ask you to leave feedback before posting. She will have been told to post the item, not withhold it.

 

[nijinsky]

Well - just saying what I was told, paypal said it is Ebay policy.

 

[Hippona]

When it happened to me- I contacted the buyer and told them that their funds were being held by paypal until clearance and that I was not going to post the item until the money had cleared, and as soon as it did I would post it off.

From the sellers point of view its a pain in the ass also- I sold the saddle and wanted my money, and wanted the goddam thing out of the way...but at the same time I wasnt prepared to post it off before the funds cleared because if it hadn't have done- then I would have been left without a saddle.

It is a pain...but if you are the buyer and your funds are awaiting clearance you will just have to wait....dont leave positive feedback, as others have said.......the seller is most likely as narked as you are, but for different reasons.

Interestingly, I have bought and sold saddles since then without a problem at all....personally I thought it was the buyer that may have been dodgy

 

[scotsmare]

I think the difference here is paypal holding funds and telling you not to release goods if someone has paid by echeque or as in this case, paypal holding funds until they are sure that the buyer has received goods in a satisfactory condition - as soon as you receive saddle and are happy with it THEN you leave feedback and the money will be released to her within a few hours.

It's happened to me a lot lately as I hadn't sold much previously. It's a bit frustrating but encourages you to get the item out asap.

 

[Bowen4Horses]

[ QUOTE ]


Interestingly, I have bought and sold saddles since then without a problem at all....personally I thought it was the buyer that may have been dodgy

[/ QUOTE ]

oh gawd, i hope it's not me! i can't see why it would be... ebay usually have the buyer's interest at heart (from what i can tell). the money has gone from my account - i didn't pay by echeque or whatever it's called - so i can't see what they are waiting for to clear... perhaps your buyer paid by echeque thingy?

also, i hope it's not me, as i sent her a grumpy email, basically calling her a liar... oops.

i can't imagine ebay would want me to leave feedback before receiving the saddle... so i won't. if i was the problem, they might tell her to make sure the money was cleared in her account or something - they wouldn't tell her to wait until i'd left positive feedback, because that would encourage bad ebaying... oh what a pain, i wanted it asap!

xxx

 

[Janette]

I have sold a saddle, and the funds were transferred within minutes of the sale. Admittedly, this was 18 months ago.

 

[Spyda]

[ QUOTE ]
Well - just saying what I was told, paypal said it is Ebay policy.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yep, and EBay will say it's PayPal policy

They're impossible to work with. Drives me nuts

 

[Hippona]

No -they paid via paypal.....not e-cheque or anything...I never really understood why, because its the only time its ever happened....

.....I wonder if its anything to do with saddles being potentially having been nicked and then sold on or something?

I really dont know...BUT...I will say, this particular person who bought the saddle is the ONLY person to ever leave me negative feedback...she said saddle was not as described when I knew damn well it was...she asked for money back when it had been very cheap anyway and also asked for the saddle to be posted to a different address to her registered one...this may not have dodgy either, its just the whole 'picture' of this transaction was strange compared to my other experiences of buying and selling...which is why it made me wonder if it was anything to do with the buyer being dodgy.

I'm sure you're not, BTW

 

[wilder]

hi it is a new policy with paypal/e-bay introduced earlier this year on high priced sale items
if you have not alot of transactions or have a new paypal account paypal will hold the money until the seller leaves positive feedback or the 21 days has lapsed

my advise would not to leave the positive until the item is recieved though a high priced item is usually sent via trackable methods so the seller would be covered anyway

the seller isn,t dodgy its just a new thing which has been introduced but i can understand the sellers anxiety as she could send the item and maybe lose the money

but if both seller and customer are honest there usually isn,t a problem

 

[welshied]

I sold a saddle and had no problems like that i would ask ebay to be honest, just incase! Don't see how you can write positive feedback about something that you haven't seen!

 

[Donkeymad]

My local saddler has an ebay shop and this has never happened when selling, be it a saddle or anything else. my husband also runs an ebay shop, he is quite a big seller, and he has never come across this either.

You really should not leave feedback until you have received the goods, it would be madness too.

 

[Dubsie]

Don't leave feedback till you have the saddle and it is as described.

 

[suzysparkle]

I've sold 2 saddles on ebay and both times I got the money immediately via paypal. My feedback is over 100 though. I definately would not leave feedback until receiving the saddle.