Seller says that Paypal is holding my payment for 21 days...

[izarate]

I mean what about a note on the listing stating that international buyers will have to wait 21 days due to that? Besides, does he make US residents wait that long too? He has to actually ship the product to get the tracking number, doesn't he? That would violate his "ship after payment clears" policy, isn't it?
.

OMG!!! He actually asks US buyers to do the same. From his feedback:

Was told to leave feedback before item would be shipped - US user
Shipping still pending, but great communication with the seller - US user
Fast Communication. Looking forward to item arrival. Good luck with paypal man - Australian user
Seller contacted me said he wouldnt ship till he recieved positive feedback - US user

It seems that he doesn't have every item on hand since in some replies he says that he's going to ship as soon as new stock arrives.

mmm... what to do? I really really want the item... I think I'll wait the 21 days but I'll make sure that the seller has the item. If he doesn't I'll ask for a refund. Priority Mail takes about 1 week to get to me so if I file a complain by the 30th day I should be safe, right?

[mobiusclimber]

Thank you. Some of the misinformation spread around here is ridiculous. If you don't know what you're talking about, don't post.

Yeah, it looks like he's not violating any ebay policies or anything. I guess you're just going to have to wait and hope for the best.

As others have said, he's also not allowed to request positive feedback before shipping, that's feedback extortion.

Edit: Here's a link to the Selling Practices Policy:

http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/...practices.html

Um, yeah. *cough*

[rik1138]

IT. DOESN'T. WORK.

The customs form number is NOT A VALID TRACKING NUMBER ACCORDING TO PAYPAL.

According to PayPal, no, it's not. But, the post office _can_ track packages by the Customs form number, but only post office-post office. They would be able to confirm the buyers _post office_ received the package (or not), but customs tracking doesn't go beyond that (which is why PayPal won't accept it).

So if a package is legitimately lost, the customs form can help locate it. If the buyer is just trying to rip you off, then it's useless...

Rik

[rik1138]

mmm... what to do? I really really want the item... I think I'll wait the 21 days but I'll make sure that the seller has the item. If he doesn't I'll ask for a refund. Priority Mail takes about 1 week to get to me so if I file a complain by the 30th day I should be safe, right?

I think PayPal does this on accounts that they 'aren't sure about' or that are selling a lot of things in high-crime categories (of which I believe games is one of the highest). He's not _supposed_ to hold the item until it clears...

I'd wait the 21 days and ask him to provide some proof of shipping immediately.

But, NO MATTER WHAT, file a PayPal claim before it's too late (45 days I think, or is it 30 now?) I don't care if he sent you a video of him taking it to the post office and handing it over, if you don't have it by the claim cutoff, file the claim. When the package arrives, you can cancel it, no harm done. If you wait, and the package never arrives, you are screwed...

[mobiusclimber]

Here's a delicious helping of copy-pasta:

Question :
How can I avoid having my payments held for eBay items?

Answer :
There are some things you can do to avoid a payment hold:

* Improve your Detailed Seller Rating (DSR) feedback rating
* Follow the PayPal best practices to reduce buyer disputes, claims and chargebacks
* Resolve all disputes, claims, and chargebacks quickly

If you meet the following, you'll receive payments instantly in most cases:

* You have been an eBay member for 6 months or more, AND
* Your eBay feedback score is 100 or greater
* Your buyer dissatisfaction rate is less than 5%.

Or

* Your Detailed Seller Rating is 4.5 or more.
* Your total Detailed Seller Ratings received is more than 20 in the last 12 months.
* Your buyer dissatisfaction rate is less than 5%.

These requirements are per individual eBay account. If you don't meet this criteria yet, we recommend that you implement best practices to reduce buyer disputes, claims and chargebacks.

I would say it's b/c he sucks as a seller.

[eday_2010]

I've had Paypal hold payments on stuff I sold last year. About three of them. One or two were eChecks, at least one post-dated. I didn't ship the items until they cleared. Why would I send the item and risk the payment not clearing? Then I am screwed.

So it is almost certain that Paypal is holding the payment. And as a buyer, I wouldn't exect the seller to ship before the payment is cleared. But as far as asking for positive feedback before shipping, that is B.S. I would report that right away.

[izarate]

I would say it's b/c he sucks as a seller.

I've already posted his stats and they seem to be fine. I don't even think he gets his funds on hold. In fact I'm thinking that he doesn't have a live stock but orders the items as needed.

Lots of his feedback mention that shipping took two weeks so maybe the 21 day thing works as a buffer for him.



EDIT: I'm planning to send the following message to him. What do you think? I don't want to sound threatening but I want him to know that I know that he isn't allowed to do that.

Hi, I've inquired about the issue you mention but according to eBay (http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/....html#handling) there is no reason to hold the shipment and asking for positive feedback before the shipment takes place is prohibited (http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/...extortion.html).

You say that your payment policy states that you "do not ship [...] until payment has been confirmed" but the auction doesn't mention that except in the "Domestic handling time" part: "Will usually ship within 1 business day of receiving cleared payment." But the payment has been cleared, it's just on hold which is different.

Look, I really want the items, I don't want this deal to go sour. Why don't you just ship the items? Priority Mail takes about 1 week to Mexico, 2 weeks tops. That is less than the 21 days that you're asking me to wait and you'll have your feedback sooner. See my feedback, I'm not out to rip off anyone. Please answer back. Take care.

[izarate]

So it is almost certain that Paypal is holding the payment. And as a buyer, I wouldn't exect the seller to ship before the payment is cleared. But as far as asking for positive feedback before shipping, that is B.S. I would report that right away.

I paid with a credit card linked to my paypal account. The card has been on file since I signed up on Paypal. Would Paypal still hold the payment?

[eday_2010]

No clue. It could be just a random thing. It is Paypal, afterall. Some of the things they do do not make much sense.

[Cornelius]

I've already posted his stats and they seem to be fine. I don't even think he gets his funds on hold. In fact I'm thinking that he doesn't have a live stock but orders the items as needed.

Lots of his feedback mention that shipping took two weeks so maybe the 21 day thing works as a buffer for him.



EDIT: I'm planning to send the following message to him. What do you think? I don't want to sound threatening but I want him to know that I know that he isn't allowed to do that.

Your email reads pretty well to me except for the "Why don't you just ship?" part. That sends a bad vibe to me for some reason. Also, referencing feedback is almost completely pointless now as a buyer.

[izarate]

Your email reads pretty well to me except for the "Why don't you just ship?" part. That sends a bad vibe to me for some reason. Also, referencing feedback is almost completely pointless now as a buyer.

Thank you for your input. I removed that line and streamlined the rest.

Anyway, it's been 4 days and the seller hasn't answered back. I guess I'll file a claim in about a week or so.

[hamburglar]

If you don't want to wait just tell him you want to cancel the transaction, is this a one of a kind item? can you get it from someone else?

Also on Priority mail, small flat rate envelope and box will not track, they only show they were accepted by the post and that's it. It says so on the USPS site.

The postal workers in my local post office still keep telling people you can track everything Priority mail though...

[izarate]

It's Prima's Twilight Princess Collector's Edition Guide (revised edition). He's the only seller that has them listed as new and ships worldwide.

In the past week he received 3 negatives from people in the US that bought the same guide so I guess that I was right, he doesn't have a live stock and orders the guides as needed. I didn't think about it until later but www.primagames.com no longer has the guide listed. It seems that he orders the guides from there. The 21 day "payment on hold" period is likely a buffer for him to get the guides. I suppose that he couldn't get more of those Strangely enough, he got a positive for the same item in that period (maybe his last one ).



The thing that gets to my nerves is that he doesn't reply back. It seems that he just chooses to ignore the deals that he knows he won't be able to hold up or something.

Also on Priority mail, small flat rate envelope and box will not track, they only show they were accepted by the post and that's it. It says so on the USPS site.

Yeah, I use that to verify if a seller has shipped the item. Customs numbers get recycled so I always tell my sellers to ask for the serial to be scanned or else the old data will remain in the USPS site.

[izarate]

When will the madness stop!!!!

After almost a month of radio silence the seller actually shipped the items (eBay informed me that tracking information was available) but not only that, he left me a positive ("Great communication. A pleasure to do business with." ). I sent him another eBay message and no answer...maybe he changed email addresses and haven't updated his eBay profile???

Well, at least the items are on my way. I expect them to arrive next week.

[Battlesmurf]

When will the madness stop!!!!

After almost a month of radio silence the seller actually shipped the items (eBay informed me that tracking information was available) but not only that, he left me a positive ("Great communication. A pleasure to do business with." ). I sent him another eBay message and no answer...maybe he changed email addresses and haven't updated his eBay profile???

Well, at least the items are on my way. I expect them to arrive next week.

Here's the thing. If a seller is selling a video game, hobby car, or some kind of "high risk" item- Paypal will hold the payment FROM THE SELLER- until the buyer recieves the item or until the buyer leaves positive feedback. The idea is that Paypal gets less risk this way.

It usually has nothing to do with 'being a shitty seller". They've been known to pick things out at random sometimes, too. "A spike in recent sales activity" is also grounds for them holding payment.

Unless I misunderstood everything totally- the seller passed the buck on to you. He shouldn't have done that (assuming I am understanding everything correctly.

[Daria]

When will the madness stop!!!!

After almost a month of radio silence the seller actually shipped the items (eBay informed me that tracking information was available) but not only that, he left me a positive ("Great communication. A pleasure to do business with." ). I sent him another eBay message and no answer...maybe he changed email addresses and haven't updated his eBay profile???

Well, at least the items are on my way. I expect them to arrive next week.

You still paid him after all of this?

[darkslime]

You still paid him after all of this?

He paid as soon as the invoice was sent according to a previous post.

eBay held my funds for the first 30 or so items I sold but after that they didn't. Holding funds sounds like a BS excuse.

But I would still ruin his DSRs when it does get there.

[izarate]

You still paid him after all of this?

The thing is that no other seller had the same Zelda guide at a similar price. Besides he had several other items that I wanted. If I had chose to cancel the transaction and get them from other sellers I would have had to pay 3 or 4 shipping charges so I decided to wait.

Anyway I thought that, since Paypal provides 45 days for me to file a claim, if he shipped by the 21th day I would still have two weeks for that. If by the 40th day it hasn't yet arrived I'll file the claim.

[izarate]

I'm happy to report that I've received the items in excellent condition and as stated (new). The seller actually shipped them by EMI instead of Priority

Also the packaging was great. The items came in a Large Priority Mail Flat Rate box packed to the brim with packaging peanuts but not only that, each guide and DVD was packaged individually in bubble wrap

I'm really torn right now. He made me wait almost a month to get my items but the shipping was top notch so leaving a neg feels wrong

[megasdkirby]

Just don't rate him at all.

You got your items, which was the most important thing.