To think eBay are absolutely killing themselves doing this?

[TiffanyAchingsHatFullofSky]

Or am I missing a beat?

I've just sold an item on eBay for the first time in a while.

Sold a pillow for £35.

I sold it at 8pm last night, I posted it at 9am this morning. Yet they are "holding" my money for 14 days, and they are charging me £5.19 fees. And this is all normal and usual and how they do things now.

I think surely there is some kind of mistake?!

I join a chat and the person just stops talking. I call someone and they end up shouting down the phone to me, I can only assume I'm the millionth person to be calling with the same query.

I've now taken off my other 4 items, will be deleting eBay and have downloaded Vinted.

AIBU?! How can they justify those fees?! And that wait time?!

They did that to me for a pair of ds old trainers. Sold them for £20 and they held it for 14 days

@MrPenguinsPoppers

I closed my account last week, I joined in 2000, in the days when you could leave feedback for any reason and didn’t have to have a transaction with that person. I bought and traded with a lot of people in the USA and we used eBay as a feedback platform, despite our deals being done on forums. It was all very weird now I look back and obviously they tightened everything up.

Anyway. First they asked for bank details, then they wanted to know the what the two small sums of money they had deposited for security were. I did all that. Then came the request for my driving licence. I did that. Four times I did that yet they still kept emailing me.
Eventually I decided it was now an outdated, expensive platform that I really don’t want to bother with, so I closed my account.

Driving license?!

I'm never going to get this money am I?

@notsohippychick

Did you press “promote your listing” when you listed the item? If you press this they set the “promotion fee” to whatever fee others are choosing. It’s quite sneaky. It’s only optional but I’ve made this mistake a few times

EBay have also changed their payments and don’t pay your though PayPal anymore so it maybe this is why they are holding on to your money.

I don’t use it much now. Sellers seem to get a rough ride even if they are in the right with customer complaints.

No I was very careful not to do that.

Yep. Driving licence. I have thousands in feedback and 22 years of selling and now they want my driving licence or passport as proof of ID. If I’m scamming then I’m playing the bloody long game.

I get that they are trying to cut down on scammers but it’s ridiculous.

Did you take payment by PayPal or managed payments ?

@joydivisionovengloves71

Did you take payment by PayPal or managed payments ?

I usually use eBay but this time round it hasn't touched eBay as far as I can tell?

PayPal, sorry.

I used to sell on eBay all the time. I felt they treated me badly as a seller a few times, so left a few months back. Just getting into Vinted and all good so far.

I sold something for 8.00 and 3.60 postage and they are taking a couple of pound off and they have also withheld my money but I thought it was because I hadn't sold anything for years.

Ebay are bad but Etsy are as bad. They had £7k held for 90 days at the end of last year despite being on for years.

Plus Etsy fees are 30% if someone buys via an advert they set up on your behalf & won't let you turn off.

Ebay don't use PayPal.any more. Changed last year,you had to change over to a bank account by August I think so this.might the issue. Anything I have had to with banking these days requires way more checks and verification eg I set up share trading account and had loads of hassle ,had to supply drivers licences,passport ,recent bill.etc. took 10 days to sort out.
I sell on ebay regularly. Payments go into my bank day after or Mon. If at weekends. fees are cleared stated so not sure why you are shocked. I aways calculate fees at around 14% unless selling with via a 70% off fees offer, which I try and wait for.
Ive had loads of good sales recently,no probs at all.
Have signed up for Vinted , but as a potential buyer I just don't think it matches ebay listing style eg only 4 photos,most not clear,missing descriptions like material,sizes,measurements etc. Can't see similar item sold.prices etc. That has put me off selling there but might just give it a go.

We use Gumtree for household stuff now. Cash only. Buyer collects. No fees.

I’ve been on eBay forever, buying and selling. I started selling on Vinted a few weeks ago and it is much simpler smoother transaction so would recommend that for clothes/household goods.

Ebay are wankers

I wasn’t keen on the changes at first but actually prefer it now- I like that fees come off immediately rather than a month later getting a bill id forgotten about

@TiffanyAchingsHatFullofSky

Or am I missing a beat?

I've just sold an item on eBay for the first time in a while.

Sold a pillow for £35.

I sold it at 8pm last night, I posted it at 9am this morning. Yet they are "holding" my money for 14 days, and they are charging me £5.19 fees. And this is all normal and usual and how they do things now.

I think surely there is some kind of mistake?!

I join a chat and the person just stops talking. I call someone and they end up shouting down the phone to me, I can only assume I'm the millionth person to be calling with the same query.

I've now taken off my other 4 items, will be deleting eBay and have downloaded Vinted.

AIBU?! How can they justify those fees?! And that wait time?!

They could still charge you for the one you have taken off depending on how you listed them

@WorstXmasEver

Ebay are bad but Etsy are as bad. They had £7k held for 90 days at the end of last year despite being on for years.

Plus Etsy fees are 30% if someone buys via an advert they set up on your behalf & won't let you turn off.

I heard that about Etsy. It’s awful

Someone I’ve been friends with for 44 years bought from my Etsy last week. I didn’t know she was going to. Because she clicked on at Etsy advert on Facebook in OCTOBER I had to pay the extra advertising fees. She only clicked on that advert because she was amazed to see one of my products, and she screenshot it for me.

You don’t get a choice of opting in for Etsy adverts when you take over $10k in a year

I’m sorry to hear Ebay have done the same way

It may look a lot in fees but sellers don't get paid via PayPal anymore and eBay charge a 36p flat fee instead. They also charge their usual selling fee. It might have looked a lot but if you added the PayPal and eBay fees before the change it would have been the same amount, give or take a few pence.

@TiffanyAchingsHatFullofSky

I'm not new and I haven't just started selling though.

I've been buying and selling stuff (nearly 1000 items in total) since 2008.

But did you stop for a while?

Yeah DH closed his account after this happened. He sells hobby related stuff and had always had funds released straight away then suddenly they started holding for 14 days. They told him they had started doing it for everyone but I sell the kids old clothes on it all the time and always get the funds next day no issue.

We are both now moving towards Vinted for selling and buying.

I think it's so cheeky they charge the 15% on the postage cost.

I think it's so cheeky they charge the 15% on the postage cost.

Especially as it is really difficult to add that cost on to what you charge for postage.

I sold an iPhone last week. They’ve had £40 off me. I was astounded.

@InaccurateDream

I wait for the seller special offer days (not sure new sellers get the offers tho) to keep fees low as possible.

I thought about Vinted but looks like you don’t get the money until the buyer clicks to say an item has arrived. Wasn’t quite sure how it worked!

If they haven't clicked on it after a few days then you automatically get your money. I've sold quite a bit on there.

I had one issue where the buyer said the item was poor quality and had worn areas (when it was brand new). They refused to pay and wanted me to pay them to send it back. Vinted took my side from my photos and I got my money.

The fees were always around 15%.

And to be honest, the costomer service people are the most polite I've ever spoken to.

Anything I have had to with banking these days requires way more checks and verification eg I set up share trading account and had loads of hassle ,had to supply drivers licences, passport ,recent bill.etc. took 10 days to sort out

Banking and share trading platforms are regulated by the FCA if in the UK and must abide by strict rules regarding the use and safeguarding of customer personal and financial data. Completely different to ebay and Etsy - what controls do they have in place? Who are they accountable to exactly?

I'm surprised there isn't more outrage about this. Bank details and driving license? It's sheer madness.

In other countries, dominant platforms mandate that sellers even provide facial biometrics, potentially harvesting huge amounts of data in the process - God knows to what end. Many smallish traders who rely on these online markets for a living have no choice but to comply as they have literally nowhere else to sell and risk going out of business.

It's good that once in a while a new player pops up (like Vinted. etc) but often they resort to the same tactics once they have achieved enough critical mass and can flex their muscles or they are acquired by the bigger companies - hence we're back to square one.

It's an utter disgrace. Where do human rights and data protection fall into all of this? Have people just thrown caution and judgement out the window?