It looks like Paypal has been doing this for some time, but I just received this email today. I called Paypal and was told that this was happening to everyone, which I don't believe to be the case after searching the internet. Have any of you gone through this and found the problem to be temporary? 21 days is a long time and enough for me to seek alternative ways to take payment. I've been a verified Paypal account holder since 2000.
Paypal told me over the phone, that if I ship within Paypal with a tracking number, I can call and get the hold lifted within 3 days of delivery, but from what I have read this doesn't always happen. I do normally ship within Paypal anyway, I just don't like the idea of the extra hassle of the hold. My initial instinct is to quit using the account, but it is a really convenient way to buy & sell here. Anyone care to share their experience? I've included a portion of the email below.
From the email I received:
"We're writing to let you know about a change to your PayPal account.
Starting 10/11/2011, money from payments you receive will be placed in a pending balance for up to 21 days. By doing this, we're making sure that there's enough money in your account to cover potential refunds or claims.
Even though you can't access the money right away, please ship orders quickly and communicate with your customers. After 21 days, you can withdraw money from each payment as long as the customer hasn't filed a dispute, chargeback, claim, return, or reversal.
The money may be available sooner if:
1. We can confirm that the item was delivered.
2. Your buyer leaves positive feedback. (Applies only to eBay items)
This change isn't necessarily permanent. We'll review your account every 35 days and re-evaluate if we should continue to hold your payments. If we decide to stop holding payments, we'll email you to let you know."
I don't have any personal experience with the $ hold, but my understanding is that PP has biased its "protection" toward the buyer in a way that makes scammers salivate. I'm pretty much done with PP for transactions with individuals. I would make an exception for certain FMers, but not for anyone on ebay.
If you have been accepting and making a lot of "gift" payments that is most likely the cause. They did it to me 6 months ago, I completely stopped using PP altogether, and last month I got another email saying that they were removing the hold. But, I will no longer make or accept gift payments
I haven't experienced this myself, but if it happens, I will discontinue use of PP, or I will make sure that the buyer knows that I won't ship until I receive the funds IN MY BANK ACCOUNT. PP seems to be getting more and more restrictive, I'll stick to another method if necessary.
I like that, Jo: "Soon as money is in my secure account, i.e., the one that PayPal does not have any access to, only then will I ship the item you purchased. 21 day hold? You lose, buddy. Talk to PayPal"
Yes that is far to long for them to have my money in the etherworld. I have been with PP for quite some years. I have over a hundred transactions on Ebay and one hundred percent satisfaction from fellow ebayers. I was told that once I reached one hundred I would no longer be required to have a 21 day hold on my funds. Seems to me if you can put enough money on hold there is quite a bit to be gained by company that holds this money? Enlighten me. I use them rarely now..
anthonysemone wrote:
I like that, Jo: "Soon as money is in my secure account, i.e., the one that PayPal does not have any access to, only then will I ship the item you purchased. 21 day hold? You lose, buddy. Talk to PayPal"
Same here! That "buyer protection" scheme they've concocted is really just a seller endangerment policy and I'll have no part of it. As soon as an auction finishes on e-bay I send the buyer a message with instructions on how to pay. I then wait like you guys till it's out of their hands! I'm a businessman (or am when selling anything) and I know what's fair or not. They do not! I've never had anyone complain but I've read about PP's resolutions for others when there were and the PP people are idiots to put it lightly.
That's what seller references are for! Few seller references means (for the buyer) only spend as much as you're willing to lose or recognize the gamble you're taking. Up around 20 or 30 $50 to $200 sales references and you can bid with confidence. We (I) don't need or want a fricking babysitter to tell us whats fair/not and holding our money in limbo for days on end.
The latest crap they (e-bay in this case although it's the same company) pulled on me is placing a $500 per month limit on my auctions. I guess because I ALWAYS circumvent their Buyer Protection program. They lied to me as well telling me everyone was was being restricted. To lift the restriction I have to send them a Photo ID - which I did - but what BS when they already had it in the first place.
For me the gift option is the buyer's prerogative. If he wants to he can, if not then he pays the 6.7% - it's his call. It's not illegal or unethical AFAIK / IMO to transact like that either. So I'll continue it.
Bifurcator wrote:
But what other options are there besides PayPal?
Amazon or Google Payments.
I'll flip it around to the buyer <ahem> "protection" side. I bought a bike two weeks ago on eBay. I'm tall, had the exact model and size required so I was shopping for a very particular bike. To make the story short, the guy advertised the bike as an '09. In my excitement, I pushed the button, Buy it Now. Did some more research and the pictures showed it was an '07 (bike was redesigned in '09 - previous years weren't good). He argued with me assured me it was an '09. After much bickering, he finally refunded my money.
Enter PayPal. Because of the dollar amount on the transaction, they put a hold on the funds. I couldn't find ANYWHERE in the T&C where they have the right to do this. 10 days later, the funds were released, then I had to wait another 4 days for it to redeposit into my bank account.
Amazon or Google Payments have a transactional funds exchange function?! Cool I didn't know that! I will for sure look into those!
Thanks!
PS: (On your story): Yep, almost everyone is reasonable in the end. PayPal and E-Bay are there to mess us about as much as they can - or so it often seems.
I had this same 21 day hold policy placed on my account. It was recently taken off but it was on there for probably 2-3 months.
Its a bit ridiculous and makes me hate paypal. If the buyer (if you are selling on ebay) provides feedback, the money gets released but 21 days is a bit excessive.
They put your money (hold) in an interest bearing account, albeit small compared to what it used to be in their rate of return. With the huge amount of money they have on hold bearing interest, they make a LOT of $$$ in the course of a year! So, you in reality are giving them a no interest loan. I won't use Paypal.
Doesn't "Fractional Reserve" also apply? Aren't they going through a larger banking system which can issue loans in some form or another base on "holdings" calculated at some interval?
This hasn't happened to me yet. I have been with paypal for at least 5 years now. Just finished some large transactions last few weeks and have been able to transfer money in/out of my account right away.
BUT IF PAYPAL DOES THIS TO ME, I WILL BE DONE WITH PAYPAL.
Nothing happen to my account either. Just transfer out $5K to my bank account from paypal. I guess they randomly pick some account to do so or with account have complain from buyer.
? Enlighten me. I use them rarely now..