Other threads were old.

I just sold an item on eBay and looked to see if I received payment on paypal and its says amount pending-please ship soon. This looks like it has scam written all over it. Says something to the effect of I will get the money within 21 days with proof of item being shipped. I told the buyer I wasn't going to ship the item until the money was in my account.

I've dealt with eBay and paypal many times but never seen this before. Anyone got any advice?

1/28/2009 1:29:54 AM

I'd email the buyer, tell them there seems to be a problem with their payment and reiterate what you told them about getting paid.

1/28/2009 1:50:50 AM

sounds like he sent an eCheck, those take some time to clear.

don't ship it until the payment clears.

1/28/2009 3:53:30 AM

^

I've done that before and had a seller hold my item for a week til it cleared. But email to confirm, if it turns out it is a scam it looks better for you in paypal/ebay's eyes.

1/28/2009 6:31:27 AM

It's not a scam, it's listed right on the Paypal page. I think it's something new but it's a little retarded. They want you to ship the item now, and when the buyer leaves feedback or Paypal receives proof that the item was shipped and received, they'll release the funds.

It sucks but I guess I understand. I could "sell" 10 PS3's in one day and not ship any, netting over $2500 bucks.

1/28/2009 8:04:00 AM

wow, this is worse than what paypal used to do to rip people off.

used to they would let the money get to your account, then put a "hold" on it saying that they would release it after you shipped the item and the buyer received it. so, you go ahead and ship the item and think everything is fine.

except they never release the funds and since you don't have your item there's not shit you can do. the buyer has their item so they think paypal is the best thing in the world so they continue to use it even though sellers continually get screwed.

looks like they've just taken out a few steps and made this automatic. fucking unbelievable.

http://www.paypalsucks.com

1/28/2009 8:07:39 AM

^^ is correct

This happened to me last week. There are 3 ways to get your money:

1) Get positive feedback from the buyer
2) submit a tracking number to paypal, which even then I think it takes a few days after the delivery
3) wait 21 days

Even after receiving positive feedback I had to call paypal and let them know, because it went 2 days without them releasing the money. They just looked it up saw I had received the feedback and released it. This new system is definitely the dumbest idea ever. I suppose it may help if you end up buying something that isn't like the description at all, but I don't know it seems more like a hassle to the seller than anything else.

1/28/2009 10:25:09 AM

It's about as bad as sellers not being able to give negative feedback on eBay. It's all about the buyers now and is royally going to fuck sellers, IMO.

1/28/2009 11:02:05 AM

Thanks for all the replies.

I shipped the item today with a tracking number but this still seems like bullshit to me.

1/28/2009 11:39:57 AM

Once your account is established enough (i am not sure what the limits are) they will stop doing this. I have had the same account open since like 2003 and accepted many payments, it says they will hold the money when I sell stuff but they never do.

Just make sure you get tracking on everything you sell. Many buyers have wised up to how this works and will file a dispute even if they got the item knowing they will get their money back. Some bastard tried to do this to me over a $200 cell phone and as soon as I replied pointing out he was a fraud and the date/time the item was delivered he canceled the dispute.

His response was he buys lots of phones and just wanted to be "safe than sorry"......which did not make sense when he received the phone over a week prior.

1/28/2009 12:45:18 PM

I have had the same Paypal account and same Ebay account since 2000. The rule that PayPal is using has to do with the amount of $$$ the item sold for and the # of feedback requests. I believe that if the item sells for more than $100 and your feedback is less than 100 (!!!), it will be held as pending.

I just think it's bullshit because I have bought and sold over 150 things in the last 8 years and haven't had one problem. Not everyone leaves feedback. Then I sell a $120.00 item and have to wait 5-10 days after I ship it for the money to be available. I wonder if the dude that receives it knows it is pending and if he can just pull his money out???

1/28/2009 1:03:23 PM

They are doing this because there are a lot of sellers out there that scam people. This past holiday season my girlfriend bought a purse off eBay. She never received the purse, and PayPal had to refund her money. I assume that PayPal would then go after the seller, but this is a way for them to cut down on their litigation/enforcement costs.

1/28/2009 1:08:37 PM

This is lame.

1/28/2009 1:15:26 PM

eBay has made it pretty clear the only sellers they give a shit about are the larger Powersellers. This and a few other moves have made it all but impossible for smaller sellers to do business at all!

I used to sell a lot of servers on eBay, now I won't even touch it. Due to the new rules I have to pay out of pocket $70-150 to ship something to a buyer because PayPal puts a hold on the entire payment (including the shipping charge), and then I have no way of knowing when (or IF) I'll get paid. Its utterly inane.

1/28/2009 1:54:53 PM

^ Anything you use instead of Ebay?

1/28/2009 7:00:48 PM

Quote :

"I believe that if the item sells for more than $100 and your feedback is less than 100 (!!!), it will be held as pending."

It was over $100 but I have 100% feedback.....

I still say this is all a crock. There has to be a better system.

1/29/2009 12:09:43 AM

not 100%, 100 feedbacks.

I'm upset with the new feedback rules, too - the no negatives for buyers BS. I sold a coupon to someone and she didnt pay for a week. if I had gone through the whole nonpaying bidder process, the coupon would have expired. Instead I sold it to the 2nd bidder with a second chance offer, but then ebay gets to hit me with 2 final value fees.

1/29/2009 12:40:45 AM

I shipped this yesterday and put the tracking info in and it says it was delivered on time and everything. My question is how long do I wait before doing something about my money because it is still on hold.

1/29/2009 8:06:53 PM

you n00bs should have gotten more feedbacks before 2009

1/29/2009 9:39:42 PM

^^check back after midnight or in the morning, it updates late like all the banks do.

1/29/2009 10:18:55 PM

Quote :

"^ Anything you use instead of Ebay?"

Thats the problem, there is nowhere else...there is ubid and yahoo had auctions at one point (do they still)...but the buyers arent going there, so its useless to go there if there are no buyers there to see your stuff.
Google needs to start an auction site. Its visited enough that enough people would stumble across it to get some decent traffic and offer some actual competition with ebay.

1/30/2009 2:41:07 PM

They paid with an eCheck-- it takes some time to clear. Just wait for it.
You don't get charged a big fee to accept eChecks so its actually a plus for you.

1/30/2009 8:44:19 PM