Archive for the ‘PayPal’ Category

Dear eBay Queen:

I received an email from PayPal yesterday, and I thought it might be a spoof email. After doing a little research, I’ve figured out that it is very real. Here is what I received:

“We’re writing to let you know about a change to your PayPal account.

Starting 2/15/2012, 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. 1.      We can confirm that the item was delivered.
2. 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.

Why are my payments being held?We reviewed your account and determined that there’s a relatively higher than average risk of future transaction issues (such as claims, or chargebacks, or payment reversals). We understand that it may be inconvenient to have your payments temporarily held but please know that we didn’t make this decision lightly.

Before deciding to hold payments, we consider many factors. These factors include account and transaction activity, the rate of customer disputes, the type of business a seller runs, average delivery time frames, customer satisfaction, performance and history.

Questions? Let us know We understand you’d like to have immediate access to the money you
receive and we’re here to answer your questions about this change to your account.

For more information and tips on what you can do to avoid having your future payments held, please see our Frequently Asked Questions. To speak to a Customer Service representative, log in to your PayPal account and click “Contact Us” at the bottom of any page.

Thanks,

PayPal”

Is this something new with PayPal?  Do I have any recourse? I have sold since 1999 and I have 100% feedback.  How would you handle this situation?

Dana

 

Dear Dana:

I am very sorry to tell you it is real.  I contacted PayPal about this policy.  They couldn’t comment on your case, but said there were a variety of reasons a seller would be subjected to the 21 day hold policy.   Most commonly it’s because the seller is new, sells in a high risk category or has had issues with refunds and returns in the past.  The PayPal rep even confirmed that sometimes a hold is put on funds if a sellers numbers change.

For more information on the PayPal 21 day hold policy go here.

Dear eBay Queen:

Yesterday I had one of my Amazon buyers email me asking where he book was that he purchased on 2/5. Nice guy, not rude. I checked the tracking and it shows delivered on 2/11. So, I sent him the tracking details (which he already had access to). I looked the address up on Google and it was a single family residence w/ an individual mailbox out front.

I mentioned that given the size of his mailbox, the package would not have fit and suggested he check where other over-sized packages are left, including around his front porch behind the side bushes, etc. (Nicely, of course)

He wrote back that he had already seen the tracking info, but despite it showing as delivered, he never received it. He had received other books, but not that one. He asked if I’d call the post office.

I’m going to take the tracking number and ask the clerk when I’m there today; do you know if Amazon will do anything since they marked it as delivered? Do you know what Amazon will do if he disputes delivery with them and I provide the tracking #?

Jill Palmer, New York

 

Dear Jill:

I would contact Amazon immediately to let them know what is going on.  It’s been my experience that they will refund the buyer the funds out of your account, even if the item shows delivered, but by contacting them you will not receive a strike against your account.

I think you are on the right track by contacting their post office.  It could very well have been delivered to a neighbor that has forgotten to take it to them.  I hope they find your package!

 

Strange eBay item of the week: eBay item: 110774756328 (enter this
number in the eBay search box in the top right corner of the home page.
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Suzie Eads is a nationally known eBay marketer and eBay trained Education Specialist. She lives in Rantoul, Kansas.

Dear eBay Queen:

I purchased a pair of Converse tennis shoes for my son.  When I received them, I realized that they were not a men’s size 8, but a women’s size 8.   They were listed by the seller in the men’s category and a size 8.  I contacted the seller and asked to return them, as they were not what I expected.  I didn’t hear back from the seller for several days, when she finally responded she sent this email:

“Hi, it’s pretty clear these are a size 8, it says so in the shoe! I don’t understand why you want to return these, as they are as described.  Go ahead and send them back, but I am not going to be happy about this.”

• I mailed the shoes January 16^th with a delivery confirmation.
• I show she received the shoes back on the 20^th of January.
• I emailed on the 22^nd.  No answer.
• I emailed again on the 27^th and 31^st.  No answer.
• I opened a claim on February 3^rd.  She finally responded with this.

“What is your problem lady? Don’t you know what patience are? You’ll get your money, when I’m ready to send it back.  Thanks a lot for wearing the shoe for a month before sending them back. I can’t wait to leave you negative feedback.”

What is she talking about?  I received the shoes on 3 days before I sent them back, and there was a weekend in those 3 days!  I’m not the best eBayer, but even I know that a seller can’t leave negative feedback for a buyer anymore!  What would you do in a situation like this?

Randy, Ottawa, Ks

Dear Randy:

I would ignore all communication outside of the PayPal with this Seller.  Has the seller responded to your PayPal claim?  They only have  a few days to respond to the claim and then you will be able to close the case in your favor.  Have you entered in your delivery confirmation # on the PayPal site so that PayPal knows your seller has received your item back?  If not, make sure you do that immediately.

I am really sorry that you’ve been treated this way.  The good news is that you will receive your money back through PayPal, and you won’t receive any kind of strike or negative feedback from this seller.   The seller however, will have a ding against their account for having a case and not responding before it was closed.

 

Dear eBay Queen:

I have been selling on eBay for years just here and there. I decided to come back and try to sell full time due to my husband losing his job. I’ve posted about 100 items, and my fees are over $80. I opened a store in the hopes that would help offset some of the fees.

I haven’t had any big ticket items because I just don’t have the money to buy anything that has a high return. I’ve been selling stuff around the house, but I’m not making any money. It’s all going for fees. Can you help me understand how to go about making money? I thought I was making a little profit, but I found out that I wasn’t it. I’ve put all this work into listing and I’ve got nothing to show for it. What do I need to do?

Jan

 

Dear Jan:

Sometimes it takes a little help to get your selling off to the right start. Are you posting 100 items a month?  If so, a store is probably not the right way to go.  Non store owners get 50 free listings a month.  Sometimes eBay even runs 2 or 3 promotional specials each month, that will give you even more free auction listings.

I have also found that for the most part items do not get multiple bids like they used to, so you need to set your start price high enough to cover your expenses and make a profit. I used to start all my items at 99 cents to reduce fees and entice bidding.  Back then I almost never took a loss, but in today’s economy it is pretty risky to do.

 

Strange eBay item of the week: eBay item: 180751971872 (enter this number in the eBay search box in the top right corner of the home page.  Do you have any old election buttons? Check out this Franklin Roosevelt 1932 Campaign Button. SOLD $6158.92 HERE

Suzie Eads is a nationally known eBay marketer and eBay trained Education Specialist. She lives in Rantoul, Kansas.

Dear eBay Queen:

I have a couple of questions about eBay/PayPal that I hope you can answer.

I bought an expensive large format color printer yesterday ($1,000) and paid immediately by PayPal (on my charge card).

About 20 minutes after payment was sent, the seller called me and seemed leery — wanted to make sure I was a legit buyer, etc. No worries there.

However, he said that PayPal has seized the money and he wondered if I had set up an escrow or something. He's a relatively new (or under-used) seller with 7 feedback, so I tried to explain to him that sometimes PayPal takes control of funds…but I didn't have an exact reason why and when they did that.

Can you explain that to me?

Why and when does PayPal decide to control the funds? Do they release the funds once shipment is complete?

At first, I thought it was because maybe he has limited feedback (under 10), but then I recall that this happened to me a couple of weeks ago on something I sold, but I have over 780 positive feedback and my amount was under $80. There just doesn't seem to be a rhyme or reason when PayPal does this — maybe it's random?

I would think that this sometimes causes sellers to be very cautious, thinking that maybe they could lose their merchandise and their money — I know I would be thinking that.  Could you explain this to me?

I also sell on eBay. Currently, I have 12 live listings and all of them are re-lists. The items other than the cars have been relisted multiple times. I would like to move these items, but I can't stand to lose money on them.

For instance, the MTX subwoofers I have listed right now — I purchased them, for $129 EACH — I'm asking less than that for all 3. So, with that said…why have I had to relist them now 4 times and still no sale or best offers.

I'm ready to pull my hair out. I'm doing better selling the cars than anything else, but I don't get the money for that because I’m selling them for a family member.

I appreciate any pointers you can give.

Shelia; Ottawa, KS

Dear Shelia:

I believe your seller was subjected to eBay/PayPal’s 21 day hold policy.  This policy started in 2008, and is being updated with the new “Spring 2011 announcements.”  (Here’s a great overview of those http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/abu/y211/m03/abu0283/s02 ) When the policy started it only applied to new sellers; in 2011 the policy can include everyone.  The rule basically has been put in place to insure that the buyer receives their item.  eBay can delay your  payments up to 21 days so that they can make sure your buyer is satisfied with their purchase.  Here is the policy overview: https://www.paypal.com/helpcenter/main.jsp?cmd=_help&solutionId=185413&t=solutionTab&bn_r=o

In deciding whether to apply payment holds, PayPal reviews many factors including:

·         Account tenure

·         Transaction activity

·         Business type

·          Past customer disputes

·         Overall customer satisfaction

Holds are typically placed on:

·         New sellers or sellers who have limited selling activity – until they build up a history of successful transactions.

·         Merchants selling in higher-risk categories like electronics or tickets, where we see higher levels of chargebacks and disputes.

·         Sellers who have performance issues, or a high rate of buyer dissatisfaction or disputes.

I’ve talked to quite a few eBay sellers about this policy.  Even the sellers that have been around for awhile are a bit afraid of this rule.  It’s understandable for the new seller you had to be a little freaked out about having to send the item, and not receiving the money.  You did the right thing reassuring them.  Once you leave feedback for the seller, they will receive the money you paid them. 

If this happens to you and you are the seller, the best thing you can do is ship the item immediately, include a delivery confirmation (and signature confirmation if it is over 200.00).  Make sure you enter the tracking number on the eBay site, so it will be on record. 

I know it can be pretty frustrating to not sell an item as quickly as you want too.  Some of the things I do when I have this problem are:

·         Check out what other sellers are trying to sell the same item for.

·         Would a higher price and free shipping make a difference? I know this sounds strange, but it usually works.

·         How do your pictures look?

·         Did you include the size, shape and shipping weight of the item?

Sometime there is no rhyme or reason to why an item does not sell.  Even when it seems the item is a “steal”, with this current economy sometimes it is difficult to move your merchandise.    

 

 

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Suzie Eads is a nationally known eBay marketer and eBay trained Education Specialist. She lives in Rantoul. Do you have a question for the eBay Queen? Email: questions@asktheebayqueen.com