Withholding payments for no reason - customer service says I should ignore eBay emails and laughs at me!
Summary: mobatreff reports difficulties with an online marketplace that withholds payments and provides unsatisfactory answers from customer service. Despite a high number of positive reviews, the account was reviewed because of suspicious activity, leading to delays in payouts. Other participants such as 3d-druckzauber and modellautos-hessen share similar experiences; their earnings were also held back without any clear explanation. An employee of the marketplace, miriam@ebay, apologized and promised to look into the case, while the sellers continue to wait for a solution. The frustration is escalating because payout deadlines are not being met and unclear communication is hurting the sellers.
Addendum:
Of course I entered the DHL tracking data in the purchase processing. So you can see directly in the purchase processing that the items have been delivered.
For low-priced items such as model cars or figures in the range of up to about EUR 20, I ship by letter for cost reasons. Of course, there is no tracking for that. But these shipments only make up a fraction of the more than EUR 14,000 that are being withheld.
Good day,
I have been selling commercially on ebay for 6 years, have subscribed to a shop and now have over 5300 positive reviews with feedback of 99.9%.
On the evening of 16/06, I received an ebay email saying that my payments would be withheld (changed to within 2 days after delivery to the customer), because there were suspicious movements on my account.
Of course I asked customer service to call me:
The representative told me that my account had to be reviewed and that would take one day. He didn’t say why it had to be reviewed. He forwarded my case to the specialist department. He couldn’t or wouldn’t tell me what suspicious movements there had been on my account.
On 18/06, nothing had changed in my status, so I asked ebay customer service again for a callback.
This time the employee told me that my account had not yet been reviewed and I should not take the ebay email seriously. After all, everyone is getting this email at the moment. Excuse me??? Ebay has now withheld more than EUR 14,000 and refuses to pay it out or tell me the reason for it. And then I’m supposed not to take the email from 16/06 seriously?
Meanwhile, according to the DHL tracking status, deliveries were made on 17/06, yet these transactions do not appear on the payout list for 19/06; instead, some show “release around 20/06” or even “release around 21/06.”
Let’s remember: “payment release within two days of delivery” — by my reckoning, that’s 3 and 4 days. And I still don’t have the money; it says “around.” Whether ebay will actually pay out has not yet been answered by my crystal ball.
Last but not least, the customer service employee laughed at me on the phone and assured me, “I’m not working with your money, you can believe me.” She couldn’t stop giggling.
Question: What is this supposed to mean and why do you not get any real information?
Best regards
mobatreff
mobatreff
OP1 month ago@miriam@ebay Apparently, my account has been under review for two and a half months now, even though support initially said it would only take one day and, according to you, a good week. So far, there has been no response!
Also, some of the payout lists are still incorrect. See my other posts here in the thread for the details.
Meanwhile, ebay has missed out on at least EUR 5,500 in fees because I sold two model train collections through other platforms. And all of this just because ebay doesn’t communicate with its customers and doesn’t work in a solution-oriented way.
bixtron
·1 month agoHi,
nothing’s going to happen there, see all the other posts on the topic of fraud by eBay or technical problems.
The people affected have to go to a lawyer. There’s no other way anymore.
mobatreff
OP2 months ago · EditedIt’s just a never-ending story that ebay doesn’t have its processes under control here and nobody cares:
Sale no. https://www.ebay.de/sh/ord/details?orderid=19-14773-44813 has, according to the tracking, been delivered since 11/07, but the payout simply isn’t being made. It still says held until kingdom come.
UPDATE:
After I opened a case here, the item is now showing as payout in progress. It can’t be right that, despite tracking being on file, the payout doesn’t happen automatically.
modellautos-hessen
·3 months agomiriam@ebay
Your text:
The temporary adjustment to the payout terms for your account is intended to protect our marketplace and everyone involved. If unusual sales activity is detected on an account, payouts may temporarily only be released within 2 days after confirmed delivery...........
This response is one of Ebay's prewritten must responses.
How naive does Ebay think its sellers are?
For the protection of the marketplace? ....Or rather for the protection of the Ebay account?
Not even an AI could be so blind as to punish innocent sellers who have sold successfully on Ebay for decades without any problems and made several thousand euros in revenue every day, so unjustifiably and excessively, yes, punish—that is the only way this breach of contract by Ebay can be described.
Ebay has written in its own sacred house rules that if measures are taken, they must/will be communicated and justified exactly by info mail!
Ebay did not do that, not in a single line, just that the payouts have now been set to 2 days after delivery, period.
Our lawyers are now reviewing these circumstances, the unjustified breach of contract, the withholding of our property, the information announced in the house rules that did not take place, and whether these measures comply with legal requirements.
I simply find it a shame that after more than 30 years of being with Ebay, such a breach of trust on Ebay's part is even possible.
I think that a lot is going wrong at Ebay, and that it is being taken out on the backs of the still-paying commercial sellers.
Ebay simply forgets that every such measure is greatly to Ebay's own disadvantage, but that is probably intended, for whatever reason?
Regards
from a very angry seller still
miriam@ebay
Hello @mobatreff - so far there is still no final response, and I therefore have to ask for a little more patience. I see the other points mentioned that you'd like answers to.
Best regards
Miriam
mobatreff
OP3 months agoHello Miriam,
since 16/06. (through the first phone contact) I’ve been fobbed off with the excuse that my account would be reviewed (roughly speaking, “takes a day”). That makes it 10 days by now, with nothing having happened.
By now I no longer believe it, and you just want to drag this out.
Do people first have to alert the press that eBay might have a payment problem and is supposedly trying to get through the summer slump into the second half of the year (Christmas business) with delayed payouts? Otherwise, how can it be explained that payouts only happen after a hassle from eBay? Sometimes it says two days after delivery, sometimes, strangely enough, three days, but in fact it’s up to 6 days. For two items that were sold within a few hours on the same afternoon/early evening, different deadlines are given (3 days versus 2 days after delivery). Example: order 09-14814-26195, sold on 24/06 at 7:15 p.m. (3 days) vs. order 14-14805-32455, paid on 24/06 at 4:18 p.m. (2 days). That is arbitrary.
Even for low-priced items like magazines, where customer feedback has been available for days already, the proceeds are still not being paid out.
The only one here disrupting security and customer satisfaction on the marketplace is eBay.
I will also say goodbye to eBay little by little, but for now I’m still dependent on it. My purchasing association runs its own platform, which is also steadily growing, and the best part: as a limited partner in the purchasing association, I am even a co-owner of this platform.
mobatreff
mobatreff
OP3 months agoStill no response!
No response to my other questions either, e.g. why you don't stick to your own communicated payout dates, but keep dragging them out by several more days. Or why some of your payout lists show incorrect values. You've known about this for over a week now, but the lists still haven't been corrected. Let's remember: 11 items are being paid out at 0.00 EUR each, which magically adds up to 2154.91 EUR. How is anyone supposed to give such lists to their tax advisor?
Instead, you're now siccing so-called key account managers from the Pro-Trader program on me so that I can increase my sales. Just so I can be punished by you again afterwards?
In your eyes, I'm a threat to safety on the marketplace, and at the same time I'm supposed to increase my sales with your help? Are you serious?
mobatreff
miriam@ebay
Hello @mobatreff - I can see your new comments in this thread, but I’m not yet able to give a final reply and ask for your understanding.
Kind regards
Miriam
mobatreff
OP2 months ago · EditedSince 16/06, my account has been under review. Still no response.
The payout statements I mentioned are still wrong:
Payout 7568936440 all items are listed with 0.00 EUR, but they somehow add up to 2154.91 EUR
Payout 7570516024 of 26 items, 11 are shown with 0.00 EUR. Of course, the total here also does not match the payout amount
Payout 7572219328 of 11 items now at least only has one with 0.00 EUR and again the total of the 11 items does not match the payout amount
Items are still only paid out 4 days after delivery to the customer. E.g. order 16-14826-64949. No response here either.
Items sold on the same day vary between "within 2 days of customer delivery" and "within 3 days of customer delivery". No response here either about how that gets decided. And of course ebay still does not stick to its own deadlines and pays out 1 - 3 days later than announced. No response here either.
At the same time, even though I have it in black and white from ebay that I pose a security risk to the marketplace, I am constantly being asked by email, letter post, and phone to expand my business, take out a loan with ebay partner "youlend", or take part in bonus/discount programs. No explanation for that either.
voli-maus
·2 months agoHello @mobatreff ,
the lovely @miriam@ebay will surely reply to you on Monday.
mobatreff
OP2 months ago · EditedHello @voli-maus ,
have you already read a post from Miriam in this thread that added anything illuminating?
Other than "I see your post", "We are looking into this in detail and will get back to you next week", which were all placebos or simply not true, absolutely nothing came of it. That applies not only to miriam, but also to the phone "customer support", the "support" hiding behind the complaint management email addresses, and the so-called "key account managers". They all only give meaningless answers that I could google myself. They clearly got a gag order from above. At that point, as ebay, you might as well do away with so-called "support" altogether.
After a good four weeks, I still don't know
why my account was switched over
why some items are supposed to be paid out "within 2 days after customer delivery" and others "within 3 days"
why ebay doesn't even stick to the payment deadlines mentioned above, but delays payout by another 1-3 days
why some payout lists show completely wrong values that don't match the actual amounts paid out. The error still hasn't been fixed after three weeks.
why I, even though I have it in black and white that I am a security risk for the marketplace, am continuously harassed by ebay via email, phone, and postal mail to take part in the Pro Trader program, take out a loan with the ebay partner "youlend", and join a discount/voucher program. All supposedly so I can expand my business.
Since these activities have increased extremely over the last four weeks, there is only one conclusion: ebay has a cash flow problem and is desperately trying to lure sellers into paid or commission-generating activities.
The key account manager who contacted me about the Pro Trader program also promptly backed down when I told him, as my account manager, he should deal with this account switch. He never got in touch again (in modern slang, "ghosted me"). That's really bad style.
How are you supposed to have any trust in ebay as a partner with this kind of information and manner of dealing with people? I certainly don't. I am continuously treated like public enemy number one, while at the same time being told to expand my business on ebay.
In any case, in the past I referred customers who want to sell inherited collections to ebay, because that's where most of the "customer base" is for that. Of course I don't do that anymore. Now I recommend another platform for that, with a reference to this thread and my other experiences with customer support and security on this marketplace, with fake private sellers, joke bidders, non-payers, etc..
ADDENDUM:
The latest gem from ebay complaints management came by email:
I should get my DHL parcel labels via the ebay website; DHL would transport them faster than if I bought them directly from DHL. This statement is as false as it is commission-driven, because ebay probably gets a commission for every label sold through its own website.
modellautos-hessen
·3 months agoAddendum:
We have always only shipped with a stored tracking number as a parcel; there is no other shipping method with us. ,
we only ship within Germany , have always bought our DHL labels through eBay, no parcel leaves us without a tracking number.
and yet our business was mercilessly crippled by eBay.
mobatreff
OP3 months agoHello and many thanks for your post!
Did you also receive a call from eBay one or two days beforehand asking whether you didn’t want to take part in the voucher promotion, and maybe declined it? When I declined with the argument that the 11% fees are already too expensive, the eBay employee even laughed. She probably knew more.
Did you then, after the switch, also receive a letter from eBay at home or at the business, drawing your attention to a loan offer from eBay’s partner Youlend? First turn off the money tap and then make a loan offer. Sounds a bit fishy!
Regards
mobatreff
modellautos-hessen
·3 months agoHi
Exactly the same here,
We have been Ebay members for 30 years, we have 100% feedback, 0 defect entries, we have our own packaging logistics, daily pickup at our premises, and we pack around 500 parcels a month.
We have been selling strongly again for about 2 months, and since 2002 we have regularly sold through this account with around 45,000 positive feedback ratings, completely without problems, until suddenly, on 17.06.2026, we also received this email saying that payments would be withheld and that our money would be transferred 2 days after delivery.
After our phone call with customer service, which put us through 6 times and then, after the conversation with the incomprehensible employee, we asked for an employee who actually knows what they're talking about.
The employee actually called back the next day and of course played everything down, saying it was just a review, everything would then be set back to normal, etc.
No word on how long, or why, or anything at all.
We then deleted all our active auctions, deleted our newly booked Ebay shop again, and effectively reset everything to zero.
In addition, amounts are still being withheld without reason and in breach of contract.
I read that such reviews can take up to 31 days or longer.
Ebay has taken this action completely without reason or justification, WITHOUT any explanation whatsoever as to why or what for.
It feels to me like Ebay is running out of money and has to work with our money, that means a few days of interest-free credit, just like that.
We’ll wait and see how this goes, and if nothing changes in the foreseeable future, we will sue Ebay, demand default interest, and claim damages.
Ebay entered into a contract with us, and in this contract DAILY payout is clearly stipulated, and Ebay broke this contract without reason.
Ebay has the right to take such measures if there is justified suspicion, but not with customers where absolutely nothing has happened.
Until now I have always been pro Ebay, but now Ebay has dropped very low in my opinion.
Where is the selling experience that we sellers are supposed to have on Ebay.
Regards from the super pissed off
mobatreff
OP3 months agoThe suspicion has also already occurred to me that ebay could have a cash problem.
I worked for thirty years in accounting/controlling/treasury at the German subsidiary of a large international group in the electrical engineering/plant construction sector, and there I picked up quite a few tricks about how balance sheets, results, and cash flows are manipulated, especially toward the end of quarters, when the data has to be published because of quarterly dividends and stock exchange requirements.
Revenues are quickly booked to sister companies even though no actual acceptance of the plant has taken place yet.
For months, all supplier invoices are simply not paid across the board, unless the supplier is standing at the gate with the truck and wants to take his goods back, or has sent a bailiff over.
Once the quarter is over, the invoices are then paid again for a month. In the second and third months of the quarter, no invoices are paid again. The excuse to the suppliers is basically always "software conversion".
Something like that also came to mind here with ebay.
I have even already pondered what you actually need in order to file for insolvency against a debtor. Especially since there are no comprehensible reasons at all. Otherwise ebay would tell us, I'm quite suuuuuurrrre of that!
3d-druckzauber
·3 months agoHi, it’s exactly the same for us too.
From one day to the next, we were switched from immediate payouts to "within 2 days". We were supposed to store tracking numbers for a few shipments (we do that for every shipment) and then everything would be great, said and done, email received from eBay, everything taken care of, all restrictions will be lifted. But no, payments are still being withheld. Then we got in touch by email, and they tried to tell us that this was standard practice in the industry. No, it isn’t; on no platform is our money being withheld, neither in our own online shop nor on other platforms...
And to justify this with security concerns, with 100% positive ratings, no complaints, and tracking numbers for every sale that can be proven, is nonsense!
Especially from one day to the next, just like that. And now they really don’t want to tell us why this change was made, or why it isn’t being reversed.
We have never done anything wrong here, we have 100%, service above average.
All receipts etc. are there too. In our case it’s now over €6,000, and we’re a start-up.
Sorry, if eBay only accepts sellers who have a six-figure sum sitting in their account before they start, then eBay should communicate that. For a small business, €6,000 or in your case even €14,000 is a hell of a lot of money.
And we can confirm that too, ours also says "Amount available within 2 days after delivery." However, that’s not true at all: if the customer doesn’t pick up their parcel because it couldn’t be delivered, we have to wait until the customer has picked it up, so we’re being punished twice. If the customer receives the parcel, forget about 2 days, we have to wait at least 4 days, and lately even at least a week.
eBay is massively playing with people’s livelihoods...
mobatreff
OP3 months agoCorrect, I can confirm all of that.. Same here. Basically all the reviews talk about good goods, fast delivery, good packaging, and communication, but ebay says my performance has gotten worse.
Keyword communication: With packages, I not only enter the tracking number, but also send each customer a short message saying that the shipment has been handed over to DHL or will go out today/tomorrow, including a photo of the shipment.
Even in the four categories where you can still award 1-5 stars in the rating, I consistently have an average of 5 stars.
For some items, I now see "Payout 3 days after delivery"; why, even the almighty algorithm probably doesn't know.
Also, shipments delivered on the same day are sometimes paid out on different days.
Ebay doesn't have its own algorithms under control and does nothing about it.
If you applied the same standards to ebay as ebay applies to its sellers, ebay would have a fulfillment rate of 0%. The actions don't match the words at all. The chat bot is useless, and the phone customer service spouts meaningless
platitudes and brushes you off instead of helping.
The payout lists are also useless for accounting:
On Saturday (de facto only Monday), I was paid out over 2100 EUR for 14 items, but in the payout list every item is listed with 0 EUR. So 14 x 0 = 2100 EUR.
That's alternative mathematics!
Ebay should take care of the real problems, like the "fake private sellers" who sell huge amounts of new goods without invoices and without warranty. At the same time, they make life hard for reputable sellers with dump prices. If a customer ever has a warranty claim, they're left out in the rain and end up paying extra, because they have to pay for repairs.
But that's not safety-relevant!
But hey: We keep being told that we are a valued member of the ebay community. That's utter mockery!
miriam@ebay
Hello @mobatreff and thanks for your post! The temporary adjustment of the payout terms for your account serves to protect our marketplace and everyone involved. If unusual selling activity is detected on an account, payouts may temporarily only be released 2 days after confirmed delivery.
This is not a freeze of the funds or even a "penalty", but an additional security measure. The payout after confirmed delivery is automatically lifted once the account performance has stabilized. Under Payments > Transactions you can see when the amounts are expected to be released.
I’m sorry that you got the impression that you were not taken seriously on the phone by one of our employees. We will listen to the conversation again, provided a recording exists, and pass the feedback on internally.
We wish you continued good business in the future!
Kind regards
Miriam
mobatreff
OP3 months agoThanks very much for the reply!
However, it is not correct: it says payment “within” two days after the goods are received by the customer. As it stands right now, all items that were delivered on 17/06 should have been paid out today, but they were not. They are also not on tomorrow’s payout list. It says exactly “0.00” EUR is due for payout. Not to mention the items that were delivered yesterday. These are also not on tomorrow’s payout list.
It seems to me that suspicious activity is going on in my own account at eBay.
My performance took a hit over the weekend because I had to pack over 100 parcels, which then put me one day behind on some sales and even two days behind on a few. However, the alleged “security measure” was only put into effect more than a week later, after all affected transactions had long since been processed and delivered.
There were a few special cases that also count toward the performance:
A customer won an auction and asked me to ship the goods only about 8 days later, as he was on vacation. This is a special case that was extremely long “overdue,” but at the customer’s request. This can also be read in the communication for the item in question.
A customer specified an incorrect address as the delivery address, which is why the parcel came back to me after more than a week. By now, since yesterday, it has been on its way to hopefully the correct address.
Although I operate a DHL parcel shop in my own store and register the ready parcels there either on the same day of purchase or one day later, DHL can still have delivery times of 3 or 4 days. These delays too, which demonstrably are not my responsibility based on the drop-off date, are listed in the statistics as “late” delivery. According to eBay logic, timely delivery can actually only be ensured if you personally drive the parcels across the country.
miriam@ebay
We'll take a detailed look at the points you mentioned, @mobatreff , and get back to you again over the course of next week!
Best wishes & for now, anyway, have a lovely weekend
Miriam
mobatreff
OP3 months agoHello Miriam,
so far I haven’t heard anything from eBay. So what came out of the review? You still haven’t told me why exactly my account was changed over? What exactly was the trigger?
Further points that you please finally sort out internally and give me answers to:
I was supposedly switched to payout “within 2 days after delivery to the customer.” But why do some of my items now say “within 3 days”? Example order 02-14805-28956
Why don’t you stick to your own announcements? Payouts sometimes don’t happen until 4-6 days after delivery?
Sale No. 11-14802-92772 delivered today, on 24/06, so why is the payout only on 27/06? Is that “WITHIN 2 days”?
Sale No. 18-14777-74243 was delivered on 22/06, so why is the payout only on 26/06? Is that “WITHIN 2 days”?
If there’s a weekend in between, it’s often 5 or 6 days. Hello eBay!: We’re now living in the age of free real-time transfers.
On some of your payout lists, every item shows a payout of 0.00 EUR, but e.g. 2154.91 EUR were paid out. How is one supposed to hand such lists over to accounting? Example payout No. 7568936440 . Now I get to research every single item and manually correct it afterward on this payout list. Thanks a lot!
Order 03-14796-40066 has been sitting in the parcel locker for two days and hasn’t been collected. Why isn’t it being paid out? The goods were delivered to the delivery address.
Now here comes something for tin-foil-hat wearers: One day before your switch because of my supposedly poor performance, I called one of your employees and said I would not take part in a paid voucher/discount promotion. And bam, you switched me over. Revenge? No, of course not!
Two days after the switch I get a letter from eBay at home offering to get me a loan from your partner Youlend. So that’s how you do business. If the customer refuses, you turn off his cash flow and then make him a loan offer that you’d naturally profit from as well. Either way, it’s a WIN-WIN situation for eBay, just not for your supposedly highly valued members of the eBay community.
mobatreff
mobatreff
OP3 months agoYes, the conversation was recorded. In the approx. last three minutes, the employee started giggling several times and then remarked (paraphrasing) "giggle giggle giggle ... You can be sure that I’m not working with your money ... giggle giggle giggle".
mobatreff
OP3 months agoOne more thing about the customer service phone call from 18/06:
Why does the employee claim that I shouldn’t take the ebay email seriously, that what it says in it isn’t true anyway, and that, besides, everyone is currently getting this email? You can also hear that from the recorded phone call.
mobatreff
OP3 months agothe 14,000 EUR are the sales from 4 days.
perfect-sally
·3 months agoAnd that's probably exactly why it's being withheld. You seem to be having a sales spike right now and eBay gets weird about that and keeps an eye on it first.
So you still get punished if you suddenly start selling well.
mobatreff
OP3 months agoWell, I had such a surge once in January and February, and nothing happened. My shop offers 2,500 fixed-price listings per month and 100 free auctions per month, and the sales limit is about EUR 1,000,000, if I remember correctly. I’m light years away from that. I’m currently only using about half of the 2,500 fixed-price listings, and I exceeded the auctions in January/February and now in May, and paid listing fees accordingly.
terri131719
·3 months agoBut these payments only make up a fraction of the over EUR 14,000 that are being withheld.
Seriously now ???
So there are 14,000 € outstanding ???
Over what period - that's a livelihood ...