My payout has been withheld - 31 days?
Summary: tube2a3lx reports problems with a sales platform where their payouts are being withheld and the payout period has been set to 31 days. She feels punished because of her complaint and criticizes customer service for giving insufficient answers. tube2a3lx expresses confusion about being told that, as a private seller, she has to sell more in order to receive payments faster, and feels the platform is unfriendly toward private sellers. Another participant asks whether bootyooty can step in to mediate.
Hello @miriam@ebay
I have a similar problem.
My payouts are being withheld.
Now, after my complaint, the payout time has been set to 31 days for each sold item, so a punishment because I complained?!?
I have repeatedly asked customer service what period the designation "Temporarily Withheld" refers to, 1 month, 1 year, always? The answer was: Temporary because I am allegedly a new seller.
I was also told that, as a private seller, I would have to sell much more to receive my payments faster.
Which I do not understand.
If I remember correctly, the background when Ebay was founded was to offer users an easy way to sell privately.
Ebay has now moved very far away from that path and has become hostile to private sellers.
That is the impression one gets when using customer service.
Can you please give me concrete answers to my questions that were not generated by AI?
miriam@ebay
Hello @tube2a3lx - please get into the habit of opening a new topic for "similar" issues in the future, then it stays clearer for all of us.
As our customer service has already informed you, for sellers who are based in other regions outside Germany, different payment holds apply in some cases. In your case, however, it remains that your balance will be available to you 8 days after delivery confirmation and not only after 31 days. We realize that the display for the most recently shipped orders (e.g. order ending in -52639) may be confusing you. However, I was informed that January 1, 2026 appears only as the latest date in case no delivery confirmation is received by then. After the item has been delivered, the release date should update again for you 🙂.
Update 28.11.2025: The item has now been delivered and the release date has therefore been updated as well; the release will still take place this month.
This payment hold applies because you have so far only completed sales on eBay occasionally. We cannot explain the exact system logic that leads to the hold being lifted in detail, as we do not disclose our internal processes. My recommendation is therefore to first get used to this procedure.
We see your criticism, and our original goal of offering a simple way for private sales remains. At the same time, we have to minimize risks, which sometimes leads to measures that individual users may perceive as burdensome.
If anything is still unclear, please feel free to get back to us here again 🙂.
Thanks and best regards
Miriam
clever-production
·4 months agoBy now I’ve brought in a lawyer who is taking care of the matter, since eBay is damaging my business and pushing my company into trouble.
eBay now has 7 days to transfer the money; otherwise a damages claim will be filed, since I can prove that eBay is deliberately harming my business. Now, first comes the demand from the lawyer!
I’ve been a member since 2009, and since 2011 I’ve been active commercially on eBay, making an annual revenue between 250,000 and 300,000 euros, of which eBay takes a fat chunk. As if that weren’t enough, eBay also makes a fat amount of interest on the withheld money.
And eBay support? It’s nothing more than blah blah; you’re kept hanging, treated like an idiot, etc. eBay used to be really top-notch, but now it feels like you’re just being ripped off there. eBay has gotten really bad.
rest-fest
·4 months agoHello @clever-production , does eBay really withhold money for no reason? You can rank pretty badly in the service stats (where the peer group comparison takes place) and still have no open cases and a good service status.
As a rule, payment is made no later than after 31 days. A lot is released after delivery with proof of delivery or a positive rating. Not for you? How did eBay justify the longer withholding, if that happens? Without a justification, no payout is stopped and it is not paid out within the deadlines stated in the terms and conditions and payment terms. That would be news to me.
Usually, something else has happened or not been resolved.
I consider hefty interest to be a myth.
clever-production
·4 months agoI was told a little over 1 month ago that they only withhold money for 2 products, and once these have been delivered everything runs as usual again, after every purchase the money is paid out. I have Top status, 100% positive reviews, and if something is delayed, I contact the buyer.
Now I called Ebay again last week and they told me, no, everything is new now at Ebay, you only get the sales proceeds after 30 days, we want to make sure the customer is satisfied. That means a 14-day right of withdrawal loses its effect.
If you look at that on a large scale, Ebay is making a proper amount of interest from it, because it’s not just me being ripped off by Ebay here. There are thousands of others too. We’re talking millions there!
I have an appointment with a lawyer tomorrow, and I’ll take this up with my lawyer, because it’s damaging to my business, I have bills to pay, taxes to pay, etc., and Ebay uses the money to generate interest in order to offset losses, and I want that interest, because I can’t just put the sales proceeds into my savings account, Ebay is already doing that with the money, money that Ebay is not entitled to!
Proof of delivery is another thing. You enter the tracking number there, and since I ship everything with the freight forwarder, I of course have to provide IDS tracking. So far so good, I do that. But then it happens that I have to spend time again contacting support, sending them the order number, tracking number and link for IDS tracking again. Ebay doesn’t pay me for the time. Why should I first provide a tracking number if they don’t care about it and check whether the goods have arrived.
My lawyer has already told me that they’ll come at me with their terms and conditions, but that’s completely irrelevant, because Ebay does not enter into a purchase contract with either the seller or the buyer. Ebay merely provides the platform and collects commission. If I sell something, the buyer enters into a purchase contract with me and not with Ebay!
My lawyer said he’s been through this many times already, Ebay only backs down with a lawsuit and that’s what’s coming now! If they terminate me because of this, then there’ll be a temporary injunction, everything is already in the drawer. You just can’t let them get away with everything!
petersmodellbahnstuebchen
·4 months agoHi @clever-production ,
I wouldn’t know what’s new at eBay. Payment holds come up again and again for all sorts of reasons.
If we’re supposed to bring in an Ebay rep here to review the cases, you should just name the order numbers so they can check the case.
Guessing in the dark might be something your lawyer can do, but not us users.
clever-production
·3 months agoThere are no cases pending! The matter is now with the lawyer, who is sending eBay a demand for payment. If eBay ignores this or comes back with their "terms and conditions," a lawsuit will be filed. I am not the first to take the legal route; everyone should do it. eBay thinks they can do whatever they want. eBay ignores us sellers; only when letters from lawyers arrive do they take action, and if a letter from the court then comes as well, eBay suddenly becomes much smaller, because a judge can issue landmark rulings.
My lawyer knows eBay and their practices very well.
In my case, it is damaging to business, because I only produce goods once they have been bought. I can't produce for stock; it's too costly and I wouldn't even have the storage capacity.
eBay is trying to offset losses through interest generated with other people's capital. My lawyer also says that eBay is working with other people's money and that this is probably a legally tricky matter.
As I said, I have no open cases or anything like that.
The chances of success in a lawsuit are pretty high, my lawyer said.
eBay generates sales of 28 million euros every day; that eBay is not insured against payment defaults is something only eBay believes. This is about eBay wanting to generate interest with other people's capital in order to compensate for lost profits.
But the drop in profits at eBay is down to eBay itself: poor service, excessive fees and, above all, what is supposedly new since November, withholding sales proceeds. All of that puts off new sellers and leads to eBay recording a drop in profits.
And to be completely honest, the service has gotten really bad; you're lied to from start to finish.
eBay used to be number 1; nowadays eBay is on a downward slope. 5 to 10 years ago, eBay was awesome, it was fun; now eBay is just bad.
eBay can't even prove where they advertise these products when you've paid for campaigns.
imperial-modellbau
·3 months agoHello @clever-production
whether that's so "clever" I seriously doubt it!
In the end, only the lawyer profits from it, if he even takes it on at all - which I also strongly doubt!
I once had the eBay terms and conditions checked by a lawyer friend of mine myself - in his opinion, they're 99% watertight - not exactly customer-friendly, with plenty of "vague" and "open to interpretation" wording, but legally speaking permissible within the framework of freedom of contract.
But on one point you're 110% right - what eBay now calls "service" is more than abysmal!