TZ-UK Forums TZ-UK Forums pseunomis
I have had an eBay account for 23 years and ten months. I have never had any issues when selling things – no disputes, no returns, excellent feedback, and eBay say I’m at the top of their scale for seller performance.
Ten days ago, they sent a message saying my account was subject to a periodic review, that it was nothing to worry about and that it would be resolved within five days. In the meantime, they suspended access to the funds in my account, which was a bit annoying because I had just made circa £5000 in sales and I was about to withdraw the money.
Seven days later I had heard nothing, so I called them. I was told that the situation would be resolved that day because that was the fifth working day. I was reassured I had nothing to worry about.
By the next day, I had still heard nothing, so I checked and eBay was now saying my account was restricted. So I called them again and was told that I should reply to the message they sent me four days previously. Unfortunately, there was no such message in my eBay messages or my notifications and I had received nothing by email (obviously checked junk folder etc).
When I explained this, I was told that the advisor would escalate the matter and it would be resolved within 48 hours.
48 hours later (today) I had still heard nothing. By now, I had made another sale and there was nearly £7,000 in my account that eBay was withholding.
So I called again and was eventually told that the problem was that they wanted me to send proof of address. The person then put me on hold for 20 minutes, came back online and said the issue was actually that I had not uploaded tracking details for a camera that I sold on 5 January and posted on 6 January. She said I needed to upload the tracking details to make progress.
I do usually upload tracking numbers, but didn’t on this occasion because my wife sent the parcel for me and I didn’t get the number from her until the next day, by when the package should have been delivered. I kept the post office receipt for a couple of weeks, but eventually threw it out, assuming there was no issue because the buyer hadn’t contacted me.
I explained this, but the eBay advisor simply went into ‘computer says no’ mode and kept telling me to upload the tracking number that I no longer had.
So I contacted the buyer – a brilliant guy, to be fair – and he instantly uploaded positive feedback for me, confirming that he received the camera immediately, it was well packed and he was very happy with it. He also said all this in the eBay message system.
Great! I thought. So I called eBay again and told them they now had evidence that I had sent the bloody thing, that it had been received, the buyer was delighted and there was no fault with it.
The lady I spoke to said she could see the feedback, but I still needed to upload the tracking number. At this point I got cut off (was on a train), so decided to wait until I got home to have another go.
When I called again, the new advisor said she could see the feedback , but she couldn’t do anything other than refer the matter to the department that had instigated the investigation. Apparently, it might take a few more days for them to action it.
So, here I am. After ten days, eBay still have nearly £7,000 of my money and they won’t let me have it. I have still not received a single communication from them explaining what the problem is or what I need to do. I only know it’s the tracking number issue because I have called them numerous times. We have clear evidence that the package in question was sent, that there was no issue with it and the buyer is happy. Despite this, and despite my 23 year unblemished record, eBay are holding funds worth over four times the value of the camera in question. (Funds relating to sales on which there are also no issues.)
I assume I’ll get my money eventually, but I’m posting here so you all know what to expect if you don’t upload a tracking number when selling something on eBay.
I know it was technically my fault (even though eBay doesn’t alert you to upload the number at any point or indicate in an obvious way that it’s compulsory). I know I should have kept the receipt. But I doubt that many people would expect something like this to happen when there are no actual issues with the transaction in questionn and the goods have been received.
Maybe the new eBay postage system will help, but I think it’s possible to opt out of that, so I guess this could happen again.
One other thing: I have repeatedly been told that they are doing all this to protect their buyers from me – essentially making me feel like some kind of criminal. Because I didn’t upload a tracking number.
Sent from my SM-F956B using Tapatalk
