eBay

wilddogsam · ‎02-06-2023

I've been an eBay/PayPal member since 2002 & after spending hours on the phone, dealing with numerous people my worst fear has been realized, PayPal has effectively hijacked, seemingly indefinitely, the balance currently showing on my account & there appears to be little I can do about this, with eBay showing absolutely no interesting in regards to helping me with this matter.

I have been fed 5 completely different / conflicting reasons as to why I am not able to access these funds.

Everything from:

The seller & transaction has been flagged. Please note: the eBay seller in question has been around since 2017 & has a perfect 100% feedback score. Furthermore, I tried to complete half a dozen other purchases on eBay (different eBay sellers located in different countries, each selling different products - ranging from a motorcycle manual, a postcard, a vintage railway sign, you name it) and in each instance I was denied access to the balance showing on my PayPal account.
The amount of the purchase does not precisely correspond with the balance on my PayPal account. Please note: one eBay representative (unbelievably) said that I had to perfectly match the eBay item purchase amount with the balance showing on my account, which I later on did & I was STILL denied access to my money.
My Amex Platinum card has been red flagged/denied. Please note: I currently have a $962.49 balance showing on my Amex card, not a penny is overdue, I always pay well before the due date & I am nowhere near my credit limit (the Amex Platinum card having no actual limit). Furthermore; while I was on the phone with this PayPal representative, to test his absurd theory I successfully completed another eBay purchase through PayPal with the card that this individual said had been red flagged, only for this person to later on change his story to my card being red-flagged: “on a case by case basis.”
eBay doesn't allow for multiple payment sources (i.e. PayPal balance, bank, credit card). Please note: when I matched the eBay item purchase amount to the balance showing on my PayPal account, thereby eliminating the need for a multiple payment source arrangement, I was STILL denied access to these funds.
I've made too many purchases as of late. Please note: I've made 5 purchases in the past 2 months (all oneBay) well down from previous months/yrs.

One of the last PayPal managers I spoke with, when I asked this person when I would be able to access the balance on my account, this individual said (& I quote): “No one will be able to say when you will be able to use these funds on another purchase."

I then asked this person: could it conceivably take a year to resolve this - and this person again responded that they could not provide any timeline.

I have done nothing to deserve this treatment. I have never violated any of either eBay or PayPal’s rules and when I was on the phone with one of the supervisors I asked this person if there was anything I had done wrong, anything I had done to deserve this and this person responded with: no.

I closed off one of my conversations with a PayPal representative where I asked the individual in question: Has PayPal made my life easier?” And this person responded with: “Well no, we haven’t.” Seemingly, this person found nothing wrong with this state of affairs, being completely undisturbed by this.

A this point I trust nothing I am told by PayPal representatives & have removed the Amex card from my account (due to fear of what PayPal might do with it), so all that remains is the balance. One PayPal representative, when I asked to close my account, repeatedly said that I should just donate the amount to charity. When I asked this person to donate the same amount to charity they said they didn't want to do this (to which I responded: "Well now you know how I feel."). The representative told me that PayPal does not cut cheques to Canadians & the only way I can gain access to my money is to provide a bank account number, which based on this experience I would sooner cut both my own legs off than risk this with a company like PayPal.

So what do I do now? And how on earth can a company like PayPal get away with essentially hijacking people's monetary assets.

In closing, let my experience serve as a warning to others, of what can happen when you open an account with PayPal.

reallynicestamps · ‎02-06-2023

EBay does not own Paypal and has not since I think 2015.

EBay does not use Paypal to process seller payments.

Buyers can use Paypal (or Apple Pay or Google Pay or certain credit cards) to pay for purchases on eBay.

That being said :

the only way I can gain access to my money is to provide a bank account number,

Open an online bank account with a bank you do not currently use. (But avoid Tangerine, there seems to be a problem with them as yet not clear.)

Provide that account number.

Cross all your fingers and toes that your money is transferred to that account.

When /if it is, close your PP account.

Keep the online account. You may find it useful in future.

msau4301 · ‎02-06-2023

I opened my PayPal account about 20 years ago when I was doing online surveys which paid me by PayPal. It was a bonus when I started buying and later selling on eBay a few years later as they were owned by the same entity back then. I had my bank account set up with them of course since back then I was only opening an account to get paid so how else would I get my money. My understanding with PayPal when I started purchasing as well was that you had to have two methods of payment set up (theory being if funds weren't in one then they could use the other) I thought one had to be a bank account but I can't say for sure since I had it set up since day one, I always had my bank account plus one credit card (though I've changed which card several times through the years). It was always super easy to transfer the money from PayPal to my bank account (this is back before Managed Payments so that would be the way to get my money from items sold).

Sounds like since one of your transactions had a problem (even if it wasn't your fault) there may be a temporary hold and it is messing things up. As reallynicestamps has suggested set up a bank account (a new one not your main one!) so you can transfer funds that way. Good luck!