Buyer Paid but eBay Didn't Pay Me

[ionamic]

On September 18th a buyer purchased a video camera from me. He paid eBay and I have proof.  It is now three weeks later and yet eBay has not paid me. I have had over 5 hours of conversations with eBay and Paypal and each one sends me to the other.  In one of my many phone calls with a Paypal supervisor I am told that eBay now has their own payment processing system apart from Paypal. Therin lies the problem.  It's an amount of $675 and in spite of my runaround from eBay support people over the past three weeks, no one knows anything. I ask for a supervisor but they never escalate my case. They just ask for me to repeat everything again and again with no resolution. 

I have given up and chose to file a complaint with the BBB in San Jose. That may go nowhere but it's a desperate move to get someone's attention.  This is just another example of a corporate giant that needs your business but when you have a problem, they want you to ask for help from one of their other unhappy customers. (communities and forums)) IE: "don't bother us...we're busy running to the bank"

[ypdc_dennis]

How do you know the Buyer paid ebay?

ebay managed payments are only available for some sellers on ebay.com and ebay.de (Germany).  The Seller has to be enrolled as part of Managed Payments.

To the best of my knowledge eBay Managed Payments is currently NOT available for Canadian Sellers.

tyler@ebay 

[tyler@ebay]

Hi @ypdc_dennis - you're correct that managed payments isn't currently available for both buyers and sellers outside of the US and Germany.

[pjcdn2005]

Does it show that you have a payment on hold in PayPal?  

Was the item sent with delivery confirmation and has the buyer received it?

As others have mentioned, there is a payment hold for new/infrequent sellers but the payment is usually released after delivery confirmation shows that the item was delivered.

https://www.ebay.ca/help/selling/getting-paid/getting-paid-items-youve-sold/pending-payments?id=4155...

[lucitabby]

Could it be your money is on the 21 day hold for an inactive seller?

[brettjet38]

Zombie Thread from

10-09-2019 06:58:13 PM

[pjcdn2005]

@ionamic 

I don't think you were given the correct advice by customer service. It's true that some sellers receive their payment through the ebay managed money system but as of now, it is only US sellers, not Canadian sellers that are in the program. Canadian sellers are paid through Paypal.

There are a couple of questions that I don't think that you have answered. How do you know that the buyer paid at all? You must have gotten some sort of notice from someone at Paypal or ebay.  

If the letter was from Paypal, did you look at your Paypal account to confirm that you were paid?

Did the buyer ask you for your email address at any time?  They don't need that information but if they asked for it, there is a chance they sent you a fake email saying that you had been paid.

Was your paypal address in your listing as the payment address? Did you doublecheck that it was the correct address?

[ionamic]

In my many conversations with eBay, I was told by several support people that the buyer paid with a credit card. I have had a number of conversations with the buyer following the purchase and he also has been trying to get to the bottom of this issue. The problem apparently is this: First of all I don't sell on ebay very often. When I listed my items for sale, I was not aware that I had had the "Pay through Paypal unchecked. The buyer paid by credit card. Apparently there is the problem. I now have paypal checked. Thats why they were able to DEDUCT $66.00 from my account...but ironically not pay me for the item I sold. What irritates me is that they are locked into a policy and are unable to come up with a solution. No one can take responsibility and actually fix the problem. I just get standard pre-written answers that solve nothing.

[femmefan1946]

@ionamic 

I am told by Paypal that this transaction is not a Paypal account but is handled internally by eBay's new funds processing system.

So is your buyer in the USA?

If he used the new Managed Payments system tyler@ebay   how would the money be transferred to the Canadian seller?

Should he see it in his Paypal account?

Ionamic -- did you have a PP account set up when you sold the camera?

He paid eBay and I have proof.

Is the proof that the Paid box is ticked off? Because that can be done manually by either buyer or seller*.

Were you notified by PP that the payment was pending clearance?

You should not ship until it has cleared. That e-cheque might yet bounce.

Were you notified by PP that your payment was cleared and was pending but not available for 21 days (the aggravating new seller Hold)? 

You can prove that it is really in your PP account by using the funds to buy a shipping label through PP. (There are some discounts available for doing that, if you have a Small Business Solutions number from Canada Post.)

*Because LOCAL PICK UP sales are usually in cash, and those members show payment by clicking on the Paid box manually.

[pjcdn2005]

Payments only go through the managed payments program if the seller is registered to accept them. Canadians aren’t yet eligible fir the program so customer service likely gave out the wrong info.

[tyler@ebay]

Hi @femmfean1946! I can state definitively that this transaction would not have gone through eBay managed payments. There is no way for this to happen. If, however, no PayPal account was entered at the time of listing but an option such as 'accept credit cards' was used as a site level preference (an old holdover from the Internet Merchant Credit Card processing days) it's possible a buyer could complete checkout and pay, but that payment information wouldn't go anywhere because there is no receiving payment account set up. The best course of action would be for the buyer to look into recalling or cancelling the payment they made, having the seller cancel and relist the item (with a PayPal account attached) and have the buyer complete checkout again. Thanks!

[tyler@ebay]

Hi @ionamic - 

Sorry to hear that you've had such difficulty getting paid! Typically you would set up a receiving PayPal account at the time you listed the item. That would allow PayPal to get the funds to you regardless of how a buyer pays (with a credit card, their own PayPal account, etc). 

If you did not input any PayPal account, there isn't a way for us to get you the money if it was indeed processed. 

If you can see that you have the funds somewhere you can manually mark the payment as received. Thanks!

[ionamic]

I am told by Paypal that this transaction is not a Paypal account but is handled internally by eBay's new funds processing system. To say that there isn't a way to get me paid makes no sense. EBay people have confirmed that the buyer paid. Therefore eBay has the funds. So...pay me. I accept check, money order, wire transfer, pesos etc.

[ionamic]

You want to read something almost funny? EBay somehow managed to deduct $66.00 from my Paypal account today...but they can't pay me my $675 that I am owed by the buyer of an item I sold on eBay.

[tyler@ebay]

Hi @ionamic - When you set up your listing did you input a PayPal email address to receive payment? If you did not then the money a buyer paid would show as processed in our internal tools but wouldn't go anywhere because there was nowhere to send it. If that's the case your best option is to contact the buyer and ask them to cancel the payment and pay you a separate way. eBay does not keep funds and does not act as an intermediary for payments for members outside of the US and Germany at this time - there is no method where we would have those funds. It definitely sounds like you were given incorrect information, and I recommend contacting the buyer in this situation. Thanks!

[femmefan1946]

You still have not confirmed that you have a Paypal account and that the address for that account is accurate. 

"I am told by Paypal that this transaction is not a Paypal account but is handled internally by eBay's new funds processing system." 

But the problem with Customer Service is that they are in the USA if you call during business hours. And Americans have a hard time understanding that there are other countries in the world with other currencies and other postal systems.

And that other eBay sites do not run by the same rules as the US site.

The night and weekend reps are in the Philippines and do understand this better (heck, most of them have a cousin working in a retirement home in Edmonton*) but do not seem to have the same authority as the Stateside reps.

* I have several Pinoy relations. My Facebook feed is full of pictures of the new Jollibees in Alberta.

[reallynicestamps]

@ejr3030 

Has any money been taken out of your PP account- for example for eBay fees or for a purchase?

Occasional sellers may have fees that have been payable for months but went uncollected because there was no money in the account. When a payment is made, eBay and PP collect their fees.

[ejr3030]

Hi

[ejr3030]

Hi Thank you, I did have a fee recently removed from my PP account but I have had subsequent sales since the first one, so what you have said makes sense. It was only a small fee, so it definitely not enough to wipe out my balance. When the original purchase went through, it was never classified as a pending payment and I thought this might be part of the puzzle- because my two subsequent sales both showed up as pending and then successfully made it into my account as a positive balance.

[pjcdn2005]

As mentioned by another poster, the money does not go through ebay, it goes right to Paypal so if you saw it in your account, there should be a record of it. Do you see any record of that transaction in your Paypal at all?

[femmefan1946]

@erj3030

It's usually best to start a new post rather than tagging on to one that is months old.

 I made a sale mid March and I know the buyer paid.

Does the payment appear in your Paypal account ?

Does it show there as Pending?

.... I saw their purchase in my PayPal account but it never showed up as a pending payment. I never received the payment.
If it is in your Paypal account, it has been received.
Have you tried to move it to the bank account you attached to your account?

Did you use the Paypal payment to print your shipping label ? (I use that as a quick confirmation of payment. If the payment has cleared, you can print a label even if the payment is "pending".)

I even checked their user history and they had a 100% rating status with many purchases and sales.

All buyers have 100% positive feedback.

When was the last transaction?  If it was over six months ago, the account may have been hacked.

I contacted PayPal and they told me that eBay didn’t release the funds. I contacted eBay and they insisted that they released the payment and that I should contact PayPal.

EBay never touches your payments. There is a Paypal Hold on new and occasional sellers which is a Protection for both buyers and sellers. It is bloody annoying.

 I really enjoy eBay and I am a new seller
Which is why the Hold. All new sellers have restrictions on transactions.

Did you get a response from the BBB when you contacted them?

The BBB is a commercially franchised organization (Full disclosure- before we retired our family business was a member. It's good advertising.)

It does some useful work in mediating disputes between local businesses and  their local customers.

It is useless when dealing with businesses outside of the franchise area.

It is not a government institution, again it is at best a mediator.

When the customer paid, did you ship?

Did the money disappear from your PP account?

Is the email address attached to your PP account correct?

This is the most common reason sellers don't get paid when the buyer has sent payment.

Was the transaction marked Paid in eBay but not in Paypal? ( You said you saw it in PP, but what happened then is unclear.)

[ejr3030]

I am having the exact same problem. I made a sale mid March and I know the buyer paid. I even checked their user history and they had a 100% rating status with many purchases and sales. I saw their purchase in my PayPal account but it never showed up as a pending payment. I never received the payment.
I contacted PayPal and they told me that eBay didn’t release the funds. I contacted eBay and they insisted that they released the payment and that I should contact PayPal. I have since contacted eBay and PayPal six times each. Each and every time they tell me to contact the other. It’s been an incredibly infuriating process. I really enjoy eBay and I am a new seller but I can’t believe they have no further steps to deal with an issue like this!
Did you get a response from the BBB when you contacted them?
I’m considering canceling my eBay account because I am a new seller and this really isn’t the kind of customer service that I think is acceptable by any means. Their system is broken and they need to pick up the phone and contact PayPal and develop a better working relationship. Or stop doing business with them.

[femmefan1946]

New and occasional sellers have their customers cleared payments Held for 21 days against their performance.

This is a Buyer Protection and not personal.

If your buyer leaves feedback, the Hold may be lifted.

You can use the cleared but Held payment to buy a Paypal shipping label, and some people actually use that as a quick and dirty proof that they have been paid.

You may even get a discount on the cost of shipping by using PP for the label. You do need a Small Business Solutions number from Canada Post, which you can get at the PO or here:

https://sso.epost.ca/sso/lfe/ui/login?templateId=cpcapps&manifestId=cpgSecurity&sourceUrl=https%3A//...

The payment which you can see as Pending in your PP account should be released today or tomorrow since the 21 days is pretty well up.