Power Seller College, the leading online learning community for eBay sellers, has issued a notice explaining the introduction of eBay’s new ’21-day Holding Policy’ which is believed to have caused much consternation among the website’s professional sellers.
Numerous eBay sellers have received the following message from eBay in the last six months, stating:
“Starting Jan. 16, 2012, money from payments you receive will be placed in a pending balance for up to 21 days. By doing this, we’re making sure that there’s enough money in your account to cover potential refunds or claims. Even though you can’t access the money right away, please ship orders quickly and communicate with your customers. After 21 days, you can withdraw money from each payment as long as the customer hasn’t filed a dispute, chargeback, claim, return or reversal.”
Since then, eBay has been inundated with complaints from sellers, who suddenly find themselves having to wait to receive payment for their goods, even though they have shipped them out in a timely manner.
Power Seller College can now report eBay’s reasoning for the new policy, as explained by eBay Vice President Christopher Payne.
The idea behind the new 21-day holding policy is to improve the quality and standards of the eBay auction experience, by reducing the number of transactions that end in the money being refunded. Power Seller College explain that in order to achieve what is obviously a worthwhile goal for everyone concerned, eBay have devised a new filtering system that flags up sellers who carry a certain level of risk with regards to having transactions canceled or complaints made against them.
Power Seller College states that eBay has come up with numerous triggers in their system, including obvious ones such as sellers delivering broken items, fakes, or not delivering them at all. In addition, there are many triggers which the company has not disclosed, which include their evaluation of a seller’s history.
Even so, Power Seller College points out that the majority of sellers do receive their money sooner than the 21-day period. It’s possible for sellers to get their money in just 3 days, so long as eBay can verify buyer satisfaction. Less than 1% of sellers have had to wait the full 21-day period, adds Power Seller College.
