Paypal holding funds - a buyer needs help =(

[Stars]

I'm not sure if this is the right place, but I'm really disappointed and confused.

I won a job lot of 9 G2 ponies on Tuesday night, hoping to be able to restore them over this week, which I have off college. I paid immediately after the auction ended, and from my end, Paypal is telling me my payment is fine and it has gone through. I've paid for and even recieved other items since then, so I know my card is fine. I know this isn't my fault. It's been six days and I've heard nothing from the seller, so I contacted them asking if everything was okay and would the ponies be dispatched soon.

She replied that paypal had put my payment on hold and she was waiting for it to clear. I've never sold via ebay and only started buying last year, so I googled to find out what that meant. From what I can gather, it is no fault of mine, but the only three ways to resolve it is either leave positive feedback, wait 3 days after proof of delivery, or wait 21 days.

I'm not leaving positive feedback until my ponies arrive and I am happy with them. She isn't going to post my ponies until the payment is cleared. I feel I'm now stuck waiting 21 days for my ponies just to possibly be dispatched, and I don't want to hassle the seller by asking her to ship via ebay (which I think releases the shipping costs from the held payment) or post them out of her own pocket so I can leave positive feedback. I'm very nervous about buying and selling online as I'm very inexperienced and I've never had this happen before on a purchase, so I feel rather helpless. I don't want to bother the seller further, but I don't want to leave feedback without recieving my ponies, but equally I'm hugely disappointed to be waiting that long for ponies that could have easily arrived by now (and other ponies bought after have)

Furthermore, the seller only had one recent negative feedback when I won the ponies, and it wasn't on a pony lot and she had tons of positive feedback on other pony sales, so I felt pretty confident. Now I find she's got another negative feedback since I won the auction, both to do with items not arriving, and now I'm just very stressed and anxious about what should have been a really exciting purchase =(

I've seen lots of support on held payments for the seller, but nothing from the buyer's perspective, and I don't know what, if anything, I can do.

[ponylady]

It sounds like maybe Paypal is holding the funds on her end for what ever reason. There could be many reasons why. Perhaps that she has had to many cases opened for items not received if you said she has received some negatives recently for that reason.

The thing is Paypal will release the portion of the funds you paid for shipping to her. They only hold the initial payment for the item, that is not your problem though. It's hers.

[NoDivision]

She is probably a newer seller or has not reached the "magic number" yet, which means ebay/paypal hold her funds until the buyer receives the item. It's not the other way around. There is no reason she should be holding onto your items and refusing to ship them until paypal releases the funds.

Send your buyer to this page http://pages.ebay.com/pay/help/ and tell them to ship your stuff :\

[Freeindeed]

Is it possible that you paid with an E-check? To me, that's what it sounds like. If you didn't have the funds to cover the purchase available in your Paypal balance, Paypal will transfer money from your bank account, but it's like a check and it will take a few days to clear. It might take longer if the seller is in another country... I had someone from Canada recently use an E-check to pay me (I live in the US) and it took about a week for it to clear. I shipped the item the next day. It wasn't my fault, and there are no holds on my account, it was just that I wanted to wait until the E-check cleared before I shipped the item.

[NoDivision]

It's (most likely) not an echeck issue. It's standard ebay procedure for funds to be held from newer sellers. The buyer should know this or be able to figure it out - it's explained right next to the item in their ebay.

And this absolutely does not excuse them from not shipping. They are required to send you your items after you have made payment, not after it clears to them. If you send your seller to the help page I linked and the seller refuses to ship because of the funds being held, which sounds like what is happening now with multiple buyers leaving negative feedback, then I'd open an item not received case :\

[lovesbabysquirmy]

I would send her a message as NoDivision is saying, ask for the shipping proof, and if she still won't provide it, then you need to open a case for a non-performing seller/item not received.    Call Ebay if you need help!

Paypal does hold funds, but shipping money is supposed to come out of the seller's pocket FIRST and then be reimbursed by Paypal to them.  If they don't have the "internal expenses" to ship, they should never have listed them on Ebay! 

So sorry you are going through this!  Please keep us informed. 

[HawaiianRain]

Yeah, she can't hold your stuff random until all her money clears. Contact her again, show her the page above and if she still doesn't get it, file.

[ponylady]

The thing is Stars mentioned this seller has tons of positive feedback with some recent negative, which leads me to believe she is not a new seller or new to the game. I am assuming the funds are being held because she is not meeting eBays performance standards. If that is the case they will hold the funds just the same as if she was a new seller.


As I previously mentioned Paypal will release the amount it costs for her to ship it to you. Do not let her tell you otherwise.

[Stars]

Thank you for the responses and help everyone.

Freeindeed - I paid for it using my debit card through paypal, as I have done with all my recent purchases which I've had no issues with. On my end, Paypal is telling me it is completed.

I'm going to send her the link, having never sold anything I don't know the exact rules and obligations to when she should send the items so I thought the may be entitled to wait till the payment clears - thank you for clearing up that this is not the case.

She's got 15 positive seller feedback, all pony auctions. The 3 negative (2 recent, one from last june) are all for other items. I normally go for higher rated sellers, but this was a lot I really wanted for a great price and the other positive pony feedback felt like a good sign to me.

I'll keep you all updated

[NoDivision]

Well, either way, when your funds are being held (whether for performance issues or being a new seller) there is a little link you can click on that will tell you why. At least there used to be - I assume there still is. So the seller should be able to look at that and realize its on their end, not the buyers'.

eta: 15 positive feedbacks means she is still under the 'new seller' umbrella under ebay's current standards - I think? At least when I was still having my payments held it was something like 25 positive sales and/or a certain dollar amount.

But yeah- either way, totally on the seller. 

[Stars]

I've not yet recieved a reply from her. How long should I wait for a reply before opening a case? 

[ponylady]

I would maybe give it a day or two more to see if she responds. If not then I would proceed with the case, that should get her attention.

[Unicorn_pops]

Oh wow, yeah the seller can't hold onto your items that you paid for just because Paypal is holding her funds. You did nothing wrong. I agree wait a couple days then open a case. Make a comment in the message selection that "Seller stated she wasn't shipping until paypal released the funds to her." 

Goodluck, hope you get your ponies!

[Stars]

I opened a case and she responded today that she hadn't replied to me due to floods, which is entirely understandable, and my ponies will be posted around Wednesday =D

Sent from my GT-I8190N using Tapatalk

[Unicorn_pops]

That's good news, don't close the case until you get them though. You can't reopen if they never show.