eBay Managed Payments Frustrates Sellers Again With Payout Failure
eBay sellers went on social and community forums complaining that scheduled payouts from the eBay Managed Payment system were not showing up in their bank accounts.
The company initially told sellers to check with their banks (likely a boilerplate response), but then later issued a statement:
“There was an issue that affected payouts for a number of managed payments sellers on December 2nd, 2020. This issue has been resolved and all affected payouts were re-sent on December 2nd.
“We do not expect sellers to experience any delay in receiving their funds. Depending on your bank, your payouts should be reflected in your bank account in the next 1-4 business days. There is no action for you to take at this time.
We apologize for any inconvenience.”
There is no word from eBay about what caused this problem with payouts this week. But any issues with its eBay Managed Payments system immediately gets many long-time sellers upset that are not happy about being forced into the program versus staying exclusively with PayPal.
eBay Managed Payment’s Rocky Start Continues To Dog The Program
eBay’s Managed Payments program had a rocky rollout as the company poorly explained some of the beta restrictions which led to sellers becoming infuriated that they could not accept PayPal payments during that period.
Equally, buyers did not understand that sellers that had opted in to this new payments program could not accept PayPal and become angry with sellers who appeared to be “refusing” to accept PayPal.
Additionally, many sellers used PayPal as a defacto bank account using the funds from sales to pay for shipping labels, business services, and even more inventory. PayPal’s business debit card made it easy for sellers to avoid having to maintain a separate business checking account.
Just the simple omission of not allowing sellers to use funds from eBay sales to pay for shipping labels created a lot of uproar. Now sellers had to use another funding source (credit card or bank account) to pay for the label just to complete the transaction.
eBay seemed to have misread how sellers were operating on their platform. Many sellers did not have separate business bank accounts and used PayPal to keep business and personal finances apart. The shipping label issue alone comingled finances for many sellers, adding to more headaches on how to track business expenses.
While many issues have been resolved, sellers can again accept PayPal and funds from eBay sales can now be used to buy shipping labels, the beta rollout was hampered by poor communication and implementation.
New eBay sellers are likely to have a favorable view of today’s eBay Managed Payments as the system is on par with many other marketplaces and services.
But with the initial rollout being as rocky as it was, any subsequent issue such as yesterday’s payouts failure will bubble up seller negativity again. It also acts as a reminder that eBay still has a long way to go to rebuild trust in its Managed Payments program with a large base of long-time sellers on the platform.
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Richard Meldner
Richard is co-founder of eSeller365. He has over 17 years of experience on eBay which includes tens of thousands of sales to buyers in over 100 countries and even has experience with eBay’s VeRO program enforcing intellectual property rights for a former employer. And for about two years Richard sold products on Amazon using Amazon FBA in the US.
To “relax” from the daily business grind, for a few weekends a year, he also works for IMSA as a professional race official.
So, now eBay expects me to buy postage and mail out products and THEN, 1-4 days down the road MY money should show up in my bank account?
I had a sale on eBay Saturday evening.
Now, Monday morning I purchase postage and ready the product for shipping.
Unfortunately, the funds for this purchase (from Buyer) are nowhere to be found.
NOT in my PayPal account
Not on eBay Seller account
NOT in my Chase checking account.
Really? This is how to run a business?
Yes ebays keeping payment for items sold for 7 days or more before paying out
How about not sending the merchandise until the money is in your hands. And say so in bold letters on all your products. Everyone should do that and let eBay watch sales go to zero. They will straighten their shit right up. It’s a shame no sellers have the balls to do it.
Without seller protection from buyers who use and abuse the return policy, ie returning sold items and charging return shipping with no recourse for the sellers. EBAY cannot be trusted with access to sellers accounts.
A AS-IS sale is final and buyers have always accepted risk as long as descriptions are accurate. When their reason for return is exactly what was described in the sale description, obviously. Trust in EBAY disappears when there is zero communication, only a refund to buyer. Ebay is lazy. PayPal at least had a process which included communication.
Not real sure how EBAY can value Buyers above Sellers to the extent the sellers no longer use the platform.
I sold my first item on ebay. I sold something because I needed the money for expenses. I was notified that it would pay out tomorrow, and then notified that they were doing a “periodic” audit or something, now I don’t know if I will have the funds I need in time. I wish it was as simple as the buyer pays, then you get a positive review, and get your money. After all, it is your money.