eBay photo ID

[leddo]

I switched over to the Ebay direct payments system in January. It worked fine. For six months. They have now changed their terms and conditions. If you check your messages from eBay you will find, hidden away in the small print, that photo id is now required for all sellers using the eBay direct payments system. It is all to do with our security ( no laughing at the back)
My beef with them is that my sale went through in June. If I had been getting paid using Paypal I would have my money. But because I switched over to the no-fuss direct payments system, eBay sat on my money until July 1 when their new photo ID rule kicked in. And because I refuse to give them my passport or driving licence, they are refusing to pay my money into my bank account.
If you have an eBay account, check your seller payments arrangement.
Or you can google ebay photo id. It seems I am not the only one being shafted by this.

[Uncle Fiesta]

Perhaps it depends how long you've been an eBay seller. I've been with them since 2005 and have never been asked for any proof of id, nor have I had any problems with the direct payments system. I just wait until the money goes in, then send the item. (Large and/or expensive items are always collection only; if I'm willing to drive a few miles to pick something up, then I don't see why they shouldn't be.)

What puzzles me, though, is how am I ever going to get any funds in my Paypal account?

[leddo]

Been on eBay since 2005 and never had a problem as my 100 per cent feedback proves. If you have not switched over to their direct payment system, you will not have a problem. If you have, then you could be in the same position as me very soon.
As said previously, I am more than annoyed that my item was sold in June, when there was no photo ID rule. Because I was in the eBay direct paymwent system (orwhatever it is called) my three figure sum payment is still resting in their account some 10 days after the sale was concluded. The buyer has the item and I have nothing to show for that sale, apart from the printout of a 90 minute webchat with 3 people in India.
The best thing to do if you are on eBay is log into your account and check out your seller account section to find out if you are one of the lucky ones being hung out to dry.

[AlanMcKillop]

I think you'll find that from July 1. if you do not give them photo ID you will not get any monies due to you from sales. Your cash will sit frozen in your payments due account. I know this because I have been at this stage since last week.

Well, I just had to test this out.
I listed an item for sale on Friday evening and got an acceptable offer last night, which I accepted. I received an email advising payment had been made late Monday evening but left it until today to check out my payment status. At 10.59 am the payment was shown as processing, at 15.33 it was shown as available funds with next payout shown as 14th July so I guess that the verification process I alluded to in my earlier post, was correct.

If it doesn’t go into my bank account as planned and some form of id is required, I’ll update this status but so far, so good.

[JimN]

What puzzles me, though, is how am I ever going to get any funds in my Paypal account?

You send me £50 via Paypal (which I can use for small ebay purchases and for mobile phone credit purchases) and I'll send you £50.

[AlanMcKillop]

Further to yesterday’s post, the sale proceeds have now been transferred to my bank which on past experience, will take 2 days. As I said in my post of July 6th, I did go through a bank verification process soon after eBay changed the payments process which did not entail any photo id, so not everyone selling an item after 1st July will be subject to that requirement.

I also referred to eBay fees which I found were now much less than the previous combined eBay selling fee and the PayPal fee, the total cost to me on this transaction was just under 1.3% (£3 odds) of the total selling price plus p & p, again much cheaper than what PayPal used to charge as their percentage. The only thing I’m not sure about, is how PayPal make money. Most people will purchase through eBay using PayPal, essentially for credit card protection on purchases and it would appear the full amount goes from PayPal to eBay as that amount is shown on our eBay account, so no fees/commission to PayPal? Very strange.

[artyman]

Not that I use Ebay much these days, but I thought PayPal was owned by Ebay

[AlanMcKillop]

If it does Ken, that would explain things and it would also throw into doubt that eBay is more expensive now than it used to be.

Watch out for eBay deals currently going around, £3 fixed sellers fee, 80% or 90% off final value fees (excluding standard 30 pence transaction fee). Mostly their fee deals apply to the first listing now so if your item doesn’t sell first time round, cancel the automatic listing and then list again when the next deal comes around.

[leddo]

Looks like you've been lucky so far Alan.
I'm now 14 days into my standoff with them. And my money is still somewhere in limboland. The only way for me to resolve this situation now has been to tell eBay where to stick their photo ID rule and cancel my membership.
And from what I gather eBay and Paypal are no longer one happy family, which is probably the source of my grief.

[leddo]

And I should add, eBay took their fees off my payment before deciding to freeze my money. How very throughtful of them. I'd hate to think of Mr and Mrs eBay's kids missing out on a summer holiday because I refuse to give them access to my passport or driving licence.