Paypal now holds funds for up to 21 days?!!?

[Analog]

Got this e-mail from paypal...

Funny thing is, I have been with e-bay since 1999, and I have never had a dispute and have 100% positive feedback. I don't sell "high risk" items. Not sure why they did this, must be a generic thing. Anyone else get this recently?

_______________
An explanation of payment holds and how they apply to you
Your business is important to us. That's why we're committed to providing a fast and secure payment service to you and your customers while keeping our prices competitive. We're also committed to clearly communicating changes to our policies and procedures. So, we're writing to let you know about a change to your PayPal account.
From now on, payments you receive will be temporarily held in a pending balance. This pending balance helps make sure that you'll have enough money in your account to cover any buyer claims.
Payments will be held in a pending balance for up to 21 days. For example, if you receive a $100 payment (after fees), the $100 will be held in a pending balance for up to 21 days. After 21 days, the money will be available for withdrawal.
The money may be released sooner if:

1. We can confirm that the item was delivered
2. Your buyer leaves positive feedback. (Applies only to eBay items.)

We know this is a change in the way we do business with you and we hope you understand that you haven't done anything wrong. In deciding whether to apply payment holds, we review many factors including transaction activity, business type, and customer disputes.
Payment holds are often applied to new sellers who don't have a lot of transaction history, sellers in traditionally high risk industries (for example, travel or tickets), or sellers who've had a high number of claims filed against them.
If you're a PayPal Money Market Fund customer, you'll continue to earn interest on the total balance while your money is held.
To learn more about this policy change, please read our latest funds availability policy
We appreciate your business and look forward to a continued partnership. Don't hesitate to contact us with any questions.
Thanks,

PayPal

 

[de8212]

been like that for a long time.

 

[OILFIELDTRASH]

Sounds reasonable. Had a guy rip me off before and paypal had no way of recovering the money from him. I was sol.

 

[ktehmok]

This should have been done years ago. It would have saved a lot of people from getting ripped off & would have eliminated a good percentage of the people in this thread:

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=617

 

[SKORPI0]

Bought an item in Newegg, but the 10% Bing Cash Back did not last. So I canceled the order when 10% BCB came back.

Paypal shows that I got the money back/refunded, but I don't see it in my bank account tied to it. I wonder if the 21 days applies to this. :\

 

[BarkingGhostar]

If you use PreyPal then obviously you haven't figured the abuse out yet.

 

[waggy]

yeap. i don't use paypal them much anymore. the abuse from them and others is insane.

i used to buy/sale a lot on ebay but now there is far to many scams

 

[Dulanic]

Sounds reasonable. Had a guy rip me off before and paypal had no way of recovering the money from him. I was sol.

That's why IF you buy through paypal you do it though a credit card. Paypal tries to act like a bank and expects not to have to take up the responsibility of being one. Years and years ago Visa/MC etc... all said no, no, no... we don't care if your a 3rd party you are responsible for all disputes with merchants paid through you. So if you pay with a CC, you dispute it, done over.

 

[Numenorean]

It's stupid and only hurts the good sellers. This is one reason why I don't recommend using ebay. Everyone knows this.

 

[sivart]

craigslist is my first choice. If no interest there, then here and finally eBay

 

[Red Squirrel]

Wow that sucks. Not a HUGE deal since I know I will eventually be able to take out the money (I usually play with the US / CAD rate and take it out at a good time) but still.

Probably explains why my coworker is having so much trouble getting his money, he probably got hit with that.

 

[QueBert]

It's stupid and only hurts the good sellers. This is one reason why I don't recommend using ebay. Everyone knows this.

Holding funds isn't unusual at all. I sell tee-shirts on Printfection and they hold funds for 21 days. I would imagine most places on-line have at least a 2 week hold. If a seller screws the pooch and a buyer wants a refund what's going to happen? The company (Paypal, Printfection, whoever) might get stuck having to refund the buyer their money. This way there's no possible risk of a buyer getting screwed. Good seller or not, this is a common practice. If a seller adjusts accordingly and factors in the 21 days they'll be fine. As a buyer I like having this security that I can get my money back on a transaction gone bad.

 

[slightlyhuman]

yes, noticed it the other day. got $344 sitting in paypal that i can't touch.