
I published a
letter to the editor today from a buyer who said they can't get their funds released by eBay even though the seller cancelled the order. Imagine - the reader paid for an item, the seller cancelled the order, but eBay is still holding their funds weeks later.
Lo and behold, a reader sent an email today who was experiencing a similar situation but from the seller perspective.
The buyer filed a dispute, the seller okayed the refund, but eBay continues to hold an amount the seller already refunded to the buyer.
The seller sent a screenshot showing the dispute was opened 2 weeks ago and showing that the seller accepted the dispute and allowed the refund, yet it also states, "The buyer hasn't received a refund."
The seller told us said they did refund the buyer, yet eBay is holding that same amount ("Held from payouts until the dispute is closed").
Even if these two incidents are flukes, an entity that processes payments should offer customer service that would allow the parties to get such problems fixed. But neither reader could get eBay customer service to fix the problem and release their funds.
It begs the question, how much money is eBay holding altogether?
I'm reminded of the 1991
Jerry Seinfeld episode where he's talking to a customer service agent at a car rental kiosk who's explaining to Jerry why she can't give him a car despite the fact he made a reservation.
Rental Car Agent : I think I know why we have reservations.
Jerry : I don't think you do. You see, you know how to *take* the reservation, you just don't know how to *hold* the reservation. And that's really the most important part of the reservation: the holding. Anybody can just take them.
In these cases, eBay knows how to *hold* buyer and seller funds, they just don't know how to *release* them.
Just imagine if the Jerry Seinfeld show took place today, what he might say about the challenges of buying and selling online!