eBay is working with yet another financial services firm to offer working capital loans to sellers. On Wednesday, July 10, 2024, it announced Business Cash Advance, a new eBay Seller Capital revenue-based financing product provided by Liberis, a “global embedded finance platform.”
eBay used to market PayPal’s working capital to sellers until eBay took over managing payment processing a few years after the 2015 eBay-PayPal split, and eBay had entered into a deal in in 2018 to market Square Capital directly to its sellers. Then in 2020, it entered into a deal with Lending Point to offer “eBay Seller Capital powered by LendingPoint.”
In yesterday’s announcement, eBay said its new Business Cash Advance offers eligible US sellers up to $1 million in working capital, with payment based on a pre-agreed percentage of gross sales. eBay said the program, offered through Liberis, delivers:
- A seamless application experience: 100% online and personalized application experience that takes as little as three minutes.
- Extensive financing options: Pre-approved funding offers ranging from $500 up to $1M removing the fear of rejection.
- Fast access to capital: Upon approval, funds are typically transferred in as little as 12-24 hours.*
- Flexible payments: Flexible payment schedules that scale with the seller’s sales cycle. There is no minimum payment and no early payment penalty.
- Transparent reporting: Sellers can easily track payment progress, reconcile payments and sales proceeds, and view all reporting in one place on the eBay Seller Hub.
eBay’s Vice President and General Manager of Global Payments and Financial Services Avritti Khandurie Mittal said in part in the announcement, “eBay Seller Capital is aimed at fueling our sellers’ growth by providing them with tailored financing solutions that meet the unique needs of their businesses. The addition of Business Cash Advance to our suite of offerings in partnership with Liberis enables us to expand capital availability for our sellers on flexible terms – when they need it the most.”
eBay linked to more information on the eBay Seller Capital landing page on its website, which includes information about the new Liberis working capital loans and term loans from Funding Circle. The page links to terms and conditions, FAQs, and other additional information.
I decided to look into this when it was offered to me, and to say the least, this is just another Ebay rip-off to get money from Sellers. The process took about 2 week to complete before I was told I did not finally qualify due to “My Affordability”. This is Ebay’s way to replace the Advance Money Process that Pay-Pal offered and it falls short. This company knows what my monthly sales are, as Ebay allowed them to look at such.
I used the offers to us Sellers from Pay-Pal 3 times and had no problem with an advance of 4 times, 4 times the amount offered by these people, which turned out tobe a bait-and-switch.
They offered me $3,000.00 at first, then when I half completed the paperwork they were asking for, they dropped the offer to $1,279.00. The up front fee was $159.00. Terms were they would take a certain amount from my sales directly from Ebay to pay the advance back. I asked how much they of my sales they would take and the Lady told me it would be between 5% – 30% of every sale. Down the road, they told me it would be 26% as we got further into this. This was the total of each sale on Ebay, which included the Sales tax and Shipping Fee. Ebay now considers the total sale to include all of those fees I never receive, not the net.
After over 15 telephone calls too me, and 3 business weeks, they turn down my application. In their application agreement they get to give your information to their and Ebay’s 3rd. party’s, whoever that may be. They invited me to re-apply in 3 months. This is a rip-off. I thought I’d never say this but Pay-Pal treated us right for the most part. Ebay’s (Mis) Managed Payments is a total sham.