Payment on HOLD

I have sold over 1300 items on ebay and today was the first time I received a message, when a buyer paid for an item, that the funds would be on HOLD until after the item has been delivered.

I contacted ebay and this was the response I got - "Yes, you have not come across it before however the hold program is always their and after reviewing your account there are less number of tracking used and therefore the funds has been placed on hold till the tracking is scanned or 3 days after the estimated delivery date."

I did accidently post the item as an Australia Post Standard Parcel that has tracking but I did contact the buyer, who has previously bought from me, and explained that it would be untracked as I only charged $3.50. The buyer agreed.

The response I received from ebay seems to imply that I won't be getting funds until 3 days after the delivery date from now on, if untracked, or when delivery has been confirmed when tracked.

Tracking is not feasible for single low costs items, the cost would be more, or nearly as much, as the item.

I have had 1 buyer contact me about an item not being delivered and I refunded them straight away.

Has anyone come across this before?