@thatretrogirl wrote:
Ebay is refusing to give me my money. Since forcing me to be 'payment managed' through them instead of Paypal, they are demanding my photo identification. My ebay account has had an excellent rating since 2008. I have provided all of my sensitive information to them except my actual photo. This is not enough for them. They want it all. Enough for any identity theft to be very easy if the opportunity presents. It is bad enough that they withhold our payments from sales for 30 days (resulting in us having to pay our own expenses for postage to buyers) but now they are refusing to give me my money completely! They have also barred my account so I can no longer sell anything. This has made me feel so sick I will no longer be purchasing from Ebay either. Where in Australia can we get LEGAL ASSISTANCE to help us get OUR money that EBAY is withholding?
I have made bold the points in your post that I have chosen to reply to (sorry in advance for the long post).
My ebay account has had an excellent rating since 2008
This means nothing. It’s not about you. I’m not being disrespectful or flippant, but until MP eBay were just a platform for selling. They didn’t have anything to do with payments and the movement of money as covered/defined in financial regulation legislation, including Anti-Money Laundering (AML) obligations/legislation (as pointed out by jellybirddesigns). They are now involved in the financial aspect and now need to adhere to the relevant legislation, especially with regards to having those who use their site for selling having to establish their identity. Want to blame someone . . . blame the politicians!
They want it all
They really have no choice. It is a case of comply or stop having Aussie sellers use their business . . . and only allow Aussies to buy from overseas using another site for payment of purchases i.e. PayPal.
they withhold our payments from sales for 30 days
Not sure what this is about. Under Managed payments you can choose when you get funds from your sales. Many have chosen the ‘2 day’ option, I have chosen the ‘every Tuesday’ option. Certainly not anything near 30 days.
You may have to pay postage up front, but you will get the money paid by buyers for postage when your payments come through (if you choose to keep selling by providing the required information). If your business model relies on receiving funds from each sale before paying for postage for each sale then it is doomed to fail sooner rather than later regardless of MP.
They have also barred my account so I can no longer sell anything
No they haven’t. They have simply suspended your selling privileges until you supply the information required for them to comply with Australian Laws.
Ultimately, you have a choice to make. If you object to providing the ID you have been asked for then you can’t sell on eBay . . . provide the ID and be able to sell.
I have provided my ID for MP on all 4 of my accounts. I think that although there have been data breaches on many large websites that I can’t see that if someone gets possession of thousands, more likely millions, of personal member information on eBay members the chances they are going to choose mine for identity theft are minuscule. The theft of my identifying info will not yield them much benefit. Good luck using my identifying info to get a loan and scam a bank! They could retire to an island in the West Indies on the $50 I keep in the account linked to eBay MP. I have a NAB account that I use mainly for eBaying. When it has money in it I use to for every day purchases such as stamps, fuel and coffees until the balance drops to $50 (enough to pay the postage on my next dozen sales).
You are more likely to have someone steal your identity by simply going through your letter box and getting information about you than through an eBay data breach.
In fact, of all the identity theft stories I have seen on programs like ACA this has been the most used method. That, and gleaning information form Facebook pages or falling for scam phone calls.
