changes to payment terms again, but with a new reserve program

[pubstuff]

i got a message from ebay today advising of new terms in regards to payment terms of use to sellers, specifically using managed payments and the new reserve program fund. it may or may not apply to your account, but if you accept the changes, you will have no option to not be part of the reserve program if they deem it does apply to you.

there is 2 main types. a rolling reserve or a set minimum reserve. 

they wish to hold a percentage of your proceeds in a reserve fund on a rolling 60 day cycle, so they hold 10% of your payments and on day 61, you get that 10% they held on day 1 and so forth OR if you sell high dollar items, they can hold funds until you reach the minimum set reserve amount, which in their example may be $5000.

i see (i think) you can opt out by jumping thru hoops, but after 20 years with ebay, it may be time that enough is enough. i'm getting tired of jumping, changing and adapting when sales and views seem to be plummeting.

im sure others have got the message, if you dont read that stuff, maybe you should.

the link is here (i hope) .. go to section 7, which is managed payments and then the reserve funds section.

anybody have thoughts about this?

[gutterpunkz05]

Not overly worried about it, and will wait and see if I am affected.

Ebay has always had the option to withhold funds, usually applied when variations in trading patterns occur,

IE,  suddenly selling items of considerable higher value, total sales etc.

[danieh_6]

I am not particularly too worried, I think it might be for high return rate sellers or below standard sellers, however if this gets implemented for us, we'd be annoyed, because we have 1% valid tracking

[designers*n*more]

I wonder then if I can charge eBay interest on “my” money that they hold! 😁😁😁

I mean, buyer pays, eBay gets the money first (plus interest no doubt on the time it takes them to process funds to a seller), I send my items out as quickly as possible, but if this comes into effect, eBay may keep part of my money for 60 days!

now multiple that by the millions of eBay sellers, wow what a payday eBay is going to have with the interest they will make!

[pubstuff]

Ebay has always had the option of holding funds? Thats a long way from being accurate. You've been a member long enough to remember a time before we were even forced to accept PayPal. For many older users we were able to insist on bank transfers, even money orders as payment and not even offer PayPal. Many buyers wanted to send cash in the post and I remember getting many payments that way. Then along come PayPal as an option, but then once Ebay purchased PayPal, it became an enforced option until of course Ebay sold off the golden goose that PayPal had become, so along came managed payments to get another slice of the payment pie.

I think you should note that it says Ebay has to right to change the reserve program conditions at any time in the future, it also says once you accept this change, you are bound by it. So accept them now believing you may not be affected and then find you can't do anything about it later if they decide to implement it for every user. That's the bit that concerns me most.

This affects every new user as of today, but existing users as of January. The cynic in me would suggest its been done at this time of year to slip thru in busy times or with holidays. Sadly due to plummeting sales, im lucky enough to have noticed perhaps.

[gutterpunkz05]

We may require a reserve if we have reason to believe there is an increased risk of non-fulfilment of your obligations under these Payments Terms of Use. We take into consideration relevant risk factors before requiring a reserve, including, as applicable (i) your eBay account history, (ii) whether the category you are listing in has a higher likelihood of chargebacks or refunds, (iii) whether your eBay account has an elevated number of customer claims or disputes, (iv) your business and/or personal credit history (business sellers may be subject to credit agency checks), (v) whether you are selling products in advance of availability (pre-selling orders), and (vi) whether you have extended delivery time frames.

Depending on your performance and the risk associated with your use of Managed Payments, a reserve may be raised, lowered, or removed at any time. The amount of each reserve (and any subsequent change) will be reasonably determined based on the seller-specific risk (including the volume of your sales). The amount and status of each reserve will be displayed under the Payments tab in the Seller Hub/My eBay and we will notify you of any reserves we require of you.