HARD LESSON LEARNED: Ebay deserves a 0.
I am a newby seller on Ebay. I am not ever going to be a big-selling online merchant. I am just a retired person trying to reduce my decades of collected stuff. Ebay withheld the buyers payment of $38.14 for a 1950s camera. This was the 2nd item I sold on Ebay. They claimed they withheld the funds in PayPal because the item was not delivered to the buyer. Yet, Ebay placed this hold on the buyers payment for both the camera and the shipping on Sunday and before the package could be retrieved by the USPS carrier on Monday. I shipped the camera the same day of the sale on 02 June 2019. Marked it as shipped that day with the tracking number in Ebay. The buyer sent me an email message through Ebay on 05 June 2019 stating that he had received the camera and was happy with the purchase.
After numerous telephone calls to Ebay the funds from this sale continue to be withheld from my PayPal account. Ebay customer service staff acknowledged they were able to read the buyers email message confirming receipt of the camera. They promised 3 times to remove the hold on the camera payment within 24 hours. Each of those 3 promises by Filipina Ebay customer service staff were not kept and the funds continue to be withheld. Now they claim they have a right to withhold any funds at their discretion.
Additionally, the Ebay customer service people in the Philippines were very disrespectful. In fact a "supervisor" in their Filipino customer service department indicated that she was a "supervisor" and that I should treat her as a superior.
So, I am out a vintage camera; the money for the camera; the money for the shipping (which I paid $4.00 more than what the buyer paid for shipping because of Ebay's miscalculation); Ebays fees that basically were 12%; and PayPal fees.
What did I get; a hard learned lesson not to trust Ebay and sell items through them; wasted time; elevated blood pressure; stress; and most of all a disappointment in how corporations like Ebay continue to rip off people. I learned from reading the numerous complaints from other sellers Ebay commonly does this to sellers. Apparently, this practice has already been reported to the FTC, DOJ, and the BBB by other sellers numerous times. Yet nothing gets done to stop this malicious behavior by Ebay. It needs to stop. Perhaps warning other sellers will help.