Where's my money?

The earphone saga continues. And although I said I wouldn't be, I am annoyed.

It's the cheek of it.

To recap (assuming you've not been following this). I bought some good-looking, high-tech Bluetooth true-wireless earbuds by RHA back in early August. They were comfortable, practical, convenient and they worked well. But almost simultaneously I acquired a free JBL Bluetooth speaker, and found that I preferred listening to that. Hard to pin down why, it was just so.

The new earbuds, for which I'd paid a princely (or princessly) £150 weren't getting a look-in. So I put them up for auction on eBay, and they sold on 6th October for £80. The buyer has had them since 8th October (I posted them using Royal Mail First-Class Special Delivery with tracking) and has since that date has sent eBay positive feedback, which they have flagged up against the sale on their website. I reckon I've been a model seller.

But I'm not a frequent user of eBay. In fact I last sold an item way back in 2011 (a photo lens) and not since - until now. So they are treating me as a new kid on the block, with no history. And since 2011 they have clearly introduced a policy of making newbies wait up to 21 days (sometimes longer, I hear) for sale monies.

At first then, the money-release date (which they'd notify to their slave company PayPal) was going to be 27th October, 21 days on from the sale date. Then it was advanced to today. But now I see it's back to 27th October. Why, if the buyer is clearly happy? And if they need to check me out, to see whether I'm a real person, or what my credit rating is, that can be done almost instantly. Why does it take three weeks?

The amount actually due to me is £77.38, which is that £80.00 less eBay's auction fee of £2.62. I don't need the money urgently. A delay of another two weeks won't affect my finances one bit. But I really dislike eBay holding onto money like this, for no obvious reason.

I suspect that it's simply a way for them to make a profit on money owed to sellers. (Guess what - PayPal, their creature, is now in the credit business. Think about it.)

As I said, exactly when I get that £77.38 is not critical for me. But it might be for some other people. I'm thinking of somebody urgently raising money to live on, or to pay for some unexpected bill. 

It was initially fun using eBay again, but this unwarranted delay has rather soured the affair for me. It's just as well that I haven't anything else of value that I want to auction off. Because I don't want to use eBay now. I feel messed around.

Sequel
Well, I phoned eBay up late in the evening on 13th October to ask about the money. I spoke to a very polite young man with an American accent, who checked that the buyer had indeed got the earbuds and had left positive feedback. So he 'manually' released the £77.38, and said it should show up in my PayPal account within 24 hours. That seems to be an excellent outcome, but we'll see.

eBay and PayPal cough up
Hmm, that little bit of pressure over the phone did the trick. It didn't take 24 hours for my money to be available - less than five hours after my phoning eBay, at 4.15am, PayPal sent me an email confirming that I could now have my net sale proceeds. I saw it on waking. I immediately asked them to transfer the £77.38 to my ordinary bank account, and as I write this (at 9.13am) I can see that this money has indeed reached my bank account, for immediate use if I need to spend it. Which I don't; but so nice to have it safely there at last.

Do I still feel miffed about eBay's behaviour? Yes. I don't mind a cautious set of payout policies, but this felt unreasonable.

PayPal get a rosette for efficiency but a rotten egg for being at the complete beck and call of eBay. Verily a supine lapdog.

All that said, eBay (and PayPal) are facts of life, and no doubt I will have to use them again in the future. At least I know that eBay will respond to a justified payout request. I'll remember that.