The Cold Hard Reality of PayPal Payments and eBay

November 16, 2008 by Revenuer · 2 Comments 

A recent post: “The Keys To Surviving The PayPal 21-Day Hold Policy” on the Brews News, details all of the ways a seller will be subject to the 21 day payment hold policy when accepting payments via PayPal on eBay.

One of the most important segments of the Brews News article should be read and understood by every eBay seller… 

In all cases, your buyer satisfaction rating must be greater than 95%.  A dissatisfied buyer is one who (a) leaves negative or neutral feedback or (b) files a PayPal dispute / seller non-performance dispute or (c) leaves a 1 or 2 star rating in any of the detailed seller ratings categories.  More than 5% buyer dissatisfaction automatically subjects you to the PayPal 21-day hold. 
 
Other than having a buyer satisfaction rating greater than 95% you also either have to 
 
(a) have been an eBay member for more than 6 months and you have 100 feedback or more, or
(b) you will need to have received 20 or more detailed seller ratings in the last 12 months. 
 
eBay sellers who are relatively new (less than 100 feedback or member less than 6 months) or who have had little activity in the last year (fewer than 20 DSRs in the last 12 months) are, therefore, automatically subjected to the PayPal 21-Day hold even if their buyer satisfaction rating is greater than 95%
Reality Check -
These unreasonable and restrictive policies are one of the many reasons why sellers and consultants are having a difficult time recommending the eBay marketing plan to anyone.  In the eCommerce world a 95% approval rating in feedback is almost unheard of.  Beyond this small technicality is the hard reality also mentioned in the Brews News article. The 21 day Paypal hold eliminates almost all safe options to ship internationally (all but international express mail). 

Merchants have considered their options and are realizing the options presented by eBay and Paypal are not the only path to eCommerce and payment processing available.  With services like Google checkout or any secure credit card processing option the balance of security is more even than with Paypal and eBay. Stand alone ecommerce websites and other venue options which allow multiple forms of payment are becoming more prevelent and accepted than ever. 

With eBay, it is obvious the field of play has been skewed towards PayPal as the main payment processing option. Paper payment options are now eliminated officially on the eBay platform, this additional policy has added to the reasons why it has become less advantageous for new or even established merchants to join the eBay family of merchants.
 
What do you think of these policies?  Is Paypal justified in tying a 21 day hold on payments to a single negative feedback or PayPal dispute filing?
Let us know - Wednesday 1:14
Article by: Scott Pooler
Views Expressed may or may not be shared by John “ColderICE” Lawson - Tune in Wednesday on Talkshoe to find out…

Blues Brothers and Peter Gun - How Cool is That?

November 16, 2008 by Revenuer · 1 Comment 

Thanks to @DrewGriffin, one of our Twitter Tribe of Agents we have been inspired to embed this throwback You Tube video here today.  Just for fun…

Agents of Revenue

November 11, 2008 by Revenuer · Leave a Comment 

Post One - Pre- Launch

First Show Airs Tomorrow, Wednesday November 12, at 1:14 PM EST

John Lawson - Scott Pooler

Reality Check Radio, Ecommerce Truth or Dare, The Dudes of Hazard, just a few of the phrases used to describe what we are attempting to accomplish here.

Listen in, tell us what you think - soon we will be on iTunes and in your favorite portable MP3 Player…

Never know - you might just learn something!