Paypal 21 Day Hold Policy Update - Merchants Please Read

[Jeeper Belgar]

May, well, most of us merchants on SecondLife utilize the ability to withdraw money from the SecondLife account, to use it in RL.  Well, a new paypal policy is making our lives a bit harder.  From now on, Paypal will hold ALL received payments for 21 days.  Whats this mean to us?  Essentially it means that we now have to wait the 3-4 days PLUS an addition 21 days, because we have no way of validating "that the purcashed item has been received" (geared more towards ebay merchants).  

I have a call into Paypal Customer Service, awaiting a reply from a "Senior CS Rep" reguarding the issue. 

It would be nice if Linden Labs offered other options outside of Paypal to withdraw funds from our accounts.  For more information, see link in the alert below you will get upon next login to Paypal. 

From now on, money you receive will be temporarily held in a pending balance. To learn more, please read our Payment Holds policy.

[Chelsea Malibu]

Holy Carp!!  I hadn't heard this.  Perhaps it's time to reinstate our credit card billing system.  We had built a system with CCBill that allows you to use your card for merchant purchases just like you where a website and you got paid weekly without having to request the payout.

We also built in features such shopping carts so the user could buy all over and then check out just once.  We also have built in gift features and the ability to confirm that they received the product on first rez.

It has reporting that tracks back 7 years, not just 30 days like LL does.

Anyone see a need for this here?

 

[Ceera Murakami]

Not certain this applies across the board for everyone.

I cash out monthly, and there's no indication on my PayPal account that a hold has ever been applied to my incoming funds from LL.

[Jeeper Belgar]

Thanks for the replys! Ceera, this is across the board, being rolled out in groups. I called Paypal CS to confirm, it was initiated on the 25th of July.  I have had my Paypal account for about 10 years, and never had a claim against me.  We withdrawl from LL multiple times a month.  I will post an update once I speak with the Senior CS Rep (assuming they return my call)

 

[Arwen Serpente]

I saw this post and called Paypal. They said the policy change ONLY applies to ebay. Not to us. So there shouldn't be any change in how our funds are currently processed on the PP side of things.

[Jeeper Belgar]

Thanks Arwen,
I asked the CS rep I spoke with, and he said it would be on all payments received, so lets hope he was wrong.  It really seemed like the reps did not know about the policy chage (or at least the one I spoke with) as he was kind of fumbling and ended up having to "look at my account".   Fingers crossed!  That would make life difficult in may aspects imo.  

[Ceera Murakami]

OK. I've had a business PayPal account since well before SL existed, zero complaints, never used eBay at all, and I have a BBB Class A rating as a business.

If I see this show up in my PayPal account, causing holds on my incoming payments from SL or anywhere else, when my income stream is mostly for payments for intangible services, I'm going to be very unhappy.

[Arwen Serpente]

The CS Rep I spoke to understood immediately what I was asking and said that it was only an ebay change. He asked "did you get an email about it?" and I said no but that I had understood from one of my groups there was a policy change. He reassured me it was only ebay and those affected would be receiving emails regarding the policy change.

[Jeeper Belgar]

Hmmm Interesting...  I processed some credit earlier today, so mid-week should be the tell-tail sign.  I have utilized my account for eBay in the past, but not for a while.  I understand the hold on eBay sales, but if it turns into "All Payments" as the rep I spoke with indicated, I will be greatly upset. 

[Smoothie Perl]

So far I received my money after 3-4 days tops. I don't have any indication for such policy in my account. Thank God.

If any of you have some new information it will be appreciated if you share it with us.

[ab Vanmoer]

As far as I know this is an eBay change, not a Paypal change.

From an email I received from eBay a few weeks ago :

Update to the way sellers below eBay's minimum performance standards are paid through PayPal

Starting May 31, sellers who fall below eBay's minimum performance standards may have their buyer payments show as pending in their PayPal account for a period of time to help ensure successful fulfillment.

If you're subject to this update, you'll be notified when you list and you'll receive an email notification from PayPal when your funds are pending. You'll also find information in My eBay showing the estimated date funds will be available and steps you can take to help get your funds faster.

Either its a not so subtle way of eBay trying to push sellers to sell more or else its a genuine attempt to reduce seller fraud.

So it really should have no impact on cashing out from SL.

 

 

[Jeeper Belgar]

Well good news!  First off. I received the following email, which wasn't much of a reassurance to my concern...

"Starting 7/25/2011, money from payments you receive will be placed in a pending balance for up to 21 days. By doing this, we're making sure that there's enough money in your account to cover potential refunds or claims.Even though you can't access the money right away, please ship orders quickly and communicate with your customers. After 21 days, you can withdraw money from each payment as long as the customer hasn't filed a dispute, chargeback, claim, return, or reversal.

The money may be available sooner if:

• We can confirm that the item was delivered.
• Your buyer leaves positive feedback. (Applies only to eBay items)

This change isn't necessarily permanent. We'll review your account every 35 days and re-evaluate if we should continue to hold your payments. If we decide to stop holding payments, we'll email you to let you know."

Then I received the call back from the Paypal Senior Customer Service Rep, who had great news for me!  He told me that they have been getting flooded with calls reguarding this "misunderstanding".  He then proceeded to tell me he went through my account and noticed most of the payments are "mass payments" meaning from a company such as Linden Labs.  He assured me that these types of payments will not be held.  

Sorry for the concern, but this thread might end up being usful in the long run if anyone elese receives a similar email, I know the first place I checked was the SL forum.  

Thanks!
Jeeper

(P.S. LindenLabs should STILL try to give us an alternitive to Paypal... putting all your eggs in once basket sometimes bites you in the rear) 

 

[Darrius Gothly]

Not sure this is related but ...

My youngest son's GF apparently did some selling on eBay a couple years back. Apparently she had some "Seller's Fees" that she never paid. (I didn't think that was possible .. but whatever.) At any rate, in the last month she has been getting hounded daily by a collection service demanding repayment of those fees.

I mention this because it sounds like PayPal has begun stepping up their game on Fraud Reduction and Collections efforts. That 21-day hold sounds like their way of making sure the buyer is not going to reverse out their payment thus sticking PayPal with the loss if the Seller has already cashed out the funds.

[Toysoldier Thor]

well PayPal not doing it for LL... I just got paid out this afternoon for a submission i started on monday

[Nefertiti Nefarious]

Here's the PayPal Statement:  When some sellers receive payments, we may hold the money in a pending balance for up to 21 days to help make sure that there are funds in the seller's account to cover potential refunds or claims. The funds may be released early if PayPal determines that the transaction has been fulfilled and customers are satisfied.

Note their use of the word "SELLERS" ... when you cash out from SL, you are not selling anything.

 

We had the same hysteria sweep through tyhe Yahoo Contributor Forums - and the answer there was that the massy payments like the ines Yahoo! sends (and SL) are not subject to this. It is 100% aimed at eBay sellers.



[wrable Amat]

lol you really freaked me out..I normally draw 2 times a month,Last month I had a great month and figure I just wait until the end of the month to cash out..I forgot my car insurance was due and 6 days ago I started te cash out and was really needing it in the PayPal on  Friday or the latest Tuesday ...it did not go threw Friday but I thought "IM sure it will be there on Monday or Tuesday like I needed" then I saw this and started to freak..thank god