eBay 101 - Funds Availability

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I've been an occasional seller in eBay PH. Most of the time, payments are made upon meet up and bank deposits. With this, cash is immediately accessible. With PayPal, eBay's only automatic accepted payment method, they have a policy that would hold a buyer's payment for a maximum of 21 days to ensure successful fulfillment. 

Though I have been a member since 2012, it was my first time to successfully sold an item on eBay US and mt second time accepting payment via PayPal. As such, my account is tagged as a new seller and my funds were not readily available. I'm quite familiar on how funds availability works but it's very different if you are the one experiencing it. 

Tips

It is important that you have extra cash on hand to send the item to the buyer while you wait for your funds to be available.  Most sellers make the mistake of assuming that payments are readily available but ends up not being to send the item since they are out of pocket. In my case, it was a good thing I was able to shell out my own cash to send the item to the US

Two words: successful fulfillment. All you have to do is to upload tracking information and your funds availability date would change to 3 days after estimated delivery date. 

If by any chance you sent the item without tracking, the best thing to do is to mark the item as shipped and your funds availability date would update to 7 days after estimated date of delivery.

If your item is being collected in person, it would be an automatic 21 days waiting time. It's better to receive cash payment upon collection. Note that payment upon collection will not have the transaction be covered with eBay's or PayPal's seller protection. If it would be of any help, collection in person wouldn't also be eligible. 

It would be a plus if you receive a positive feedback from your buyer. Once your tracking information shows that the item has been delivered, contact customer support and ask for the release to be expedited since you have proof that the item was received by the buyer and you already got a positive feedback for the transaction. 

This has worked for me but is not a guarantee to work for everyone. Otherwise, you really need to wait for 3 days after the estimated date of delivery to have your funds released. 

Resources:

https://www.paypal.com/ph/webapps/mpp/funds-availability