Reminder: Safer Payments Requirements Go Into Effect on March 17th
March 14, 2008 | 11:40AM PST/PT
John McDonald
Hi everyone, I'm John McDonald with the US Trust and Safety team. As Jim Ambach, VP of Seller Experience, outlined in his announcement in January, we're making some changes that are intended to make the buying experience on eBay better and safer. As part of this initiative, expanded safer payment requirements are scheduled to go into effect on March 17.
Since January 2007, all new sellers have been required to offer PayPal or a merchant credit card as a payment option to their buyers. On March 17, this policy will be expanded to sellers or items when they meet one or more of the following conditions:
the seller has higher than 5% buyer dissatisfaction rates
the seller has less than 100 feedback
the items are listed in categories with higher rates of buyer complaints, including: Gift Certificates, Video Games, Cell Phones, Computers and Consumer Electronics.
In addition, for a small number of transactions that have a higher risk of buyer dissatisfaction, we may delay the release of funds paid through PayPal. This hold will be placed on only a small percentage of transactions for up to 21 days. Then the funds will be released if there is no dispute. The funds may be released earlier if the buyer leaves positive feedback, or if PayPal can confirm delivery of the item. Sellers enrolled in the PayPal Money Market Fund will earn interest on any pending funds in their PayPal accounts.
Your payments will not be held if you meet the following requirements:
You have been an eBay member for 6 months or more, and
Your total Feedback score is 100 or greater, and
Your buyer dissatisfaction percentage is less than 5%.
Or
Your average DSR is 4.5 or greater and
Your have received 20 or more DSRs in the last 12 months.
I know that there have been questions among our Community about payment holds. Monroe Labouisse, my colleague at PayPal, explains holds in further detail on his post to the PayPal blog – I definitely encourage you to read it.
For more information about safer payment requirements in general, see the safer payments section of our FAQ.
Sincerely,
John McDonald
eBay Trust & Safety
http://www2.ebay.com/aw/core/200803141139352.html