21 day hold started on £2.50 payment, i didnt use tracking, how can it be stopped?

[lucy]

I normally use royal mail recorded and put the tracking number into paypal when i send the order out, however recently i sold some items which were about £2.60 each

I sold about 30 of these items and sent them out 1st class normal post,
using recorded delivery would be at least £1.20 on a £2.60 item, it was not feasible.


Then today I got a payment for £2.60 and a 21 day hold, this is the first time ever that this 21 day hold has happened to me

I think because i sent out about 30 items under £3 each just normal post and didnt use the tracking, thats what caused the 21 day hold.

I know its recommended that you use tracking but for orders under £3 its just not worth it at all, you'll be losing money that way paying £1.20 for a £3 item and after ebay and paypal take their share, you be losing money instead.

what do you guys recommend?

[First Edition]

I recommend putting tracking on everything, no matter the cost. This helps paypal prove the item is shipped, and I just throw in the "cost of doing business bin" of expenses. When you sell high dollar items, it helps out A LOT if you prove ALL of your items are shipped, and done so quickly.

[oompaloompa]

does it really matter if such a low amount gets a hold?

I get more annoyed when its much higher..

sending with tracking on low priced goods is probably not worth it, I only track things over £10

[lucy]

Originally Posted by oompaloompa

does it really matter if such a low amount gets a hold?

I get more annoyed when its much higher..

sending with tracking on low priced goods is probably not worth it, I only track things over £10

if more and more payments under £10 get a hold, would this then raise the possibility of the paypal account being limited and paypal asking you to produce photo id, bank statements............etc

i always add tracking on items £10 +

trying to post something under £3 using recorded will simply make you lose money on the whole sale

[lucy]

Originally Posted by First Edition

I recommend putting tracking on everything, no matter the cost. This helps paypal prove the item is shipped, and I just throw in the "cost of doing business bin" of expenses. When you sell high dollar items, it helps out A LOT if you prove ALL of your items are shipped, and done so quickly.

so just raise the cost of the item to cover the postage via tracking, good idea

[GreenBean]

Get another item? Are you selling cheapies for money or FB?
Might be worth taking a chance & speaking to paypal to ask them why they are doing it....depends how you feel about the account though.

[lucy]

i tried selling the item for £6 as powersellers were selling them at that price and making good sale, but mine would not sell at that price as the powersellers are using the 'featured plus' feature to get to the top of the 1st page on search results.

so i lowered the price to £2.50 £3.99 and sold at least 30 items in a period of about 4 weeks, but i didnt use the tracking on these 30 i sold.

so maybe paypal thought where is all this money coming from and she is not using tracking?

these items are different from the items i was selling before and there has been an increase in sales volume since i lowered the price.

i have been seling this account for a long time the paypal and ebay are well beyond verification stages, do you think they will limit the account and what precautions shall i take?

i was thinking of trying to up the price so it included recoreded delivery but list the item with free postage

its nearly a 10 year old account and i dont want to lose it

[oompaloompa]

tell me if Im delirious but what if you bought tracking on say one out of every ten items, you sell a week, then give them them tracking for whatever they ask for regardless of if it matches, doubt theyd look that closely....

exactly what percentage of holds are you getting?

It does seem odd, I dont really deal with large amounts of lower priced items generally but because I like to vary accounts and catagories, I have one moderately successful account that is similar to yours, but its much younger, and it hardly gets holds at all, it sells similar priced items, say about 20 a week, I dont use tracking and I cant remember when I got a hold, possibly within the first year I got a few..odd

and it has good and numerous feedback - hows your feedback and dsrs on it?

personally I think price is the key and if you up the price youll get fewer sales.....

[lucy]

Originally Posted by oompaloompa

tell me if Im delirious but what if you bought tracking on say one out of every ten items, you sell a week, then give them them tracking for whatever they ask for regardless of if it matches, doubt theyd look that closely....

exactly what percentage of holds are you getting?

It does seem odd, I dont really deal with large amounts of lower priced items generally but because I like to vary accounts and catagories, I have one moderately successful account that is similar to yours, but its much younger, and it hardly gets holds at all, it sells similar priced items, say about 20 a week, I dont use tracking and I cant remember when I got a hold, possibly within the first year I got a few..odd

and it has good and numerous feedback - hows your feedback and dsrs on it?

personally I think price is the key and if you up the price youll get fewer sales.....

thats a good idea, i've just back from the post office and sent 1 item recorded post, so i'm going to use that tracking number on every 10th item that has been sent out.

yesterday was the 1st ever hold on a £2.50 payment and now they have targeted my DSR and restricted the number of items I can sell.

since my post i have had 2 more positive so the latest feedback is about

This member's 12 Month Feedback ratings
Positives: 194 Negatives: 4

This member's Positive Feedback percentage

192
192 + 4
= 98.0%

I would have had more feedback, but only just got back on ebay hardcore style just after xmas

[oge]

In PayPal UK can you use Paypal for shipping? If so don't you get a discount delivery confirmation or is not like the US? Just a thought. Because if I was to get delivery confirmation at the post office it's 70 cent where on PayPal postage it's only 19 cent.

[lucy]

we use royal mail in the uk for tracking

[oge]

Ok so you can't print any shipping in Paypal UK?

[lucy]

i always use royal mail recorded delivery which gives me a tracking number at the post office

[GreenBean]

lucy!!!!!!! Join the real world will you. Did you know that you can print a label from paypal uk? That's what oge was trying to check & let you know.
You say you want to get around this hold: but you are still doing what you always do. Check this out as it might help
https://www.paypal.com/uk/cgi-bin/we...center-outside

[lucy]

thanks didnt realise that, will give it look

[First Edition]

Originally Posted by lucy

so just raise the cost of the item to cover the postage via tracking, good idea

You're talking about 1 to 2 dollar items anyway. If you sell something for 2 dollars, and paid nothing for it... you're still losing about 30 percent in fees. When you start out, or plan on selling big ticket items later, it's a small price to pay to prove you ship EVERYTHING, before you start selling suspicious, or I should say "high risk" items.

[galvatron]

Originally Posted by oge

In PayPal UK can you use Paypal for shipping? If so don't you get a discount delivery confirmation or is not like the US? Just a thought. Because if I was to get delivery confirmation at the post office it's 70 cent where on PayPal postage it's only 19 cent.

Wow oge you guys are lucky we dont get a discount here in the U.K for using the paypal postage system. Plus its no good anyway, as if you hust print it out and post the item your not covered.
You have to get a certificate of posting and this needs a stamp from the postoffice, so what was the point of printing out the postage!
Also even if you did that that does not have a tracking number, so you not covered under the seller protection, its a crazy old world.

[lucy]

i sold my friends for her 4 days ago and right away they put a hold on a £300 payment, my friend posted the phone and gave me the special delivery tracking number which i put into paypal, item has been delivered, but paypal are setill holding the payment, do i give them a call telling them phone has been delivered and signed for and release the payment or just wait 21 days?

[paypalpains]

You do not have to wait 21 days as long as the buyer leaves positive feedback. Contact the buyer, let them know you have tracked the item and it shows up as delivered. Ask them if everything is ok, and that if that is the case then please leave you positive feedback for the item, Paypal will then release the hold.

Think Paypal are going through random accounts and placing 21 day holds on peoples accounts at the moment. Has happened to two of my accounts, however one has now been lifted, the other, I have stopped selling on because that is what Ebay has "demanded" for the items I am selling. IE cannot list another item for 30 days , so I have stopped as I dont really have anything other to sell at this point. I see this as a good thing rather than a negative though.

[lucy]

i have emailed the buyer and asked them to leave positive feedback, which they have not done even after 4 days

[forummember]

Get 20 DSRS and your feedback up to 100. Then no more holds on funds will happen.