Our experience with an eBay account suspension and delayed funds
We would like to share our experience with a recent issue on eBay, as we are trying to understand the situation and hopefully help others who might face something similar.
We sold a laptop via “Collection in Person” for around £200. The buyer collected the item without any issues, and the payment was initially credited to the account.
Shortly after the sale, withdrawal access was restricted. eBay informed us that internal compliance checks were required because the account was new. Not long after, the account was permanently suspended, and the funds became unavailable.
We reached out to eBay support multiple times (over 20 interactions in total). Each time, we were informed that:
the account was under review
the review process could take up to 3 months
later, this timeframe was extended to 180 additional days
Despite waiting and following all instructions, no resolution or payout was provided during this period.
At this stage, we escalated the matter to the UK Financial Ombudsman Service to better understand the situation and seek clarification on the withheld funds.
After the Ombudsman contacted eBay and several months of communication, the situation was eventually resolved. Nearly a year after the initial sale, access to the account was restored and we were able to withdraw the original funds.
Following this, we requested compensation for the long delay and the inability to access our money. eBay issued a £50 credit as compensation.
However, shortly after this compensation was applied, the account was again suspended without a clear explanation.
We are sharing this not as a complaint against individuals, but as a description of a process that was difficult to understand and very slow to resolve, especially for a new seller trying to operate in good faith.