eBay Payments Terms Of Use Update February 2025
UPDATE 1-29-25
Some eBay sellers in the US report receiving confusing and conflicting information about sales proceeds being held until after item delivery, but an overlooked part of the latest Payments Terms of Use update could hold the answers.
Liz Morton
eBay has posted an update to their Payments Terms of Use dated December 2, 2024 with an effective date of December 4, 2024 for users who sign up on or after that and February 4, 2025 for existing sellers.
As always, sellers are encouraged to read the entire updated terms carefully, but Value Added Resource has you covered with a side by side comparison highlighting some key changes.
Disclaimer: comparisons are made using both automated and manual methods and are provided for informational purposes only - no warranty of completeness or accuracy is expressed or implied and users are advised to do their own due diligence.
The good news for US sellers is the most significant changes appear to apply mostly to the UK and Germany - though it's always a good idea to keep an eye on what's going on across eBay's global markets because you never know when policies and programs might find their way to the US as well.
eBay UK private sellers are finding out the cost of "fee-free" selling will at least in part be paid in longer payout times and interest earned for eBay as the new payment terms add a section specifying their funds will only be available for dispersal after the item is deemed delivered.
Proceeds from the sales of private or non-professional sellers become available for disbursement after the item is deemed delivered to its shipping destination as detailed on this help page.
If you are a business seller, as defined in our business seller policy, proceeds from your sales on eBay typically become available for disbursement within 1 business day of confirming the buyer’s payment.
Details on how eBay determines delivery, what happens for items that are shipped without tracking and more here:
Liz Morton
As part of the changes to hold private UK seller funds until after delivery, eBay is also "encouraging" the use of Simple Delivery Managed Shipping, which will go from a suggestion to a mandatory requirement for some items in Q1 2025.
Liz Morton
Sellers in UK and Germany will want to pay close attention to section 8 about Specific Payment Methods as well.
It's a long section, so I won't copy and paste all the verbiage here, but it lays out terms and conditions for direct debit, pay by invoice, and installment or Buy Now Pay Later options like the recently introduced partnership with Riverty in Germany.
Liz Morton
Again, those changes don't impact US sellers at this time, but it's not a bad idea to have some idea how they work in case eBay does expand those types of payment options to the main US site at some point in the future.
Changes that do impact US sellers appear to be fairly minor, with many of the differences simply housekeeping measures to update language used when referring to specific policies or programs or clarify how different policies or programs may apply in different countries.
For example, multiple sections update how eBay references Buyer Protection and/or eBay Money Back Guarantee while not actually changing the meaning of the policy.
Old version:
We do not manage payments for such Offline Payment Methods. Offline Payment Methods are not covered by the eBay Money Back Guarantee or similar eBay buyer protection programs
New Version:
We do not manage payments for such Offline Payment Methods. Offline Payment Methods are not covered by eMBG programs
There are also minor changes to bring the policy up to date with the fact that eBay no longer allows American Express as a payment method and has added Venmo, as well as moving Google Pay and Apple Pay under the general term "digital wallets."
Old Version:
Buyers may pay for your items using payment methods such as the following, the availability of which may vary:
- Certain credit or debit cards (VISA, MasterCard, American Express, and Discover)
- PayPal
- Google Pay
- Apple Pay
- Direct debit
- “Pay Later” payment methods, otherwise known in some areas as payment via installments, or “direct debit upon invoice” or “payment upon invoice,” or “Buy Now Pay Later”
- eBay coupons, gift cards, etc. (if applicable), or
- Funds held in a stored value account issued under eBay's Balance Terms and Conditions (currently only available to selected sellers residing or established in the United States).
New Version:
Buyers may pay for your items using payment methods such as the following, the availability of which may vary:
- Certain credit or debit cards (including VISA, Mastercard, and Discover)
- PayPal
- Venmo (available to buyers located in the US)
- Digital wallets (such as Google Pay, and Apple Pay)
- Direct debit
- “Pay Later” payment methods or point-of-sale financing known in some regions as payment via installments, or “direct debit upon invoice” or “payment upon invoice,” or “Buy Now Pay Later,”
- eBay coupons, gift cards, etc. (if applicable), or
- Funds held in a stored value account issued under eBay’s US Balance Terms and Conditions (currently only available to selected sellers residing or established in the United States).
The only other part that contained significant changes was the section about Holds, but again it seems the changes are about breaking the policy out with more details for UK, Germany, and/or other EU countries related to fee and product changes specific to those locations.
The parts that apply to the US appear to contain the same list of situations where holds on funds might apply and timeframes for how long funds may be held in those situations.
If you are a consumer in Germany, eBay Sarl will apply holds to your funds in accordance with Part III, Section 7. For all other sellers, we apply holds under the following conditions.
A hold may be placed if we have reason to believe there is an increased risk associated with the provision of our Payment Services or with a certain Managed Payment transaction, for example if we cannot verify your identity or if your buyer files a dispute.
Please see our holds help page for more detail on the hold types and examples.
We take into consideration relevant factors when assessing the risks including selling history, seller performance, seller type, returns and cancellations, chargebacks, riskiness of the listing category, transaction value, the ability to make direct debits from your Linked Financial Account, and the filing of eMBG claims.
We also may cancel or freeze the settlement of your proceeds as necessary to comply with our legal obligations in connection with fraud prevention, risk management, or regulatory compliance, or, upon lawful request by our Affiliates, to enable them to comply with legal obligations applicable to them (such as compliance with tax-related obligations from EU DAC7 legislation).
Any hold placed on your funds will be released when the risk associated with our provision of Payment Services is reduced or eliminated.
So all in all, this update looks like no news is good news for US sellers while UK, Germany and other markets will want to dig in to make sure they understand how the changes in the countries will impact their accounts.
Let me know in the comments below if I missed anything and if you're in the UK or Germany, will this update change your buying and selling on the platform?
This, on top of Buyer protection Fee, has made it impossible to sell competitively on eBay. My buyers don't need protection from me!! I have 100% feedback rating over 20 years - this is just another money-making scam from eBay. The price with the protection fee is not competitive for anything and i am not even getting views let alone watchers!! Identical listings where items sold for £10 plus £3.75 postage and packing 6 weeks ago, have necessitated me reducing to £2.75, few people, if any looking, and now a silly offer of 75p!!!!! - Then i lose out on the postage as eBay pocket the difference between what Royal Mail Charge and their estimate of Evri! Evri - which used to be Hermes and smashed an antique set of China worth over £100 a few years ago by leaving the box out in the rain until it was so sodden that it collapsed!! Well done eBay - no regard for your customers!
I've been on eBay for 20 years, through the early bad times and the good, but if Simple Delivery becomes mandatory, I'm off.