New eBay glitch results in funds being held in limbo

November 3, 11:44 AMAuctions and Antiques ExaminerWalt AuctionWally

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As if eBay didn't have enough problems, now certain sellers are having funds held indefinitely by PayPal a the buyer pays through PayPal with an eCheck.

The story was just reported today on AuctionBytes:

At some point during the week of October 19, PayPal's system experienced a glitch involving eCheck payments made to eBay sellers. PayPal has been holding the payments captive ever since - and the glitch appears to be ongoing. Sellers are concerned about not being able to access their money, and are also worried whether buyers would be able to cancel orders for items already shipped. If they don't ship items because they have not received funds, sellers are concerned buyers will ding their reputations - especially since eBay has failed to publicly report the problem.

Click here for the full story

I've been in the auction business for more than 25 years.  While different businesses have their challenges, I can tell you without doubt that the quickest way to go out of business, is for an auctioneer to NOT pay it's consignors in a timely manner. 

Now I know that technically, eBay is not an auction company, but the result of this glitch is that people selling on eBay are not getting paid quickly. As I write this, there are some who still have not been able to get to their money.

eBay, you need to fix this, because you've been able to weather a lot of storms, but I don't think a glitch which disables people to access their money is one that you can walk away  from unscathed.