In most cases, holds are lifted when a buyer confirms they’ve received their item or when a case is resolved.

To help ensure eBay remains a safe place to buy and sell, and to meet our legal and compliance obligations, we sometimes place a hold on funds.

Examples include:

• If there’s an open case or dispute on a transaction,
• If your buyer reports a problem with the order, 
• If your account is restricted or suspended, 
• If you owe eBay money or, 
• If you’re a new or infrequent seller. 

If we placed a hold on your funds, we’ll notify you by email and depending on the reason, may request additional information from you to help resolve the issue.

There are 3 types of holds to look out for:

• Transaction holds
• Payment dispute or eBay Money Back Guarantee holds
• Payout holds

Transaction holds are when we place a hold on funds related to a particular buyer transaction. The funds on hold may be used to refund the buyer for the same transaction.

eBay may place a transaction hold on funds depending on your seller status or the category you’re selling in:

• New or infrequent sellers will experience transaction holds while we confirm that their items have been successfully delivered. This helps sellers become established and build a strong selling history on eBay. In limited circumstances, new sellers may experience holds for up to 21 days

• Previously restricted or suspended sellers will experience transaction holds for the 30 days after the restriction or suspension is lifted, while we confirm that the items have been successfully delivered

• High priced items or unusual selling patterns may lead to transaction holds for up to 30 days to help us ensure that buyers don’t have any issues with the order

• The authentication process may lead to transaction holds for up to 30 days until the authenticity of items sold with eBay’s Authenticity Guarantee can be confirmed

TIP: If we place a hold on your funds, it will usually be resolved within 30 days. For most orders, adding tracking information can help you receive your funds faster.

Payment dispute or eBay Money Back Guarantee holds are when we place a hold on funds related to a problem reported by a buyer.

For example, if a buyer reports that an item hasn’t arrived, or the item they received is significantly different from the listing description, we hold funds until the case is resolved and closed. 

The funds on hold may be used to refund the buyer for the same transaction.

Payout holds are when we hold funds payable to a particular seller, and usually require further seller action on the account.

• Registration holds: We may hold payouts if we identify a discrepancy with the information you provided at registration. If your account is restricted, we’ll notify you by email with a request for additional information.
• Compliance holds: eBay maintains policies and procedures to protect buyers and sellers while complying with applicable laws. If your account has a payout hold or restriction for compliance reasons, we’ll notify you by email and may request additional information from you.
• Performance holds: We hold your payouts if we identify unusual activity associated with your account, such as increased customer claims, a sudden change in your selling activity, late deliveries, or negative buyer feedback.
• Invalid payment method: We may put your payouts on hold if we can’t deduct your selling fees and other costs from any of your on-file payment methods. In this case, you’ll need to add another payment method.

Note: In the event sellers are unable to identify the Payout Blocked reason, it’s advisable to reach out to Customer Service for further review.

You can check on the status of a payment by going to the Payments tab in Seller Hub.