Payments
Everything you need to know about paying and getting paid on eBay.
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Payments
How to receive payments
Getting paid for your sales is the most important step for any seller. That's why it's essential to understand how getting paid on eBay works, and what you can do to make sure the process runs smoothly.
Selecting your accepted payment method
When you create your first listing, you'll decide how you'd like buyers to pay you. In most categories, PayPal is the preferred online payment system. When buyers pay with PayPal, they are able to pay seamlessly, in their local currency—PayPal takes care of the conversion, and you are paid in your preferred currency without any additional steps.
A fee is charged for each payment completed through PayPal. However, for most sellers, there are no setup fees, monthly fees, or minimum charge requirements.
Read more about the ways you can get paid on eBay below:
Accepting credit cards
Immediate payment
Unpaid Item Assistant
Other forms
The majority of sellers use PayPal to accept credit card payments. It's an easy way for sellers to accept credit card payments without opening a merchant account with each creditor. Whether your buyer chooses to pay with their PayPal account or simply with a credit card, all credit transactions on eBay are processed through PayPal, whether they have a PayPal account or not.
If you list your item with a fixed price, you can require a buyer who clicks the Buy It Now button to pay you immediately using PayPal. If you require immediate payment, the item remains available for purchase until a buyer has completed payment, or until the listing expires. The first buyer who clicks Buy It Now and completes their PayPal payment "wins" the item.
Immediate payment is automatically required and enabled on items priced below $1,000, that have a specified shipping cost, and where PayPal is the only payment method offered.
On other items, you can use the immediate payment feature with fixed price or auction-style listings as long as you include a Buy It Now price. Seller must meet certain criteria to require immediate payment from buyers.
If you're dealing with an item that wasn't paid for, the quickest way to get paid is to use the Unpaid Item Assistant. By opting in to the Unpaid Item Assistant option in your seller settings, eBay will automatically handle unpaid items for you by relisting them free of charge.*
There are certain categories in which other forms of payment are acceptable—such as select Motors and Business & Industrial categories. Visit our help page to see a full list of these categories.
Some forms of payment are never allowed, such as sending cash, cheques, or money orders through the mail, cash transfer services such as Western Union, or virtual/cryptocurrencies.
To learn more about our accepted payments policy, visit our help page.
Understanding payment holds
Most sellers won't ever experience a hold on their PayPal funds, but if it's happening to you, there's a chance it's for one of these reasons:
You're new to selling
You're deemed "high risk"
You have an open case
If you're still new to selling on eBay, we might temporarily hold your funds if:
- It's been less than 90 days since your first successful sale
- You've had 25 or fewer sales transactions
- You've had less than $250 in total sales
There are a number of reasons you might find your transaction being identified as "high risk". The reason might be:
- The items you're selling have an exceptionally high selling price
- We've identified some unusual selling activity
- Your seller performance is Below Standard
- Your account has recently been reinstated
- You've had a sudden spike in eBay Money Back Guarantee cases, or PayPal disputes and/or claims
Access to funds from buyer payments may be delayed in these cases, until we can verify the transaction. Don't worry—your buyer won't see that we've placed the funds on hold, or why.
If a buyer hasn't received an item, or if they feel the item they received is different from the one they ordered, they might open a case through the eBay Money Back Guarantee. We'll ask PayPal to hold your funds while the case is open, but they'll be released if the case is resolved in your favour.
If eBay decides the case in the buyer's favour, we'll give them their money back from the funds held in your PayPal account, or we'll seek reimbursement by debiting your automatic payment method, or adding the charge to your monthly selling invoice.
These measures help keep eBay a safe place to trade for all buyers and sellers. As soon as it's clear that you're meeting all of the above criteria, payments from your buyers will generally be available immediately.
When will my funds be available?
Unless your buyer reports a problem with the transaction, your held finds should be available:
- 3 days after the order is delivered. We can confirm the delivery more easily if you provide tracking information by buying and printing your shipping label on eBay, or by uploading it manually.
- 7 days after the latest estimated delivery date. To prepare, you can manually upload tracking information, or mark the item as shipped in My eBay.
- 21 days after your buyer pays. It will take longer to free your funds if you don't upload tracking information or mark your item as shipped in My eBay.
*Up to 50 listings per month. Fees may apply for extra features. Some categories excluded. Final value fees apply for successful sale. See full details.