Not upheld: account access restriction and identification requirements complaint against eBay Commerce UK Ltd

Decision detail

Summary

Miss D, a long-time eBay marketplace seller, had her payouts to her bank account blocked when Commerce requested identification documents for regulatory compliance. Miss D refused to provide the requested identification (birth certificate) due to privacy concerns and complained that she received no advance notice of the block. The ombudsman found that Miss D had agreed to Commerce's terms and conditions which permitted such identification requests, and that blocking payouts pending verification was fair and necessary for regulatory compliance. The ombudsman rejected Miss D's arguments about lack of notice and privacy risks, finding Commerce's approach reasonable and proportionate.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman found that Miss D had agreed to Commerce's terms and conditions when signing up to use the marketplace payout feature. The terms explicitly permitted Commerce to request identification for legal and regulatory compliance. The ombudsman determined that blocking payouts pending identification was fair and necessary to comply with financial services regulations, and that advance notice was not required in these circumstances. The ombudsman also found that Commerce, as a regulated financial institution, had adequate privacy protections equivalent to other regulated entities.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website