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Monroe Labouisse, the director of PayPal’s business on eBay in the US and Canada sat down with eBay's chief Blogger Richard Brewer-Hay and sketched out this post explaining the policies behind eBay Item Holds.

An eBay Item Hold is when eBay asks PayPal to hold a payment in a seller's PayPal account for up to 21 days. This occurs as a "buyer protection" when eBay believes the transaction is more likely than the average transaction to be fraudulent.

They say this only happens less than 5% of the time normally. Sellers are warned on the "Sell Your Item" form or through listing software if that's how the seller lists, in the payment section:

Paypal has all of the details in the policy section for item holds:

When Does PayPal Hold a Payment?

- You have been an eBay member for less than 6 months, and you sell an item for more than $100, or

- You have an eBay feedback score of less than 100, and you sell an item for more than $100, or

- You have a Buyer dissatisfaction percentage** 5% or greater than 5%, or

- You have an average Detailed Seller Rating (DSR) of less than 4.5, or

- You have received fewer than 20 Detailed Seller Ratings in the last 12 months, or

- You are listing your item in a high-risk category such as gift certificates, video games, cell phones, computers or consumer electronics.

PayPal Says it Doesn't Hold Payments if you meet the following:

- You have been an eBay member for 6-months or more, and

- Your total Feedback score is 100 or greater, and

- Your Buyer dissatisfaction percentage** is less than 5%.

Or

- Your average DSR is 4.5 or greater and

- Your have received 20 or more DSRs in the last 12-months

- Your buyer dissatisfaction percentage is less than 5%

eBay claims that the item holds only occur a very small percentage of the time. As an eBay seller, have you experienced this in the past? If so, has it happened often?