Ebay Final Valuation Fees

[artdogandgrace]

I noticed that eBay charges me a final valuation fee on sales tax, which I make no money on, and I also noticed on a recent transaction, where I gave my customer a $ 58.00 refund for shipping overages on a large mirror I shipped to them, that I didn't get back any of the valuation fees on the refund.  Is there a special form of some sort I have to fill out to request this?  Or does eBay keep the valuation fees on refunds?  

[wooden_flower]

There are no fee refunds on partial refunds to buyers.

eBay wanted to be able to charge one simple rate on the total from the buyer, just like paypal did. You paid a fee on the sales tax to paypal.
The total rate is a bit lower than the old eBay + paypal rates, to allow for the higher  fee on the tax - that way a single rate can be used.  It comes out about the same as before - sometimes a little more, sometimes a little less.

[artdogandgrace]

In the past I was able to call an eBay customer service representative and they would go through my account and refund me a percentage of all the refunds that I gave back to my customers.  I think that was very fair.  It should be an automated process.  My husband is a computer programer, and he says there is no reason why eBay can't refund sellers for refunds they give to their customers, he said it's an easy program to write and install.  The refund to the seller would be at the same percentage rate that the seller was charged on the original transaction.  Nothing complicated about that.  I don't see why eBay feels they are entitled to a 12% fee on a refund of $58.00 I gave to my customer.  Basically, I'm getting penalized for doing the right thing and refunding my customer for shipping overages.  I hardly think that is an incentive to a seller.  

[wooden_flower]

I'm sure they could issue refunds if they wanted to, the policy is now clearly stated that they don't. You could certainly ask customer service if they would consider a courtesy refund.

[artdogandgrace]

Paying a fee on Sales Tax, whether to PayPal or eBay...is still wrong.  It's Ebay's way of funding the extra load it has to carry for collecting and reporting sales tax.  The change in the law that requires all online sales transactions to be reported, put a financial burden on everyone, including eBay, somehow I knew we would be paying for it, ultimately.   

[artdogandgrace]

Thank you for your response, perhaps I will try to see if CS will consider a courtesy refund.  It's worth a try anyway.  

[wooden_flower]

Of course we pay for it. eBay as a company has to make a certain income target, it comes from fees.  If costs go up, fees go up.  We would complain about it no matter how they had done it. I think a straight fee increase would have been more honest, but they chose a flat % on the total payment.

Good luck!