CBE Waste Recycling Fee being charged for non-electronic items
I have been buying keycaps for keyboards on and off for about the last year on eBay. And just within the last month or so, eBay started adding a new fee to my purchases called "CBE Waste Recycling Fee." I've researched this fee, and it went into effect on January 1, 2026, however, eBay did not start adding the fee until just recently, as mentioned above. It applies to electronic devices with embedded batteries, and is only applicable to California residents. The problem is, keycaps are simply pieces of plastic that go on top of a keyboard. eBay support keeps blaming the sellers for listing the keycaps under Electronics > Computers/Tablets & Networking > Keyboards, Mice & Pointers > Keyboards & Keypads. This is where they have been listed by nearly all sellers (other than the few who have made category mistakes in their listings) since I started buying keycaps. But the big problem is, there is no category that makes sense other than the one where they are being listed. So what are the sellers supposed to do? Also, what are buyers in California supposed to do? This fee is being charged on items that are not items included in this law. And that's just wrong.
I initially contacted eBay support via phone (call back) about this. The person I spoke with couldn't handle the request, and forwarded it to some other department. Someone (or maybe just AI) got back to me via email, with this response:
Thank you for contacting to eBay Customer Service regarding waste recycling fee charges. My name is Pritam, and it's my pleasure to assist you further.
I have read your message and understood that you were charged recycling fee for the order number # 111111, 222222 and 333333 (actual order # removed), so you need help for the same. Please be assured that I have personally taken care of your case because I wanted to ensure you were treated with the care you deserve.
Sync66, I want to clarify that eBay is required by the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration (CDTFA) to collect and remit the Electronic Waste Recycling (eWaste) Fee. The eWaste Fee is a fee imposed on the retail sale or lease of certain electronic products that have been identified by the Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC). Additional information on the eWaste fee can be found on below site.
Link:- https://cdtfa.ca.gov/taxes-and-fees/covered-electronic-waste-recycling-fee/#overview
Additionally, it is charged to you because the seller added their item in the electronic category. So, not only you anyone try to purchase the item within US will be charge the electronic waste recycling fee.
For more information about these charges you can refer the below link..
Link:- https://www.ebay.com/help/buying/paying-items/paying-tax-ebay-purchases?id=4771
I am positive the details provided bring clarity and help bring everything to a positive understanding. Thank you for contacting eBay Customer Service.. Take care of yourself and have a wonderful day!!
It was established in my initial contact with eBay that I knew what the fee was about, so I didn't need a lesson on it. It was also established that the fee was being charged on product purchases that weren't covered by the new law. And again, they blamed sellers for their error. I responded to the first email, reiterating my concerns, and added more information, with a request to have the case escalated. And what I received was this:
Thank you for contacting to eBay Customer Service regarding waste recycling fee charges. My name is Sanjit, and it's my pleasure to assist you further.
I have read your message and understood that you were charged recycling fee for the order number # 111111, 222222 and 333333 (actual order # removed), so you need help for the same. Please be assured that I have personally taken care of your case because I wanted to ensure you were treated with the care you deserve.
Sync66, I want to clarify that eBay is required by the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration (CDTFA) to collect and remit the Electronic Waste Recycling (eWaste) Fee. The eWaste Fee is a fee imposed on the retail sale or lease of certain electronic products that have been identified by the Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC). Additional information on the eWaste fee can be found on below site.
Link:- https://cdtfa.ca.gov/taxes-and-fees/covered-electronic-waste-recycling-fee/#overview
Additionally, it is charged to you because the seller added their item in the electronic category. So, not only you anyone try to purchase the item within US will be charge the electronic waste recycling fee.
For more information about these charges you can refer the below link..
Link:- https://www.ebay.com/help/buying/paying-items/paying-tax-ebay-purchases?id=4771
I am positive the details provided bring clarity and help bring everything to a positive understanding. Thank you for contacting eBay Customer Service.. Take care of yourself and have a wonderful day!!
Exactly the same idiotic email that I had received the day before, only with a different eBay representative name. I again responded with a copy/paste of my response to the last email, but this time demanded for my case to be escalated. That didn't matter, because I received the EXACT SAME EMAIL for the third straight time in response. At this point I don't even think it was a human responding to me.
So what are California buyers and keycap sellers supposed to do here? This fee is being charged for items that don't qualify. There is no correct or better place for sellers to list keycaps. eBay support is clearly worthless, and nobody who can get the ball rolling on changes is aware of this. This is **bleep**, and I'm frustrated AF.
tobaccocardyahoo
·4 months agoEbay makes every effort to comply with relevant laws and frequently collects more taxes and fees than are required.
The cost to Ebay is usually less than if it undercollected what is required, even if sellers stop listing the items which should not have the fee charged, even if the sellers go elsewhere.
It is sad but not likely to be a priority problem to be remedied.
sync66
OP4 months agoIt would seem so easy to create a new, appropriate category. And only slightly more difficult, but not really difficult, would be to also inform sellers of these items of the new appropriate category. And a small amount of Dev work would be to search for these items, and then programmatically reassign them to the new category. But this is easy stuff for anyone who does this kind of thing for a living. I know eBay has junior Engineers perfectly capable. There are over 31000 listings for these items, last I checked. Seems like it would be worthy of a fix. I guess that's just me, though.