BEING CHARGED FOR YEARS FOR A STORE LEVEL I DIDN'T SIGN UP FOR
I've been selling classic car parts etc. on eBay for 20 years now, and for the first time ever, I have the inventory to approach 1,000 ads (up till recently, I've been at about half that, or lower). And I was concerned that my store level subscription wouldn't support that number of ads (without charging me more for the ad placement.....I just do buy-it-now, no auctions). So I looked things up, as regards where I was and how many ads would be supported by a given level of store subscription and where I needed to be, and to my shock and horror, I found that I already had a "Premium" store subscription, even though I haven't needed it (and don't yet, but will soon). So I was being charged $74.95 per month for my store subscription, even though a "Basic" store, for $21.95 per month, would have more than met my needs.
And I looked back at my fee history on eBay, and as far back as the user-accessible records go (to May of 2021), I have been charged $74.95 per month for my store. So that means I have been overcharged by $53 every month for at least 2 years and 2 months, which in turn means a grand total of at least $1,378, and probably far more, possibly in the many thousands of dollars.
And there is NO WAY I would have intentionally subscribed to the "Premium" level.....there would have been no reason for me to do so, no reason to set things anywhere other than at the default "Basic" level.
As far as what went wrong here, I have two hypotheses: 1) a system glitch on eBay caused my subscription level to be raised, or 2) this is the result of one of the "promotions" that eBay regularly promulgates.
I suspect that eBay, as a "special promotion," may have automatically signed me up for the "premium" level as a so-called "free trial," and had it buried somewhere in the small print that you would have to manually opt out of the "trial" by some specified date, or the subscription would automatically renew ad infinitum.
And while it's always seemed like the total monthly fees I've been charged were rather high, they weren't dramatically so....it didn't send up a red flag that caused me to investigate things in depth. But this sort of unneeded charge or overcharge really adds up over time.
So my question is, do I have any recourse here, for financial restitution?
34 comments
janet9988
·3 years agoNo.
farmalljr
·3 years agoSorry, but this is nonsensical. How is it, you get a statement every month, and you don't see how much you are paying for the subscription every month??!!
The statement breaks down all costs and fees that eBay takes out of your money/sales. You of coarse, would be printing out this report every month for tax/accounting purposes. RIGHT?
You are the one that at some point, signed up for the store size. eBay did not do it for you. eBay can't pick the store size FOR you, you have to do that,
mam98031
·3 years agoWhat Statement are you talking about. The only one I'm aware of is the Financial Stmt and it does not say anything about store level.
I've been trying since 2020 to get Ebay to improve this report. It is not all inclusive. You need to run the detailed reports to get that info.
blingfling123
·3 years ago@mam98031
The Tax Invoice breaks it down every month.
mam98031
·3 years agoThank you. They had said it was a statement and the only statement I know of that we get is the Financial one. I appreciate you taking the time to tell us the appropriate name.
mam98031
·3 years agoYou signed up for the wrong store level, or it could have been the correct store level at the time you signed up for it. A while back they changed the structure of each store level. I use to have a Premium store too. But after they restructured the stores I was able to drop to a Basic Store level and be just fine. When they restructured the stores, they gave us 30 days in which we could downgrade our stores with no penalties.
Now if you are paying 74.95, you are on a month to month, because a one year subscription is 59.95 per month. So you can go into your Subscriptions and cancel or downgrade your store without penalty. It is only when you have a one year subscription there is a penalty for changing your store early.
https://www.ebay.com/sub/manage
The 21.95 for a basic store is with a one year subscription.
rainbokatchr
OP3 years agoThank you.....finally, someone who is not only respectful, but provided a reasonable hypothesis as to what happened. It's entirely possible I missed the store level restructuring, and ended up being stuck with my old Premium subscription level when I didn't need it. I had a lot of other crap going on in my life three years ago, and if the restructuring took place back then, the financial toll on me hasn't been as great as I feared.
In any case, I have now done a yearly subscription to the Premium store, because I will soon have over 1,000 ads on eBay Motors.
Unlike yourself, many of the other people who have replied to my posting, are apparently the dregs of humanity who get off on putting other people down. Shame on you (you know who you are).
dhbookds
·3 years agoUnfortunately, that may be a mistake also..........as pointed out in ms......#7.......
Well, the good news is that $74.95 is the month-to-month rate, so you can downgrade to a Basic subscription immediately with no penalty. Many of your non-motors listings are in the "select categories" where a Basic store gets another 10,000 listings, so you aren't as close to using up those 1,000 basic listings.
that basic store is about $22 monthly with a yr. contract.......
I would call ebay and plead a mistake and see if you can get them to change it.
nobody*s_perfect
·3 years agoThe monthly cost for the annual subscription rate for a Premium store is $59.95 and Basic is $21.95, a difference of $38 per month. If you go over your allotment of free fixed price insertions for a Basic store, each additional insertion costs 25 cents. That $38 difference would purchase 152 additional insertions, so a Basic subscription costs less than a Premium subscription until you go over 1151 listings that are not eligible for the extra 10K. Apparently the OP expects to reach that level very soon.
The change in subscription allotments happened in Spring 2021 for sellers who were already in Managed Payments. The unrestricted free fixed price insertions for Basic store rose from 350 to 1,000 and Premium stores increased from 1,000 to 10,000. Here's a link to the details.
https://www.ebay.com/sellercenter/resources/seller-updates/2021-spring/financials
rainbokatchr
OP3 years agoThank you for the additional info......I now have a complete explanation for what happened. I was previously signed up for the Premium store because I had about 500 listings, and was not aware of the change to a Basic store allowing 1,000. So I've only been over-billed since early 2021....not as bad as I feared.
toomuchstuffagain35
·3 years agoYou haven't been so much "over billed" per se, it's just that you didn't notice the change to the listings given to each store level when it changed in 2021.
More like "paying too much for a level of store I no longer needed".
I somehow doubt you're the only one to do so, but I also doubt ebay will be looking at any credits/refunds. I'm sure a LOT of sellers decided to lower their store levels when that happened.
nobody*s_perfect
·3 years agoBy signing up for an annual subscription for a Premium store, they have completely undermined any case they might have made for getting a refund for having a Premium store at the month-to-month rate for years. If they had signed up for a Basic store, even temporarily, their case might have stood a chance.
rainbokatchr
OP3 years agoNo, it was not a mistake to sign up for a yearly Premium store.....I just acquired a HUGE inventory of car parts from a local classic-car wrecking yard that was folding.....I will soon be at well over 1,000 eBay motors listings.
mam98031
·3 years ago@rainbokatchr
This is great advice if you did make this mistake. But you would have to do it quickly. The longer you wait, the less likely they are to help you.
Did you review the details of what each Store Level offers? The current perks.
https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/fees-credits-invoices/store-fees?id=4809
I would suggest that you contact Ebay for Business on Facebook or Twitter for the better trained CSRs.
Here are your options for contacting Ebay Customer Service.
https://twitter.com/askebay?lang=en
https://www.facebook.com/eBayForBusiness/
If when you use the link below you can only get to the Automated Assistant, type AGENT in the box and hit enter. You will then get more options.
https://www.ebay.com/help/contact_us?id=4002&st=10
mam98031
·3 years agoI am glad I could help and I'm glad you resolved your issues. I hope the future is a bit smoother for you.
wastingtime101
·3 years agoI do agree ma'am's post is great, helpful, respectful ... but your "finally" comment is surprising. While I didn't go into the same level of detail, I talked about the exact same thing an hour after you posted about how stores had drastically lower numbers of listings a few years ago which could be why you signed up for it. I went on to offer advice about keeping track of fees for not only managing your business, but for tax reporting. 🤷
mam98031
·3 years agoI disagree with that statement. In 2021 They INCREASED the number of listings on the various store levels, granted for only certain categories, but they didn't decrease any that I'm aware of.
https://export.ebay.com/en/marketing/ebay-store/why-get-ebay-store/
wastingtime101
·3 years agoRe-read what I wrote @mam98031 .
mam98031
·3 years agoI thought I had read it carefully. The changes of 2021 did not decrease any of the free listings in each store level, it increased free listings dramatically in certain categories. You had said " While I didn't go into the same level of detail, I talked about the exact same thing an hour after you posted about how stores had drastically lower numbers of listings a few years ago which could be why you signed up for it."
What did I misunderstand. I certainly could have made a mistake, share with me what I am misreading please.
wastingtime101
·3 years agoSure. I said stores came with a lower number of listings a few years ago.
I did not say the number of listings was lowered a few years ago.
Most store levels came with far fewer listings, then eBay increased them.
For more clarity I said the same thing, worded slightly different, in post 6 above:
"It was only a couple years ago when the number of listings that came with a store sub were drastically lower. eBay changed it in 2021"
In other words, @mam98031, what I said above and what you said above were in synch about the likely reason the OP had a Premium level subscription. We are on the same page. Which is why I was surprised the OP said they "finally" got an explanation. haha
epowerbargains
·3 years agoI agree mam98031 is someone I really respect. She has pointed me in the right direction in the past and talked me down when my "overthinking" something was getting in the way of me actually fixing the problem. She is very knowledgeable, she is direct, informative and considerate which is a true skill.
Just ignore comments that are not helpful or feel unkind and move forward. I have no idea why people say things that are off topic and don't really assist someone with the concern they are trying to resolve. It is human to overlook things, and nobody should make you feel uncomfortable about the store fee question. It happened and I wish it had not - unfortunately I can't think of any solution except what mam has already suggested. It might be worth contacting eBay via Facebook - better to try and strike out than never give it a shot.
It sounds like your business is growing which is great news.
Wishing you the best.
mam98031
·3 years ago@epowerbargains
What a SWEET thing to say, not to mention going out of your way to make this post. Sincerely I am touched. At a time when it seems there is so much discourse and bickering it was a WELCOMED post. I am so glad I've been able to help you and I hope I continue to do so. 😠â¤ï¸
Unavailable member
·3 years agoYou’ve got to be joking.
blingfling123
·3 years agoWhile they probably will not refund for the past months, make sure you are claiming this fee on your taxes as an expense. I am surprised you did not pick up on it when filing in the past.
slippinjimmy
·3 years agoThe OP noticed the higher than expected fees but never checked to see if it was correct and/or the Store level they wanted/needed. They just went along with it for YEARS.
dirk12955
·3 years agoEvery time I make a listing, Or relist, Or sell similar, At some point in the process
I'm prompted to pick a store category.
Seems like that would be a regular reminder that I have a store.
inhawaii
·3 years agoWould this be a fair comparison?
I've been driving around in my Mercedes for years.
My monthly car payments come directly out of my bank account.
I just now realized how much I'm paying per month.
There is no way I would have bought this expensive car
if I known the monthly payments were going to be so high.
I didn't need an expensive car like this.
I could have gotten by with a much less expensive car.
Do I have any recourse here, for financial restitution?
nobody*s_perfect
·3 years agoWell, the good news is that $74.95 is the month-to-month rate, so you can downgrade to a Basic subscription immediately with no penalty. Many of your non-motors listings are in the "select categories" where a Basic store gets another 10,000 listings, so you aren't as close to using up those 1,000 basic listings.
wastingtime101
·3 years agoThe short answer is no. It's been years.
You signed up for Premium whether intentional or not. It was only a couple years ago when the number of listings that came with a store sub were drastically lower. eBay changed it in 2021 I think, or maybe 2020. They haven't sent out store promos with trials for higher tiers since before that change.
Going forward: Review your fees monthly. You should be doing this anyway for general accounting, tax records, etc.
chapeau-noir
·3 years agoTake comfort in the fact that if you didn't really notice this all this time, then it must not have made that much of a difference.
fashunu4eeuh
·3 years agoAfter two years, i am sorry to say there is little to no recourse available, because the situation implies that you never looked at a breakdown in fees in all that time.
Careful perusal of one’s monthly bill to ensure correctness is the appropriate and expected practice. That you did not do so, leaves you in a much weaker position to negotiate the matter now.
chapeau-noir
·3 years agoWhile I understand how startling this would be, I don't think there's any recourse for this - it's on us to understand our fees breakdown, and what's entailed in setting up a stores subscription. eBay makes it pretty clear what our fees are - I know, I've had a store for years and have had three different levels, both monthly and yearly subscriptions. They even have a breakdown to show which level is best for how many listings we would be using.
slippinjimmy
·3 years agoEven if you ended up with a Premium Store on a limited promo, if you had read the terms of the offer you would have known.
You thought the fee was high(ish) but in all this time you never looked up the monthly rates for Stores?
As far as "no way I would have signed up for a Premium Store", there is always a way (intentional or by accident).
eBay might buy your sob story if you contacted them after the first month, but after at least two+ years they are not going to do anything for you.