eBay charged my back credit card ONE PENNY!
I was refunding some shipping overages today after my Weekly Payout came through. I had some carry over funds from a sale that did not make the Weekly payout. So my shipping refunds started to come out of that processing amount ...
But apparently I was one Penny short with those funds and eBay charged my credit card ... one ... single ... little ... penny. Seriously??? The system couldn't carry that penny until my next sale?
Unbelievable ...
32 comments
seconhandrosie
·2 years agoIt's called corporate greed. The greedy geeks need to buy their Spanish Villas.
lotzofuniquegoodies
·2 years ago@mr_lincoln
Totally unbelievable but not surprising!!! Can you imagine how much they are making on rounding for tax due to every transaction being a separate entity vs a combined invoice per month. (1) Each transaction its own tax. Mainly rounded up. Provincial sales tax in Alberta is 5 %. Checking transactions I've seen one's that shouldn't be rounded up that were. 0.45 is 2 cents tax not 0.3!!!
Do you remember the days of leave a penny...take a penny when you didn't have exact change? They charge exactly now if you use your card. Round up or down if you pay cash. We don't even have pennies in Canada. (2012) Nickels are next on the radar to go. Are you able to pay your fees by mailing in the change? You could have priority mailed them a penny!!! Postage due!!!😆
-Lotz
PS. My postage charges almost like clockwork magically appear after my funds get released and account is on fumes.
mr_lincoln
OP2 years ago@lotzofuniquegoodies Most convenience stores around here still have those little trays with pennies and they use them. I mentioned to another poster on this thread that I would have been fine if eBay would have simply charged my card for the $ 2.03 refund I processed and left the penny in Processing funds instead of the opposite.
I can't wait to see my next credit card bill, I hope they have a special notation for silly charges like that ... something that includes, "Seriously?"
lotzofuniquegoodies
·2 years ago@mr_lincoln
This was never a concern pre MP days. Was possible to leave a balance at a seller or buyers whim to cover anything from surprise fees, listing add ons, refunds, store fees etc. Now there is no way to do this. With many Canadian banks and certain accounts you pay transaction fees if you go over your limit. Something eBay never grasped when implementing. I had a situation the other day where I needed to send a small refund to a buyer. Because it was past Tuesday morning my balance was dry. eBay sent me a note saying those funds would be pulled out from my bank account in 3 days. Fortunately I had a sale come in that was able to cover that refund but no guarantees. I also take issue with eBay pulling funds from my bank account when a customer cancels immediately after paying. Same goes for void labels. Then take there time processing that original transaction. In the normal world it would get processed from the pending transaction. A void should not take 3 weeks plus to process for postage. Agreed. Seriously???
-Lotz
mr_lincoln
OP2 years ago@lotzofuniquegoodies
Prior to signing up with MP I contacted a number of local banks (some we already used). I found one that had no limits on monthly electronic transactions so I went with them. I also got a Credit card through that bank and set it up as the backup payment method so all fees, refunds, etc. (like you experienced) get charged to the card if Available funds are deficient.
I went with Weekly Payouts from day one ... with PayPal I only took money out once a month so this means I only have to records one amount per week in the ledger. I'm good with that,
1786davycrockett
·2 years ago@mr_lincoln
Many years ago, my wife and I had to take out a household loan for some reason; and, over the years, we paid down the loan every month, with no lags, until we'd finally reached that last payment.
We wrote out our final check to the bank, and sent if off.
A few days later, we received a certified letter from our bank, indicating that the outstanding balance of the loan had not been satisfied. According to the bank, my wife and I still owed -- 3 cents.
Apparently, in between the time that our final check had been date-stamped and approved, a few seconds or minutes had elapsed -- leading to an interest charge of three pennies.
So, clutching three pennies in my hot, angry fist, I drove the two miles to the bank, and asked to speak with the manager (who fortunately was not there). Producing the final notice to one of the resident bank flunkies (and trying my hardest to be as cynical and scornful as possible), I asked if they would like that payment in the form of a check or money order -- or perhaps even a cashier's check?
We both had a good laugh, and I handed over my three cents. I also suggested that the "final, final payment" be sent to the main bank by USPS Priority Express -- so that no further interest would accrue.
He thought that Priority Express might be a reach -- but he WOULD send it off certified.
That banking chain is no longer in business, by the way.
mr_lincoln
OP2 years ago@1786davycrockett
Great story, love that! What really confused me was why eBay didn't just charge the full $ 2.03 refund I processed to the credit card and leave the Penny on my Available funds. I mean I would have been fine with that.
1786davycrockett
·2 years ago@mr_lincoln
I guess there is something to be said for not requiring daily pay-outs.
Some mornings, I note that eBay has sent a nice pay-out to my bank, only to find out later that eBay was dipping into my checking account, in order to cover the costs for postage which I usually process later in the morning.
So I guess I could always re-do my pay-out schedule; but it's no big deal, since there's always $$$ in the account.
Plus my bank encourages "multiple monthly deposit transactions," so that I can avoid paying monthly fees on my checking account.
Guess I'll just leave it be.
mr_lincoln
OP2 years ago@1786davycrockett
I went with Weekly Payouts from the start simply because I did not want to be recording and managing a daily ledger so to speak. When PayPal was the payment processor I was only taking money out of the account once a month. Everyone does it differently ...
go-bad-chicken
·2 years agoHopefully you got some airline miles out of that. 😉
In my primary account I double list (2 categories) at $0.10 a piece on 2000 or so listings every month. And because I have daily payouts set up I'm constantly getting charges for $0.10 for the listings that roll over that day. A good deal of those are paid before my payouts are made, but generally speaking there is always somewhere around 300 or so that hit those small windows when there is no cash in the kitty.
I don't mind if they don't mind, but it does create some monster sized monthly invoices.
broto_64
·2 years agoYears ago I had a company wrote me a check for that same amount, I never cashed it, still have it too.
ed8108
·2 years agoYou have ownership of something that is indeed a rarity.
I can understand your keeping & not wishing to part with it.
ed8108
·2 years agoEvery cent helps
mr_lincoln
OP2 years ago@ed8108
-A Penny saved is a Penny earned
-A Penny for your thoughts
-In for a Penny in for a Pound
-They keep turning up like a bad Penny
-Penny Lane is in my ears and in my eyes (Beatles)
ekmadonna
·2 years agoYou forgot A Penny for Your Thoughts!
ekmadonna
·2 years agoand Penny Wise a Pound Foolish
lotzofuniquegoodies
·2 years agoYou forgot Knock...Penny...Knock...Penny...Knock...Penny!!
Bazinga~
heckofagame
·2 years agoThat's awesome!
mr_lincoln
OP2 years ago@heckofagame
My thoughts exactly.
buyselljack2016
·2 years agoJust think of the interest they would have lost if they "floated" that penny for you🤣
Let's hope, as another posted, that there was a CC processing charge for the penny.
Why not be like the old days? I seem to remember, back in the day, under a $ on the monthly bill, "floated" till the next month.
luckythewinner
·2 years agoIt might be because in the old days, eBay accounts were balance carrying accounts that had a different set of banking regulations.
mr_lincoln
OP2 years ago@luckythewinner , @heckofagame , @buyselljack2016 , @12345jamesstamps , @dhbookds
UPDATE: A sale has already come in so that teeny weeny little penny would have been covered within HOURS of the charge ...
buyselljack2016
·2 years agoMy " not enough money" debits come from my attached checking.
When I am expecting to refund some $$, I temp change my "payout" schedule to hopefully have $$ (or pennies) on hand to cover the expected refund if the funds have not already been placed in "held" to avoid a debit of my checking.
mr_lincoln
OP2 years ago@buyselljack2016
My back up payment source works perfectly, the issue is eBay not carrying such a small amount until the next sale comes in ... in this particular case it was hours.
Or maybe someone should post here that I should have waited a few more hours to issue refunds ... if I had we wouldn't be having this pleasant conversation. But then I was just trying to give top of the line customer service ... silly me.
luckythewinner
·2 years agoUPDATE: Still baffled why you are baffled that eBay's automated system of settling accounts treated your account exactly the same way it treats everyone else's 🙂
mr_lincoln
OP2 years ago@luckythewinner
I'll get back to you on that because they actually DID carry negative balances on my account in the past. I took screen shots on my old laptop for some threads about the topic but not sure if I still have them or not. They may have changed doing that but like I said, they carried neg balances in the past until sales came in to make the balance become positive.
luckythewinner
·2 years agoeBay processes millions of transactions a day.
How would it benefit eBay to code, test, and maintain a special exception to their transaction processing system - and document and explain how it works to account holders - just to satisfy your arbitrary sense of outrage?
mr_lincoln
OP2 years ago@luckythewinner
Well, first I love that post although it is a bit out there, but I'm good with that. What would make sense for eBay and it would not be any magical coding is what I mentioned upthread. I would have been fine with eBay charging the card the full amount I refunded the Buyer and let the Penny reside in Available funds. The amount being refunded was a specific amount that they new was not completely covered with Available funds, so the default should be the back-up paint method.
12345jamesstamps
·2 years agoI have cancel open auctions with a .10 bid and got charged one penny...nothing new to me. LOL.
dhbookds
·2 years agolol..........I'll bet they have to pay the cc for handling the charge........
mr_lincoln
OP2 years ago@dhbookds
My card company would be justified in rejecting the charge ... then eBay might suspend my account until I paid them a penny or a sale came in to cover it ...
Unavailable member
·2 years agoYep, whatever the amount they want it. Payouts are like that too, if you have 10cents available they send it. Lol.