Owing ebay a hefty fee after sale didnt go through
Hi everyone,
I'm a private seller for a long time and I sell very rarely. I had a listing that had been inactive for a long time. It finally sold, but I missed the notification and didn't ship in time. The buyer was refunded automatically.
Right now my eBay balance is negative. I'm in a tight financial situation and the reason I’m selling out my collectibles is because I need the money - thus the fee is very significant for me (its below the 100$). So far eBay has told me the fee is non-refundable because the case closed against me. I’m still in touch with support, but it’s been very very stressful.
The buyer is actually OK and still wants the item and is willing to repurchase if I relist it. But if I relist and sell again, I'll have to pay another fee.
Whats more that gets me worried - if I don't pay the negative balance immediately, what actually happens? Could eBay send this to debt collection? Could I pay it later?
Any advice or real experiences would really help. Thanks!
ccomic
·6 months agoThanks, I get it, and its not my problem, but I also get the feeling that something needs to change. I realize there may be many out there who like things as they are, but we can't say "eBay needs to fix all these problems, and not change a thing".
tools*
·6 months agoI would sell to the interested party directly, and when the transaction is complete, give eBay their fee.
adamcartwright
·6 months ago@reiiyaa
For the future, download the eBay app onto your phone and move it to your home page.
Enable badge notifications for the app.
Now, every time you pick up your phone you'll see a little red circle on the eBay app if you have notifications.
kensgiftshop
·6 months agoYou can't even rely on the app sometimes.
I have the app on my phone for messages and let me know about any sales.
I've had a few sales that didn't show up on the app until after the item was shipped.
reiiyaa
OP6 months agoThanks everyone for the replies. I sincerely appreciate the practical advice and empathy.
A friend of mine also gave a very very solid life advice overall, that didn't cross my mind up until that point. Never sit on fine, just or unjust , just pay it out. Appeal after. Stalling financial obligations often creates more problems than it solves.
The hardest part for me was coming to terms how little personal context matters in large platform systems. Over a decade on the site and one mistake still gets processed the same way as anything else. That was a tough pill to swallow.
Anyway, thank you all for helping me think this through.
playwithitagaintoys
·6 months agoHow many times are you gonna post this exact thing? You posted it all over Reddit last week and we told you the answer. What do yoy wanna hear exactly??
reiiyaa
OP6 months agoHey, that tone isn't appreciated. This is my only public post, and people have been really helpful here! It seems like this is a common issue then, which is a shame. For me it feels like reply window is very short (in my mind i kept it as a listing board) but as others explained, it's to keep infrequent sellers professional, since real money is involved.
This issue has been weighing ridiculously heavy on me since last night when my bank notified me (I can be glad its not a message from credit pursuers). I've received some truly good advice over the past 12 hours and have already posted a follow-up. Please see my reply above.
It was a tough pill to swallow, but I'm coming to terms with it.
inhawaii
·6 months agoMy advice is ... learn a lesson from this and try not to let it happen again.
reallynicestamps
·6 months agobut I missed the notification and didn't ship in time.
Even occasional sellers are expected to be professional.
Do your eBay notifications come to an email address that you use daily?
Correcting that may solve future problems.
Not every transaction goes perfectly.
Losses on eBay, as well as fees on selling, are tax deductible.
simba6
·6 months agoYes if you relist and sell it again you would have to pay the selling fees again. When you signed up to sell, you have to provide eBay with a backup payment source. Such as a credit card or bank account. eBay will take the funds owed from there.
meme6253
·6 months agoWell you have been told by the others of your current situation, Probably not what you want to here but never the less it is what it is, Sorry for your situation, Hope things get better!
ccomic
·6 months agoI don’t sell any longer, but I have to say that eBay keeping fees on refunds and/or forcing sellers to refund from personal funds when eBay is holding the payment really seems like a bunch of nonsense to me.
I can see eBay giving rate breaks to preferred sellers, but they should never keep fees on refunds and it should always be possible to refund a buyer from the corresponding held funds from that sale. That just seems like common sense to me.
monica-sells
·6 months agoebay does not keep the fees on a refund if you follow the proper protocol to satisfy a return/refund.
albertabrightalberta
·6 months agoWhat is common sense is that the system is set up so ebay doesn't have to step in. Had the seller kept tabs on their account, saw the sale and either shipped the item or issued the refund, they would have gotten credit for the FVF.
Ebay wants sellers to take responsibility for their business and keep track of the account and if sellers don't do that, there's a financial consequence.
theteamsetguy
·6 months ago@ccomic ,
Ebay would rather sellers work out problems with buyers without having to get involved. If the seller would have refunded the money without the buyer having to open a case with ebay they would have all gotten their fees back.
It incentive for the sellers to work things out with the unhappy buyers. Irate buyers not only hurt eBay but also the rest of us sellers that refund buyers without ebay getting involved.
kibble-net
·6 months agoIf you refund the customer yourself, the fees are refunded.
If ebay has to step in because you ignore them and the customer, the fees are not refunded.
I'm not seeing a problem here.
Say it with me: "PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY".
ccomic
·6 months agoeBay should not have to step in, even if the seller does nothing.
1. On return request, prompt seller to issue return label
- If no label issued after some time (3 days?), issue refund from held funds
2. Once label is issued, use tracking and wait for delivery. Prompt seller when tracking shows delivered.
- If seller does not respond after some time (3 days?), issue refund from held funds
- If seller contests, then do whatever is done today
All this can be automatic. There is no need for eBay to "step in". Plus there are other ways to motivate sellers to be more proactive.
The other part of what I said of course is the held funds issue. If I sell something for $1000 and eBay holds it, eBay can tell me I need to refund it to the buyer, but with money other than the $1000 they are holding? How does that make any sense? Maybe I got it wrong?
theteamsetguy
·6 months ago@ccomic ,
Not everyone has their funds held. I have sold cards in the 5 figures on here many times and eBay didn't hold my funds. But then again I have been selling on here for many moons and I have plenty of grey hair due to age to show for it.
toomuchstuffagain35
·6 months agoI do agree with you that ebay should issue refunds from the funds they are holding. After all isn't that WHY they say they're holding them?
But they never have and probably never will.
Plus there are fees they have to recoup on top of the refund and the held amounts don't usually cover those.
reallynicestamps
·6 months agoThe Hold is on new and occasional sellers who have more problems than us old lags because they have difficulty keeping up with eBay's requirements.
No shade on their honesty, just a steep learning curve.
albertabrightalberta
·6 months agoWon't repeat what you've already been told but adding to what they said:
@reiiyaa said:
"The buyer is actually OK and still wants the item and is willing to repurchase if I relist it. But if I relist and sell again, I'll have to pay another fee."
This is correct, but you'll be paid for the relisted item by the buyer so the fee will be taken from the buyer's payment.
Lesson to be learned: When you have active listings, check your ebay account at least once a day!
12345jamesstamps
·6 months agoAfter around 3 days eBay usually sends an email that the negative amount will be deducted from your banking source...No money there I guess you get hit with a negative balance in the bank as well.
There's really nothing you can do.
Infrequent sellers usually get a 30 days hold on any funds as well.
So, if you haven't sold anything in a while...selling something now won't help.
eBay does report to credit agencies and usually closes one's account and usually you can't open any new accounts.
Unavailable member
·6 months agoeBay fees are non refundable especially when eBay has to step in to refund your buyer.
Pay your seller fees or it will go into collections and you will probably be restricted from selling. Meaning you won’t be able to list and sell.
Support will probably tell you the same.