Question thread: Updates to fee credits and Below Standard fees

[seller_update@ebay]

Fee credits and an increase are coming. When a seller issues a partial refund to a buyer, we will automatically credit a prorated portion of the Seller’s final value fee. We’ll also credit the $0.30 transaction fee if the Buyer is requesting a cancellation and the Seller accepts. There will be an increase however, for Sellers who are not meeting the minimum standards. Please see here to learn more, and feel free to leave any questions you have below!

Please note that eBay experts will be present and engaging on the boards between 8 am and 4:00 pm PST on 2.9.

[b86fiero]

Refunding the 0.30 per order fee when a Buyer cancels their order is a welcome change. Never made sense that sellers were penalized for buyer behavior.  Thank you!  

[bashort]

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So am I reading this correctly, if you give a refund for a shipping discount the seller will get the final value fees back on the refunded amount?

[mns316]

SEEMS THIS UPDATE ONLY BENEFITS EBAY AND NOT THE SELLER...OR BUYERS AT ALL....6% MORE FEE FOR ME!!!!!

[comics-scifi-collectibles]

seller_update@ebay   Does the partial refund credit apply for shipping refunds? 

Or does it only apply when a partial refund is issued from a refund request?   

[coffeebean832]

Why do the partial refund prorated FVF credits go into effect in May while all the fee increases go into effect March 1st?

What date in May will the FVF credit go into effect?

[meridian_gamingz]

Ok first let me get this straight. I am a seller on here for now 20 years. I have always shipped orders when they should be shipped. I never really get any returns.

Now ,these days I sell custom items and I make them myself, where users can change the jacks. So if a user needs a different jack they will return the item instead of contacting me. I only had like 5 returns and sell over 100 a month. Now I am losing my TOP-RATED seller status because a user gets to RETURN the item?  AND I PAY FOR THE RETURN?? AND I DON'T GET REFUNDED FOR SHIPPING THE ORIGINAL ORDER?? AND I PAY THE FEES? THEN I get jipped on it? not fair. Listen I ship the items on time maybe one late. My record is perfect but now I get jipped on this? Not sure I want to sell here anymore.

[seller_update@ebay]

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@bashort wrote:

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So am I reading this correctly, if you give a refund for a shipping discount the seller will get the final value fees back on the refunded amount?

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That's correct @bashort! Starting May 2022, when you issue a partial refund to a buyer, we’ll automatically credit a prorated portion of your final value fee based on the adjusted total amount of the sale. 

[kwc8134]

Going into this in depth, I see everything extraneous ending in rationalizing increasing fees. Period. There are some things that would be welcome, but increasing fees takes that away. eBay is already under fire for withholding too much in the ART sector (per recent news reports, anyway), and now they're rolling out increased fees (again). Fine, take what the market will bear. And realize that I'm breaking even or losing money while I compare platforms, something I haven't done in over 20 years with two different businesses using eBay. I should have seen it coming after PayPal got pulled in and everything changed to using bank accounts and scheduled payouts. We as sellers still don't know how that will affect our standing with the IRS, but it's only going to lead to more work/expense on our end over and above the new fees.

[ironbreed]

Not only that...(I don't accept returns anymore). BUT eBay still allows them to return at my expense, when they LIE and say the item is defective or doesn't match the description.  I even had customers tell me they were going to LIE if I didn't accept the return.  I even showed eBay proof when the customer threatened me.  They said there's nothing they can do and to block them from making future purchases! **bleep**???

I have to then pay for their Return shipping AND give them their Entire purchase/original shipping cost back as a refund.  So, I lose twice!  If I don't, then my account gets dinged and they take the refund from me anyway, no matter what MY return policy says in the listing's description. 

I always thought when you pay extra for a "store" you have control over your own operating/return policies...NOPE.  I've been here 21 years and it's getting to the point where they are starting to bait a switch their fee policies constantly and so often, I'm thinking of leaving also.

[somanypostcards]

Why is the credit of $.30 transaction fee limited to Buyer request?  In 2021 I had to cancel over 220 sales (due in all probability to unauthorized use of buyers' accounts), for which I used cancel reason of "Issue with buyer's shipping address."  The $.30 transaction fee should be credited for invalid addresses and/or fraudulent purchases, not just for Buyer requesting cancellation.  Also, when the shipping company returns an item as non-deliverable and a refund is issued to the buyer, the $.30 transaction fee should be credited.  These are failed sales "at no fault of the seller," just as Buyer request for cancel is "at no fault of the seller."

[cosmeticsdiscounted]

Does this mean you will also issue refunds on the tax and shipping fee you charged us also?

[seller_update@ebay]

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@comics-scifi-collectibles wrote:

seller_update@ebay   Does the partial refund credit apply for shipping refunds? 

Or does it only apply when a partial refund is issued from a refund request?   

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Great question @comics-scifi-collectibles! It will include shipping!!!

[beautyandsalonproducts10]

Thanks to the incompetence of the USPS I am penalized by Ebay for late deliveries or packages not scanned on time, hence my poor performance. Now Ebay is going to penalize me more in the form of taking away more profits.  When it's not really my fault.  Makes sense....

[mam98031]

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@ironbreed wrote:

Not only that...(I don't accept returns anymore). BUT eBay still allows them to return at my expense, when they LIE and say the item is defective or doesn't match the description.  I even had customers tell me they were going to LIE if I didn't accept the return.  I even showed eBay proof when the customer threatened me.  They said there's nothing they can do and to block them from making future purchases! **bleep**???

I have to then pay for their Return shipping AND give them their Entire purchase/original shipping cost back as a refund.  So, I lose twice!  If I don't, then my account gets dinged and they take the refund from me anyway, no matter what MY return policy says in the listing's description. 

I always thought when you pay extra for a "store" you have control over your own operating/return policies...NOPE.  I've been here 21 years and it's getting to the point where they are starting to bait a switch their fee policies constantly and so often, I'm thinking of leaving also.

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This has been a fact on Ebay for years.  All sellers must offer a return policy that meets or exceeds the MBG.  That hasn't changed.

I'm unsure as to why you thought having a Store makes any difference.  The rules for sellers with or without a store are the same.  There are certainly some benefits to having a store, but changing the requirements on a return policy aren't one of them.

Every since they changed the return policy in October of 2019 to the Simplified Return policy we all experience things such as you describe.  Ebay over the years has continued to say they recognize that the return system needs some improvements but as we can see for this Update, it is still missing from the program.