eBay

campanaelia · ‎10-28-2022

The glitch is back. I had a thread here 2 years ago about the same issue and everything was working fine until today. Here is the link to my old thread which has been locked due to it's age:

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Buying/Why-is-ebay-charging-CA-buyers-addt-l-fees-on-electronics-not/t...

I buy about 10-15 laptops a month and refuse to pay it, the last time this happened I had to wait a total of 5 months to fix it after numerous chats with customer service. I already messaged my current sellers to cancel pending transactions and included my chat reference # and screenshots. . Customer service said they noted my account to remove any unpaid strikes. What a big waste of time. Guess I'll be buying laptops elsewhere for a while now until it is fixed...

campanaelia · ‎11-17-2022

@valueaddedresource wrote:
@janet9988 wrote:
It affects BUYERS Not the sellers.

Sellers can not be held responsible for for buyers having this problem.
@janet9988 - good call that the buyer needs to contact support as well but this does actually affect both sides of the transaction. Obviously the buyers are paying a fee they shouldn't but so are sellers.

It affects the sellers in more ways. I'm not buying any more laptops until it is fixed and I'm sure I'm not the only one. I check every day with "BIN" listings to check the status and it currently still adding the fee. The laptops from last week I paid the fee for still has not been refunded yet either.

campanaelia · ‎11-23-2022

Can anybody tell me how long these refunds take to process? It's been 9 days, including 7 business days, since requesting refund post-purchase. If I'm required to pay within 4 days, ebay should be held to the same standard.

Normally in the past I've had sellers cancel all my orders, but ebay reps said the fee would be reimbursed if I paid it. I also caved and bought 2 more laptops, so now they owe me $18. I would be buying at least twice this amount for the holidays if it weren't for this.

campanaelia · ‎12-15-2022

So today, after aprox. one month, I finally received the refunds for my first 2 orders and still waiting for 2 more orders to be refunded. However, I also checked today and they are still charging the fee incorrectly at checkout.

After my first 4 orders, I haven't purchased any more laptops on ebay until this is completely fixed.

valueaddedresource · ‎12-15-2022

devon@ebay elizabeth@ebay

It's been almost 2 months now - any update from the tax team on getting this fixed so buyers don't have to go through this ordeal to get refunded and sellers don't miss out on sales or pay extra fees they shouldn't be paying?

elizabeth@ebay · ‎12-16-2022

@valueaddedresource wrote:

devon@ebay elizabeth@ebay

It's been almost 2 months now - any update from the tax team on getting this fixed so buyers don't have to go through this ordeal to get refunded and sellers don't miss out on sales or pay extra fees they shouldn't be paying?

Good morning @valueaddedresource! I'll be sure to get this reported to them again. The best option though, is to have anyone experiencing the issue to reach out to our agents, for the tax refund, and to request a ticket be made. I wish I could get that ticket made, but we need for specific account information and images, that I am unable to retrieve.

Elizabeth,

valueaddedresource · ‎12-16-2022

elizabeth@ebay wrote:
@valueaddedresource wrote:
devon@ebay elizabeth@ebay

It's been almost 2 months now - any update from the tax team on getting this fixed so buyers don't have to go through this ordeal to get refunded and sellers don't miss out on sales or pay extra fees they shouldn't be paying?
Good morning @valueaddedresource! I'll be sure to get this reported to them again. The best option though, is to have anyone experiencing the issue to reach out to our agents, for the tax refund, and to request a ticket be made. I wish I could get that ticket made, but we need for specific account information and images, that I am unable to retrieve.

Thanks elizabeth@ebay appreciate it! But just FYI it doesn't appear to be an account specific issue, so you really shouldn't need specific account info and images, it appears to be possibly category/condition wide.

I've checked about 20 used or for parts laptops at random and entered eBay HQ in San Jose as well as other CA addresses just to test....every single one of them had the e-waste fee added in error.

You could easily do the same to provide screenshots to the tax team. 😊

campanaelia · ‎01-10-2023

elizabeth@ebay

I currently have 3 orders that I'm still owed ewaste fee refunds. I notified agents the same day payment was made, 2 orders are about 6 weeks old, so I'm growing concern, please refund me. As requested, see images below...

ORDER DATE Nov 19, 2022

ORDER # 13-09374-57362, Item # 265986690540, Ewaste fee $4

ORDER DATENov 26, 2022

ORDER # 13-09392-72680, Item # 125620890426, ewaste fee $5

Screenshot 2022-11-27 at 04-55-24 Checkout eBay.png

ORDER DATE Dec 24, 2022

ORDER # 15-09515-41672, Order # 404070686968, Ewaste fee $5

Screenshot 2022-12-28 at 09-01-56 Checkout eBay.png

elizabeth@ebay · ‎01-10-2023

@campanaelia wrote:

elizabeth@ebay

elizabeth@ebay

I currently have 3 orders that I'm still owed ewaste fee refunds. I notified agents the same day payment was made, 2 orders are about 6 weeks old, so I'm growing concern, please refund me. As requested, see images below...

ORDER DATE Nov 19, 2022

ORDER # 13-09374-57362, Item # 265986690540, Ewaste fee $4

ORDER DATENov 26, 2022

ORDER # 13-09392-72680, Item # 125620890426, ewaste fee $5

ORDER DATE Dec 24, 2022

ORDER # 15-09515-41672, Order # 404070686968, Ewaste fee $5

Hi @campanaelia. There will be notes on your account that will update the agents with the status of your refund. Please reach out to them here (as we're unable to dig into accounts through Community) so they can work to get this completed for you.

Elizabeth,

yankeefan! · ‎01-15-2023

I just posted this on the same topic under another thread. So sorry if you've already seen this...

Ebay is collecting this California E-waste recycling fee in error for most cases of laptop sales on their platform. They are absolutely, explicitly, and without shame collecting the fee on laptops that are listed as "used" or "for parts/repair" by their sellers. Ebay should only be collecting the fee for "new" or "open box" or "manufacturer refurbished" laptops. The appropriate California regulation that covers this fee is located here:

https://www.cdtfa.ca.gov/formspubs/pub95.pdf

And the relevant part of the official California state publication is this - quoting directly:

"The fee does not apply when a customer purchases a video display device that is any of the following:
• Used but not refurbished.
• Part of a motor vehicle, as defined in Vehicle Code section 415, or a component part of a motor vehicle assembled by or for a vehicle manufacturer or franchised dealer. This includes replacement parts for use in a motor vehicle.
• Contained within, or a part of, a piece of industrial, commercial, or medical equipment, including monitoring or control equipment.
• Contained within a clothes washer, clothes dryer, refrigerator, freezer, oven or range, microwave oven, dishwasher, room air conditioner, dehumidifier, or air purifier.
• Contains Organic Light-Emitting Diode (OLED).
• Cell phone, including smartphone with screen size greater than four inches.
• eReader/eBook-Reader or eInk"

(Bold emphasis above on "Used but not refurbished" is my own)

I contacted Ebay several weeks ago about this, and mentioned that the fee was also incorrectly collected several years ago before they fixed the bug in their software that runs the checkout process. The Ebay rep said I should receive a refund after she presented the info I provided to the appropriate higher-ups, but that has not yet happened. Shocking, I know.

The history of the incorrectly applied fee is simple: Recently (sometime around early October, 2022), Ebay "overhauled" their checkout software and once again the "bug" crept back into the code from the earlier version from many years ago, and they've been collecting this fee ever since. California explicitly does NOT require the fee to be collected on the vast majority of laptops sold on Ebay's platform (which are used and sold by their original owners after perhaps an upgrade). What's happening with all of this money, quite likely millions of dollars that should not be collected? Why can't Ebay just fix their code again? It gets updated regularly with new fees/taxes/surcharges/payment options/etc., so it's not like nobody there is familiar with the code base!

To be fair to the state of California, I personally believe that this is a VERY sensible fee to collect on new items that will eventually make their way to a dump or recycling center (preferably the latter). California would prefer (and they mention this in their publications and videos) that items be reused as often as possible before finally giving up the ghost and hopefully being recycled into new products, as certain metals, plastics, glass, etc. is extracted from the original item. Philosophically, I'm totally on board with this. But even California will admit that you can only send a covered item into the recycling system once - you can't keep doing it each time the item is resold as used (hopefully several times) in its lifetime. That's why they only require the fee to be collected once, when a covered item is purchased as new or manufacturer refurbished by its original/first owner. Simple, right? So what's the problem, Ebay? FIX YOUR CODE!!!