Refunds and Holds/Managed Payments

[lapisseadog]

I had a return a couple weeks back. The customer simply didn't like the item, and a return was automatically approved. That's fine. I offer free returns anyway. What's not fine is that ebay put a hold on the funds involved in the refund. I just refunded the buyer, before I actually had the item back (I saw that it was in my town/ready to be delivered). They removed money from my "pending" amount, even though they already had the money from the previous hold!!! I just refunded twice what the item sold for. Tried to contact ebay, but system not available??!! I am so sick of this managed payments **bleep**. My sales are down 40% since I was forced into MP Aug. 31st 2020. Basically most of my International orders. What is going on here?!! I am so frustrated I am having trouble listing! I'm like "what's the point"? 

[wiki-store]

can all sellers get the manage payment service on ebay?

[valueaddedresource · Accepted solution]

@lapisseadog   - the hold should be released back into your available funds within 24-48 hours.  It's a pain and I don't like at all how eBay is doing this as it makes it look like they are "double dipping", but in my experience it does eventually all work out. 

It would be so much easier if eBay took the refund out of the already held funds, but they don't do that for whatever reason.

Here's my response from a similar topic with screenshots if you want more info. 

 https://community.ebay.com/t5/Payments/Managed-Payments-Holds-and-Refunds-DOUBLE-REFUND/m-p/31214358... 

[threshold.sales.group]

+1 - Thank you for earlier response. You nailed it. The hold / refund process really needs some improvement. There really is no direct explanation on the site of the hold / refund process and that's crazy.

The 24 hour period where there is a real double dip is going to cause major problems as more and more sellers get enrolled. I agree that the problem lies when the hold is released a day or so after the refund there's no current line item the seller can reference. It's long gone.  You'd think the 1000's of wasted c-s hours spent on this issue would out weigh the cost of having programmers actually make the process easy to understand and transparent? 

[lapisseadog]

Thank you. My brain is hurting over this! I appreciate your time, Dan.

[valueaddedresource]

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@lapisseadog wrote:

Thank you. My brain is hurting over this! I appreciate your time, Dan.

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No problem @lapisseadog! eBay clearly wasn't too concerned with making any of this easy to understand for sellers or customer service.

When I called about it, the first rep I talked to spent 20 minutes arguing with me that the refund did come out of the held funds, even though it clearly didn't.  Once I finally got her to understand that, she then put me on hold for an hour and transferred me to someone else. 🙄  So yeah, even eBay's own support does not seem to be very clear on how this is supposed to work - not sure how they expect sellers to figure it out on our own.

[valueaddedresource]

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@threshold.sales.group wrote:

+1 - Thank you for earlier response. You nailed it. The hold / refund process really needs some improvement. There really is no direct explanation on the site of the hold / refund process and that's crazy.

The 24 hour period where there is a real double dip is going to cause major problems as more and more sellers get enrolled. I agree that the problem lies when the hold is released a day or so after the refund there's no current line item the seller can reference. It's long gone.  You'd think the 1000's of wasted c-s hours spent on this issue would out weigh the cost of having programmers actually make the process easy to understand and transparent? 

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@threshold.sales.group  agree with you absolutely! And you are right, for that time period there is a real double dip (in the sense that double the amount is "not available" to the seller during that time). While in my experience it does all work out in the end mathematically, that doesn't account for the inconvenience of increased time/complication of bookkeeping and the cash flow crunch it could cause in the mean time.

That and the hours of wasted time trying to get answers from customer service about MP issues definitely shows there are "costs" to MP for sellers beyond just the actual dollar amounts in fees - and those "costs" are definitely not being factored in to eBay's attempts at painting a rosy picture about the overall Managed Payments experience.

If time is money, Managed Payments is costing many sellers much more than eBay is willing to admit.

[lapisseadog]

Absolutely right. When I saw this, I went over the numbers for the whole month just to make sure I wasn't missing something. That took over an hour. That's ten listings that aren't getting published today. Lost time/lost money. I'm expecting a call back from ebay(wait time 193 minutes). I suppose I'll use it to address my problem with managed payments/International customers having problems paying. More lost time....

[lapisseadog]

I was forced into it. It's my understanding that all sellers can apply for it, if they so wish. Everyone's going to be included by 2022 from what I have read anyway.

[paulibeverlyhills]

experiencing a different issue, but related. We sold a pair of earrings. Buyer said that they didn't match her dress & WANTED to return item, so we issued a return. We asked buyer to download the tracking. She said she did, but there was nothing on the page on her reply, & she told us not to email her again. A very nasty, hostile person, & for no reason whatsoever.That aside, here's the issue, IF THE PACKAGE is on its way back to us, and that's a big IF at this point, we currently have a zero balance in our eBay acct. and in PayPal but have funds in our bank to cover the refund (our bank is attached to PayPal, but the buyer purchased via eBay, not PayPal). As a result, we dont know how to transfer funds to cover the return amount unless we get a random sale on eBay that covers it, & there's no way to know if that will happen. PayPal also not answering phones and cannot speak for eBay anyway.

We tried to contact eBay today. They called us, sounded like they were in a tunnel in a faraway place, and we couldn't hear the rep. They didn't call back even though we asked the rep to do so, so we could try to turn on our speaker.  We went online AGAIN to ask for a call & eBay board says no one available today, try tomorrow. Does anyone here know if a transaction was made by buyer via managed payments & eBay , if there is a way to send them a  refund via PayPal, and , if so, how does eBay then make a record of that, since they are no longer in business together with PayPal. . TO SAY THIS IS A CONVOLUTED situation, with no one to speak to, is putting it mildly. A BIG HASSLE for NO REASON AT ALL. And this is before we even receive the package back--IF WE DO. Any sage advice will be welcome. There is nowhere for us to turn to for advice, & even if we could get through MAYBE to eBay, the reps seem unaware of the procedures, unless you are lucky enough to get to a "managed" rep...NOT HAPPY AT ALL.....!!!!!! Just adding a layer of aggravation to our lives, and NO REASON for it. When there is a new program with any company, it behooves them to staff up to answer any "glitch" in the system questions.....16 years on eBay, and we feel totally abandoned and mega frustrated. And this is for starters, as I imagine this whole drama could get more complicated still.  HELP, preferably from an eBay employee who knows the system procedures. than you all..

[turbodan56]

 e -bay crooks , hats what it is