Being charged Promoted listing fees when it's NOT a PL sale. Possible problem to look for

[hunnybunny501p68]

A returning customer contacted me about a couple of items I had listed.  He contacted me from an old message thread.  I created a custom listing for him and sent him the link.  He purchased and paid.  No issue, until I saw that ebay charged me a PL fee for the sale.  I went back and read ebay policy for PL listings.  The seller is charged ONLY when a buyer clicks on a PL ad and purchases through said ad.

I contacted ebay and the C.S. rep gave me the typical P.L. info.  I told her how the sale was completed and she agreed that I should not have been charged the fee.   The money was replaced in my acct. 2 days later.  No biggie, UNTIL....  I did another custom sale today AND, I got dinged again for the PL fee.  So, I have to contact ebay again and spend 15 minutes of my time to resolve an issue they created.  

BEWARE SELLERS.   Be sure to double check your fees,  lord know how much of our money they are pocketing without us knowing.    Hopefully they see this post and do something about it.  This is why class-action lawsuits are created, but they only help lawyers, not those affected.

[sapphire_studio]

Oops we are glitching and charging you more money than we should. Multiple times. Our bad!

Scary.

[lakefor94]

Make sure to create a complete new listing, not a "sell similar" or "relist". That should clear you  of any halo type fees associated with the original listing.

[sapphire_studio]

How can there be a Halo fee by hitting Sell similar when you dont promote it at all? Halo fees dont apply to non-promoted listings. If I promote one shade of a nail polish and hit "sell similar" and create a listing for a different shade that has no competition so I dont promote it, does that give ebay the right to make me pay the promotion fee on the non-promoted shade?

The best I can guess is it some programming ebay made to stop people from creating custom listings for buyers (like bundles) and not paying to promote it (because some ebay bot decided you are relisting the exact same item to get around the fee with someone you are messaging).

[lakefor94]

---

@sapphire_studio wrote:

How can there be a Halo fee by hitting Sell similar when you dont promote it at all? Halo fees dont apply to non-promoted listings. If I promote one shade of a nail polish and hit "sell similar" and create a listing for a different shade that has no competition so I dont promote it, does that give ebay the right to make me pay the promotion fee on the non-promoted shade?

I will certainly leave it at, if you promoted a listing and then do a relist or sell similar, the fees can follow the original listing. Relist, for sure. Been there, done that.

I always go with a new listing when appropriate. Slam dunk.

The best I can guess is it some programming ebay made to stop people from creating custom listings for buyers (like bundles) and not paying to promote it (because some ebay bot decided you are relisting the exact same item to get around the fee with someone you are messaging).

---

They will try to get some dough off a seller, every chance.

[wastingtime101]

What you didn't say @hunnybunny501p68 is whether or not the new custom listings were promoted.

If they were promoted, then the PL "halo" fee can apply even though the buyer didn't find that specific listing through a PL spot in search.

Go to the sold listing, click "sell similar" and scroll down to the bottom where it has PL info. Was the listing promoted? If the answer is yes, this is probably not an error. If the listing was not promoted then yeah, there's a problem and it should be reported to CS. Don't forget to delete that listing draft when you're done so you don't accidentally list it later.

Read about PL halo fees in the FAQ here:

https://www.ebay.com/sellercenter/growth/promoted-listings/promoted-listings-standard

What ad rate am I charged if a buyer clicks multiple times on my promoted listings, and I’ve changed the ad rate during that period?

You are in control of setting the ad rates for your Promoted Listings Standard campaigns. For items in an active Standard campaign, you will only pay the ad rate you selected for the listings when they sell.

There are two ways an ad rate will be charged on listings that are active in the Promoted Listings Standard program: as a Direct sale or a Halo Item sale. A Direct sale is when a buyer purchases the same item that was featured in the Standard ad they originally clicked on within 30 days. A Halo Item sale is when a promoted item, different from the item originally featured in the ad the buyer clicked on, is purchased within 30 days of the original click.

For Direct sales, we measure the 30-day sales attribution window from the click closest to the sale and charge the ad rate in effect at the time of that last click.

For Halo Item sales, you will only be charged an ad fee if the purchased item is in an active Promoted Listings Standard campaign at the time of the sale, and you will be charged the ad rate of the sold item.

The ad fee for Halo Item sales will be calculated based on the ad rate in effect for the sold item at the time of the sale.

[hunnybunny501p68]

Thanks for the info.  I read the "Quick set-up guide" on PL charges, not the 14 page "attorney written to cover our rear ends" guide.     I'll will do a deep dive and make sure I don't list the item until it's truly ready so I don't get billed for a PL

Much appreciated. 

[wastingtime101]

No prob @hunnybunny501p68 . I think what you should do in these cases, is make sure the listing is not promoted before you publish it.

If you have automated PL rules, you may need to end that campaign and create a new manual one.

If you already handle things manually, then make sure PL is not selected on the listing form before you publish.

[gurlcat]

I hope this thread won't get shut down due to age before you can reply, but if the bundle/custom listing DID have promotion on it without the OP realizing it, and it counted as a Halo sale, then why would the CSR agree it was an error and refund the fee?  

[syntax2008]

Well it happened to me once as i created a new listing and sent the link to the buyer via pm and i noticed i got charged for PL.

The answer i got from ebay is that because the buyer clicked on the original listing by PL ad so thats why i got charged and that its valid for 30 days from the day he clicked .

So ite means that even if he would buy different item from my store i will be charged fot PL anyway.

Correct me if i am wrong...