Extra 5% charged in fees for "item not as desrcibed"

[cdewcollects]

I have been on the phone with eBay the past 3 days discussing the above issue.  All of a sudden my July sales are getting charged an additional 5% for item not as described.  I talked to a few reps and they said it was getting forwarded on to the performance department.  I finally got an email from them,  not a call which was promised.  Everything in the email that talks about seller metrics I already do.  The last rep I spoke with agreed the fees seem out of line.  The rep I spoke with said she was putting in a dispute for the fees.  Anyone else have the same issues?  

[lamber9347]

I'm not following you I'm afraid. Are you saying you have had no returns for INAD yet your account has been hit with 5% fees? Have you had any returns at all? Please provide more details so the rest of us can know what to look for if this is a new issue. Thank you. 

[cdewcollects]

I forgot to add, I have had 2 item returns in the past 11 months and they both were from a buyer that I spoke to eBay about.  That happened in August of 2019.  Since then, I have had no returns on my account.  I don't see how that could even play a role in this.

[cdewcollects]

I forgot to add, I have had 2 item returns in the past 11 months and they both were from a buyer that I spoke to eBay about.  That happened in August of 2019.  Since then, I have had no returns on my account.  I don't see how that could even play a role in this.

[aldente28]

If your "item not as described" Seller Metric is "Very High", ebay tacks on an additional 5% in fees. I believe they will do that until that Metric is no longer Very High.

If you think the fee is an error, you're doing the right thing in contacting ebay.

[alcoforever]

If you were going to be in the 5% penalty box, you would have been back in Aug. or Sept. 2019.  From looking at your feedback and your TRS status, I have to believe this is some kind of ebay billing error.  Your only recourse is to keep calling CS until it gets resolved.

[cardxcraft]

I’m willing to bet your peer group ( group of sellers compared to) have an INAD of 0%.  You see, having 2 INAD’s in 11 months is not high unless you’ve sold very few items.  The big issue are peer groups, because this is how Ebay decides if you’re very high, high, etc.; thus incurring an additional 5% FVF.  

I’ve had 2 INRs in the past 15 months with over 1,000 sold items.  My INR percentage is less than 0.30%, while my peers are at 0%.  Yet, I’m listed as high.  

I called Ebay to let them know I sell in the stamps category and its impossible my peer group has 0% INR.  Ebay agreed with this and promised to look into this and get back to me...this was 2 weeks ago.

If sellers are going to be charged a higher (additional) FVF based on a comparison to peer groups, then we have a right to at least see the sales data (INR and INAD) for these peer groups and know exactly how our peer groups were determined. 

Or, are we simply supposed to take Ebay’s word, knowing they have a vested interest in charging an additional FVF.

[cdewcollects]

Yeah, I am going to keep calling especially after I read in another post last night that people had the same issue and were refunded.

[cdewcollects]

For sure, I am going to keep calling.  I also read last night that people had the same issue this week and already were refunded.  Even the CS rep last night agreed that it did not make sense.

[cdewcollects]

The funny thing about this is that my sales have increased dramatically in the past few months.  If anything, I should have got this way before now with my sales being lower.  When I spoke to them last night I said that if they are going to do this then an explanation is needed.  I plan on continuing to call until something is resolved.  I also read that other people have had the same issue this week and already have been refunded.

[bigdeals.etc]

Yes I heard about a week ago someone else was hitting this billing error and cautioned everyone to double check their statements. Luckily for high volume sellers like me, the statements can sort by fee type and the 5% metric fee is separated from the regular final value fee.

[ragtoptempest]

I myself have called three times over this issue! I have 1 return from last December. That was because the buyer damaged the item after arrival and opened a case weeks after. I took the jersey back and she got a refund. Now I'm being charged 5% extra. 1 return amounts to a rating of "VERY HIGH". Its .96% of my sales. I told Ebay thats ridiculous! I told them that its just another way for Ebay to extract another dollar from the sellers that they care nothing about!

[cdewcollects]

Same issue here with a  buyer.  Item was described very clearly in the listing and when they got it, said they should have received two items.  When I spoke to eBay the CS rep even agreed.  I took the return and relisted it a few weeks later.  The same buyer purchased the baseball card and then damaged it upon arrival.  They claimed I sent it that way and the damage was not pictured.  Luckily, I wasn't charged anything and eBay removed their ridiculous negative feedback.  So those two issues 11 months ago caused this fee problem even though no other sales up until now have had extra fees.  There definitely has to be something wrong here with this fee increase.

[grammygonewild]

I am also being charged an additional 5% for "item not as described" and I just shipped that item yesterday so the buyer hasn't even received it yet.  I'm trying to get through to ebay but keep getting error messages.   Two other  item being charged were just delivered yesterday and the buyer hasn't provided feedback or requested a return so how does ebay determine that it wasn't as described?  Very frustrating.  

[pjcdn2005]

It does seem that there are billing errors as a seller should not be charged the extra 5% for service metrics unless the percentage is higher than 1% and they have 10 unique not as described claims in that category. The posters here don't seem to be that situation.

Item not as described: You're not performing as well as your peers in making sure that buyers receive the items they ordered as described in the listing, and in setting and meeting buyer expectations.
If you are rated Very High in a category, but you had fewer than 10 'Item not as described' return requests from unique buyers, or your 'Item not as described' rate is under 1% in a specific category during the evaluation period, you will not be subject to consequences

https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/selling-policies/seller-performance-policy/service-metrics-policy...