FINAL VALUE FEES NOT BEING REFUNDED ON "PARTIAL REFUND RETURNS"

[jenpicked]

Beginning in May 2022, ebay announced it would be refunding a pro-rated portion of FVF when an item is partially refunded.  This has worked flawlessly for our partial refunds that are combined shipping reimbursements, or shipping overages.  HOWEVER it has not worked a single time, when a buyer returns something incorrectly and we refund all but the shipping charges.  Which is our option to do, at our discretion. Sometimes it is just a matter of opinion, sometimes it is an innocent error on the part of our customer, who opened a return for the wrong reason.  EBAY HAS NOT REIMBURSED OUR FVF for these returns.  NOT ONCE.

An example:  My buyer bought some 14k earring jackets.  Buyer opened a return because one of the earring jackets was missing in the package.  I messaged my buyer to let them know that the jackets sometimes nest together and it looks like there is only one.  My buyer messages back.....YES both jackets are here (thankfully).  But I still want to return them because they are not long enough.  Buyer returns earrings, and I refund full purchase price, but not the original shipping, as they should have opened a return for "do not like" which would have defaulted to refund purchase price, but not shipping amount.  Ebay does not reimburse my FVF for this return.  Those fees on a $200 transaction are considerable.  Even though the policy from May 2022, states very clearly that ebay owes my FVF back.

So, we have about $600 worth of returns that ebay owes FVF back to us.

I would assume this is happening across all sellers, not just me.  If you are unsure, you can easily check in the breakdowns of your returns to see if that is happening for you.

And it is still happening.  The issue has not been fixed.  The fees have not been refunded.  I would imagine it has netted ebay major money in the last 8 months.  

How do I demand an audit of this problem?  How do I demand ebay to do the legwork, like in an actual audit, to figure out how much money they owe each seller, and to voluntarily pay back that money.  I have already called and asked for my money back.  To which the poor lady told me there were too many transactions and that she would need time to go thru all of them....Never heard back from her.  Never got any money back.

Ebay is our whole world here.  It is the only job in my family.  We employ multiple other people to whom ebay is the only job that cares for their family as well.  Ebay fully expects me to follow all of the ever-changing rules, to which we happily fall in line and do.  Shouldn't I also have an expectation that ebay will follow all of those same rules?

[wastingtime101]

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@jenpicked wrote:

As you can see in the pic, the original shipping of $6.55 is not automatically checked for the return.  This is how all returns look for TRS.  I always have the option of refunding or not refunding that original shipping.  No matter what the request is for, the "original shipping" button is never automatically turned on.  I have to turn it on for returns that qualify

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Yep, it's the same on my account. Doesn't matter if it's a not as described return.

Since others say it's not there for them, I wonder if it's something that only kicks in when you hit a certain selling volume?

In the past it used to be that filing a report on the buyer for filing a false not as described claim would "unlock" that feature, but a long time ago my account changed so now I see it on every single return, regardless of the reason, and shipping is not automatically selected for refund.

[toomuchstuffagain35]

I have definitely had returns for NAD where to return the original shipping I had to press the slider to do so. The first time it happened I didn't and then was left with not having given a full refund and it was a mess to work out.

[sapphire_studio]

Since eBay says if you take off any of the refund due to damages you do not qualify for any partial refund on fees,  it could be that they're also applying that to if you take off the original shipping fee on INADS (since that seems to be available for high volume sellers).

 I'm not saying I agree with eBay's policy and that it's fair to withhold the fee refund on any INAD return that ends in a partial refund,  But that seems to be their policy if the item is shipped back.  If you do a partial refund that they agree to before they ship the item it's not the same case.

 

[sapphire_studio]

Here is another thread on the topic:

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/Fee-Adjustment-After-Partial-Refund/td-p/32595980

[wastingtime101]

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@sapphire_studio wrote:

Here is another thread on the topic:

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/Fee-Adjustment-After-Partial-Refund/td-p/32595980

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That thread is not relevant. It's from January 2022 before this change went into effect.

[wastingtime101]

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@sapphire_studio wrote:

Since eBay says if you take off any of the refund due to damages you do not qualify for any partial refund on fees,  it could be that they're also applying that to if you take off the original shipping fee on INADS (since that seems to be available for high volume sellers).

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And therein lies the question: did eBay forget to update that policy page when this change was implemented, or did the eBay rep give us wrong info after the change was announced last February?

https://www.ebay.com/sellercenter/resources/seller-updates/2022-winter/business#fees

https://community.ebay.com/t5/2022-Winter-Seller-Update/Question-thread-Updates-to-fee-credits-and-B...

I went back through a bunch of my returns, but so far I haven't been able to find one after this change went into effect at the end of May where I withheld. I've been very generous to buyers, even ones that broke my merchandise. I'll keep looking.

There was one where I withheld the full 50% but it didn't go through the normal process and CS was involved so that's not a relevant example.

I would also question whether or not the OP reported the buyer in this instance for filing a false claim.

[sapphire_studio]

OK my bad for posting that thread.

What do you think about my theory that taking off shipping on INADs is considered the same as taking off part of the refund due to damages? (Thus making it ineligibale for a partial refund on fees).  Because the OP is stating that the small amount of cases she's not getting a partial refund in fees is when the Buyer filed the wrong return and did an INAD when it should have been a remorse, so she took off the shipping.

From Original Post:

"HOWEVER it has not worked a single time, when a buyer returns something incorrectly and we refund all but the shipping charges.  Which is our option to do, at our discretion. Sometimes it is just a matter of opinion, sometimes it is an innocent error on the part of our customer, who opened a return for the wrong reason."

[wastingtime101]

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@sapphire_studio wrote:

What do you think about my theory that taking off shipping on INADs is considered the same as taking off part of the refund due to damages? (Thus making it ineligibale for a partial refund on fees).  Because the OP is stating that the small amount of cases she's not getting a partial refund in fees is when the Buyer filed the wrong return and did an INAD when it should have been a remorse, so she took off the shipping.

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We were posting at the same time, but if you read my last post (#51) you'll see my thoughts on this.

[yuzuha]

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@jenpicked wrote:

It is actually there every single time, for every single return, no matter what the return reason is.  TRS has that option with "original shipping"  for every return we have. 

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REMORSE returns. Not INAD returns. I too am a TRS; I just had an INAD return (new in box item with a manufacturing flaw) the other day. I did not have that toggle on the return because it was an INAD return.

[sapphire_studio]

Yeah you are right especially looking at the 2nd link you posted. Either that eBay rep was wrong or they never updated their rules that I took a screenshot of.