How can I get the final value fee refunded on partial refunds?

[springs_2013]

OK, I have tried not to call eBay customer service if I can help it because they have been useless so far.  Tonight is no different!

I had a buyer who complained the shipping fee was too high after item was paid.  I agree to refund the buyer a few dollars, but there is no option on eBay for a partial refund.  I know I can go into Paypal and do a partial refund, but I was wondering how my eBay final value fee will be deducted.

So I called C/S and the girl had no idea what she was talking about.  Even though she does not have an accent, her command of the English language was so poor that I had no idea what she was saying.  From what I gathered, she said when I refund through Paypal, eBay will credit me at the end of the billing cycle. 

When I asked the eBay customer service rep how eBay will know that I refunded though Paypal, she then said that I can request for a partial refund.  I then proceeded to ask if eBay will directly request Paypal to partial refund.  Then she went on to say things that does not make sense. 

At this point, I ask to speak to another eBay rep as I was having issues understand what she was trying to convey.  She put me on hold and the next thing I know, she transfered me to Paypal and Paypal said they do not let eBay know directly that I have partially refunded the buyer.

So I guess I am out of the final value fee on the partial refund.

eBAY! WHY DON'T YOU HIRE CUSTOMER REPS WHO SERVICE CUSTOMERS IN THE U.S. WITH A GOOD COMMAND OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE?!?!  You want your sellers to provide excellent customer service, why don't you walk the walk instead of just talking the talk?

There are plenty of sellers and buyers who complain about how bad customer service is, don't you think it's about time to address that issue?

[beardedbovine]

The easiest way to handle this is to refund the buyer minus the fees you won't recoup. $3.00 refund minus $0.30 fees send them $2.70. No muss no fuss.

If you already refunded you can call and ask for the billing department, tell them you did a partial refund on shipping and ask if they will credit the FVF for the amount you refunded. But... if it was only a few dollars then the fee is only a few dimes... is it really worth your time to call? I would let it go and next time handle the refund with the fee in mind.

[bonjourami]

Ebay does not give refunds on fvf's for a partial refund to the customer. Thats the sellers decision to give the partial..not Ebay's.

[seller*by*day]

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@bonjourami wrote:

Ebay does not give refunds on fvf's for a partial refund to the customer. Thats the sellers decision to give the partial..not Ebay's.

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Yes they do. All it takes is a phone call.

[bonjourami]

You only receive a refund of fees from PayPal,not Ebay, but just on the amount that you refunded the buyer.  The  .30 cent  PayPal transaction fee is not refunded.

[beardedbovine]

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@bonjourami wrote:

You only receive a refund of fees from PayPal,not Ebay, but just on the amount that you refunded the buyer.  The  .30 cent  PayPal transaction fee is not refunded.

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1. Why would there be a need for the 30 cent PayPal transaction fee to be refunded on a small, partial shipping refund?

2. eBay does issue FVF credits on the amount refunded to the buyer but you have to call and ask.

3. eBay may deny the credit if the reason for your partial is something like finding a flaw and agreeing to a lower price with the buyer. But when the refund is to provide a better customer experience like lower shipping eBay has no problem crediting FVF on the amount that was refunded. I've gotten several FVF credits for partial shipping refunds to buyers.

[seller*by*day]

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@bonjourami wrote:

You only receive a refund of fees from PayPal,not Ebay, but just on the amount that you refunded the buyer.  The  .30 cent  PayPal transaction fee is not refunded.

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@bonjourami @springs_2013

please See the @beardedbovine‘s answer.

Just call eBay customer service and they will issue you a final value fee credit 🙂

[bonjourami]

Well the op certainly didnt have any luck calling about this issue, did he? do you have a 'friend' at Ebay? LOL...

We don't issue a final value fee credit if one of the following situations happens:

• You issue a partial refund
• You refund the buyer outside of eBay, such as using PayPal's Send Money
• The buyer or the seller asked eBay to step in and help and the case is decided in the buyer's favor

[beardedbovine]

No friends at eBay, but I know what department to ask for when I call. The front line reps often give confused responses like the OP got.

@Anonymoushas also posted in the past that you can call to request a fee credit when you issue a partial refund for shipping. If this has changed he can come and post an update for all of us.

[bonjourami]

Well I guess if a seller doesnt know to call, and just follows Ebay's written criteria regarding credit for a partial refund..hes **bleep**

[Anonymous]

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@bonjourami wrote:

Well the op certainly didnt have any luck calling about this issue, did he? do you have a 'friend' at Ebay? LOL...

We don't issue a final value fee credit if one of the following situations happens:

• You issue a partial refund
• You refund the buyer outside of eBay, such as using PayPal's Send Money
• The buyer or the seller asked eBay to step in and help and the case is decided in the buyer's favor

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Hi @bonjourami, can you provide a link to where you are seeing this on the site? This is in direct contradiction to the internal policy reference our Customer Service agents would use when reviewing a credit and I want to investigate the context of this reference for necessary updates. If a seller wishes to provide a partial refund via the PayPal transaction for a shipping discount, we will be able to provide a partial Final Value Fee credit manually. This would be within policy for us to provide to our sellers and would not be considered a courtesy, so there should have not been an issue with the OP receiving this kind of credit.

@springs_2013, I'm having your conversation with Customer Service reviewed and will ensure any necessary credits are processed. Thank you for sharing your experience here on the boards so I have an opportunity to get some coaching to the agent you spoke with and prevent this from happening again!

[bubbleman2010]

Trinton so you're saying your CS agents have access to a sellers paypal account and can view what refunds have been sent from the paypal system and they can issueFVF credits from looking at that info?

[Anonymous]

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@springs_2013 wrote:

OK, I have tried not to call eBay customer service if I can help it because they have been useless so far.  Tonight is no different!

I had a buyer who complained the shipping fee was too high after item was paid.  I agree to refund the buyer a few dollars, but there is no option on eBay for a partial refund.  I know I can go into Paypal and do a partial refund, but I was wondering how my eBay final value fee will be deducted.

So I called C/S and the girl had no idea what she was talking about.  Even though she does not have an accent, her command of the English language was so poor that I had no idea what she was saying.  From what I gathered, she said when I refund through Paypal, eBay will credit me at the end of the billing cycle. 

When I asked the eBay customer service rep how eBay will know that I refunded though Paypal, she then said that I can request for a partial refund.  I then proceeded to ask if eBay will directly request Paypal to partial refund.  Then she went on to say things that does not make sense. 

At this point, I ask to speak to another eBay rep as I was having issues understand what she was trying to convey.  She put me on hold and the next thing I know, she transfered me to Paypal and Paypal said they do not let eBay know directly that I have partially refunded the buyer.

So I guess I am out of the final value fee on the partial refund.

eBAY! WHY DON'T YOU HIRE CUSTOMER REPS WHO SERVICE CUSTOMERS IN THE U.S. WITH A GOOD COMMAND OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE?!?!  You want your sellers to provide excellent customer service, why don't you walk the walk instead of just talking the talk?

There are plenty of sellers and buyers who complain about how bad customer service is, don't you think it's about time to address that issue?

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Hi @springs_2013, I just wanted to update that I've reviewed the call and while correct information was provided I can definitely see where misunderstandings and confusion came up. I will ensure that appropriate coaching is given for this topic and have gone ahead and taken care of the credit issue - you can review your next invoice to see details.

Just to clarify, we are able to review the PayPal transaction details of an eBay purchase and confirm if a partial refund has been issued. A partial refund can only be provided on the eBay site through a return request, but in a situation where you are providing a shipping cost discount after the buyer has paid, you would need to refund through PayPal. You can either do this before contacting Customer Service or while on the phone with us. Once we can see the partial refund has been processed, we can manually credit the appropriate amount of Final Value Fees to your invoice.

We are working on improving this process in the future so partial refunds can be issued directly through eBay for situations like this. I know that contacting eBay anytime this comes up can be a hassle so want to let you know that in addition to calling in to us you can message our Facebook and Twitter teams to have these kinds of credits reviewed. Anytime you contact Customer Service for a credit like this you just need to provide the item number and the buyer's username. It may also be helpful to have the PayPal transaction ID available, though this is not typically necessary.

Thank you again for letting us take a look at this for you! Don't hesitate to let me know if you have any questions or concerns!

[Anonymous]

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@bubbleman2010 wrote:

Trinton so you're saying your CS agents have access to a sellers paypal account and can view what refunds have been sent from the paypal system and they can issueFVF credits from looking at that info?

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Hi @bubbleman2010, while we do not have full access to a seller's PayPal account, we do have access to the details of an eBay transaction. This has always been the case and is how we confirm partial refunds issued through PayPal. Final Value Fee credits can be provided to a seller manually when a partial refund could not be given through eBay. Since partial refunds are only an option through a Return Request, and a shipping discount after payment has been made is not a valid Return Request reason, this would have to be processed through the transaction in PayPal. We are happy to work with a seller who is providing this level of service to their buyer and enhancements to provide this option on the eBay site directly are under consideration.

[Anonymous]

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@bonjourami wrote:

Well the op certainly didnt have any luck calling about this issue, did he? do you have a 'friend' at Ebay? LOL...

We don't issue a final value fee credit if one of the following situations happens:

• You issue a partial refund
• You refund the buyer outside of eBay, such as using PayPal's Send Money
• The buyer or the seller asked eBay to step in and help and the case is decided in the buyer's favor

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Hi @bonjourami, I am still having trouble finding the quote you have shared. I searched for this text via third party search engines and found our Help Page on Fee Credits, but the details on this page do not match what you have quoted. Our current policy can be found here. I believe you may be referring to an older version of this page, but if the information you have shared is still visible on the site I would love to get this fixed!