Negative Balance--Help Needed

[lux2394_57]

Today, a buyer requested a return because a component of the item they received was damaged in transit. My account now has a balance of -$315. I do not have the personal funds available to cover it, so the remaining alternative is that the amount of money I receive from any sale I make goes towards clearing the negative balance. I contacted Ebay customer service to ask if this meant I would have to fulfill orders without ever getting paid for them. Their explanation was that, once you clear the negative balance, you apparently are given the amount of money you were paid for the orders you fulfilled. I'm struggling to follow the logic here, so if anyone with any experience with this could help explain the process to me, I'd be grateful. 

[fern*wood]

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@lux2394_57 wrote:

I'm not talking about the individual who is owed a refund. I am talking about the other orders I have to fulfill in the meantime. In my mind, they might as well be getting them for free. 

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Think about it, those sales are helping to pull you out of the hole you are going to be in.  The money will help pay the debt you will owe.  How are they getting the items for free when they are paying you?  Where the money goes when you receive it isn't their fault. 

[4pawsup*]

Sorry but what part of you owe the money do you not understand. You want to write your own terms for paying the money you agreed to pay. You think ebay should take a few dollars out of future sales until you pay off what you owe. What you do not seem to understand is the rules are there and have been for a very long time. What are you giving away for free when you owe the money? 

[gb58]

Also, I notice you now have a negative, apparently for a different transaction, because the buyer said you refused to ship the item they purchased. 

If you think you can get out of paying ebay the money you owe them by canceling orders, what you are really doing is digging yourself a deeper hole, because now you are impacting your selling status on the site.

Fill the orders you have, pay your debt, and then you can move on selling on ebay.

[farmalljr]

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@lux2394_57 wrote:

I have several orders ready to be fulfilled, but I'd be getting precisely $0 from them. I might as well cancel the orders at this point. I don't see who in their right mind would willingly fulfill an order when they know they're not getting any money from it. I'm already struggling to make ends meet, and I'm not here to engage in charity. If I'm not getting paid, I'm not gonna bother going through the effort of packaging and going to the post office. I'd lose even more money on purchasing packing supplies. I don't see anything in it for me. If I fulfill these orders, I'll be even deeper in the hole, because money is going out, but none is coming in. 

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Let's get something straight.... You owe the buyer the full refund they paid for the item, when you get it back. eBay is holding all the proceeds from the sales you are making to "bank" money in your account to FUND that coming refund.  You OWE the money, period. You have up to 3 days after you receive it back to refund the buyer before eBay steps in. When you refund, any money owed over top of your availible funds, WILL be pulled from your funding source. There is no waiting around for you to pay back eBay. The minute you refund your buyer, eBay is pulling the funds from your accounts to pay for the refund. eBay is not loaning you money or giving you more time to pay them back. 

It does not matter if you spent part of the money you received for the item, you OWE the money, you will be paying it back the day you refund the buyer. If you don't your account will be suspended and eBay will pursue you through collections. 

I would advise AGAINST cancelling your sales. That would be the opposite of smart. You'll get dings for the cancels and may lose your account over it. The sales you are making is ADDING money to your funds on eBay. How the heck are you going to cancel them AND fund those refunds? Duh. 

This whole situation is a good reminder for sellers to think and make good decisions. You can't spend money that is not yours. It takes 30+ days to clear the INAD here. 180 days to clear the CC companies for a chargeback. Hand to mouth is a good way to lose your account. You need money in reserve to fund the hiccups like this. 

[farmalljr]

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@lux2394_57 wrote:

I think a fairer system would be to subtract a pre-determined amount from each sale you make, which would vary based on the sale amount. Completely wiping out the proceeds from each sale until the balance is cleared can severely mess with a small seller's cash flow, and it'll do so very quickly. I believe my hands are tied at this point. I do have the funds to fulfill them, but at that point, I'd have very little money left over. Of course the buyer has to be refunded, but doing it this way is, in my opinion, complete madness. 

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Sorry, but you did this to yourself. You need to be responsible for your own money. eBay is not responsible to nor has any business just holding money for "just in case". It's your job to hold money in reserve to fund these hiccups. If you can't or wont do that, then maybe reselling is not for you.

[farmalljr]

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@lux2394_57 wrote:

Because selling something means you're receiving money in exchange. In this case, Ebay keeps all of it. I'm not getting anything in exchange. It doesn't meet the definition of selling. It's charity. 

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You OWE the buyer their refund. eBay is holding the proceeds of the sale to FUND that. YOU OWE THE BUYER. All you keep saying is they are "keeping your money". Not TRUE.

YOU spent your BUYER'S money. YOU owe the buyer. Get it?

[ten_o_nine]

@dmig-27 wrote:

I'm not talking about the individual who is owed a refund. I am talking about the other orders I have to fulfill in the meantime. In my mind, they might as well be getting them for free. 

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Oh yes, they are getting them for free, did you check if they paid for their orders?

[sin-n-dex]

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@lux2394_57 wrote:

Because selling something means you're receiving money in exchange. In this case, Ebay keeps all of it. I'm not getting anything in exchange. It doesn't meet the definition of selling. It's charity. 

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Oh my, I don't know what you don't understand.

You sold something, you got paid, the customer did a return, you had to refund, but you didn't have the money because you spent it. So eBay paid for the return and you owe eBay. eBay is not letting you keep any of the money of your sales until you pay back what you owe. You already got paid for the sale, the fact you spent the money is not eBay's problem.

If you don't pay eBay back because you cancel the order, eBay will still get their money through collection agencies or litigation. You can't stiff eBay for refunding your customer just because you got the money for the sale and spent it on other stuff.

C.

[theteamsetguy]

@lux2394_57 ,

Please correct me if I'm wrong. You sold a coffee making machine and the buyer opens a item nut as described case thru eBay because a component was damaged. When a buyer files a claim thru eBay they will put a hold on the amount of the sale from the coffee machine because want to make sure the sellers will have the funds available for a refund to the buyer. A seller has three options under eBay's Money back Guarantee to protect the buyers. Ebay's Money back guarantee over rides any not returns policy you may have.

The three options are as follows:

 1. Tell Ebay to refund the money to the buyer and let them keep the coffee machine.

2. Accept the return and issue a return shipping label on YOUR dime to the buyer to return the coffee machine to you. Within three days of receipt of the item per tracking you will have to approve refund. If you don't do it within the three days eBay will close the return in the BUYER's favor and refund the buyer from YOUR funds.   

3. Do nothing and if the buyer asks eBay to step they WILL rule in the buyers favor because it is YOUR responsibility as a seller to deliver the item to the buyer in the condition you described in the listing by making sure it is packed properly for transit. If you bought insurance from the shipper you could file a claim with the shipper for damage. The insurance covers you as the seller and NOT the buyer. You have to refund the buyer before you file your claim with the shipper. The buyer is covered by eBay's money back guarantee. 

If i were you I would go with option number two. Once you get it back have the machine repaired and resell it. In the meantime I would NOT cancel any of your sales. I would even consider having fire sale of 50% off to raise funds to cover the cost of the refund since you have spent the money eBay got from the buyer and deposited into your bank account. Basically what eBay is doing is taking the money from your new sales to pay back the money they paid or will pay back the buyer with. 

You have no choice but to refund the buyer because of ebay's MBG. The buyer could be lying thru his teeth and eBay will still require you to refund the buyer. Hope this helps.

[theteamsetguy]

@lux2394_57 ,

No! If you didn't have those other sales you will still owe eBay the money they refunded buyer. With the sales you owe that much less.

For example lets say eBay put a hold on your account for $400.00 the refund to the buyer and you had $85.00 in sales today after eBay deducted their fees. Your account will be negative $315.00. Tomorrow you sell another $100.00 then your negative balance will be $215.00. If you cancelled the orders you will owe $400.00 once the refund to the buyer is processed. If you don't have the $400.00 eBay will try and withdraw it from your checking account where your deposits go. If you don't have enough money in your checking account most banks will start charging you overdraft fees. I presume the buyer opened a item not as described or item defective claim thru ebay in which case you will have NO CHOICE but to refund the money regardless of what you think. Now it is just up to you whether you want the item back before the buyer gets their money back.   

[kabilab]

dmig asks--...........so if anyone with any experience with this could help explain the process to me, I'd be grateful.

kabilab comments--Over a dozen sellers have attempted to explain the OP's situation . The person seems to not desire to understand, but to attempt to do it their way.

[linus.hux72fe]

I'm sorry you don't seem to understand business.

You mention the word "charity" several times.  However, you don't seem to realize the only person in the transaction that is asking for charity is actually you. 

You received the money from the sale.

You spent the money.

You owe the buyer upon return.

You don't have the money to refund. (Who's fault is that?)

Yet You think eBay should cover YOUR debt until YOU can pay YOUR debt. (SO YOU ARE EXPECTING CHARITY FROM EBAY? And YOU think it would be fairer for eBay to give you money from future sales and only take a little bit at a time until it's convenient for you to pay back eBay??

Isn't that charity? What does eBay get for doing that or should eBay just do that out of the kindness of their heart? (Charity)

When you return something to the store do you return the item and wait a few days or weeks to get a refund or expect your money back upon return? Would it be ok with you if the store said they will return your money when the supplier pays the store because they spent your purchase money on buying more merchandise to sell? 

You do realize eBay has staff and contractors that are paid to collect debts? Is this really something you want to ruin your ability to sell and ding your credit for? 

[theteamsetguy]

@kabilab ,

I guess I will be seller number 666.

[fashunu4eeuh]

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@lux2394_57 wrote:

The thing is that the payout for this order was sent 3 days after the item was delivered. I used some of it to pay for inventory and other costs. Since I don't have the funds available, I imagine the other logical alternative would be that they take money from any sales I make and apply it towards the negative balance. If that is so, then the explanation I was provided doesn't really make much sense at all. 

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One’s payouts are rarely immediate. A 2-3 day period is about average for payment processors to credit one’s proceeds.

Spending one’s funds without leaving  some working capital has been the main catalyst to these problems. You’re not the first seller to accidentally shoot themselves in the foot this way by not realizing that returns are always a possibility. But now you know—an amount equal to your highest price sale should always be set aside for such a contingency. 

While you describe that it feels wrong—like you are working for free—in reality you are still working for the profit as usual. Only now your payouts have an added step. They are still coming from the buyer to your credit balance, but rather than you manually handling the funds and sending it on to eBay (as required), the paid funds instead go from your credited account to eBay automatically. This lasts only as long as it takes to eliminate the debt.

Think of it this way—the money isn’t parked in your bank account, but continues traveling on to their owed destination. They are still your credited funds, but you gave your tacit approval to this by agreeing to follow eBay’s rules and procedures when you listed your first item. We all did. Jumping in to selling not knowing the policies is a certain path to difficulties. But it is part of the larger learning curve and for most it’s doubtful those issues will get repeated once experienced.

I would urge you to please take a moment to consider where you need to go from here. I strongly recommend not burning your bridges by cancelling your current transactions. Doing so can damage your selling privileges. How will you pay the debt off if you lose your account? Plus, you could get turned over to collections and that could possibly downgrade your credit standing. No one wants to court that disastrous outcome.

You came here to sell to cover your bills and expenses. Right now that may still be possible. If one can follow the rules, they can do well here. It likely won’t happen overnight. It may require several months to get up and running. Maybe up to a year to get firmly established. It just depends. But i can say eBay is not the place to sell if one has 1) serious pressing financial issues , or 2)  needs immediate cash flow and cannot support the effort because of a lack of working capital. But for those who remain committed, it can be a good additional source of income.

Whatever you decide, i wish you well.

[chapeau-noir]

Your future sales will pay off what you owe eBay in installments. Once you clear your debt, that's it.  Think of yourself as the charity. Not sure there's anything more to be said about it?  🤔