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. 

[4pawsup*]

Ebay deducted the amount the buyer paid you for the item. If you do not have enough in your ebay account you owe ebay the money for the refund once the item is returned. Your responsible to pay the buyer the refund. What do you not understand? You owe the buyer a refund in the amount of the purchase plus shipping.

[lux2394_57]

What I'm not understanding is their explanation . It was nonsensical. They told me that somehow, I would be getting the money I was supposed to be receiving from any other sales made in the meantime after the balance was cleared. That makes no sense if any money that comes in goes towards clearing the negative balance. In effect, it means that to clear the negative balance, I would have to sell items without ever getting paid for them. 

[mtgraves7984]

I'm not the best at this, but I'll try to explain. Right now, your account is in the negative but sales you make will go toward offsetting it. If a Return has been opened, you don't have to refund until the item is back to you... possibly your numbers will be better by then and you'll have the funds to complete the refund.

Not until the refunded amount is paid will you actually receive a Payout. I think. I hope I'm corrected if I'm wrong...

[kensgiftshop]

If your funds are still being held, you have to cover the refund.

If you don't have the avaliable funds, they will pull the money from your funding source or checking account.

When the hold is released, the funds will be sent to you.

[ten_o_nine]

@lux2394_57 

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

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That is correct. If you pay the $315 right now, you will receive the proceeds of the sale, if not, they will probably zero out each other with 30c owed to eBay

[lux2394_57]

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. 

[4pawsup*]

No it means once your item is returned for a refund you owe the buyer all the money they paid you. How you pay eBay back is up to you. You can pay from your bank or cc they do not care. Ebay does not care what you have to do to pay what you owe as long as you pay.

[itscalledapostingid]

I would try to make some sales quickly so you have money to cover the refund.

I assume the return request has been approved and you are awaiting the item's return...

How to handle a return request as a seller:

https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/managing-returns-refunds/handle-return-request-seller?id=4115

[simba6]

It always used to be if your account went negative, it locked it down. No more payments could be received until the money owed was paid back.   It may be different now but, don't count on it.

You don't want to make any sales until you pay up to avoid even more serious trouble.

[lux2394_57]

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. 

[ten_o_nine]

@lux2394_57 

Now, I understand your situation, the $-315 must be paid by either offsetting with items you sell or adding funds. If you don't have enough funds by the time refund is due, eBay will access your account on file for the difference.

[fern*wood]

I truly don’t understand this thinking.  If I’m in the hole, I  desperately want to make sales to get out of that hole.  The sooner you cover the refund, the quicker you will be back in the black. Not making sales just leaves you in the red.  Just because money from new sales may go to paying off your refund doesn’t mean you aren’t getting paid, it is just going toward your debt which still benefits you.

I thought if you didn’t have enough in sales to cover the refund when it was due, it would be charged to your back up funding method.  

[lux2394_57]

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. 

[lux2394_57]

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.