mam98031 • Volunteer Community Member • Buyer/Seller since 1999
@janet9988 wrote:
@soh.maryl wrote:Guess I'm incredibly dense here, but why does it not matter?
If the State of California charges state sales tax on ANY particular item, then wouldn't that state sales tax be charged when that item is purchased?
And, as a side note, has it been established whether or not California charges state sales tax as mentioned.
The seller does not have the sales tax money whether it was rightfully or wrongfully collected from the buyer.
Ebay gave the buyer a refund from the sellers pocket. Yet ebay keeps that tax money illegally.
I don't believe the OP has said that Ebay took the money from them. However since they charged them the $20 fee, it sounds like they did. Which makes me question if the OP left out some details. Ebay knows that a seller doesn't have anything to do with the taxes. Something just doesn't add up for me. We are missing some information IMHO.
Sounds like you have a clear error.
Sometimes you have to give up on Customer Service and file a formal compliant.
I would gather all the support documents such as
copy of Order Details
emails that initiating claim from buyer/eBay
email finding in favor of buyer
email taking back the Taxes and Fees from you account.
anything else that would support your claim against eBay
Then I would file a formal Notice of Dispute with this information. Once you do this someone of competent authority will review the situation and correct it if there is anyway they can.
I doubt very seriously you would have to go beyond a Notice of Dispute to get this corrected.
18 Legal Disputes User Agreement | eBay
Your order details will show everything about the sale and where all the money went, see sample below. Anything with a minus went to eBay for them to distribute as needed.
@soh.maryl wrote:So, if the state where the item is purchased does charge state sales tax on that particular item, and the buyer paid that tax along with the item cost, you believe that eBay keeps the state sales tax funds?
If ebay was paid the sales tax and the seller refunded the sales tax then ebay still has the money for the sales tax that was refunded.
Seems ebay agreed with the CC outcome about the sales tax and it not being charged because ebay took money from the SELLER for the sales tax amount and charged the seller the dispute fee.
If ebay were to determine that sales tax was correctly charged then the buyer would have lost the claim.
So ebay knows the refund was for sales tax and agreed to seek the refund from the seller... Ebay just kept that sales tax money anyways instead of reimbursing the buyer themselves which they are in full control to have done so. Even the two EBAY customer service reps agreed yet they could have also refunded the buyer the first time the buyer called since CS agreed with the buyer. Ebay is responsible for knowing the laws.
Per ebays own policy see below......
If the seller is not eligible and the buyer's payment institution decides that the buyer is owed a refund, eBay will seek reimbursement from the seller
@spansy02 wrote:
I don't believe the OP has said that Ebay took the money from them. However since they charged them the $20 fee, it sounds like they did. Which makes me question if the OP left out some details.
The sales tax amount plus $20 has been removed from my bank account.
I'm not sure what information everyone thinks I'm withholding. This is what I know.
I sold a cemetery plot.
The buyer was charge sales tax by eBay and he paid it.
After he paid it, he opened a dispute, saying that he shouldn't have been charge sales tax.
He spoke with 2 people at eBay and they agreed.
I replied to the dispute and explained what was going on (that eBay charges sales tax when they shouldn't have).
eBay sent the information to his credit card company for review.
The credit card company sided with the buyer.
eBay then sent a message to me, saying they were going to remove the sales tax plus $20 from my bank account, which they did.
But really this isn't what I needed help with. I just needed to confirm that eBay should have been the one to pay the sales tax back and I needed to know how to actually contact eBay.
Also, people saying that there's no 800 number need to mess around with eBay's help bot. Because that thing gives out an 800 number. And it's definitely the eBay website. I never did an internet search.
I have a clearer understanding now, thank you.
I know some have said the 800 number doesn't exist, but it does. However Ebay does NOT want members using it. They will may phase it out completely in the near future.
As a CAUTION to anyone that is going to go looking for the 800 number. If you perform an Internet Search, it is highly likely that the info you get WILL BE for sites set up to SCAM you.
Well Ebay certainly made a mistake here. Both on taking the refund from you and for charging you the $20. We have been discussing this for about 3 days now. Are you only willing to use the 800 number you have or are you willing to try other options? Or if you have, what are they saying to you?
I would suggest that you contact Ebay for Business on Facebook or Twitter for the better trained CSRs.
Here are your options for contacting Ebay Customer Service. Please be aware that for social media CS, you send them a Private Message and briefly explain what your problem or issue is. Feel free to leave your Name, address, phone number and/or your email address in this message. It is private and secure and it may help to speed up the response for you.
https://twitter.com/askebay
https://www.facebook.com/eBay/
Your options will be on the left. If you use the link below you can only get to the Automated Assistant or Chat box type AGENT in the box and hit enter. You will then get more options. Not all options are available 24/7. It will depend on staffing available. So sometimes you can request a call back and sometimes you can't. Sometimes you have the Chat option available and other times it won't me. If it is important to you to use one of those options, just try back later.
If you use a cell phone or other mobile device, you may need to turn off your Spam filter so that Ebay can call you.
If you are a seller outside of the US or Canada, you will need to use the Chat Option.
https://www.ebay.com/help/home
This appears to be an OOPS by Ebay.
@spansy02 wrote:Ok, so here's what happened. I went around in circles with the eBay help assistant (and yes, it was actually through the eBay website). I tried the 800 number again, but got the same message that it was outside of regular business hours. The help assistant did give me the option of having someone call me, but I was reluctant because everyone here said it was a scam. So I messaged the eBay FB page. They answered me right away, but as soon as I told them what I needed, they told me they couldn't help me and gave me a link back to the help page on eBay. I explained that I had already gone in circles with that and that no one answers the 800 number. She said not to use that and to request a call back. So I reluctantly did and someone call me back right away. And yes, it was eBay because he had all of my information. He read the dispute and said he would refund the money right away. So we'll see what happens.
Also, I asked him what was happening with the 800 number and he said they've been having problems with is and were working on it.
So facebook was useless and using the help bot to get a callback seems to have worked. We'll see for sure one the refund comes through.
I think you misunderstood. The call back is an EXCELLENT choice. I use it when I need some assistance. I think the longest I've ever waited for the call back was about 5 minutes.
@stephenmorgan wrote:When on eBay's web site using the Help Assistant if it provides a phone number or offers a call back, this is legitimate.
It is when you find a number by searching the internet that the scam phone numbers and emails will appear.
They don't provide a phone number, but getting a call back can be an options. A great option IMHO.
