eBay

dezdan · ‎01-02-2023

Is it normal for eBay to take years to refund sellers fees? Part of the delay was on me, but still…

Backstory: In the summer of 2016 I sold an item on eBay and the buyer claimed it was either damaged or not as described and wanted a full refund. eBay refunded the buyer and stuck me with the shipping and sellers fees. The best part was, the shipment tracking showed the buyer hadn’t even received the package yet!! I reached out to eBay and after sitting on hold for a very long time I was able to speak with an eBay customer service representative, and when I pointed out that the buyer asked for a refund before they had even received the item (at this point the package still hadn’t arrived to the buyer), I was told that eBay would refund me only my sellers fees, and because they had already authorized the refund, I had to accept the returned item and eat the shipping cost. At this point I vowed to never sell on eBay again.

My next months invoice showed a credit, and I figured that when I bought an item, that credit could be used. Well, that wasn’t the case! So, I then figured that if I was to ever sell on eBay again, that credit would be able to be used then…and when I finally started selling on eBay again ~4ish years later, that wasn’t the case either.

Now, back in mid-August of 2022 I reached out to eBay customer service, asking why my positive invoice balance wasn’t able to be used. I never got an answer of why my balance was stuck, other than the standard “You did the right thing getting in touch with us. Let me help you with your concern.” A refund on my balance was offered and I was told I would receive the balance in 30 days. After that interaction, my invoice zeroed out, so I assumed I would be receiving the balance…Nope!

So today I once again reached out to eBay customer service asking where my payment was since it had been over 100 days past when I was told I would see it. After several “It is taking longer than I had anticipated to pull up the requested information” and 36 minutes later, I was left with “Please do not worry, I will highlight this issue to our specialized team so that they can investigate this further. I appreciate your time and efforts in contacting us to report the issue. Rest assured, we will definitely look into this for you.”

That’s it… Still no refund or even a timeline of when a refund would be issued… Is this normal?

buyselljack2016 · ‎01-02-2023

@dezdan

Invoice credits have to my knowledge never been spendable funds for purchases. Those credits were only for future "fees".

That $32.43 could have/should have been sent to you in the form of a check if they were not going to be used for fees.

As the balance is now $0.00, could they have sent it to "some closed account" that was associated with your 2016 account ??

Anyway, as stated, buyers/sellers here can do nothing to help other than referring you to ebay for business. Your continued communication with the off-shore CSR's will likely prove to be a waste of time.

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ebooksdiva · ‎01-02-2023

Usually when ebay gives a seller a refund of seller fees it's immediate. I doubt after nearly 7 yrs they would.

ebooksdiva · ‎01-02-2023

They recently are giving sellers the option to use spendable funds but you have to enroll in it.

Anonymous · ‎01-02-2023

Why the word "forever" should come to mind.

714ricki · ‎01-02-2023

Ebay is normally very timely with their refunds. However back in 2016, everything was via PayPal. Are you certain the refund wasn't sent to your PayPal account. If you received the item back, then the seller fees lost can simply be a business expense. It has been 6 years, maybe just move on regarding this matter. Just my suggestion!

Good luck!

pburn · ‎01-02-2023

I would imagine when the specialized team investigated the circumstances further, they determined your were not owed the credit.

Expecting a company to keep a credit on their books for seven years is a bit much, IMO. After a certain length of time, they probably have a right to write that off as unclaimed.

dezdan · ‎01-02-2023

100% sure I never received the refund. Unfortunately, I'm not a business, just a casual seller. Below is my invoice from this past Aug still showing the funds sitting there. I already got shafted the $25 from shipping the item, I will not let this go.

dbfolks166mt · ‎01-02-2023

They recently are giving sellers the option to use spendable funds but you have to enroll in it.

This is way off topic based on the sellers OP. However, use caution with regards to the spendable funds and fully understand what you are committing to BEFORE you enroll. You can only use the funds to purchase items on eBay and only in limited categories. Once you are enrolled there is no way to opt out of the spendable funds.

pburn · ‎01-02-2023

If the original transaction took place in the summer of 2016, and the credit appeared on your account until August of 2022, I'd recommend checking with your state's Unclaimed Property Division.

ebooksdiva · ‎01-02-2023

@dbfolks166mt

I was responding what the OP said

"My next months invoice showed a credit, and I figured that when I bought an item, that credit could be used."

But regarding that I find the spendable funds thing rediculous and NO I would'nt subscribe to it.

kensgiftshop · ‎01-02-2023

Did you refund the buyer or did Ebay have to do it.

If Ebay had to get involved and refunded the buyer, they probably kept their fee's.

Have a great day.

dezdan · ‎01-02-2023

@pburn wrote:
If the original transaction took place in the summer of 2016, and the credit appeared on your account until August of 2022, I'd recommend checking with your state's Unclaimed Property Division.

Aug is when I contacted eBay and they said they were going to provide me the balance of my account since the money wasn't able to be deducted any other way.

dezdan · ‎01-02-2023

@kensgiftshop wrote:
Did you refund the buyer or did Ebay have to do it.
If Ebay had to get involved and refunded the buyer, they probably kept their fee's.

eBay did have to get involved and refund the buyer, but I appealed and won and they issued the refund of the sellers fees to my account and it has been in my account until I asked them to pay me the balance since I wasn't able to remove that balance from my account.

pburn · ‎01-02-2023

No offense, but your timeline/chronology seems to be all over the place. Maybe if you just listed what happened when by using a bullet-point format, that would be helpful--like when did the transaction take place, when did the buyer file the claim, when did eBay have to refund the buyer, when did you appeal, when was the appeal found in your favor, when did you first see that eBay had credited your selling account, when did you see that credit disappear, when did eBay say they were going to provide the balance (and how were they going to do that). You know, details like that.

ms.rodriguez* · ‎01-02-2023

Does ebay have your account number to send you the money? Back then, it was NOT managed payments. Do you have a different bank account now? Why don't you reach out to Ebay via Facebook and see if they can help you. I highly recommend that you shorten your explanation when you write to them.