Very High Not as Described 5% fee

[cherrymom13]

I have never left a message before so I hope I am doing it right.

I recently got hit with the 5% "very high not as described" fee in the collectibles category. I have had 2 returns - 1 was my fault I sent the wrong item the 2nd the customer lied and said item not as described.  I promptly did both returns without Ebay stepping in and I received positive feedback from both customers. Now months later I am suddenly hit with this charge. I have called and each time the reps can offer no reason as to why or what else I could have done to avoid this. I received an email from Ebay threatening me that I better not go to my bank or it would effect my sellers standing!!!!!  I have 100% feedback and am a power seller.  Why should I bother doing returns if Ebay is going to penalize me for doing exactly what they say I should do.  Also the service metrics they use compares me to other similar sellers yet there is no way for me to verify what Ebay claims other sellers are doing.  They can say whatever they want and I have no way to prove otherwise.

Please help

Cherrymom13

[femmefan1946]

I received an email from Ebay threatening me that I better not go to my bank or it would effect my sellers standing!!!!!

Could you show the wording of that email?
"better not go to go to my bank" sounds very informal for a message that would usually be boilerplate and vetted by lawyers.

Should we assume that the 5% was a rise in your usual FVF ?  From 10% to 15%?

Since you have over 200 items listed, is there a reason you don't have at least a Basic Store? Or have you been listing with a Free Listings Promotion?
My Store FVF is 9.1%.

It's possible that you have come to the end of a Promotion and have been returned to your normal costs.

We get only 50 free listings without a Store.

A Basic Store allows 250 listings for $24.95 (or 9c each).

After those are used each listing costs us 35c unless we have been given another Free Listings promotion.

[cherrymom13]

Hi,

Here is the direct message sent to me "I also recommend against a bank dispute because if the charges are reversed by your bank this will reflect back in your account balance and will impact your seller standard"

Yes they 5% fee is in addition to the final value fees.

I do not have a store because I did not see the benefit in it.  I typically only list when Ebay offers free listings and I only sell in 2 categories so the lower final value fees with a store are not given in Books/Magazines where I typically list.

I am penalized only in the collectibles category where I have lower sales than Books but have only had 2 returns, again both promptly refunded and received positive feedback from both customers.  I don't know what else I could have done to avoid this since one of the buyers lied about the condition yet I offered a hassle free return anyways per Ebays policy.  I did what they said I should do to avoid negative consequences and still got hit with this absurd 5% very high not as described fee

[cdewcollects]

I have a post about this same issue.  Makes no sense that my two returns 11 months ago are now just affecting me.  I sold more in April and May than now and wasn't hit with the fees.  I have called multiple times and only have gotten an email in return from the performance department.  From what I have read, people have received a credit on these fees as they seem to be wrong.

[cherrymom13]

Hi,

Just wanted to let you know that I called multiple times as well as emailed and initially got the run around and was told that the fees would remain.  I then asked to speak to a supervisor both via a rep and via email. I just received an email yesterday from someone claiming to be a supervisor.  He informed that although my 2 returns made my percentage of 1.6% very high that since I had less than 10 cases from unique buyers that I should not have had the fee charged against me and that they would remove it.  To me it still makes no sense, its just another case of Ebays greed trying to get money wherever and however the can with no regard to there own policies.  I am hopeful however that they will reverse the charges, we shall see.  To anyone else out there that they have done this or anything else that doesnt see fair, I encourage you to fight it.  Keep calling, have them call you back so you are not on hold for hours at a time, and ask to speak to a supervisor.  I will let you know what happens with my case.

[bltandcheese]

When I started reading your initial post I was thinking it was my sister writing at first.  She and I have an anchor store that we run together.  I am "old school" and do all our accounting by hand.  Over the past few days we have had random items get the 5% INAD extra charge on a total of 11 separate items.  We had one person give us an INAD in the past 3 months and we were rated by ebay as basically a very bad seller.  Totally surprised and shocked,  we ended up calling ebay.   We were told that #1 this is not something new it has been going on for a couple years.  Well, we have been selling for years and I have NEVER seen this happen before.  I told him that the one issue was from sending a wrong item (a new baby toy) and we sent the wrong toy.  When we found out we offered to send the correct toy and let them keep the first one which was new, that we sent in error.   The buyer was happy with the resolution.   The ebay rep said that resolving it with the customer doesn't matter it still counts against us because they did an INAD against us.   It happened in the "collectibles" category.  So in the metrics it shows us in the "RED" which is very bad and shows our "peers" as being not even on the chart.  I asked the rep how many people are we being compared to and he said EVERYONE who sells on eBay.  Okay, I find it absolutely impossible that NO ONE in the world had an issue during the 3 month span of someone giving them an INAD on an item.  I then asked him, why are we getting other items with the extra 5% fee (not only the the FVF but also on the shipping FVF) along with the normal fees they charge for other items since that sale.  He said that ALL ITEMS WE SELL IN THE COLLECTIBLE CATEGORY GETS THAT FEE UNTIL THE DROP OFF DATE WHICH HE SAID WOULD BE AUGUST 1ST.   So today we sell an item and it gets the extra charges.  We asked him how can we stop this.  He said, "JUST STOP SELLING IN THAT CATEGORY UNTIL THE TIME IS DONE".  **bleep**???  My sister and I were both on the phone at that point and he got an earful and I'm sure he wished that call hadn't come through to him.  We are still pursuing this and wondering how in the world does this happen and for anyone not looking at individual transactions of their ebay fees should really start looking at the individual sale charges.  They have, as of today, charged us on 12 different sales from this one issue which we took care of and the customer was pleased.  This is absolute bullsh*t.  We are very concerned that this be changed because it is very unfair to sellers, it is a money grab by ebay and we sell lots in the 4th quarter because we do alot with Halloween and especially Christmas which has a ton of listings in the Collectible category.   Has anyone else out there have this same problem?  

[pjcdn2005]

There have been a few similar posts of sellers having to pay the higher fees even though they have just 1 or 2 not as described returns.  There seems to be a billing glitch that is affecting some sellers.   Here is one of the threads from a seller with the same problem....

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/Extra-5-charged-in-fees-for-quot-item-not-as-desrcibed-quot/m-...

[cdewcollects]

@bltandcheese I plan to keep calling and hopefully over time it will be fixed sooner than later.  People have posted that they received fee credits already.  

Here is the link to my thread that is posted about the same topic.

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/Extra-5-charged-in-fees-for-quot-item-not-as-desrcibed-quot/m-...

[bltandcheese]

Thank you cdewcollects.  We appreciate the info.

[granmammy804]

I have been hit by this same 5% fee for the same reason as you..And Ebay is the only one calling the shots as to how long this will go on..I feel Ebay does not care about it's Sellers. We Already Loose the Cost of the Item and the Shipping we had to charge them....They are choosing to rob it's Sellers. When Sales on Ebay Flounder, they make it up , by charging Sellers unnecessarily. I will be contacting the Attorney Generals Office in my State. I suggest you do the same. It is an Unfair Practice. And they will not stop it. As Long as Sellers let them. granmammy804

[granmammy804]

ontact the Attorney Generals Office in your State.

[granmammy804]

You must be using their new "Take control of your money now"" ..The one they will have activated by the end of the year..Please take note..that if s buyer decides it is not as described..ebay will automatically fee you $20.00 from your account..Oh Boy..this could case over drafts and no telling what else.

[pjcdn2005]

@granmammy804 
I  don’t think that you are interpreting the info correctly.  Please show me where it says that sellers in MP will pay $20 when they have a not as described claim.

I know that PayPal charges $20 now for credit card chargebacks but only if the seller fights it and loses.  I suspect that eBay will be doing something similar with credit card chargebacks and that is what you are referring to but that doesn’t mean there will be a $20 charge for every nad.

[bltandcheese]

Following

[shantynas]

I heard  in the new policied, there is also coming a $20 + % fee for "not as described" disputes if "Ebay steps in". .... anyone else read that? Im taking all global shipping off and putting on no returns just to ease the loss possibilities.