Trying to refund - keep getting "Something went wrong" message

[pmurph5]

I am trying to refund $1,380.94 to a buyer. I go through the standard "Refund the buyer" screens and buttons. After the screen "Review and refund" and I click on "Refund now", I get a message: "Something went wrong. It's not you, it's us. Please go back and try again."

But when I click "Go back" and try the refund again, I either get in a cycle of "Something went wrong/Review and refund" screens, or I get a message "Working on it" with a spinning wheel that never completes, even after 5 minutes.

Any help or ideas? Has this happened to others? What might be going wrong?

I have done the following:

1. Checked that my buyer and seller account payment methods are linked to my PayPal account.
2. Checked that my PayPal account has more than sufficient funds for the refund.
3. Made a secondary seller payment method on a known good credit card, in case the primary (PayPal) did not go through.
4. Rebooted my MacBookPro computer often
5. Tried with both Safari and Chrome browsers
6. Started from different info/dashboard screens in eBay, though at some point they all go through the same "Review and refund/Something went wrong" screens.
7. Tried to contact eBay. The "Call me" phone support option disappeared in the last two days, so I sent an email request earlier today but (of course) have not heard back.

[mvls1]

Ebay is having issues tonight. Many reports of sellers not able to sign into their accounts. I could not sign into any of our 4 accounts.

[clinthammer]

I get the same error when making payments. 

[pmurph5]

Wow, sorry to hear about eBay's troubles tonight. Thanks for the info.

Unfortunately, my issue has been the same for the past 3 days. So I am not sure it is related to a brief or intermittent outage. I am still open to any other ideas about what might be going wrong and how to fix, or bypass, the problem so as to issue a refund to my buyer.

[edwedw8383]

---

@pmurph5 wrote:

1.  
2. Checked that my PayPal account has more than sufficient funds for the refund.
3. Made a secondary seller payment method on a known good credit card, in case the primary (PayPal) did not go through.

---

Please be sure your cash in the balance is sufficient for the $1,380.94,

plus PayPal fees,

plus shipping,

plus sales tax.

eBay will repay you the sales tax right after.

PayPal will not pull from your new secondary card nor your bank account, it's cash only.

[pmurph5]

#edwedw8383 - If eBay says they want me to refund $1,380.94, why would that not be the amount they want me to refund? The total price paid by the purchaser was $1,461.94 which is $1,350 in item price, $30.94 for shipping, and $81 for taxes.

The amount I got in my PayPal account after the sale was $1,380.94 (item plus shipping). That's also the amount eBay wants me to refund, which makes sense. Why would they also want me to refund fees that are either included in the $1,380.94 (PayPal fees that I will pay, shipping) or fees they charged the buyer (tax) that I never saw?

[edwedw8383]

---

@pmurph5 wrote:

Why would they also want me to refund fees

they charged the buyer (tax) that I never saw?

---

If you wait any longer and don't put the near-$1,500 in your balance, eBay will step in and charge the entire refund to your reimbursement, ignoring and not touching your almost-enough balance, which you'll still have. And then you won't get (you will lose) that substantial final value fee credit on a 4-digit sale.

The way refunds work now:

- PayPal doesn't add back their fees like before.

- You have to front the sales tax first, then eBay will refund you.

- PayPal won't get the shortage from your bank, nor debit/credit cards.

[pmurph5]

edwedw8383  - Not trying to argue with you; I don't do much on eBay and am not up on details.

But then why if they are going to take out the full amount that the buyer paid ($1,461.94) would all the refund screens say that only $1,3080.94 is to be refunded? And also, $1,380.94 is the amount I got from the sale ($1350 for the item, plus $30.94 for shipping).

So it makes sense if I got X amount, then I would have to refund X amount -- not X+tax. I never got the tax amount.

I mean this is eBay, not some new fly-by-night website. They have been doing this for decades. Hasn't any seller noticed or complained that if they sold an item and got X amount, and eBay said they needed to refund X amount, that eBay took X+tax (or some amount greater than X)?

Again, if I need to refund X, why would eBay take X+tax?

-- Puzzled, not trying to disagree

[edwedw8383]

---

@pmurph5 wrote:

If eBay says they want me to refund $1,380.94, why would that not be the amount they want me to refund?

The total price paid by the purchaser was $1,461.94 which is $1,350 in item price, $30.94 for shipping, and $81 for taxes.

---

Here's an example.

The $315 is your $1,380.94

The $330 is your $1,461.94

---

@kitchenmagic1976 wrote:

neither ebay or paypal are letting issue a refund

I did email

to let them know I was trying to issue a refund with no luck.

on April 6th I have a paypal transaction for the total price of $330* and note "Recovery for eBay claim" posted to my paypal. But in my paypal balance the original transaction is still on hold. This means I've paid the $330 already but I still have $315** on hold.

On April 23 an additional $315 was taken out of my paypal account in a payment to ebay in a "Charge payment transaction". I have no idea what that is.

All together $645 has come out [$330 plus $315] of my paypal account toward this transaction

*eBay charged the entire amount to the Reimbursement Payment Method

**eBay did not touch the balance on hold, did not use that for the refund

[edwedw8383]

neither ebay or paypal are letting issue a refund

I did email

to let them know I was trying to issue a refund with no luck.

on April 6th I have a paypal transaction for the total price of $330* and note "Recovery for eBay claim" posted to my paypal. But in my paypal balance the original transaction is still on hold. This means I've paid the $330 already but I still have $315** on hold.

On April 23 an additional $315 was taken out of my paypal account in a payment to ebay in a "Charge payment transaction". I have no idea what that is.

All together $645 has come out [$330 plus $315] of my paypal account toward this transaction

[pmurph5]

@edwedw8383: Thanks for taking me through this step by step.

I guess it makes sense to eBay, and to experienced eBay sellers, but it did not make sense to me as an occasional eBay seller who never had to refund before.

Here's what I've learned from two eBay customer support rep calls:

1) The refund has to come from the original PayPal account where the sale funds were sent. In my case, I had switched my eBay-attached accounts from my home PayPal (which received the sales funds) to my business PayPal. I put the refund money in my business PayPal expecting that eBay would reach into my current PayPal account (business) to get the refund. But instead eBay kept reaching into my old PayPal account (home). 

I did not see this restriction in any eBay error message (such as "No funds in PayPal account mail@myhomePayPal.com"), nor in any eBay help / knowledgebase page, nor from the first three eBay customer service reps I spoke with.

2) There is a button in PayPal that you can use to refund the buyer. I did not know about this. The fourth rep finally told me about it. He said if I use this, that eBay sees the PayPal-initiated refund and it is the same as doing it from eBay.

I went ahead to use this, but still ran into some wackiness (IMHO). Recall that I had originally received $1,380.94 from the buyer. This was also the amount eBay said I should refund.

But when I clicked on the PayPal refund button, the next screen wanted me to pay $1,461.94 (the amount the buyer paid eBay which is my $1,380.94 plus $81 tax added by eBay).

I told the rep "I only paid $1,380.94 so I want to change the amount." He said it was ok to change it to $1,380.94. I did that, and pressed the PayPal "Refund now" button.

A confirmation screen said "Total refunded to buyer was $1,380.94" but there was a fee reversal of $40.05 and tax collected by eBay of $76.51 and thus "Tota paid by you" was only $1,264.38.

And indeed, that was the amount taken out of my PayPal account -- even though it should have been $116.56 more. I later got an email from eBay saying the buyer had been refunded $1,380.94. If that is true -- if he actually got refunded the entire $1,380.94 I was paid -- great.

But I still don't see how I made $116.56 on this. I have written to ask him how much actually he got in his account; I haven't heard yet.

In summary, I'm sure this all makes sense to edwedw8383 and other experienced eBayers. But when I see a button that says "Pay $1,461.94" and I know I am only supposed to pay $1,380.94, so I naturally change the amount but find I have somehow underpaid by $116.56 -- that makes no sense to me.

Thanks to everyone trying to help me understand this wacky system.

[bonjourami]

Sounds like PP refunded your transaction fee of 2.9% for the original payment  from the buyer they processed. There normally is never a refund of that fee,but I understand they are doing it as a courtesy during the pandemic. As for the $76, that is the tax the buyer paid and will be refunded to him..or should be.

[edwedw8383]

Unfortunately, because you only issued a partial refund, you've forfeited your final value fees at eBay, about $150 perhaps? Also, your buyer will be able to still file a case to get the remainder of the refund that's still outstanding.

[bonjourami]

The seller doesnt refund the $81 tax, PP does that.