eBay to Apply Commissions for Unsold Items in Some Cases

by: Chicago48

What about when a buyer emails you offering to buy offsite and you say no and the item doesn't sell? Will Ebay assume that because the buyer wanted to purchase offsite that that is what happened and then charge you the fee?
^^ I still don't understand this no contact with buyer / seller, because it's written in their guaranteed delivery section as door to door option: The Door to door option is best for sellers that wish to specify and guarantee their own delivery dates.

So the seller contact information is removed so that buyers cannot contact the seller direct by phone or email?  Is that what it means?  Because if you sell to a buyer to pickup local, both of you need contact information.
I suggest that EB remove the Local Pickup option - except for car vehicles.  

by: blueribbon1844

Yet another reason why half my inventory has made it way off ebay. They just don't get it.These new rules and changes every 3-6 months is to much for anyone who wants to run a successful online business. I don't want to deal with and keep track of their nonsense policies.

If I see fees on my invoice for a unsold item, I am calling my credit card company and disputing the entire invoice. Let ebay deal with the chargebacks and paperwork, it will cost them even more money.

Over at ECRATER I have no Returns for false reasons, no policy violations, no FRAUD buyers, no worries about any of this bs. and guess what... all my items get place in google search and are available all the time for buyers to search. I can pick the fees i want to pay, and it costs me zero to list no matter how many items have in my store. My sales are decent too, which I am sure will improve once I add more inventory and google ads

by: Chicago48

Over at ECRATER I have no Returns for false reasons, no policy violations, no FRAUD buyers,
^^
I wish I could say the same for Ecrater.  NOTHING moves for me.  My store is thewrightbiz @ ecrater.com.
I have very little up there because nothing sells.

by: Chicago48

An advocate for Ebay has a channel on Youtube.  And she's absolutely right:  You can buy anything/sell anything on Ebay, from the obscure to the modern.  Her name is Suzanne Wells, she's an Ebay blogger.  Very interesting information.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhpOTAA2c0s

by: meci

No where does it say how they will notify you when they apply this policy.

If your not watching your eBay invoice closely, which is only downloadable to excel if your bill is over a certain dollar figure this could become a nightmare. Here is the message we get when attempting to view our invoice:

"Your account activity has too many transactions to display.
Because you have recently experienced a high volume of account activity, we are unable to display the file in an efficient amount of time.
To view your account activity details, select a date range and click the Submit button below.
To get the account activity details you have requested you can download account status"

Our invoice isn't easy to watch and  at their discretion they can bill us additionally for unsold items without notification -  how can this be legal ?

by: Snapped

Isn't it interesting that eBay is not at all concerned with correcting WHY sellers might want to deal away from eBay 'protection'?  

Instead, once again motivated by paranoia and greed, they devote all their 'attention' to coercion, intimidation, and sanction for ALLEGED infraction, which besides being wholly hypocritical as usual, is also in violation of the due process clause of the US Constitution.  Which for them, is also 'business as usual'.

Wonder if the FVF they plan to assess in penalty cases will also include the portion alloted to shipping the item not being shipped (for those not 'free', who will now be penalized for THAT appeasement when accused).

by: Snapped

"You can buy anything/sell anything on Ebay, from the obscure to the modern."

Correction:

One can buy anything USING eBay if it's not hidden, disadvantaged by lack of retail volume, or offered elsewhere instead now due to eBay meddling.

One can sell anything not falsely deemed 'illegal', non-compliant, or alleged to be in violation of VERO.  And one can sell anything (anywhere) for pennies on the dollar in a race to the bottom, especially if the buyer is no longer by any means held accountable for their decision to buy.

Bet THOSE 'attributes' don't get any press in that blog.

by: Docinmd

Having advised a county Office of Consumer Affairs, I think the time is ripe for a very large segment of ebay sellers to put together the obviously illegal ebay actions, and submit them to the various state's Office of Attorney General. If they start being flooded by complaints against ebay, perhaps a few of them might decide to take action. Especially if copies of the complaints are posted in places like Facebook.  

by: partschaser

@Docinmd, that's a great suggestion. Headed over to out AG's website now.  

by: Mark4

Here is the proof that ebay is sinking and sinking fast. We are advising our clients to cut their losses and dump their ebay stock asap.  
https://investorplace.com/2017/09/ebay-stock-turnaround-stor
y/#.WcKLVciGNPY

by: OnlyPollyPocket

OK, scenario:  I list my items on five venues.  When something sells on one venue, I remove it from the other venues.  

So if someone has asked a question though ebay messaging about my item, do I remove it from the other 4 venues so that if it should sell elsewhere I won't be accused of ebay thinking I ended it to sell offline to the buyer with the question.  Then I just hope that someday it will sell on ebay?  Or maybe just wait until the listing expires and then relist on the other 4 venues and not on ebay?

ROFL!!!  Such a pickle...or just stop selling on ebay, what a thought!!

I am NOT paying FVF on things that didn't sell though ebay to satisfy their paranoia.  I have NEVER ended a listing to sell off ebay and never will but it might be ebay's perception that causes these unearned fees rather than reality.

by: Janek

I think Ebay executives should be invited to congress to testify and answer some tough question about what they are doing.

by: Ming the Merciless

I question the legality of this regardless of the TOS. All of us should report this to our respective State Attorneys General Office asap.

LIARS and THIEVES to the end.

by: Marie

This problem is so EASY to avoid.  Just DON'T use M2M to communicate with someone regarding an off site sale or the potential of an off site sale.

If you have a buyer on Ebay contact you through M2M asking you to do this, just say no.  But make sure your response inside of Ebay is NO.  Then there is no issue with Ebay for you to worry about.  

If you are communicating with an Ebay member OFF Ebay, there is no way for Ebay to find out about it unless someone reports it to Ebay and then they would still have to be able to prove it.

The simple act of closing a listing on Ebay for whatever reason you have is NOT enough for Ebay to say that you are selling it off Ebay.  

by: spooky

I have already altered my thinking with this as want to have no worries. I sometimes offer local pickup but am now careful not to send address info until an item is won and paid for. I have been seeing the generic warning messages come back to me anytime someone asks about location, etc. Playing everything by the book for certain.

by: toolguy

This comes in the same playbook as the 180 day returns.

I won't believe it until I see it.

If this happens to anyone report back here and let us know. . .

by: Nicbella79

So unfortunately I am one of the EBay users who was just slammed with a $475 fee on an item that did not sell but because the buyer asked to exchange personal info they are hitting me with the final value fee! To make matters worse I read somewhere that they can not deny me the right to dispute this charge but when I call eBay they continue to transfer me to different people mostly overseas who refuse to help me or dispute this can someone here give me any tips how I can fight the charge?  

by: Ming the Merciless

Demand arbitration and be able to prove the item remains unsold.

Write your state's Attorney General Consumer Fraud Division.

by: Nicbella79

Thank you for your reply the bag has since sold thy claim that a computerized system picks these types of messages and then the fee is automated needless to say they fail to mention the countless messages where u told buyers eBay only but because the buyer and I exchanged info the system picked that up I do intend to fight this just not sure whether I write in for arbitration or call my CC and dispute the charge or both?

by: Ming the Merciless

Hard for me to follow what you're saying.

If you dispute the charge of your credit card ebay will likely permanently suspend you.

Keep calling customer service. Itr may take several calls but eventually you might talk with a CSR with some common sense. Be sure to provide evidence that the item was sold and delivered AFTER they charged you for this non existent sale.

Write a letter to your state attorney general's office in any case.

If all else fails with ebay customer service, ask for arbitration. If you can provide concrete evidence to prove your side o the story, you should win.

Ebay operates like The Mafia. This is why I call them ebafia. Good luck!