eBay to Apply Commissions for Unsold Items in Some Cases

eBay will charge final value fees for listings in cases where sellers merely include their contact information or ask buyers for their contact information, even if the item remains unsold. 

eBay updated its User Agreement to add the provision, found under the "Using eBay" section:

"If we believe you are violating the policy on Offers to buy or sell outside of eBay, you may be subject to a range of actions, including limits on your buying and selling privileges, restrictions on listings and account features, suspension of your account, application of fees, and recovery of expenses for policy monitoring and enforcement. If you are a seller and you offer or reference your contact information or ask a buyer for their contact information in the context of buying or selling outside of eBay, you may be liable to pay a final value fee applicable to that item, even if the item does not sell."

eBay announced the changed to its User Agreement on Tuesday. That means sellers could pay a commission fee for a listing that they haven't sold.

There's are several big issues here of concern for sellers:

One is the principle of eBay charging commissions (Final Value Fees) for items that have not sold on its site.

The second issue is that eBay can't correctly identify which listings provide seller contact information, an issue we've been blogging about since eBay recently began sending warning emails to innocent sellers.

Lastly, it's unclear if sellers will have the opportunity to dispute such charges.