
eBay sellers probably agree they should not have to pay fees for cancelled orders, and for the most part that's true. However, a seller told us that eBay did not automatically refund their Promoted Listing ad fee when a buyer cancelled a sale.
"I had to get mine back by chatting with eBay," the seller told us.
We checked the
policy page on eBay, where it says it will refund Promoted Listings Standard fees in cases where the buyer asked the seller to cancel their order; or when there was an issue with the buyer's shipping address; or when the item was out-of-stock or damaged.
However, it does not say if it will refund fees for Promoted Listings Express (for auction listings) or Promoted Listings Advanced (cost-per-click ads).
We searched and
found a post from a member of the Promoted Listings team in response to a seller who had a similar experience a few years ago. The eBay employee said eBay
does automatically credit Promoted Listings Ad fees for returns and canceled items, but added some information about the timing of the credits that may be helpful to sellers who encounter similar situations:
"I would encourage you to check the following months invoice to see if the fee was indeed credited," according to the 2017 post. (The conversation continued into 2019 until it was locked by a moderator.)
If you've opted to run Promoted Listing ads, does eBay automatically credit you the following month (or ever) for cancelled orders? Or do you have to call eBay to get the credit?
What about the other frees eBay credits for cancelled orders?
Even if you don't advertise through eBay, the email from the EcommerceBytes reader serves as a reminder to check your invoices carefully - and that applies to all platforms, shipping carriers, and service providers you use. And be sure to tell us what's going right and wrong for you.