eBay cancelation fees - Dispute

[JCKST1]

Following on from my last post regarding DPD which seems to be getting somewhere now I thought I would ask on here for some more advice in case a member can help.

We have had a eBay business account for 13 years, never really had any issues and pay them hundreds every month in sales fees.

We had a car listed on our account, bidding was up to about £10k however we decided to withdraw the car from sale due to it having some issues with it (the car is now parked up with a knocking engine!), we were also going on holiday for 2.5 weeks and putting people off viewing was annoying so we ended the auction with about 5 days to go so we could sort it all out when back.

We were then billed over £1000 in sales fees. After explaining the issues to eBay the live chat team said we should get the money back as its the first issue we have asked for help on in 13 years but it was then later declined by the refund/fee team.

I have a feeling we wont get the money back but it could be worth us fighting as its not pocket change!
We had a genuine reason to end the auction and didn't leave it until the final hour to do so.

The customer service team are outsourced to some foreign country and dont really care, there just repeating themselves that they can help or appeal it.

What would the next steps be as eBay are not willing to help, or even try to.

[MattsCar]

A grand fees is nuts, amazed anyone auctions cars on eBay. Not as if they do anything in terms of curating the advert.

I presume you've read the terms and conditions about cancelling the auction early and the fees charged? I guess that this is covered and that they are within their rights to do this?

What you need to do is speak to someone in the Ireland call centre or speak to them on the eBay for business Facebook page, you'll get someone who is more helpful than the Philippines call centre.

[Poseidon]

Final value fees are capped at £40 for a business seller in their vehicles categories

https://www.ebay.co.uk/help/selling/fees-credits-i...

Did you have it listed in the correct category?

[JCKST1]

Poseidon said:

Final value fees are capped at £40 for a business seller in their vehicles categories

https://www.ebay.co.uk/help/selling/fees-credits-i...

Did you have it listed in the correct category?

Yes, I will chase this up too.

I managed to speak with someone on the Facebook page who was a bit more helpful but basically just say there isn't anything she can do as the verdict is decided by another team.

Unbelievable they can even do this, we had a genuine reason to cancel but what would happen if you had sold where, changed your mind or the car was stolen/wrote off.. Our bidding was just over 10k so they have taken 10% fees, even worse if it was 40-50k and you had to pay10%.

I am sure if I can speak to the right person I might get it back but will keep pushing on.

[JCKST1]

Poseidon said:

Final value fees are capped at £40 for a business seller in their vehicles categories

https://www.ebay.co.uk/help/selling/fees-credits-i...

Did you have it listed in the correct category?

I managed to query this with eBay UK Facebook team and the £40 is capped if you sell the car, if you decide to end it early then I presume its 10%.. Complete joke. You can sell a £100k car and pay £40 fees or end an auction early at £10k and pay £1000 in fees.

Hopefully I can speak to someone helpful about this and get it back.

[Simpo Two]

JCKST1 said:

I managed to query this with eBay UK Facebook team and the £40 is capped if you sell the car, if you decide to end it early then I presume its 10%...

Presume? Didn't they confirm the fee for an auction ended early?

[JCKST1]

Simpo Two said:

Presume? Didn't they confirm the fee for an auction ended early?

If you end an auction early, you are charged the final value fee based upon the highest bid. The reason why this is charged, is when you end the auction early, it indicates that the listing was sold off site

[Simpo Two]

JCKST1 said:

If you end an auction early, you are charged the final value fee based upon the highest bid. The reason why this is charged, is when you end the auction early, it indicates that the listing was sold off site

Ah right, if that's what they said, fair enough. They assume the parties did a deal off site to avoid the FVF, so they charge it anyway.

What then will happen to their logic if you relist the car? That will prove you didn't do an offline deal, so then, if what they say is true, they should refund it...



One other thing... for a car of this value private sellers pay £1,000 but business sellers only pay £40, according to a post above. That seems a massive difference.

Edited by Simpo Two on Monday 7th July 09:56

[Poseidon]

JCKST1 said:

Poseidon said:

Final value fees are capped at £40 for a business seller in their vehicles categories

https://www.ebay.co.uk/help/selling/fees-credits-i...

Did you have it listed in the correct category?

I managed to query this with eBay UK Facebook team and the £40 is capped if you sell the car, if you decide to end it early then I presume its 10%.. Complete joke. You can sell a £100k car and pay £40 fees or end an auction early at £10k and pay £1000 in fees.

Hopefully I can speak to someone helpful about this and get it back.

Did you have it listed in the correct category?

If you did, there is absolutely no logic in them charging you 10% FVF on an auction ended early vs 1% - capped at £40 - if the auction ran its course. I can see them charging the £40 if they believe you’ve sold it offsite and ended early, but 10% is a random number thats not mentioned anywhere on their page above. I’d be asking them to point out in their T&Cs where it states this.

If you’ve listed it in the wrong category then that’s a slightly different battle…

Simpo Two said:

One other thing... for a car of this value private sellers pay £1,000 but business sellers only pay £40, according to a post above. That sees a massive difference.

Private sellers are capped at £45 final value fees

Edited by Poseidon on Sunday 6th July 21:41

Edited by Poseidon on Sunday 6th July 21:44

[Simpo Two]

Poseidon said:

Private sellers are capped at £45 final value fees

Except this one it seems. I'd say something has definitely gone wrong. OP needs to get on the blower again to eBay and they need to tell him exactly where the relevant bit of small print is.

[JCKST1]

Simpo Two said:

Except this one it seems. I'd say something has definitely gone wrong. OP needs to get on the blower again to eBay and they need to tell him exactly where the relevant bit of small print is.

Still working on it...

Facebook team send you to the live chat which is outsourced, they dont care and say you will get a call back, which never happens. Apparently there is not a direct number for the team I need to speak too so basically just going round in circles.

Back on to the Facebook team now asking for further help.