Sellers!! Check your banking institution for International Fees for paying ebay monthly Seller fees!

[minimum_56]

Hi all,
just a 'heads up' for everyone... My ebay seller fees are paid monthly via Paypal - drawn from my CBA credit card if insufficient paypal funds are available.

I was checking my CBA netbank & noticed that an 'International Fee' of 3% was charged when my seller fees (June) were paid by my credit card. I spoke to the bank and was advised that the reason an International Fee was charged was due to the fact that the payment was processed in OS (Switzerland) by ebay.

I just spoke to ebay help & was told that this is a 'current' problem that is being investigated! First time I've ever been charged an International fee for my AU ebay seller fees drawn on a AU credit card.

Ebay advised me that the fee amount will be credited to my ebay account within the next couple of days.

[minimum_56]

I managed to stop the International transaction fees when I pay my ebay sellers account each month by removing automatic payment via Paypal (funded by my AU credit card if insufficient PP funds available) & adding the same Com Bank credit card to pay the fees instead.

It apparently changed ebay's payment to a AU account so there was no International transaction fee applicable.
All my International transaction fees stopped in Aug 2018 when I made the change.

[minimum_56]

It should also be noted that not all AU Banks charge a fee for International transactions via credit card.

Comm Bank does charge a fee - I just checked - it's 3%
Bank West has a 'International fee free' credit card available. We have one for travelling overseas 

From the Comm Bank site:

• Transactions converted by Mastercard® or Visa - 3.00%
• Transactions in Australian dollars but with an overseas connection - 3.00%

In some cases, overseas merchants may allow you to pay in Australian dollars, e.g. when you’re shopping online or over the phone. This is still considered an international transaction because your transaction is processed overseas.

Note: Even though a merchant has a website address ending in ‘.com.au’ and displays prices in Australian dollars, they may still be located overseas or otherwise choose to process their credit card payments outside of Australia. It’s best to check with the merchant before you pay if you are unsure.

[shacklestore]

My apologies; I see that in replying my post referenced "in reply to davewwil1964". The post wasn't intended to be focusing on you it was just in reply to the thread in general. 

Cheers

[mysissar]

Bloody thiefing a holes taking money from your personal account when they like

[lyndal1838]

How do you work that out?

When a bank charges a fee for processing international transactions they are only doing what every institution is allowed to do....charging a fee for service.

[minimum_56]

It's the bank charging the International fee due to ebay changing their payment providers to an 'off-shore' account.

The reason I started this thread was to give other sellers a 'heads-up' so they could either change or amend the account that is used for payment of ebay fees.

It only seems to happen when Paypal is used for seller fees payment & there is insufficient funds & draws on a credit card that does charge a fee for International transactions.

My hubby's ebay account is exactly the same as mine was - payment via Paypal with CBA credit card if not enough paypal funds available to pay seller fees. I pay his fees as he sells with a one off Paypal payment - so his ebay balance is always $0.

Personally I'm concerned that some sellers don't seem to check their credit card statements regularly.

[davewil1964]

Ah, that's why I've never seen it.

I always leave enough in my Paypal account to cover my fees.

Which is good, because the linked credit card (necessary at the time to set up a selling account) expired years ago.

[lyndal1838]

---

@minimum_56 wrote:

Personally I'm concerned that some sellers don't seem to check their credit card statements regularly.

---

It seems that some sellers (and buyers) don't ever check their statements (bank or credit cards) and when they eventully come across a fee or charge that they do not recognise it is always ebay's faut for not telling them.

[staryknight84]

I have just last week signed up for EbayPlus membership and when i went through my credit card transactions this international transaction fee showed up which I was not expecting. I'm on the phone with the bank now, but this seems to be a big issue for anyone who has signed up and it defaults to automatic payments via paypal! Going to dispute this transaction as I never authorised an international company to take funds from my paypal account, only Ebay Australia.

[staryknight84]

---

@minimum_56 wrote:

I managed to stop the International transaction fees when I pay my ebay sellers account each month by removing automatic payment via Paypal (funded by my AU credit card if insufficient PP funds available) & adding the same Com Bank credit card to pay the fees instead.

It apparently changed ebay's payment to a AU account so there was no International transaction fee applicable.
All my International transaction fees stopped in Aug 2018 when I made the change.

---

I did exactly this, thanks minimum_56 for advising how to stop these fees and ebay auto charging from switzerland. When i messaged ebay directly about this, they were adamant that the transaction came from their Australian offices, this is extremely dodgy and I think the ACCC needs to know about this.