topic Re: Refunds/ cancel costs sellers in Selling

Refunds/ cancel costs sellers

nobsh*t — Tue, 16 Jul 2019 23:14:23 GMT

Recently I had a transaction where a buyer purchased item and then requested a cancel later that day. NO PROBLEM I thought as the item was not shipped or packed. So hit Cancel and then REFUND through eBay tools. On looking at the refund through PayPal I then noticed that the refund to buyer is 100% but the fees to me varied. I contacted PayPal and they advised YES they still take a fee in the case of the refund and YES the seller pays this.

So effectively as a seller we pay for refunds !

Re: Refunds/ cancel costs sellers

ilce — Tue, 16 Jul 2019 23:26:38 GMT

Yes. Paypal always keeps about 30 cents in a full refund which comes out of your balance.

Re: Refunds/ cancel costs sellers

chameleon54 — Tue, 16 Jul 2019 23:34:27 GMT

Not good is it, but highlights why sellers need to be selling stuff with high profit margins, so they can afford to lose a bit here and there without losing sleep over it. Selling stuff with thin margins in highly competative fields is a pretty tough gig on ebay.

Re: Refunds/ cancel costs sellers

toysandthings12 — Wed, 17 Jul 2019 04:34:08 GMT

Its worse if u shipped it too.

As u lose the ebay fee and the shipping fee.....

Often depending on timeframe the ebay fee is not refunded.

Re: Refunds/ cancel costs sellers

louisas_lines — Sat, 20 Jul 2019 12:18:03 GMT

It's worse than that. As of 7 May, paypal keeps the entire seller's fee, not just the 30c

Re: Refunds/ cancel costs sellers

brerrabbit585 — Sat, 20 Jul 2019 12:32:00 GMT

@louisas_lines wrote:
It's worse than that. As of 7 May, paypal keeps the entire seller's fee, not just the 30c

They decided not to go ahead with that. It's as it was before. There was a specific thread about it, if I remember rightly.

Re: Refunds/ cancel costs sellers

louisas_lines — Sat, 20 Jul 2019 12:58:54 GMT

No that's incorrect. If you check Paypal's T&C's parts 16.8, 18.16 and 19.4, they are very clear about refunds.

https://www.paypal.com/au/webapps/mpp/ua/cfsgpds-full?locale.x=en_AU#int_18_Fees_and_charges

I just checked two refunds I've done since 1 July and the fees have not been refunded.

It might be worth checking your account.

*edited to corrct one of the numbers

Re: Refunds/ cancel costs sellers

brerrabbit585 — Sat, 20 Jul 2019 13:34:18 GMT

I just tried a refund for $2 and it said "amount refunded by seller $1.95, fees refunded by paypal 5c". You obviously don't understand how refunds work.

Re: Refunds/ cancel costs sellers

djavusydney — Sun, 21 Jul 2019 04:08:57 GMT

PayPal still refund the fees, they only keep the 30c, for now.

Re: Refunds/ cancel costs sellers

louisas_lines — Mon, 22 Jul 2019 01:17:37 GMT

I'm not relying a "thread" of opinions from this group.

I can see in black and white about paypal fees and refunds from paypal itself. Did you not read it?

Maybe you need to read your account balances properly. Calculator??

Re: Refunds/ cancel costs sellers

louisas_lines — Mon, 22 Jul 2019 01:23:28 GMT

Here's the explanation why your 5c was refunded:

https://www.paypal.com/au/smarthelp/article/when-i-issue-a-refund,-are-the-transaction-fees-returned-faq1252

Re: Refunds/ cancel costs sellers

digital*ghost — Mon, 22 Jul 2019 01:47:10 GMT

I've been receiving fee credits for refunds (I have to refund postage regularly as I still get some buyers who pay for multiple items separately), or so the transaction page indicates. Interestingly, just now when I tested it, the fee return calculated by PayPal included both the fixed 30c and the 2.6% of the payment, so next time I issue a refund (which will be later tonight as I have some postage payments to do), I'll double-check my account balance before and after I issue it.

On the screen where PayPal calculate the refund amount, there's a "learn more" link, and this is what pops up when you click it, so PayPal clearly has conflicting information on the website.

Re: Refunds/ cancel costs sellers

brerrabbit585 — Mon, 22 Jul 2019 09:04:57 GMT

@louisas_lines wrote:
I'm not relying a "thread" of opinions from this group.

I can see in black and white about paypal fees and refunds from paypal itself. Did you not read it?

Maybe you need to read your account balances properly. Calculator??

Ho hum.

I don't need a calculator. Maths was my best subject at school - top of the class every year in high school (and primary school).

As digi's screenshot shows, nothing has changed.

It wasn't "my" 5c that was refunded. Instead of taking 5c from me, paypal refunded the buyer 5c from the amount they'd previously taken from me (5c is 2.6% of $2).

Re: Refunds/ cancel costs sellers

purplemon18 — Mon, 22 Jul 2019 09:20:21 GMT

I have found that nothing has changed for me either. My refunds are still being split between Paypal and myself. I wonder if we are missing something? Perhaps the change only applies to private accounts? I have a business account.

Re: Refunds/ cancel costs sellers

digital*ghost — Mon, 22 Jul 2019 09:35:36 GMT

So just in case anyone was waiting for the test results...

I had 3 separate refunds to process this evening, and I looked at my total before and after issuing the refunds, and and the fees were credited back from the original deduction to make up the total of the refunds (i.e. PayPal paid 2.6% of the refunds, and the rest was deducted from my balance).

I think website upkeep is a bit lacking of late - I downloaded a copy of their contract for working capital from them the other day, and it had big bold writing at the top saying "sample only - not legally binding" on it. (Might sound ok at first, but in this particular context - that is I was meant to be agreeing to the terms at the time - the contract is supposed to be legally binding).

Re: Refunds/ cancel costs sellers

brerrabbit585 — Mon, 22 Jul 2019 10:25:42 GMT

In the original thread about it someone posted a link to an article on ecommercebytes or one of those sites (saying paypal had backed off).

Re: Refunds/ cancel costs sellers

clarry100 — Tue, 23 Jul 2019 00:08:58 GMT

As outlined by other members above our refunds have not changed either despite what you might find on the PayPal site regarding refunds.

For a full refund they retain the 30-cent flagfall fee as they have always done. But all the variable fee (2.6%) is refunded.

For a partial refund they refund a pro-rata amount of the variable fee according to the amount of the actual refund.

So they refund the 2.6% fee of the amount being refunded.

In this case they also retain the 30-cent flagfall fee as well.

So you never get back the 30-cents no matter what.

So they have indeed backed away from the position they announced earlier.