Being charged seller fees for no reason?

[supercrunchynut]

I have had this recurrent issue with eBay charging me "seller fees" for almost a year now and am only posting now to attract some visibility as I have had no help that has been lasting every time I have contacted eBay to try to resolve this issue.

Last year, I signed up for a free trial of eBay plus and cancelled it correctly before the month was up. Since then, every month I get sent an invoice labelled "Subscription and onetime fees" for AU $4.99. It has been labelled as "seller fees" and the charge amount comes up when I click the "seller account" option on My eBay. I have never sold or even listed an item on my eBay account.

Every month, I contact eBay customer service and tell them that this is a recurrent issue and every month I am promised that the issue will not recur (and I have multiple chat transcripts to prove this) and it invariably happens again the following month. I am sick of this and have spent hours on chat and on the phone with eBay about this issue which they refuse to fix more than giving me a refund each month or removing the invoice for the single month.

I wonder if anyone else has experienced the same issue and if so, if there is any permanent solution to this (besides closing down your eBay account)? I have already removed an automatic payment method so they stop charging me but I keep getting threatened with late fees and having my account restricted if I don't pay.

[*sons_and_daughters*]

How long before the end of your ebay plus trial did you cancel it? If it was only a day or 2 before, it may not have been enough time before it clicked over into subscription.

Given you have been in contact with ebay repeatedly, I'm not sure what else to suggest. Have you asked to speak to a supervisor? Sometimes they can do things the regular plebs can't. 

Yes, you could shut down your account, but that takes 6 months of zero activity for that to happen. If they are threatening to restrict your account due to non payment, creating a new account will see it shut down too.

Hopefully someone more experienced will come along and be able to offer suggestions.

[etb321]

I had the same, I was into the bank the next day, they got my $5 back. (It's not ebay). 

Tom

[visimp65]

Yes. I have been having the same issue for the past 12 months also. Ever since I signed up for an eBay Plus monthly subscription. Have found no resolution as yet. Every month I have to spend about 30 minutes online with customer service to arrange to have it credited. Each month they do arrange a credit together with a promise that it will be escalated and resolved and won't happen again. And then the next month it happens again. I have since cancelled the eBay Plus monthly subscription and moved to a yearly subscription plan, but this has not resolved the issue thus far. 

[grco2840]

I have had the same issue of being charged $4.99 when not even having sold any items. I have since removed all items and await to see whether I will be charged again. I have contacted my bank but their recommended solution is to discontinue my current credit card and get a new one. This way when E-Bay puts its charge through it will be declined.  I am reluctant to do this as cancelling my current credit card will only bring about another set of issues. How do you contact E-Bay other than the Help Chat? 

[sandypebbles]

That is the monthly fee for eBay Plus

If you are saying you did not sign up to eBay Plus, or that you cancelled before the paid period kicked in 

Then your bank is 100% correct, you need to cancel your card since if it was not you who signed up to eBay Plus, someone obviously has 

Chat is how you contact eBay, base level staff are not going to be able to do much if you did not sing up for eBay Plus though, best thing to do is ask for a supervisor and notify them your account has been hacked/compromised 

Be aware though, if it was you who signed up (agreeing to the terms for doing so) and you cancel your card, you are still going to have to pay the money you owe, which eBay can and will collect cancelled card or not

[springyzone]

---

@grco2840 wrote:

I have had the same issue of being charged $4.99 when not even having sold any items. I have since removed all items and await to see whether I will be charged again. I have contacted my bank but their recommended solution is to discontinue my current credit card and get a new one. This way when E-Bay puts its charge through it will be declined.  I am reluctant to do this as cancelling my current credit card will only bring about another set of issues. How do you contact E-Bay other than the Help Chat? 

---

I couldn't figure it out till I read sandypebbles' reply and I bet she is right.

That charge isn't for selling, it is for ebay plus.

Have a think. Did you buy anything that maybe had a little sign on it that said something like No postage on this item with ebay plus. Try it for free.

If you click yes to that, sure, you might get the first month free but after that, they charge automatically.

So yes, you will be charged again. And again.

You need to go into your account and opt out of ebay plus.

[aljone-4]

I just received my first fee of $7.65 and I don't know why.  I am not a seller on eBay?  who do I contact?

[sandypebbles]

Whose account are you posting with?

The one you are using now has one item listed for $350 and also sold a camera body  on Jan 18 for $250

[supercrunchynut]

My issue was a fault on eBay's part for my account specifically. It took about a year and 10 phone calls with eBay to correct because they continued to refund me each month and charge me the following month. Each time I went through customer service and found even though I got awful service that was the only way to get my money back.