Credit not refund of FVF when sale falls through - legal? **bleep**?

[skylinewa]

Previously had a sale fall through, but ebay billed the FVF.  Complained and they gave a credit, not a refund.  This month I have two sales, one a pickup that hasn't happened and looks shaky, but ebay have again billed for the FVF on that one already.

If it does fall through, of course they will eventually give a credit again.  Is that even legal to not give an actual refund?

I'm tempted to do a CC chargeback as "goods/services not received". 

[skylinewa]

or a store credit, which in a lot of cases is useless so you spend it on something just to use it.

[digital*ghost]

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@skylinewa wrote:

No there is no way to withdraw the credit (unless things have changed in the last year) -

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AFAIK, there has always been a way to get a refund of the credit, and still is (scroll to the end, and click the "request a refund" link) :

https://sellercentre.ebay.com.au/selling-fees/credits-refunds

They don't exactly make it easy, or the most intuitive process, but it should be an available option none the less.

[skylinewa]

Tnx for that link - that lot wasn't there in that form a year back. Following that link to the "request a refund" link near the bottom leads to a "Fee Credits" page which again uses the words "request a fee refund". No link, no suggestion how to, but you can bet I will follow that through. Note that they keep using the word "request", sort of implies they can still decline. We'll see.

Thanks again for digging that up for me. If it does go **bleep**-up I'll report back so others can benefit from this thread.

Edit:  Geez their bleep filter is hypersensitive ... objects to widely used expressions like whiskey-tango-foxtrot and now tango-india-tango-sierra-"up".

[digital*ghost]

What does it show in your account summary? My account is not in credit at the moment, but I could have sworn there was a way to request a refund from there in the past. The help pages have recently been completely overhauled and there is a lot of information / links that are now nowhere to be found, unfortunately (not that they were particularly informative and easy to navigate to begin with), but I know others have been successful in obtaining refunds for fees paid so there should still be a way to do it, if but a convoluted one.

Hope you get it sorted. 

[skylinewa]

Just went back to look at the December account (which showed a credit).  There is NOTHING on that account which suggests that a refund of that credit is available.  It's too big to screen-capture to attach here.

[lm-entertainment]

sorry to butt in.. is your account in credit now though? because if it isn't.. any option to withdraw a credit won't be present - and wouldn't show on december's invoice. 

if you haven't already tried (you may have mentioned this previously) - i'd try talking requesting a call back from customer service and if you don't get a favourable response - ask to speak to someone higher up and see how you go. 

[digital*ghost]

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@skylinewa wrote:

Just went back to look at the December account (which showed a credit).  There is NOTHING on that account which suggests that a refund of that credit is available.  It's too big to screen-capture to attach here.

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I decided to put my account into credit just to see what would happen if I clicked the request fee credit link, and same as you, it took me to the fee credit page, confirmed my account was $10 in credit, then said that may last statement balance was $x and to make sure I paid it by 15th February... -_- No other visible options to simply submit a request for a refund on any pages. 

Googling for the right process / pages etc only shows the same two eBay AU pages  the one I linked to, and the other fee credit page it links to when you click the "request..." link.

The page that this links to on the US site is similar (if not identical) to the help page that was previously on eBay AU, so I followed the prompts from there as well, only to arrive at a page that basically said "call us and ask".

https://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/refunds.html

So, I suspect it's going to be one of those things where you have to be persistant and get the right rep at the right time. 

[skylinewa]

Well the December account shows in credit (*), but now with the problematic sale and one other in January  there will be a payment to be made (which will be debited to my CC before the dubious transaction will be finalised).  So I will be back in the account-in-credit situation again most probably.

(*) the credit is actually because I used ebay's "print mailing label" without realising that they bill you for the postage when you do that - all I wanted was an address label!

[lyndal1838]

How did you think you were paying the postage if you used the ebay labels....or did you think it was free?

[skylinewa]

I was actually thinking it was just a label, and that I would still be paying at the P.O.  I hadn't used it before (and haven't since either).  It does say "print mailing label" ...

Ebay's system is so munted when it comes to setting postage on a listing that it isn't - for me anyway - ever right no matter what option I choose.  Once upon a time you could select "freight" but now it wants box size/weight, ... that I prefer to pack and weigh AFTER a sale, as the stuff is shelf-clearing so I'm not going to waste time packing if it doesn't sell.