Account Closure Due to Fradulent eBay Final Value Fees

Pricy147

Okay....bit of a long story - but I'll keep it short and summarised:

• Sell Item on eBay
• Buyer sends email saying its a mistake
• Raise Non Paying Bidder with eBay
• Non paying bidder type selected as mutual agreed
• Buyer then confirms purchase went ahead (when it didnt)
• eBay refuse to refund FVC
• Try contacting eBay by email / Live Chat, etc several times and no luck
• Get cut off live chat
• Out of principle - have now decided to close eBay account
• Phoned registered eBay card and closed down so that no payment can be made to eBay
• Removed all registered cards and bank accounts from paypal

So basically wondering where this leaves me. I know that I was foolish doing a mutual agreement dispute - but wasnt aware of the consequences - and ultimately eBay should protect users from this activity. They can see I left them negative feedback, and also the emails I received from the buyer should be on their system.

The amount doesnt amount to much - less than ten pounds - but this is purely out of principle. I'd rather re-register a new eBay account than pay for a fraudelent transaction.

Anyone know what eBay's next steps might be. I have requested an account closure.

Should be interesting to see how this unfolds.

Sugar_Coated_Owl

eBay won't let you close the account if you have outstanding fees to pay. If you don't pay the associated fees it's likely that your account will be suspended and therefore you won't be permitted to open a new eBay account. eBay will probably pass your account onto a debt collection agency for them to recover payment.

Tbh if the fees are under £10 I'd just pay up and learn from my mistake (mutually agreeing not to complete the transaction).

soolin

I agree with razorbladekisses, ebay have been known to persue sellers who do not pay their fees with a vengeance quite out of proportion with the amount owed.

You owe ebay money, is it worth getting a bad mark on your credit rating just because of an error on your part and an amount of less than £10? Not only will you never be able to open another ebay account once suspended, anyone that ebay consider you associated with is also at risk.

Pricy147

you cant get a black mark on your credit rating due to not paying up on ebay fees. They arent a credit line!

As for owing eBay money - I have documented evidence which I would be prepared to take to a court of law if need be to back up the fact the sale did not go through, and the fees are eligitimate. Its out of principle here - not the amount owed - and eBay have no grounds for pursuing the fee.

frivolous_fay

The trouble is, ebay have only the buyer's word against yurs that the sale didn't go through. You allowed the buyer to mess up the situation and you don't have a route through ebay to fix it.

Don't risk opening a second account, because they WILL spot it. If you're closing your account out of principle anyway - why would you want another?

What's worth more: your future sales on ebay, or your pride?

soolin

Pricy147 wrote: »

you cant get a black mark on your credit rating due to not paying up on ebay fees. They arent a credit line!

.

Don't be so sure. If you have an outstanding debt that can be noted in your credit file and will affect your rating.

Moglex

soolin wrote: »

You owe ebay money

He doesn't owe ebay money.

ebay say that he owes them money.

Only a judge can decide if he does or not. (Do not be intimidated by t's&c's - they may be deemed to be unfair by a court and thus not enforceable).

If they ever took the case to court (which they would never do in a hundred years in these circumstances) it's very likely that they would not get the money.

If you want to be safe, pay ebay and then take them to the small claims court to get your fees back (warn them what you are about to do first).

That way they take a big risk.

If you lose they just get to keep a few quid.

If you win they

a) have to pay you back.
b) have to pay the court fees.
c) have to pay a solicitor to represent them.
d) have a (non-binding) precedent set.

Please let us know what you decide to do.

TKPeters

Also, they'll suspended the account owing the money after 90 days & any other account reg'd with any details from the old account including paypal, bank, cc, name or address will render the new account suspended until the first issue is resolved

soolin

Moglex wrote: »

He doesn't owe ebay money.

ebay say that he owes them money.

Only a judge can decide if he does or not. (Do not be intimidated by t's&c's - they may be deemed to be unfair by a court and thus not enforceable).

Technically that is right, but if someone signs up to any service and agrees to pay them a certain fee for certain work and doesn't pay, then yes that company can claim they are owed money. In fact the OP is not even disputing he owes money, he just doesn't want to pay as he made a mistake with his claim for a refund of final value fees.

Where is there any disagreement that ebay are charging more than the OP agreed to pay?

Moglex

soolin wrote: »

Technically that is right, but if someone signs up to any service and agrees to pay them a certain fee for certain work and doesn't pay, then yes that company can claim they are owed money. In fact the OP is not even disputing he owes money, he just doesn't want to pay as he made a mistake with his claim for a refund of final value fees.

Where is there any disagreement that ebay are charging more than the OP agreed to pay?

Nowhere, but this comes under 'unfair terms and conditions' legislation.

Ebay agree that if a transaction does not complete you can reclaim your FVF's. That is good and reasonable since they are based on the money you made and you did not make any.

Ebay also make you jump through certain hoops to get the money back.

Their attitude is totally inflexible and very high handed.

If the OP pays the fees and then takes them to court, a judge would certainly ask what steps ebay made to enable the OP to reclaim the fees as allowed by thet's&c's. When he heard that they made no attempt whatsoever and simply ignored the OP's representations to sort the matter out he would almost certainly find in favour of the OP.

Of course ebay would not let it come to court as that would risk alerting people to the fact that they were operating in an arrogant and high handed manner and that the courts would not support them.

Sugar_Coated_Owl

I think it's totally pointless making such a fuss over having to pay fees of under £10. You've used eBay to advertise your item and they want paying. The buyer messed up the mutual agreement not to complete the transaction. Not your fault but it could have been easily avoided and you would have got your FVF returned.