Is eBay's Ad Fee Standard refunded when buyer asks to cancel an order

shapala

Hi foilks

I had a rather expensive item sell yesterday which is quite niche so promoted it at 2%. Got the sale last night but this morning before headed to PO the buyer has asked to cancel (grrrr!!!). I've since refunded them with 'buyer asked to cancel'. However, although the funds for said item were in my a/c and now refunded back to buyer leaving me with £0.00 balance which is obviously correct, eBay want to charge the extra £6-odd from my associated debit card for the 'Ad Fee Standard'. That appears they've charged me for to promote the listing even after cancelling so is this a non-refundable fee? TIA

tightauldgit

Ebay seem to say they will refund ad fees on cancelled sales but not a feature i ever use so probably worth asking them directly via the chat. 

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

https://www.ebay.co.uk/help/selling/fees-credits-invoices/fee-credits?id=4128

Says here they will credit them but if they haven't worth using the chat or call facility within the eBay help pages and hopefully they'll do it manually. 

tightauldgit said:

not a feature i ever use so probably worth asking them directly via the chat. 

Well worth an extra 2.4% to have a piece of tat treasure gone from our house, selling via the 70% FVF offers which make fees 4%, maybe a third of items sell with promote so fees are perhaps around 5% overall which I can live with   

tightauldgit

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/help/selling/fees-credits-invoices/fee-credits?id=4128

Says here they will credit them but if they haven't worth using the chat or call facility within the eBay help pages and hopefully they'll do it manually. 

tightauldgit said:

not a feature i ever use so probably worth asking them directly via the chat. 

Well worth an extra 2.4% to have a piece of tat treasure gone from our house, selling via the 70% FVF offers which make fees 4%, maybe a third of items sell with promote so fees are perhaps around 5% overall which I can live with   

As with most of these things I really don't know how much impact it makes on sales though. If I thought it would definitely make more sales then I'd probably look into using it. I might give it a go on some of the stuff I haven't been able to shift and see how it impacts eyeballs. 

It probably matters what category you are selling in too though I imagine. 

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

tightauldgit said:

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/help/selling/fees-credits-invoices/fee-credits?id=4128

Says here they will credit them but if they haven't worth using the chat or call facility within the eBay help pages and hopefully they'll do it manually. 

tightauldgit said:

not a feature i ever use so probably worth asking them directly via the chat. 

Well worth an extra 2.4% to have a piece of tat treasure gone from our house, selling via the 70% FVF offers which make fees 4%, maybe a third of items sell with promote so fees are perhaps around 5% overall which I can live with   

As with most of these things I really don't know how much impact it makes on sales though. If I thought it would definitely make more sales then I'd probably look into using it. I might give it a go on some of the stuff I haven't been able to shift and see how it impacts eyeballs. 

It probably matters what category you are selling in too though I imagine. 

The only downside is that you might sell something through promote that would have sold anyway but I don't think it's possible to figure that one out.

Without waffling too much, search results are still primarily based on sales vs impressions, as a seller with single QTY listings you don't get that benefit and ads will rotate you through top results, many people simply buy what is put in front of them. 

Personally I'd ignore eBay's suggested % and stick to the 2% min (whilst remembering eBay are being naughty and not making it clear that the ad fee is x% + VAT). 

There is "Promoted Listings Advanced" which is pay per click which I've never used but the "Promoted Listings Standard" is pay per sale which is one of eBay's surprisingly decent and fair ideas. 

I'm clearing the stuff from our house using the FVF offers and just promote everything, I don't have many things that are worth a lot of money so paying an extra 10p or 20p here and there to achieve a sale makes sense for what I'm trying to achieve (a less cluttered house).  

shapala

Thanks for the comments. Just an update, the fee was taken from my main bank a/c but in addition said fee was then refunded back to my eBay a/c automatically a day later (actually about 12 hours later). So all was right in the end and evens out to the penny. Obviously this is something eBay need to rectify since I'm not the only one to have had this issue, and is slightly perplexing.

As for is promoting worth it?....absolutely unsure. I really only promote very niche items which I need to get rid of and quite pricey such as the item in question, and those items I'm promoting are at the minimum 2% rather than eBay's dynamic or suggested rate. I'm happy to lose out a few quid if the ad is seen by a few more folk and leads to a sale. Probably 95% of items I don't promote and it's obviously difficult to know if you've made a sale thanks to being promoted.