eBay sellers say they were cheated out of listing at the current prices on Thursday. eBay is raising insertion fees today, May 1st, but complaints came in on April 30th that it had begun charging sellers the new higher fees a day early.
It appears it may have been a temporary “glitch” for a few hours on Thursday evening, but eBay has not yet responded to our inquiry.
Several eBay sellers wrote to EcommerceBytes of the problem on Thursday evening, including these two sellers:
“eBay is charging 10 cents for fixed price listings early. Called them they are unaware.”
“Listed some media before the May 1 changes and noticed they are already charging 10 cents for the listings. A day before.”
And sellers are also reporting the problem on the eBay discussion boards, including these three sellers.
“eBay stated the price change would take effect on the 1st of May, but it actually took effect today, 4/30. So I missed out on last minute listings, thanks again eBay for making it harder, don’t forget the more we the sellers make the more eBay makes, so why make it harder on us sellers…?”
“I was listing back issues of magazines today as it was to be the last day for .05 listing fees and all of a sudden it changed to .30 , I went back and read the price going up change said May 1, this is not May 1.”
“Watch out, media sellers! I just relisted a bunch of books on another account. The new fees were in place a day early! Last I checked, today is April 30, and the new fees are supposed to take effect on May 1. I did a test run on few items and was charged .20 (store) instead of .05. Called ebay, was told to relist my items and the fees would be credited back. I was surprised, but they did in fact credit back the fees when I relisted while on the phone with them. I wasn’t especially upset about the increase in fees (although they are causing me to reevaluate my book selling strategy), but I am sure upset about eBay sneaking in the fee hike A DAY EARLY! Sneaky, sneaky eBay!”
We sent an email inquiry to an eBay spokesperson asking if eBay would credit back overcharges. We also asked if eBay would make it up to sellers who were unable to get their last day’s worth of listings up before the new charges took effect.
Update 5/1/15: eBay spokesperson Karen Crocker Snell acknowledged a glitch, responding this afternoon to our inquiry: “There was a technical issue that resulted in some media sellers being charged new fees earlier than we planned yesterday for approximately three hours. We quickly credited back the fees to these sellers.”
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