eBay demanded credit card info, now they're taking an automated payment from my account which it appears I cannot stop

[JamesAndTheGiantBanana]

They wouldn't let me sell anything without taking updated debit card info on file. Now they are saying they are taking an automated payment (for my seller fees) of nearly £40 (they took a £20 cut of one auction, on top of the listing fees of nearly £20 - pretty greedy)

It's near the end of the month, I don't have a spare £40 to give them as I sold the item in the first place to get money together to pay bills. I can't find a way to stop this payment going out - there's no way of deleting payment information, and I can't contact them to delay it or anything as there's no helpline.

Is there a way of stopping them other than withdrawing all the money from my account and getting charged for the payment not being honoured? I'd rather not but can't afford to go without £40, it's almost a weeks food shopping money.

cancel the card?

Try going into your account and then where is says "ebay seller fees" there is a bit to update your seller fees payment method - or words tot aht effect. You can set it up to pay them by paypal

I mean with the bank.

Today - right away - report it as lost.

If the transaction hasn't already gone through, it won't.

cancel it with ebay? I wish, there's no way of doing it other than to put another card on file (I don't have another card) and besides it might already be in motion. hmm...

Or direct debit, mine is defiantely set up to pay by direct debit, not debit card, I've just checked.
I don't understand why they would take £20 cut? I thought ebay just took fees- for type of auction, number of photos

oh, x posts, sorry

hecate: Cancel my bank card? I could, but what do I do with the money out of it though? I need it. And I think there's a paypal payment for some toddler shoes going through at the moment which might not get paid.

doonhammer: the paypal idea might be a better one, although I've no way of telling whether the payment has already been taken. I could then cancel my paypal direct debit.

hmm, maybe I should phone my bank.

doonhammer, I didn't know it either but apparently if you sell some things (in this case a car, but all the money is gone from it on bills) they take a cut at the end. £40 to sell a car - if I'd known I'd have stuck it in the free ads. is it just me or is £40 greedy? we only got a couple of hundred for the car in the first place!

id phone the bank and get them to suspend any paypal activity - could you make like you think your account has been hacked?? ive emailed ebay before and they did respond quite quickly.

Ebay do take a listing fee and then a small percentafe of the selling price in addition if the buyer pays through paypal you do get charged by paypal too and this does all add up.

Oh, found this:

Removing a payment method from your account

To remove your payment method information, click here to go to your seller's account page and click the 'Remove automatic payment method' link on the page. You'll be asked to sign in.

You may still accrue fees for any listings you have on the site, as well as monthly fees if you have any active subscriptions such as eBay Shops. Make sure you cancel any subscriptions if you want to close your account.

If you have an outstanding balance, you can make one-time payment before you remove your payment information. Learn more about making a one-time payment.

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I'll try it now but I bet it won't work.

hah, thought so;

Please pay your account balance before removing your payment method.

Fuckers.

nickschick, unfortunately it's a debit card payment not a paypal payment, so can't just get rid of my paypal direct debit.

I think I'll just have to withdraw all the money out of my account.

It's ridiculous that eBay don't have a helpline, and that they're piling on the fees and the pressure to pay eBay fees with no way to contest them or delay automatic payments, with everything that's happening right now. It's just another way of snatching pennies away from those who badly need them.

james will that not get you overdrawn at the bank?

I just read that with HSBC if you go overdrawn by less than £50 and bring your account back to the black within 14 days then you don't get charged. I need to check this but if it's true it might be the best option.

Is it a statement you got from them because mine don't come out my account until at least 10 days after the statement. Although as I said mine are paid by direct bebit so it could just be that method which gives you 10 days notice

That's just how it works, if you want to sell on ebay you need to be prepared to pay their fees.

Ah, what I just wrote isn't true, I'd get charged £25.

No this wasn't a regular statement, doonhammer, it was an automatic payments statement. They tricked me into signing up for them, basically.

pebbles, I've been selling on eBay for years, I know you have to pay the fees, hence why my account is only £40 in arrears, for one auction payment.

My objection is the fact that they wouldn't let me continue to use my seller account unless I agreed to automatic payments, which means that they are taking a payment at a bad time when I cannot afford it. At the beginning of the month, fine, my dp will be paid and we can afford it. But there's no way of delaying it, no way of stopping it, no way of asking for more time.

Anyway, I can see there's nothing I can do. Thanks all for your advice.

Just be careful about withdrawing your money as my friend has had debt collectors on the phone last week due to unpaid ebay fees.

I have just been stopped from relisting my items that didn't sell because I have not got an automatic payment method set up. I have never missed paying an invoice with my PayPal account (also owned by Ebay) which is linked to my high street bank account. I am adamant that I will not be setting up an automatic payment method and giving Ebay the authority to help themselves to fees when they decide to rather than when I action it. What gives them the right to insist on being given control of my banking?
I will not list items on Ebay if they continue to insist on controlling my payments in this way, preferring to use other sites such as Gumtree (also owned by Ebay but still free - at the moment) and Preloved among many others. If I can find out how, I will be putting this on Facebook to see how many others feel this way.
The only power Ebay will understand is the power of the people voting with their feet. Boycott Ebay an it will soon lose revenue, mostly double billing (with PayPal fees on top) and realise that it is us - the client - who have given them the top slot in internet sales and it is us - THE CLIENT - who can take it away. How dare they bully us ! ! !

JamesAndTheGiantBanana,

A friend of mine suggested that you link your PayPal account to a pre-pay style credit card. Then they can only take what you can afford to put on it.

Worth a thought if you want to carry on posting.

The reason eBay insist on an automated payment method is to reduce their costs which then means they can keep seller fees down. If you don't like it don't use the service they provide.

Can you please tell me how insisting on automated payments brings sellers fees down? They would still be notifying you that the payment is due and, in my case, get paid faster than if they automatically took it 2 weeks later.
I don't like it and I won't be using the 'service' that they provide.
My opinion, my perogative and my right to choose. Unlike Ebay who are offering no choice.

This thread is 3 years old

Thank you for that ThisWeekonFancyJesus. Whoops! I was searching on the net for reasons why this was happening and I now realise that I've been luckier than most and escaped the forced automated payment system for longer than most.
On the bright side, I've found this Mumsnet site. Bonus!