The Squeeky Wheel Gets the Grease

The old adage is true, and it saved me $15.

I got an email from eBay yesterday saying that my seller fees were charged to the bank account on file, but the money was returned to them because the numbers they had on file were old or incorrect. I'm usually very careful when I input information like that, so it was hard for me to believe the number they had on file was incorrect. Still, people make mistakes, so it's entirely possible that I'd entered it wrong.

When I went to correct the information, however, I discovered that after the funds were returned, eBay had erased my account info from their system. I also discovered that they had charged me a $15 returned funds fee. Since there was no way to know if the returned funds were even my fault, I really didn't want to pay the fee.

I figured the least I could do was take five minutes to contact their customer service and ask for it to be removed. Even if it was my mistake, sometimes just asking will get you what you want, so I shot off an email and hoped for the best. They replied yesterday afternoon reiterating why the funds had been returned and stating that the fee was $15 because that's what the bank charges them when funds are returned.

I still didn't want to give up. I emailed again and basically said that because they had erased my account info, there was no way they could verify that the info was incorrect, so they shouldn't charge me a fee if they can't prove it was my fault.

Yesterday evening, I got an email saying that they would "extend a one-time courtesy" and refund the fee. Yay! A little persistence will get you a long way.