I've had an eBay account since January of 1998, and while I've slowed down my selling quite a bit, there was a time in high school/college when I was selling at a pretty decent volume. Not anything gigantic like a business or eBay store, but around a thousand dollars worth of stuff per month. The peak was around 2004-2006, but I've maintained a fairly steady stream of items since then.
Anyway, around this time last year I received a fairly typical email from eBay that I owed seller fees for a sold item, which the email noted in the amount of $0.00. Like any sane person would, I assumed that meant I had no balance and no action was required of me, so I did nothing at the time.
I continued selling things on eBay at a considerably lower rate than in the past, and always as Buy It Now sales, usually with immediate payment required via PayPal. Every time an item sold, I'd get the notification, immediately sign into My eBay to get the amount of the seller fees, pay that amount from my PayPal balance, and then transfer the remainder into my bank account. I did that within a few hours of the auction's end every time, so I never incurred any new seller fees that would require any additional payment.
Still, though, I'd receive an email once a month that said I owed $0.00 in seller fees. I've always received the "Payment Accepted!" email from eBay after sending in fees, so I assumed the $0.00 balance emails were a confirmation of that, or at worst some kind of silly glitch.
Fast forward to just before Thanksgiving: I received a notice in the mail at my parents' house that repeated attempts to collect fees had resulted in nonpayment (apparently PayPal doesn't allow for payments of less than a few cents, so any time the system tried to collect the $0.00 from me, it resulted in an error and bounced back to eBay as my card or account not having sufficient funds). The letter noted that legal action would be taken if I didn't pay immediately.
I called eBay customer service (several times, just to be sure) and all of the reps I spoke to assured me that the $0 balance was unpayable but that they clearly couldn't collect on it, so I didn't need to worry.
Then, on December 14, I received a "final notice" that I had 7 days to pay or action would be taken against me, both legally and by debt collectors.
As sort of a "screw you," I mailed a check along with the payment coupon for $0.00, sarcastically as much as anything else. Lo and behold, though, today I received a confirmation that my payment has been accepted, and finally I have "no balance" instead of "$0.00."
This whole experience has been so ridiculous and bizarre, and I can't imagine what the debt collection people would have said about a $0.00 balance. It's also really weird to write a check for nothing (and I feel sort of obligated to do something with the canceled check once I get it. Maybe frame it).
Has anyone else had anything like this happen, on eBay or otherwise?
Anyway, around this time last year I received a fairly typical email from eBay that I owed seller fees for a sold item, which the email noted in the amount of $0.00. Like any sane person would, I assumed that meant I had no balance and no action was required of me, so I did nothing at the time.
I continued selling things on eBay at a considerably lower rate than in the past, and always as Buy It Now sales, usually with immediate payment required via PayPal. Every time an item sold, I'd get the notification, immediately sign into My eBay to get the amount of the seller fees, pay that amount from my PayPal balance, and then transfer the remainder into my bank account. I did that within a few hours of the auction's end every time, so I never incurred any new seller fees that would require any additional payment.
Still, though, I'd receive an email once a month that said I owed $0.00 in seller fees. I've always received the "Payment Accepted!" email from eBay after sending in fees, so I assumed the $0.00 balance emails were a confirmation of that, or at worst some kind of silly glitch.
Fast forward to just before Thanksgiving: I received a notice in the mail at my parents' house that repeated attempts to collect fees had resulted in nonpayment (apparently PayPal doesn't allow for payments of less than a few cents, so any time the system tried to collect the $0.00 from me, it resulted in an error and bounced back to eBay as my card or account not having sufficient funds). The letter noted that legal action would be taken if I didn't pay immediately.
I called eBay customer service (several times, just to be sure) and all of the reps I spoke to assured me that the $0 balance was unpayable but that they clearly couldn't collect on it, so I didn't need to worry.
Then, on December 14, I received a "final notice" that I had 7 days to pay or action would be taken against me, both legally and by debt collectors.
As sort of a "screw you," I mailed a check along with the payment coupon for $0.00, sarcastically as much as anything else. Lo and behold, though, today I received a confirmation that my payment has been accepted, and finally I have "no balance" instead of "$0.00."
This whole experience has been so ridiculous and bizarre, and I can't imagine what the debt collection people would have said about a $0.00 balance. It's also really weird to write a check for nothing (and I feel sort of obligated to do something with the canceled check once I get it. Maybe frame it).
Has anyone else had anything like this happen, on eBay or otherwise?
