tiny ebay discrepancy - what would you do?

[starting_over]

Some time ago there was a small (less than $5) charge on my ebay account. No one at ebay could tell me what for. I tried emailing them .. even looked for a phone number to call and could not find one. Was never able to get in touch with a human being there.

Then ... they kept sending notices via email & putting fees on etc. ... turned into $30 something. ...

All this sort of happened in the middle of my filing, so now I'm not sure what to do. I did not include it in my bk paperwork b'c it seemed ridiculous to include $15 or so of debt, which I figured I'd pay if they ever told me why I owed it to them .. .ie what the charges are actually for. Meanwhile ... it went to collections & now I'm getting mail & calls from them.

I would feel rather completely ridiculous to add this to the bankruptcy, I'd like to just pay it & be done with it. I'm not sure if there will be an issue with me paying that, given that a couple of the items I put into the bankruptcy were $60, $90 and $150 disputed medical items that have been in collections for years, due to a medical insurance provider's screw ups.

Should I just ignore the ebay & collection thing ... until the BK is over & then pay? Should I submit an updated schedule F including this tiny amount? Should I just pay it & not worry about a trustee thinking that a $30 payment to a creditor that was left off was not "preferential" treatment.

(I'm fully aware that there are much bigger issues to deal with in my bk, as it's about $70,000 total ... the $30 is downright silly ... I'm just frustrated that they sent it to collections & that I didn't just pay the tiny amount in the first place. I guess it's just principal, I want someone to tell me what their charging me for if they are taking my money, even if it's just $2.)

I feel so silly asking ... I have no idea what to do about this small thing, and yet I want to make sure I"m doing everything correctly.

What would you do, and why?

[PoorGrammyinBK7]

I think it costs $26 to add a creditor, so you might want to think about whether its worth it.

[justplaintired]

Personally I'd call my attorney, see what he says. I think if it was me I'd just pay it.

What I don't understand is a bill from ebay. I did ebay for years and the only bill ebay ever sent was a seller's fee bill. This seems very strange to me that you actually owe ebay money. If you purchased something from ebay the seller would be who you paid not ebay. Did you sell something sometime? And by chance if you did, did you not pay your fees? A seller would not have had anyway to get money from you unless you actually paid them and ebay will not pay your bill to a seller, you do that. Also even if you bought something and didn't pay, ebay doesn't cover that for you then bill you. This confuses me since I did ebay for so long.
Ebay does not charge a fee unless you're selling. A seller on ebay can not turn you in for non payment to a bill collector, you would only get a black mark on your user id. I know I ran into more the one buyer who never paid, my only recourse was to leave negative. So my guess is you sold something? And these are your delinquent seller fees. And even that seems odd, since I have never heard of ebay turning someone over for collections for not paying seller fees, they generally just lock your acct. (for the record I am in excellent standing with ebay 100% positives with very high feedback). I know this is a little off topic but I am confused why you would ever owe ebay money. Is it perhaps Paypal? Even that seems odd over such a small amount. And Paypal there again would not just pay a purchase for you without the funds to cover it in your acct, either bank or cc. Very strange.

[Flamingo]

That is strange cause the only fees you should owe Ebay are fees they charge you for selling an item. Your seller's account should list all details and invoices and what is included on those invoices - I have never seen so much detail in my life as an Ebay invoice if you sell several items at one time. Ebay has no fees for anything else. All free to buyers. Ebay usually requires one to link up their account to a checking or credit card for seller's fees to to one's PayPal account.

Without actually knowing what the amount is for is a problem because you have no documentation. It is so small of an amount if I would you I would just pay it and get rid of it but if it really bothers you, ask your attorney and get ahold of someone at Ebay for a full explanation.

[TEW]

i bet you have a sellers accout Ebay trys the same thing with me. close your sellers account and do a live chat witht them and give hem your case number.
I gave my bank a notice that ebay was not authorized to take money from my checking account. google ebay phone number they are out there. they don't like mortals calling.
good luck

[starting_over]

Yes I did sell something. I think it sold for less than $10. I almost paid more in shipping that I got for the item. I guess I had a $2 something transaction that turned into $30 with fees etc. All I tried to do was get someone at ebay to reply to me & let me know what that original charge was for, because I thought I'd already paid it. A small thing ... turned into a large headache. No one ever replied. I just kept getting canned messages that my account is past due, my account is suspended, I need to pay fees etc. Nothing ever said what for! It just drove me nuts.

So, there's no harm in paying a debt that's $30 something? ... the trustee, and bk court should not care becuase it's a very small amount? Is that what I'm hearing?

Thanks!

[Flamingo]

Yes I did sell something. I think it sold for less than $10. I almost paid more in shipping that I got for the item. I guess I had a $2 something transaction that turned into $30 with fees etc. All I tried to do was get someone at ebay to reply to me & let me know what that original charge was for, because I thought I'd already paid it. A small thing ... turned into a large headache. No one ever replied. I just kept getting canned messages that my account is past due, my account is suspended, I need to pay fees etc. Nothing ever said what for! It just drove me nuts.

So, there's no harm in paying a debt that's $30 something? ... the trustee, and bk court should not care becuase it's a very small amount? Is that what I'm hearing?

Thanks!

We can only tell you what we would do and to me, myself, it's such a small thing I would just pay it. But I am not you....If it bothers you and you want to be totally correct about the entire thing and to avoid further worry - ask your attorney.

[justplaintired]

We can only tell you what we would do and to me, myself, it's such a small thing I would just pay it. But I am not you....If it bothers you and you want to be totally correct about the entire thing and to avoid further worry - ask your attorney.

Yes I would call my attorney if I was worried and yes since worrying is hobby of mine, wish it wasn't, I'd call. I can't imagine such a small amount would be an issue, but, who knows?

Interesting to know that ebay will pursue such a small amount. My fees were always taken from paypal so it was never an issue for me. I am hoping to someday soon be able to sell all the clothes my kids have outgrown so after we file and BK is behind me I will start selling those things. I haven't been on ebay for almost a year now and I am starting to miss it a little. Not like I made much but it would have been nice to be able to sell threw the summer and have school clothes money for the kids, now they get to wear last years clothes!! LOL

[PaKettle]

I'd just forget about it.
I didn't even mention ebay in my bankruptcy.
Just pay it and forget it, is what I would do.

[Priceless ProSe]

Close the account, call them and inform them that you filed BK. If the original debt without fees was before the BK filing then you will be fine. Assuming it is a "no asset" case then it doesnt really matter if they were listed or not. Send them a copy of the filing notice, they will never check to see if they were on the origina mailing matrix, they will most likely write it off and youll never hear about it again. If you do all this and they continue to call you then send them a cease and desist letter, and if they put a negative on your credit report or seek judgement (not likely) handle it in court, or you could just pay them

[AngelinaCatHub]

I'd just forget about it.
I didn't even mention ebay in my bankruptcy.
Just pay it and forget it, is what I would do.

Am I right in hearing you owe them $15.00 or $30.00? Either way, I'm in agreement with "Pa'". Just pay it and then work the system and find out what the heck they are charging you for. Reason? You are worried over 30 bucks or so, get it behind you and then fight it out in peace more/less. 'Hub

[TEW]

don't pay it if you don'towe it