@EVO_Books (EVO Books) posted a new topic, subject "Why am I being billed by Amazon?". It read:

   I received an email from Amazon informing me that they have billed my credit card $6.28 for an unpaid balance on my _seller_ account. I sell only books and haven'd had a sale in over 90 days. I have no idea what this charge is for and have been able to contact Amazon (do they not have phones in this company?). Has anyone experienced this. Is this something new? Anyone know how I might be able to speak to someone at Amazon who can resolve this? Otherwise I may as well simply shut down the account.

Then @JwsMarket (JwsMarket) said

    You can see the details by going to Reports, payments. Either transaction or All statements should show why.
    
    No, there are no phone numbers posted. You can open a case about it if the above info is not helpful.

So @EVO_Books (EVO Books) replied

    Yes, I looked at that before. I'm confused. It says (this is for an individual seller account) they paid me $62.24 on April 1, 2021. Which they did (just checked my bank records). I had three orders, totaling more than that amount on March 29. Now they claim I owe them money. It would seem that Amazon owes me money for that last sale, not the other way around.

To which @ThisIsTheWay (This Is The Way) replied

    EVO_Books:
    
    > Now they claim I owe them money. It would seem that Amazon owes me money for that last sale, not the other way around.
    
    Maybe postage overage, or if you have items in FBA long term storage.
    
    Only you can log into your account and see what it says

So @aisgllc (aisg llc) replied

    The only time Amazon has charged my CC aside for the daily ads, is when we initiated a refund for a TERMS order . Even though i had enough balance in both Standard Orders and Deferred Transactions (TERMS ORDER) they still charged my CC.
    
    But who knows, they could charge it for whatever they want and make you run in circles to find out why… God forbid you do a chargeback they would probably suspend your account

So @SUNDANCE (SUNDANCE) replied

    could be your selling at a loss and not aware of it.
    
    could be a return/chargeback/a-to-z took place while your account was at a zero balance.
    
    only you can do the digging to find out why.

@EVO_Books (EVO Books) replied

    I handle all of the shipping, so that would not apply. Also, I don't use FBA. They have all been direct sales to buyers. And there were no returns.

Then @ThisIsTheWay (This Is The Way) said

    EVO_Books:
    
    > I handle all of the shipping, so that would not apply. Also, I don't use FBA. They have all been direct sales to buyers.
    
    Just throwing out ideas as no one here can see your account

@EVO_Books (EVO Books) replied

    Selling at a loss? I haven't had a sale since March 29 and there have been no requests for refunds or anything from a buyer. And no correspondence from Amazon in ages. This is the first notice of any kind I have received since the March 29 sale and, judging by my payment history, they didn't pay me for the last book I shipped (and it was not an inexpensive item). Just noticed that. How can I find out when there's no contact or correspondence from Amazon to me until now! This is very confusing.

Then @EVO_Books (EVO Books) said

    Hmm. I see that I was billed (unbeknownst to me) a shipping charge for that amount of $6.38 during the week of 4/1 to 4/8, when the items were shipped. I purchased all the shipping from Amazon and paid for it at the time of purchase, and they were all sent media mail. This is very frustrating. I would really like to know why I'm being billed for shipping.

To which @JwsMarket (JwsMarket) replied

    EVO_Books:
    
    > I would really like to know why I'm being billed for shipping.
    
    When you use Amazon's Buy Shipping, your account is charged. It is normally deducted from your current balance immediately.

So @trietminh_treasures (trietminh_treasures) replied

    Actually, when you buy shipping from Amazon, it can take a bit longer than “immediately.” It can take a few minutes, I've seen it take upwards of 20 minutes. So, if you withdrew your balance before the shipping was deducted from the payment transaction, the negative amount will roll over to the next payment cycle. It definitely happens if you are too quick to let the system catch up with itself. If you have any sales after that, it's no big deal. But, since you didn't in the following 90 days, Amazon billed you for it.

To which @EVO_Books (EVO Books) replied

    I didn't have a balance that I know of. What I think happened is that the sales occurred at the end of the billing cycle (or near the start of the next). Sales were made on March 27 and 29. Ordinarily, it takes a while for Amazon to credit my bank account. However, this time, I received a payment on April 1 (or 2), very shortly after the sale. I checked the Reports page. I see I was charged $3.99 for shipping, which covered one item, but maybe they didn't bill for the other postage labels? Because the following cycle, it looks like I have a debit of $6.38, which would roughly equal the cost of two shipping labels for media mail. Could that be it?

After which, @trietminh_treasures (trietminh_treasures) added

    $6.34 is the exact amount for postage for a 1 lb book ($2.89) and a 2 lb book ($3.45). Not sure how they got $6.38, though. If it were $6.34, I'd say you withdrew your settlement amount before the postage was able to be deducted.
    
    Can you go back though and look at the previous transaction? Under the deductions, it would tell you how much was deducted for fees and how much was deducted for shipping charges. If there is nothing under shipping charges, or if the shipping charges is a lot less than the appropriate amount for the number of books you sold, then the amount that was deducted from your credit card was most likely the shipping charges for those 2 books.

After which, @EVO_Books (EVO Books) added

    Yes, I did go back. At the time of the sale, I was (for some reason I am unaware of), charged $3.19 for shipping + Amazon's fee for the three books. Amazon credited my account very quickly, within a couple of days, for the amount of the sale. Then, I see that in the next cycle, where I had no sales and no positive balance, there is a $6.38 shipping charge. Looks like shipping cost me $3.19 for each book (I may have added insurance to the shipment). The amounts add up. The sad part is that for $86.82 in total sales, I earned roughly $56. This appears to be the explanation. Thanks for the help. Appreciate it.

Then @Picks_by_Nisha (Picks by Nisha) said

    EVO_Books:
    
    > The sad part is that for $86.82 in total sales, I earned roughly $56.
    
    Not sure why you feel that is “sad”. Sure, you're having to pay Amazon for the use of their platform, and you have to pay shipping (you knew that going in, right?). Compared to the costs of running a B&M store, this is a bargain.

To which @WKGDM_SIGNS_AND_GRAP (WKGDM_SIGNS_AND_GRAP) replied

    JwsMarket:
    
    > No, there are no phone numbers posted. You can open a case about it if the above info is not helpful.
    
    i just hung up on a support phone call.  
    is it real or added static sounds on the line.

To which @YFNP (Your Friendly Neighborhood Psychopath) replied

    shipping charge has sometimes not been posted to my account until a month later sometimes. guessing the periodic glitch. so that charge could be for shipping that wasn't actually paid for immediately or even soon after. I think you have to go to transactions view and orders to match up the charges and see why/how the charges are there. amz makes you work to understand the way things are… “organized”

Then @sallyanne (SallyAnne) said

    YFNP:
    
    > _you have to go to transactions view and **orders to match up the charges** and see why/how the charges are there._
    
    ^^^^  
    This
    
    Those shipping charges the OP sees will be identified by the order number.
    
    The recurring glitch of late posting of shipping charges is a distinct possibility for these charges.

After which, @Boltman_Fastener_Spe (Boltman_Fastener_Spe) added

    Occasionally I use +1-331-864-9236 and tell them it is for a seller central account. Good Luck!

@EVO_Books (EVO Books) replied

    Yes, as I wrote above, I believe that's what happened. I shipped three items but was charged shipping only for one. And I received payment within a couple of days, which generally doesn't happen. And I guess they hadn't billed me for the shipping of the other two items. But I had no sales for the next 60 days, so there was nothing to charge the balance against. Since my sales had been zero, and I had a negative balance for the shipping, they simply billed my credit card. Of course, I had no idea what had happened until I asked here and managed to track down the problem. The email from Amazon didn't explain why they were charging me, that was really the problem.

Then @EVO_Books (EVO Books) said

    Might help. The chat line was useless.

To which @system (system) replied

    This topic was automatically closed 180 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.


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