eBay recently announced that it was launching credit notes, which are tax documents that cancel or reduce parts (or all) of a current or past invoice. They confirm that a certain amount, whether it be a fee, an overcharge, or a refund, has been credited back to your account.
Viewing them is straightforward and simple, and they aim to provide more clarity and make record-keeping more streamlined for sellers on the platform.
Introducing Credit Notes
eBay introduced credit notes in a recent announcement and describes them as a tax document that reduces or cancels either all or part of a current or previous invoice. It essentially confirms that a certain amount from the invoice (such as a refund, fee, or overcharge) has been returned to you and credited back to your account.
You should retain these credit notes alongside your invoices for your accounting records, as together, your credit notes and invoices give a comprehensive record of your transactions. Each credit note also references the original invoice, so keeping track of which note goes alongside which invoice should be easy.
The company began issuing credit notes on January 1st, 2026, for all seller fees, charges, and tax reversals in the USA.
Viewing Your Credit Notes
Accessing and viewing your credit notes is easy, as they’re found in the same place as your tax invoices. You can either view them in the form of a PDF summary or download them as a CSV file to view more detailed data.
To access them, just visit the Payments tab in your Sellers Hub, click on Reports, open the Tax Invoices tab, and you’ll see a list of available credit notes, along with your tax invoices. From there, simply choose either Summary Download or Details Download.
Benefits of Credit Notes For Sellers
The main reason that eBay gave for introducing these credit notes is that it improves clarity and transparency, and makes it easier to match charges with reversals. The company also says the move aligns eBay’s invoicing process with market best practices and helps make billing clearer and easier to manage.
However, this move also helps sellers stay compliant with tax laws and provides better documentation during cases like product returns, cancelled orders, or pricing errors.
I believe this is a solid change in general, as it should make it easy for all sellers to better understand their billing statements and help to streamline the process of tax reconciliation. More clarity and transparency should lead to less confusion and wasted time for businesses and sellers.
On the other hand, I could also see some sellers being frustrated with this new change. Sure, it provides more clarity and transparency, but it’s also another document to keep track of in your records. Some eBay sellers are busy enough as is, and adding another document to their record-keeping may take more time and effort than they’d like.
Also, sellers are no longer able to view a single document to see a full record of a transaction, as they’ll need to view the invoice and credit note together to get the entire story.
