eBay

theshoppetrishgree · ‎12-31-2023

I used to purchase my shipping supplies through eBay Shipping Supplies using my quarterly coupon but it seems the prices have gotten worse and worse to the point that I cannot imagine paying full price for any of these items. They are obviously only marketing to store sellers because the $25 coupon for basic store owners barely makes a dent in the cost of most items

I just noticed they have a listing for shipping stickers and charging over $40. A total of 144 stickers of varying sizes for $40. These are 2.5-4” stickers. Who would pay $40 for mostly useless stickers except the This End Up (which the shipping companies really don’t care about). Most shipping companies prefer no added stickers to packaging and most of these are decorations.
Aside from the stickers, $32 for a pack or eBay branded tissue paper, some of the boxes are nearly $2, some are more.
If this coupon was a benefit, we would be getting our moneys worth but it’s a money maker instead. It gets sellers to buy from the ebay store rather than looking elsewhere. eBay already charges exorbitant fees! I just noticed the final value fee for books the other day! It used to be one of the lower percentages back when I sold more books. Now it iw 14.95% of the total, including tax and shipping. Plus the flat feet.

I started contemplating leaving eBay 2 years ago, but since I didn’t have time to list all of my inventory anyway, there was no point looking elsewhere to sell. I am rethinking things as I am sure many are. eBay is more for big sellers, international sellers and the like. It is not so much for the little guy like it used to be many moons ago.

albany_sellers · ‎01-06-2024

The biggest joke of all is how much more expensive they are than even the overpriced Uline boxes. For 25 of the 16" x 12" x 8" boxes from eBay, it is $46.57. Uline is $30.50.

Add in the fact that the eBay boxes are almost always glued wrong, off center and sometimes not even glued. I don't know what makes them think theirs are worth more than the Uline boxes that are actually made well.

The reason they price them so absurdly is so that you waste your coupon and have to put money with it if you want to make full use of it. It's how they try to get you to buy more than what your coupon is good for. Sure, it's a free $50 coupon for me, but I am getting about half the value of it with how outrageous their prices are. Not really much of an incentive to continue my premium store subscription if you ask me.

View Best Answer in original post

tobaccocardyahoo · ‎12-31-2023

I cannot understand how anyone can sell $2.49 items on Ebay.

There is not enough dollar margin to afford to underwrite good customer service practices. And Ebay is increasingly requiring good or better customer service.

tsme35 · ‎12-31-2023

Its was great when it was 1st started, I could get 200 6x6x4 boxes per quarter, now barely 50. It'll be useless end of '24 way their increasing the prices each quarter.

buddyboyusa · ‎12-31-2023

I like using the eBay tape. It gives the package a more professional appearance. However, because it has the eBay name printed on the tape, yes, you would think eBay would encourage use of eBay supplies to promote it's advertising & image.

b86fiero · ‎12-31-2023

To my way of thinking, the eBay shipping supplies quarterly coupon is a perk that eBay does not have to provide. eBay can eliminate that perk whenever the corporation decides to do so.

I for one am grateful for the free shipping supplies I get by using it.

Granted, the value has been eroded by the increased cost of the supplies and for some items perhaps the quality is not as good as in the past. But free is free.

You can choose to use the coupon for whatever supplies you can get for free or at a reduced cost.

Or you can ignore the coupon and stop getting stressed over what it does not give you.

Either way, best wishes for a successful 2024.

richard1rst · ‎12-31-2023

@theshoppetrishgree wrote:
I used to purchase my shipping supplies through eBay Shipping Supplies using my quarterly coupon but it seems the prices have gotten worse and worse to the point that I cannot imagine paying full price for any of these items. They are obviously only marketing to store sellers because the $25 coupon for basic store owners barely makes a dent in the cost of most items
I just noticed they have a listing for shipping stickers and charging over $40. A total of 144 stickers of varying sizes for $40. These are 2.5-4” stickers. Who would pay $40 for mostly useless stickers except the This End Up (which the shipping companies really don’t care about). Most shipping companies prefer no added stickers to packaging and most of these are decorations.
Aside from the stickers, $32 for a pack or eBay branded tissue paper, some of the boxes are nearly $2, some are more.
If this coupon was a benefit, we would be getting our moneys worth but it’s a money maker instead. It gets sellers to buy from the ebay store rather than looking elsewhere. eBay already charges exorbitant fees! I just noticed the final value fee for books the other day! It used to be one of the lower percentages back when I sold more books. Now it iw 14.95% of the total, including tax and shipping. Plus the flat feet.

I started contemplating leaving eBay 2 years ago, but since I didn’t have time to list all of my inventory anyway, there was no point looking elsewhere to sell. I am rethinking things as I am sure many are. eBay is more for big sellers, international sellers and the like. It is not so much for the little guy like it used to be many moons ago.

Well, first of all why are you wasting the coupon on something as useless as stickers. If you really wanted to put stickers on a box (although for the life of me I can not understand why) you could download the JPEG and print them on your own computer/printer AND make them any size you want. In fact you yourself ask "Who would pay $40 for mostly useless stickers" which makes your complaint superfluous.

As for the "price" of the boxes what difference does it make what the stated price is YOU ARE GETTING THEM FOR FREE !

Yes I understand that in the past you could get 100 boxes but now you can only get 75 BUT YOU ARE GETTING THEM FOR FREE !

And in the future you might only be able to get 50 BUT YOU ARE GETTING THEM FOR FREE !

The alternative is to go to that "elsewhere" you speak of and SPEND YOUR OWN MONEY to BUY the boxes. How is that better than getting whatever you can get FOR FREE !

Getting less for free than you used to get is just another aspect of inflation. It's everywhere.

sapphire_studio · ‎12-31-2023

I only have $25 to spend so nothing useful there is close to free anymore. With the coupon the boxes are maybe very slightly cheaper than buying them elsewhere, but at this rate (at the $25 store level) pretty soon it may be worth just ignoring the coupon.

It does feel like somewhere along the way they started making money on everyone who uses a coupon instead of it being a complimentary service for buying a store subscription.

tsme35 · ‎12-31-2023

I got 200 for free, now ONLY 50. Was I complaining, nope, just stating a fact. Am I happy with it, nope again. If it wasn't for the coupon I wouldn't even use their seller, I can get them cheaper, almost by half. Over the years, I've acquired hundreds of boxes and probably won't have to buy any for a 2-3 yrs.

12345jamesstamps · ‎12-31-2023

I never ever seen a $25.00 coupon. Can I get 8 years of missed coupons? LOL.

go-bad-chicken · ‎12-31-2023

@richard1rst wrote:
@theshoppetrishgree wrote:
I used to purchase my shipping supplies through eBay Shipping Supplies using my quarterly coupon but it seems the prices have gotten worse and worse to the point that I cannot imagine paying full price for any of these items. They are obviously only marketing to store sellers because the $25 coupon for basic store owners barely makes a dent in the cost of most items
I just noticed they have a listing for shipping stickers and charging over $40. A total of 144 stickers of varying sizes for $40. These are 2.5-4” stickers. Who would pay $40 for mostly useless stickers except the This End Up (which the shipping companies really don’t care about). Most shipping companies prefer no added stickers to packaging and most of these are decorations.
Aside from the stickers, $32 for a pack or eBay branded tissue paper, some of the boxes are nearly $2, some are more.
If this coupon was a benefit, we would be getting our moneys worth but it’s a money maker instead. It gets sellers to buy from the ebay store rather than looking elsewhere. eBay already charges exorbitant fees! I just noticed the final value fee for books the other day! It used to be one of the lower percentages back when I sold more books. Now it iw 14.95% of the total, including tax and shipping. Plus the flat feet.

I started contemplating leaving eBay 2 years ago, but since I didn’t have time to list all of my inventory anyway, there was no point looking elsewhere to sell. I am rethinking things as I am sure many are. eBay is more for big sellers, international sellers and the like. It is not so much for the little guy like it used to be many moons ago.
Well, first of all why are you wasting the coupon on something as useless as stickers. If you really wanted to put stickers on a box (although for the life of me I can not understand why) you could download the JPEG and print them on your own computer/printer AND make them any size you want. In fact you yourself ask "Who would pay $40 for mostly useless stickers" which makes your complaint superfluous.

As for the "price" of the boxes what difference does it make what the stated price is YOU ARE GETTING THEM FOR FREE !

Yes I understand that in the past you could get 100 boxes but now you can only get 75 BUT YOU ARE GETTING THEM FOR FREE !

And in the future you might only be able to get 50 BUT YOU ARE GETTING THEM FOR FREE !

The alternative is to go to that "elsewhere" you speak of and SPEND YOUR OWN MONEY to BUY the boxes. How is that better than getting whatever you can get FOR FREE !

Getting less for free than you used to get is just another aspect of inflation. It's everywhere.

@richard1rst @b86fiero

eBay shipping supplies are most certainly not FREE.

If you remember at the time that the quarterly shipping supply coupon was announced eBay not only raised the cost of eBay srore subscriptions, they also raised some fvfs and jacked up the fvf cap for store subscribers, and then stated that that was how they were going to pay for theses supplies.

richard1rst · ‎12-31-2023

@go-bad-chicken wrote:
eBay shipping supplies are most certainly not FREE.
If you remember at the time that the quarterly shipping supply coupon was announced eBay not only raised the cost of eBay srore subscriptions, they also raised some fvfs and jacked up the fvf cap for store subscribers, and then stated that that was how they were going to pay for theses supplies.

Funny how memories can be so selective.

What I remember is that I used to have to pay 5 cents each for every listing over 10,000 - amounted to about $60.00 per month. Now I get 100,000 listings for free. (Plus free auctions if I wanted them)

What I remember is that I used to have to pay 35 cents for each gallery picture. Now I get 24 per listings for free.

What I remember is that I used to have to pay someone cash for any and all shipping supplies that I acquired. Now I do not.

Even if your statements are true, eBay does not have to give us those coupons but they do anyways. So as far as I an concerned they are still free.

mam98031 · ‎12-31-2023

@tobaccocardyahoo wrote:
I cannot understand how anyone can sell $2.49 items on Ebay.

There is not enough dollar margin to afford to underwrite good customer service practices. And Ebay is increasingly requiring good or better customer service.

Usually sellers of low $$ value items like this depend on buyers buying multiple items. That is how they can actually make a little money.

mam98031 • Volunteer Community Member • Buyer/Seller since 1999

mam98031 · ‎12-31-2023

@12345jamesstamps wrote:
I never ever seen a $25.00 coupon. Can I get 8 years of missed coupons? LOL.

Nope. It is use them or lose them. They are good for 90 days and then they are gone.

https://www.ebay.com/sub/subscriberdiscounts

mam98031 • Volunteer Community Member • Buyer/Seller since 1999

go-bad-chicken · ‎01-01-2024

@richard1rst wrote:
@go-bad-chicken wrote:
eBay shipping supplies are most certainly not FREE.
If you remember at the time that the quarterly shipping supply coupon was announced eBay not only raised the cost of eBay srore subscriptions, they also raised some fvfs and jacked up the fvf cap for store subscribers, and then stated that that was how they were going to pay for theses supplies.
Funny how memories can be so selective.

What I remember is that I used to have to pay 5 cents each for every listing over 10,000 - amounted to about $60.00 per month. Now I get 100,000 listings for free. (Plus free auctions if I wanted them)

What I remember is that I used to have to pay 35 cents for each gallery picture. Now I get 24 per listings for free.

What I remember is that I used to have to pay someone cash for any and all shipping supplies that I acquired. Now I do not.

Even if your statements are true, eBay does not have to give us those coupons but they do anyways. So as far as I an concerned they are still free.

I don't disagree with you in regards to the additional listings eBay has added to there store subscriptions. I used to have 4 stores and now I run everything that I sell on my main account under one premium store.

You can choose to view the quarterly shipping supplies coupons however you wish, but for me I still remember how those coupons came to be.

theshoppetrishgree · ‎01-03-2024

I agree, you can’t. I have other items listed but haven’t really marketed them for a while now. I also have many more higher dollar items to list as well now that I have time, but I have been hesitant because of the fees.