metalman_33: your ID currently has 380 active listings. That's a lot. Are you planning to keep them all active on this hate-able corporate website?
You've apparently been selling for a year and a half or so. If you haven't learned about eBay's fee system, you need to.
1. Where, precisely, does eBay "say they take 15% which is a lot but don't have in the fine print at least when [you] looked"?
I think you may not have looked far enough or carefully enough. Go to eBay's User Agreement, click Item 5, Fees and Taxes, click on the hyperlinked words "Selling fees" in the second paragraph, and you will be redirected to another several pages. Scroll on down until you see a chart of the selling fees, which eBay refers as to the Final Value Fee (FVF).
Fifteen percent (15%) is the current percentage for the FVF for items properly listed in the Jewelry and Watches categories. In other categories, the standard FVF is 13.25%. If you're selling a guitar, eBay's FVF for that will be 6.35%.
In addition to that percentage, eBay currently retains $0.40 per order. Forty cents. Four dimes.
Read that page carefully to find out how eBay calculates that percentage. eBay applies that percentage to the Total Amount Paid by Your Buyer. That is the total of five things: the item cost + any sales taxes your buyers pay + any postage or other shipping costs your buyers pay + any handling charge you add to the listing as the seller + any other applicable charges. As an example of such charges, California charges an Electronics Recycling Fee on some purchases.
IF you choose to promote your listings, you, the seller, get to choose the percentage you agree to pay eBay for those promotions.
2. I don't know what that $10 per week charge you mention was all about. However, no, eBay does not just "take money when they feel like and how ever much." Like that "15%" you mention in your first paragraph, its most likely you have misunderstood what had happened.
There are lots and lots of experienced sellers on these community boards who will try to help you understand what may have happened if you can give more details about specific transactions.
3. I'm confused. If an item you or I sold is lost, how could you or I, as the seller, "get the item back"? That has happened to my selling ID, as well as to you, apparently. Sure, I refunded the buyer. And I never expected to get that item back -- because it was lost or irretrievably misplaced by the US Postal Service.
You have some nice listings, and some very nice sold items. Hoping you can get a better understanding of eBay's procedures so you don't hate selling here so much.
