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Listings that avoid paying eBay commissions.
Summary: old_passions_dot_com expressed frustration with sellers on eBay who manipulate pricing and shipping fees to avoid higher commissions, using an example involving a collectible car. They shared their experience of reporting the issue to eBay but receiving only generic responses. rfmtm explained that eBay calculates fees on the total price, not just the item price, but acknowledged it could affect returns. Other participants, like golfingaddict, suggested ignoring such listings and choosing reputable sellers instead. The discussion highlighted concerns about eBay's response system and potential loopholes in handling returns and shipping costs.
How to avoid paying eBay commission? It looks like eBay has gotten really lax on enforcing high shipping charges to avoid paying commission. Example. A seller offered a 1/16 scale Franklin mint 1953 Cadillac. It would have been a good buy at $150 and I would have clicked on it at once and purchased it, However, instead of him listing it for $125 with shipping charge of $25, he offered it for $65 with $84.73 which would have been $149.73 which would have still been a good value. But I could not order it from him, because it was obvious he liked to play outside the rules. Checked with USPS and got an estimate of $20 to $25. So I thought I was doing a good thing by reporting it to eBay but instead they simply sent me instructions on how to list shipping charges. I have an item that is worth
$150. I will let you have it for $2 with only $150 shipping. How is that any different? I think it was 1998 that I did more than $200,000. with eBay but quite because of other sellers getting buy with pricing games, and buyers getting by with order an item, send back your old broken one your kids have been playing with, and eBay would give them a refund. The only reason I am posting here is because when I tried to talk to eBay, I found that you could only get canned responses from their AI. It did not matter how many times you asked to speak to a real live person that did not need to keep giving you the same canned answers, you would simply receive another message on how to contact eBays AI. So I thought that maybe before they deleted this post, one of their real live customer humanoids might read it, but my bet is that it will be rejected by their AI. But at 83 years old, I can at least think I tried to call out a weakness in their listing rules.
rfmtm
Mentor2 weeks agoSeller saves no fees by doing this. Seller fees are calculated on the total paid by the buyer. The only advantage of doing this if seller has a return/refund that doesn't include the original shipping. Regardless, this is a seller I would not deal with.
old_passions_dot_com
OP2 weeks agoThat is still a flawed system because it is still done to limit his listing fees. So it sounds like from what you said, it would in-fact be OK for me to list that $150 item for $2 with $148 shipping because eBay would get their money, and the buyer would only lose the $148 shipping charge and I would be happy to return his $2. How would that work in the real world outside of eBay.
golfingaddict
Mentor2 weeks agoThe buyer is the one that drive the bus.
If buyers do not like the price, they have the option to pass on the listing.
If they do not like the shipping cost, they do not have to buy.
Don't waste your time reporting this to eBay.
The solution is to pass on the listing and buy from someone else.
old_passions_dot_com
OP2 weeks agoYou are correct if the buyer is happy with the total price because it was still a good item, but you may not realize it but sometimes a buyer buys something because they like the total price, but when they get it, it was not what they thought it would be so they return it. If you will re-read my original statement, you will see that I had no problem with the total price weather it was $5 for the Cadillac and $145 shipping, or $145 for the Cadillac and $5 shipping. The problem is, I would be ordering it from someone who likes to play out side of the rules and shipping something that is not as advertised, is not rare, and if I had ordered that Cadillac for the price as listed, but his out side the rules also included sending things not quite as advertised, I would have lost more than half of my purchase price.
rfmtm
Mentor2 weeks agoYes, ebay always gets their money, which is why this change was made to keep sellers from avoiding fees using this tactic. Of course this penalized all good sellers as well. And yes, there is potential for the buyer to get taken on a return, which is why never to deal with this type of seller.
old_passions_dot_com
OP2 weeks agoWhen you think of it, this is a great money making scam. I advertise something on eBay for $25 with shipping charge of $100. I send the buyer a poor quality item knowing they will return it, I refund their $25, eBay might even refund the commission on the item, I get the item back for $25, I pocked the $100 less the $10 shipping charge, I relist the item, . . . .
golfingaddict
Mentor2 weeks agoIt doesn't work that way.
If a buyer reports that the item is poor quality, the seller will have to pay the return shipping AND refund the entire amount (Price and shipping)
old_passions_dot_com
OP2 weeks agoIf that is true, I stand corrected in the way I presented it, but I still see it as a little loose and sloppy.
rfmtm
Mentor2 weeks agoYes that is true, but if a buyer was to make a remorse return buyer pays for the return and seller gets to deduct the original shipping amount, so buyer ends up out return shipping and only gets a $2., refund.
Another example is buyer uses an old address by mistake, seller can charge for reshipping or refund just the $2., item cost.