venting about b o n a n z a
I signed up for the B alternative because ebay imports are so easy. I had one sale per year. Latest sale their label printing did not work and I received a bold, red message that it did not work. I went to the post office and bought postage. B billed me for postage for a label that did not print. And B automatically enrolled me in $30.00 shipping fund that I never authorized. So on a $10.99 sale I was billed $35.56 plus B's final fee. They have no telephone number, no humans. Said sending my complaint to the technical team. It is run by bots. Went thru Paypal MC and finally got credit. Day after credit get new charge for $21.24. Have no idea where it came from or what it is for. B has denied me access to my account to try to figure this out. So I am back to MC. If any one ever asks me about B, do not be sucked in by easy imports. Never, Never, Never go on B. For the time I have wasted, I could have listed 20 items on ebay. Thank you for suffering through my venting.
kandf_vintage_finds
·9 months agoIs Bonanza a thing? Never been to the site.
broto_64
·10 months agoI tried once, all issues aside ultimately the risk of having a duplicate sale is too high for me. B is not 100% accurate in keeping inventory, all it takes is one mistake and I'll be cancelling a sale on E, no thanks.
And yeah, slow slow traffic.
toomuchstuffagain35
·9 months agoThat's for sure. What's supposed to happen often doesn't and you have to watch your inventory to make sure they've deleted items already sold on ebay and also flag your ebay listings when an item sells on Bonz.
collectorszonesportscards
·10 months agoBonanza in 2025 Charges no fees with a monthly subscription membership. And this means no fees whatsoever no final value fee no listing fee nothing. You can sell a $25,000 item and not be charged a Dime. The sellers are able to lower prices and get more sales when they pay no fees ðŸ‘ðŸ‘
toomuchstuffagain35
·9 months agoBut you're still paying a monthly fee for what can amount to little to no sales.
Also doesn't help those sellers who have multiple IDs on ebay and corresponding ones on Bonz.
I typed my other response before I realised this was an old thread.
albertabrightalberta
·1 year ago@boscobosco22
I sent a question to Bonanza admin and got a response. It sounds like you misunderstood their (previous) $2 non-refundable shipping label deposit as a fee for voiding a label.
Bonanza admin's reply is copied below.
"Regarding this discussion: https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/venting-about-b-o-n-a-n-z-a/m-p/35105010#M2569754
Previously, A $2 non-refundable shipping label deposit was charged for each completed transaction. When a seller would pay for their shipping label the $2 was applied as a credit on the label purchase.
Exempt were sellers who managed their order fulfillment through a third-party Bonanza approved API partner, sellers who obtained and fulfilled their inventory through a dropshipper service, and sellers who shipped from outside the U.S.A.
This change was announced via our seller blog: https://www.bonanza.com/blog/selling/New_Bonanza_Shipping_Program_for_All_Sellers_as_of_November_8__2023
On October 4th 2024, we announced Bonanza would no longer be charging the $2 fee: https://www.bonanza.com/blog/selling/Holiday_Support_for_Your_Bonanza_Business_Big_Savings___Bigger_Opportunities
There was never a fee for cancelling/voiding a label. If there was a $2 shipping label deposit charged, it was likely applied as a credit to their account if the label was voided. They may have been expecting a refund to their bank account.
Filing chargebacks against Bonanza can result in account suspension, yes. I'm not sure what recourse eBay would take if one of their sellers filed a chargeback against eBay for fees.
If a user has been suspended, they won't be able to view their order history. Otherwise, to void a label purchased on Bonanza: click the "Shipping labels" link at the bottom of the order summary, then click the button to "Void label." This will deactivate the shipping label. The buyer will receive a notification that the label has been cancelled and the tracking is no longer valid.
This does not cancel the order - we do not have a way to cancel orders directly since buyers pay sellers directly. Since buyers pay sellers directly, the seller is responsible for issuing the refund back to the buyer - not Bonanza.
Hope that helps clarify."
chapeau-noir
·1 year agoI tried it twice - kudos for OP for giving it a go, but it sounds like it's worse than it was before. I got one inquiry for a keyboard in the 6-12 months I was there, and that was it, as far as I recall. They had all of these 'turbo packs' and it was basically pay to play, which would be OK if one got to play even a little.
powell-collectibles
·1 year agoBonanza was always a waste for me. I tried it out – wasn’t worth my time. I could sell something for $100 on eBay and sell quickly and repeatedly. That same item would sit and sit on bonanza until I lowered it to $60. It was just an experiment – not a big thing. I’m glad I didn’t invest too much time into it
tobaccocardyahoo
·1 year agoI have never seen anything for sale on that site which I wished to have my merchandise in the company of.
One visit is more than enough given what they have for sale.
Free with easy listing import is still too expensive.
evry1nositswindy
·1 year ago@albertabrightalberta And Aunt Betsy!
chapeau-noir
·1 year agoBonanza. Just say it. 🙄
albertabrightalberta
·1 year agoIn the olden days, we weren't allowed to say the names of other sites.
Remember when we had to refer to "the river" and "the ranch?"
chapeau-noir
·1 year agoYes, but that was a long dang time ago.
ETA: I should have said "It's OK" to say it.
toomuchstuffagain35
·1 year agoSince May the 1st Bonz is billing sellers .03 cents a listings over the free 50 with a cap of $20. So the $20 is that capped $20 fee + ST.
A lot of sellers who imported all their ebay listings have either deleted all except the free 50 or deleted their account altogether.
If the site had done something to raise traffic before raising fees they might have had a chance.
1786davycrockett
·1 year ago@boscobosco22
Make sure that you actually close any open accounts that you may have with "B" -- as of May 1, they have raised their seller fees, and will be billing sellers monthly for unsold items.
I had over 4000 items listed on "B", with only a single sale since January 1 -- so I officially canceled my site before the beginning of May, and removed every item.
It took a while to get the unused balance of my shipping fund refunded; but I finally found the refund on one of my credit cards.
Don't know what's going on over there; but one of the other "B" sellers (who also had pulled his inventory and closed his accounts) had indicated that the overall inventory on "B" had dropped over 40,000 units as of May 1.
Even the rats know when to leave.
toomuchstuffagain35
·9 months agoTheir 'new fee structure' provided for (I think) 250 free listings and anything over that was charged a $20 monthly fee.
A lot of sellers decided it wasn't worth it considering the lack of traffic and sales & deleted all but under the minimum free listings, so pretty sure their active listings dropped by a lot more than that.
That followed their disastrous idea to charge sellers something like $2 a sale for any sale that didn't use their (abysmal) shipping program. They did walk that back but still charge a small surcharge for not using their shipping.
I wouldn't be surprised if the drop continues when sellers decide that even having an account there with the min listings for free is too much of a risk given lack of sales and leaving them the ability to charge an account.
I think a lot of sellers there were happy to leave their listings up even with little traffic as it was so easy to import & synch with ebay listings, but the new owner seems hell bent on killing the goose.
albertabrightalberta
·1 year agoI still have my listings there and although I love the site, the safety, the ethics of TPTB and their fees are reasonable, the traffic is abysmal. It's nearly impossible to depend on that site exclusively.
With that said, I have some comments on your post:
1. "Latest sale their label printing did not work and I received a bold, red message that it did not work. I went to the post office and bought postage. B billed me for postage for a label that did not print."
I'm not sure what you mean by that "the label printing did not work." They do charge extra if you aren't enrolled in their shipping program but it does work.
2. "And B automatically enrolled me in $30.00 shipping fund that I never authorized."
It's not automatic. You had to have agreed to it, something I didn't do so I didn't get "automatically enrolled."
EDIT: If you don't opt into the shipping fund, there's a surcharge on labels purchased through the site when there's a sale. However another option is to purchase a label from PP/shipnow and just add the tracking to the B order.
3. "So on a $10.99 sale I was billed $35.56 plus B's final fee."
The $35.56 fee is not based on the $10.99 sale. It includes the $30 shipping fund, which is like an escrow from which your shipping labels are paid. It sounds like you also pay for a promotional level of exposure.
4. "They have no telephone number, no humans."
I've never had to try to call so I can't speak to the accuracy of your statement but I've contacted them through their support@..... email address and get very prompt replies. Those emails are answered by humans.
Couple more comments:
5. PRO: On B, if a seller has a separate charge for shipping, i.e., not "free" shipping, they don't charge FVF on the first $10 of shipping. So if you charge $9 for shipping, you only pay FVF on the item price + sales tax.
6. CON: B had always had no insertion fees for listings nor did they have "membership" fees. But beginning on May 1, additional fees were added. Although those fees are less than ebay store costs, for a site with so little traffic, sellers weren't happy.
And in answer to your last vent about being blocked and not having access to the account, I recommend contact through the email address. Give them whatever information they need and ask the questions you want answered.
boscobosco22
OP1 year agoI have been selling on B for several years. I know B has a shipping program and in the past I used it. However on this sale it said in a bold red message that it was not working at this time and I could wait til later or I should contact customer support. B charged me for the shipping and no label printed. I did not want to make my customer wait until B fixed it so I went to the post office and bought a label and paid for it. B never refunded their shipping cost until I complained to credit card. As for shipping fund I never agreed to it. With 1 sale a year why would I want B to hold $ 30.00 of my money. Maybe this charge was as a result of their shipping system not working. But I did not authorize it. After numerous back and forths with Keith "The Happiness Producer" I got a refund for the shipping fund. With respect to being blocked I have been going back and forth with Keith the Happiness Producer who wants screen shots of my account that I cannot get to. I believe the loss of access was retaliation for going to my credit card to resolve these problems. I am glad that you have not had any problems ----yet.
albertabrightalberta
·1 year agoIt's not necessary to file a chargeback. They don't know that a label wasn't used so a credit or refund isn't automatic. Had you requested the refund/credit, they could verify through tracking that the label wasn't used and would have refunded the payment for that label.
If you wanted the refund, you should have done it right through the site. On your "statements" page, at the bottom is the following:
Request Payment Refund
If one of your above transactions were canceled, you can use our automated system to request a refund. You will find a link titled "Request a fee refund for a transaction on this bill" on the billing month page in question. Clicking on that link will guide you through the refund process. If you have already paid for the seller fees, then you can email us at (I redacted their support email address) for selling fees you have paid. Read more about payments and billing here.
boscobosco22
OP1 year agoHi alberta--- I was going to go through their refund procedure for the shipping fund. B was going to charge me a fee to get it refunded. I was going to go through the refund procedure for the shipping charge . Since no label ever printed I could not give them an unused tracking number. B was going to charge me a fee for refund on the unprinted label. This was not a cancelled sale where I wanted a refund of seller's fee. I did not want to pay a fee for items that were not my mistake. By the way I took screen shots of the message about shipping not available and my receipt from USPS. I sent them to B and to Master Card. Do you need to see them also to verify ? If I didn't know better, I would think you work for B. LOL
albertabrightalberta
·1 year agoI don't work for B although I've had a booth there since 2011, almost from the very beginning. For a while I sold there exclusively having taken a break from ebay. During that time, I did much better there than in the last several years.
You shouldn't have had to print your label in order to see a tracking number request a credit for the unused label. It's somewhere in your account though I can't tell you where to look because I've never voided just a label. There's also no fee for cancelling/voiding a label.
However IIRC, you can specify how much and what it is that the credit you're requesting is for.
boscobosco22
OP1 year agoNo tracking number showed up anywhere from B. Believe me I tried over and over to try to get the label to print and I looked everywhere for a work around. No tracking number appeared any where . B managed to charge me but not deliver or give me any information on a label. I clicked buy shipping over and over again and just got the message shipping not available. I guess I am lucky I only got charged once since I clicked buy shipping over and over. I went back several screens on the sale and started over thinking I could make it work and it did not. It is a great burden for me to have to go to my post office because I live in a rural location. I would not have gone if I did not have to. Are you sure you don't want to see my screen shots to double check and find a way I did not see ?
jameshen1
·1 year agoI didn't even realize they were still in business.
cityslickercreations2004
·1 year agoI have tried them on and off again several times. Traffic is way too slow.