Ebay became the seller ghost
Summary: chellalik2012 criticizes eBay for evolving from a widely accessible marketplace to a platform more focused on shareholder profits, detailing various fee structures that they believe disadvantage sellers. jameshen1 and shire123 respond by pointing out that, despite the challenges, they still successfully sell on eBay by adjusting their strategies. annadryl and others express skepticism, noting that eBay still provides significant visibility and global reach. Many participants acknowledge the platform's shortcomings but continue to find value in its reach and adaptability. The discussion reflects differing perspectives on eBay's business practices and its impact on sellers.
eBay: From the People’s Marketplace to a Greed Machine
eBay started as a platform for poor people and people trying to get rich. It was popular all over the world. It was rare to find someone who didn’t buy or sell something that day. Everyone had the same chances. Everyone had the same shot at profit — even eBay.
From the beginning until 2015, eBay was the biggest global marketplace. It was even the biggest public auction in the world. Someone with a phone in Antarctica could follow and shop from Zimbabwe and Malawi to America and Canada. Everyone was happy with what they paid or what they earned.
Then eBay turned into a greedy monster. Yes, a greedy monster. It doesn’t care about the platform as much as it cares about feeding the fat cats who own some of its shares.
So the rules multiplied. The seller on eBay became the target and the prey. No one else.
They forced sellers to pay for “promoting” just to sell their stuff. The percentages are very specific. And sometimes the money a seller pays still doesn’t let him grab first place in search results.
And when he sells the item — even if he chose “shipping cost on the buyer” — the seller is forced to pay for shipping in advance.
But the hidden stab the seller gets is the final price he actually earns from the sale. eBay does not take its cut from net earnings. It does not subtract buyer taxes, shipping cost, or promoting cost. It even adds a fake extra cost called “transaction fees.”
They slaughter the seller like a sacrificial animal. They cut him down like a cow of Moses’ people and sacrifice him like Saleh’s she-camel.
So the seller is forced to go to other platforms that have become better than eBay. No need to name them. Everyone knows them.
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The Proof: Evidence eBay Cannot Deny
[1] It really did start as a platform for everyday people
eBay launched on September 4, 1995, as AuctionWeb. Pierre Omidyar wrote the code over a weekend. The first item sold was a broken laser pointer for $14.83. That tells you everything: it was open to anyone, not just big businesses. In February 1996, eBay started charging fees. But back then, fees were small. Today, they are a maze.
Where to check: eBay’s own “Our History” page and eBay Seller Center.
[2] 2015 was the peak
In 2015, eBay celebrated its 20th birthday. It had about 157 million active buyers, 25 million sellers, and 800 million listings at any moment. It did $83 billion in sales that year. Guinness World Records even named eBay the largest auction site in the world by users in October 2015.
That is the “Antarctica to Zimbabwe” reach you are talking about. It was global. It was huge. And it was still working for sellers.
Where to check: eBay Inc. annual reports for 2015, Guinness World Records.
[3] “Feeding the fat cats” is not a metaphor
In 2019 and 2020, big investment funds like Elliott Management and Starboard Value pushed eBay to change. They wanted the stock price to go up. What happened? eBay sold StubHub in 2020. eBay sold its Classifieds business to Adevinta. eBay announced billions of dollars in stock buybacks.
The platform stopped being run like a marketplace. It started being run like a financial asset to be squeezed for shareholders.
Where to check: eBay Inc. investor reports, press releases from 2019–2020.
[4] The seller became the target
Since eBay moved to Managed Payments (now eBay Payments), sellers do not get their money right away. eBay’s own policy says funds can be on hold until delivery is confirmed. For tracked deliveries, money may be available 2 calendar days after delivery. For untracked deliveries, you may wait up to 30 days from the order date. Sellers on eBay’s own community forums report holds up to 30 days for new or irregular sellers.
That is not “protection.” That is freezing the seller’s working capital.
Where to check: eBay Help pages for “Payments on hold” and eBay Community forums.
[5] Promoted Listings: pay without a guarantee
eBay lets sellers set an ad rate from 2% to 100% of the total sale amount. The minimum was raised to 2% in July 2022. But the real problem is how it is calculated: the ad rate is charged on the total sale amount, including the item price, shipping, taxes, and other fees. So the seller pays a percentage on taxes he never earned and shipping he never kept.
And it gets worse. Sellers in eBay’s own community have reported being forced into a 5% minimum on new or edited listings, even though eBay’s official minimum is 2%. That means a seller may be forced to pay 5% just to have his listing show up — not to win first place.
Where to check: eBay Help pages for “Promoted Listings Standard” and “Promoted Listings Advanced.” Also search eBay Community for “minimum ad rate 5%.”
[6] Shipping: the seller pays first, even when the buyer pays
eBay’s own shipping policy is clear: when a seller buys a shipping label from eBay, the money is deducted immediately from the seller’s available funds or linked payment method. Sellers on eBay Community explain it this way: eBay uses available funds for selling costs first. If there isn’t enough, eBay pays the amount upfront from processing funds.
So even if the seller chose “shipping paid by buyer,” the seller pays first. Then he waits to get reimbursed after the sale is complete. One seller on the forum summed it up: “The seller buys the shipping label using the buyer’s payment, but eBay pays the expense immediately and then deducts it later.”
Where to check: eBay Help pages for “Buying shipping labels” and eBay Community threads on shipping label charges.
[7] The real stab: fees are charged on the total, not the net
This is the part eBay cannot deny, because it is on eBay’s own fee pages. Final Value Fees are charged on the “total sale amount.” According to eBay, that includes:
· item price
· handling fees
· shipping charges collected from the buyer
· sales tax
For regular stores, the rate is about 13.6% on the portion up to $7,500, plus 2.35% above that, plus $0.30 or $0.40 per order. In categories like Books, Movies, and Music, the rate is 15.3%. In categories like Coins and Trading Cards, it is 13.25%.
Now do the math yourself.
Example:
· Item price: $50
· Shipping paid by buyer: $8
· Tax paid by buyer: $4
· Promoted listing rate: 5%
Total the buyer pays: $62
eBay Final Value Fee: 13.25% × $62 = $8.22 + $0.30 = $8.52
Promoted listing fee: 5% × $62 = $3.10
Total eBay fees: $11.62
Tax ($4) is passed through to the tax authority, but it was still counted for fees.
Seller gets before shipping: $62 − $4 − $11.62 = $46.38**
Seller already paid the shipping label: **$8.00
Seller’s net: $38.38
eBay took $11.62 out of a $50 item. That is 23.2% of the item price — before the seller even subtracts the cost of the item itself.
That is not a commission. That is slaughter.
Where to check: eBay Help pages for “Final Value Fees,” “Store Fees,” and “Promoted Listings.”
[8] “Slaughter like a sacrificial animal” is not an exaggeration
The example above is not made up. It is a direct calculation using eBay’s own published rates. The seller does not pay on net profit. He pays on every dollar that enters the sale, including taxes he never earned and shipping he never kept.
This is the difference between a platform that shares success with the seller and a platform that swallows everything.
Where to check: eBay’s own fee calculator and fee pages. Run the numbers yourself.
[9] Other platforms are now better — and everyone knows it
eBay is no longer the cheapest. Here is a rough comparison (numbers change by country and category):
· Etsy: $0.20 listing + 6.5% transaction + payment processing ≈ 9.5–10%
· Mercari: ≈ 10%
· Facebook Marketplace: 5% on shipped sales
· Poshmark: 20% flat, but includes the shipping label
eBay, by contrast, charges 13.6% to 15.3% in most categories. And that is before promoted listings, before paying for shipping upfront, and before money holds.
That gap is not small. It is the difference between a seller who can survive and a seller who is forced to leave.
Where to check: Each platform’s official fee pages.
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Bottom Line
eBay is not “the people’s marketplace” anymore. It turned into a fee machine. The seller is the prey. The monster never stops eating.
This is not a complaint. These are numbers. These numbers are on eBay’s own pages, in eBay’s own community, and in eBay’s own investor reports.
If you want to check, open eBay’s fee pages. Read the seller complaints on eBay Community. The truth is there, naked, with no makeup.
Note: Fees and rates change by category, country, and over time. Always check eBay’s official Help pages for the current numbers before you rely on them.
eze-right1
·yesterday at 1:21 PMWord.
lb23cavaliersmvp
·yesterday at 12:30 PMEbay isn't my friend, my enemy or my parent. I purchase a service from ebay similar to the way I purchase services from cable companies, insurance companies etc.. The only difference is that I try to make money using the ebay platform. Similarly, ebay is trying to make as much money from me as they can. I've never promoted anything and until the economy faltered, with some people buying groceries on lay away, made a profit after expenses. I know the rules for using the platform and in return all I can expect is that ebay follows their guidelines/rules and makes an effort to combat buyer fraud. If, imo, ebay fails to live up to those 2 obligations then I can seek a resolution, like any other service I purchase, by contacting the company or taking my business elsewhere. Last, what was is irrelevant and the only thing that matters is what is.
shire123
·yesterday at 11:57 AM@chellalik2012 Regarding your point about sellers being forced to promote.
No way. I have never promoted my listings and I get sales just about every day.
pickapaper
·yesterday at 11:47 AM"They forced sellers to pay for “promoting” just to sell their stuff."
No one FORCES anyone to sell on here. And, eBay has never FORCED anyone to pay for promoted listings.
"This is not a complaint."
What would you call it? Honestly, everything you have quoted is there for everyone to see; it's not hidden. If you had looked at all those "numbers" you are referring to before you began selling, would you have still signed up? I'm guessing probably, yes.
hartungcards
·yesterday at 11:25 AMWhich parts of this are going to be on the final exam?
roccotacodad54
·yesterday at 9:13 AMYou ended with this..."Bottom Line
eBay is not “the people’s marketplace” anymore."
Well I'm a people and I buy on eBay often. Most of the things I buy are no longer in production, sometimes for 100yrs.+ or more. The craftsmen and business long since gone. Not readily available for a fair price anywhere else (I look).
This people doesn't mind paying a little markup to cover seller costs if it means I can actually find what I want.....................
fullers_uk
·yesterday at 8:55 AMI agree with much of what you say but ebay is a framework, its a machine that relies on convincing people its a community to wash over bugs glitches and reality, it also thinks everything thats surrounds it works perfectly 100% of the time, USPS works perfectly and delivers everything on time, everything gets to where it should, cell phone data has 100% coverage worldwide which is where machine meets reality which I would fine with if there was proper customer and seller support which there is not, in reality there can never be proper customer support because it would cost too much, the other problem is ebay chronic search facility, it just makes things up for fun, in a physical store the longer you can keep people in the store the more money they spend but online its far easier to click the X in the top right hand corner and close the page.
albertabrightalberta
·yesterday at 3:23 AMTLDR.
But how bad can ebay be if you still have listings posted? And do you know how much the FVF will be on the $11K lot of watches?
ten_o_nine
·yesterday at 3:47 AMFees won't matter if sold for 11k, the lot is worth about 2k
tobaccocardyahoo
·yesterday at 3:18 AMEtsy, Poshmark, and Mercari in the US have tiny amounts of traffic.
If they work for you, you would be a fool not to use them.
They do not work for the bulk of Ebay sellers.
A seller with a few items has to compete with millions of other sellers and their listings. The chances of selling many items which buyers are not specifically looking for is like being a needle in a haystack,
Volume matters.
With three items listed, none of which is an obvious fast seller, your sales will be slow in coming. Promotion may or may not help based on the number of potential buyers and the number of competitors.
Many of us have made enough sales, and have enough related listings that we have buyers who have followed our stores, and return to check without using the Ebay search.
One repeat buyer, last month, made the difference between a so so month, and an on target month for me.
chapeau-noir
·yesterday at 3:09 AMThis subject must be today's theme.
ten_o_nine
·yesterday at 2:08 AM9] Other platforms are now better — and everyone knows it
eBay is no longer the cheapest. Here is a rough comparison (numbers change by country and category):
· Etsy: $0.20 listing + 6.5% transaction + payment processing ≈ 9.5–10%
· Mercari: ≈ 10%
· Facebook Marketplace: 5% on shipped sales
· Poshmark: 20% flat, but includes the shipping label
eBay, by contrast, charges 13.6% to 15.3% in most categories. And that is before promoted listings, before paying for shipping upfront, and before money holds.
That gap is not small. It is the difference between a seller who can survive and a seller who is forced to leave.
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annadryl
·yesterday at 1:58 AMPeople complain that the rates go up a lot. Yes, they used to be 10% in most categories but Paypal was quietly taking 3%+ and many buyers apparently were oblivious to that. My total FVF's are still around 13-15%, unchanged for years.
annadryl
·yesterday at 12:55 PMI meant "sellers", sorry...
mkop8907
·yesterday at 1:48 AMWhat your failing to mention is why ebay has the charging structure it does, you obviously havnt been here long enough to remember the 1 cent sales with the 99$ shipping costs..that is why ebay now charges on the shipping, or when you had to handle your own sales tax before nexus and tax aggregators, believe me we spent alot more than amazon charges on those services..and if you think the River is better than here than you have never sold on the river, its outragously expensive and they basically control your busines, from what you can sell to what you can charge for it.
I will take the bay over any other platform out there today.
annadryl
·yesterday at 1:47 AMCould you give us a little more detail? Don't be brief or anything!
inhawaii
·yesterday at 1:41 AMTranslation: Ebay really sucks, but I'm going to sell my $11,000 watch here.
yeswayrecords
·yesterday at 2:09 AMEbay's world-wide exposure of a seller's items is hard to beat... 😊
chapeau-noir
·yesterday at 6:00 AMThe description of the watch lot is really interesting, though.
eze-right1
·yesterday at 1:20 PMI think they're suggesting that "eBay sucks but I'm giving it ONE MORE CHANCE." I got an idea, maybe we should lift someone up instead of bringing them down. I do believe that's what they need right now. Just saying...
shire123
·Oct 3, 2026 at 11:48 PMI for one am grateful that ebay exists as it does. Where else can I list and sell the things I like to deal with and get them potentially seen by millions of people? Yes. Ebay is not perfect but what is?
I make decent money on ebay because I watch my sourcing and adjust prices based on fees and shipping.
A lot of your points have validity. But I choose to adjust my practices to be able to take advantage of the good things that ebay does for me.
I focus on my business. Not on what I wish ebay would do differently.
jameshen1
·Oct 3, 2026 at 11:19 PMAnd yet you are still here with items for sale.
eze-right1
·yesterday at 1:17 PMWhere there's life, there's hope but in this case, hope has all but left the building. Hopefully, they'll make some sales.