Goodbye eBay and Good Riddance.
Summary: gruntmilitaria announced their departure from eBay after 20 years, citing high seller fees and poor customer service. Several participants echoed similar frustrations, while others defended eBay's fee structure as comparable to other platforms or shared their positive experiences. Some comments highlighted the challenges of high shipping costs and debated the impact of seller numbers on the marketplace. A few participants expressed indifference or skepticism about such announcements, while others offered advice or wished gruntmilitaria well in their future endeavors.
Just a note to state that I've joined those that have left eBay after almost 20 years due to several reasons to include: 1. Unreasonably high seller fees and 2. lack of being able to communicate with an actual person when there is a problem. To be blunt, eBay sucks. Goodbye and good riddance!
shado-x
·3 weeks agoLess sellers = more money for me. I love eBay!
sakic92710
·3 weeks agoI like when people make comments regarding how eBay's fee structure is comparable to others. If I were running a business, would I want to offer the same costs as my competitors or would I want to draw their customers to my site by having lower prices? I stick with eBay only because I NEED every available option to try to get income. A few months ago, I made a large sale that aided me in covering my rent. I'll use eBay when it suits my purpose & any other sales I can make here are a bonus. I have been a seller for over 25 years. I've never, never, never wasted my time by trying to call them. 3-4 times through messages. 65-75% it worked in my favor Best of luck to you in your endeavors. There are options out there.
gurlcat
·3 weeks agoYou're imagining running a desperate business trying to claw up from the bottom. In some categories eBay has no competitors, and many of the ones it does have are puny with puny buyer bases compared to eBay, so why should it feel the need to attract more sellers with lower fees?
sakic92710
·3 weeks agoSo.....eBay has 18 million sellers & doesn't want to grow to 30 or 40 million? 18 million from a planet that has over 8 billion people.
gurlcat
·3 weeks agoWait, what? You think its growth comes from number of sellers? Do you think Walmart aims to grow by having more brands of dish detergent or copier paper or whatever? -eBay sellers are simply an array of selection for buyers, and past a certain amount of selection it's just overkill. -Picture a Walmart Supercenter too big to shop without a golf cart or something, because there's too much selection. -Same goes for excessive selection of the things people shop for on eBay, except instead of square footage it's pages of search results.
If anything, eBay would be wise to come up with ways to separate more of the chaff from the wheat, as in ways to encourage crappier sellers to leave.
sakic92710
·3 weeks agoWho decides who these "crappier sellers" are? What if they have 100% feedback & satisfy their customers but you don't like anything they are selling? And all of the complaints about Chinese sellers knock offs? eBay doesn't prevent them from selling, so they don't have any interest in getting rid of the worst as long as they get their payoff. On another point, more selection means more chances to attract a wider range of customers. If they don't have the detergent you like, you won't shop there. What happens when they do provide that option? Some grocery shop at 3 different stores to get what they want. If your store had everything they wanted, they would spend all of their cash with you. If 5 brands take 90% of the market, they will make sure they carry those 5 brands & forget the other 10%. If only 3 of those 5 brands are available on eBay, don't you think eBay would want sellers of the other 2 brands on their site?
gurlcat
·3 weeks agoI decide. Don't tell anyone, but it's me who the eBay admins call, to ask who is naughty and who is nice.
dptedora
·3 weeks agoWe are right behind you after 26 years. High eBay fees and always going up and PO high shipping cost. Also merchandise cost rising higher than ever thanks to trump.
shire123
·3 weeks agoOther than the fees which haven't significantly changed in years. (remember promotional fees are totally voluntary). I have to agree with your other two points. I won't be leaving as I have been able to adjust things enough to keep my ebay selling viable.
grann-4629
·3 weeks agoIt is not a fault or gimmick by eBay that is causing some sellers to whine about the increasing costs. Everybody who has to move something from Point A to Point B is experiencing high costs to do it. When diesel reaches $9.99/gallon, we all suffer. The post office is so far in debt that even 3 increases during the year does very little to lower their debt.
Sorry you are leaving rather than 'going with the flow'. If you are able to find a cheaper way to do on-line business, please come back and tell us.
Best of luck ... see you when you come back 😎
grand-and-glorious-purpose
·3 weeks agoThe post office has no debt, they are a service.
grann-4629
·3 weeks agoI guess 'services' don't have debts then ...
grand-and-glorious-purpose
·3 weeks ago · EditedYour belief that it needs to turn a profit is not required for you to mail a letter from here to antarctica for $1.75.
Do you think the FBI should turn a "profit"?
What about Medicaid? National Parks? Department of Education?
They aren't businesses, they don't make profits.
ruby_c_took
·3 weeks agoYou should read my comment. Everything you say is logical and makes sense. And yet it doesn't apply to the USPS. Read up on it just a little and you'll despair.
grann-4629
·3 weeks agoI didn't suggest that they make a profit ... break even would be nice. I believe that anytime a company (service, sales, whatever) spends more money (regardless of source) than it takes in, they are in debt ... to somebody.
It doesn't make sense to keep throwing money at a company that keeps losing. Our Canadian Post Office is in the same boat.
Can you imagine what the costs would be to you and me if our postal services raised their rates to have a break-even year in 2026!
grand-and-glorious-purpose
·3 weeks agoyou are under the mistaken impression the the USPS is a company
ruby_c_took
·3 weeks agoYou would think that, wouldn't you. I read that they had lessened up on some of the pre-paid pension obligations that were effectively a form of debt, which is good, but the post office is somehow expected by Congress to be independent and make a profit while providing a service. Figure that one out if you can.
shado-x
·3 weeks ago · EditedThanks to Sleepy [u know hoo]
chapeau-noir
·3 weeks ago? The guy who keeps falling asleep during press conferences and dog and pony shows? Yeah...it's a problem.
michael*candace67
·3 weeks agoI too I'm feeling the same way as well I message eBay multiple times about a refund to a close account which I can't get a hold of anybody nor will anybody contact me back as I am feeling like nobody at eBay cares or has an inkling to contact me about my issue
gruntmilitaria
OP3 weeks agoeBay sucks. If you sell an item for $100, ebay takes $14.40. You get $85.60.
Final Value Fee: 13.6% of the total sale amount (including shipping)
Per-Order Fee: $0.40 for orders over $10
Example: You sell an item for $50 (including shipping)
Final Value Fee: $50 × 13.6% = $6.80
Per-Order Fee: $0.40
Total eBay Fees: $7.20 (14.4% effective rate)
sfau
·3 weeks agoYou could try one of their newer competitors but they encourage conversations over $2 items. ebay is not perfect but still seems to be the goat to get items sold at decent prices!
onefootflipper
·3 weeks agoGood bye, have a great life. Seller fees have barely changed in 20 years. It looks like you only had about 25 sales in the last year, if you were frequently having to communicate with customer service at that level of sales then you were not a good ebay match in the first place. I have never talked to them on the phone, and today I broke a multi-year streak of not even having to contact them in the chat, the reason I had to contact them was entirely my own mistake.
dptedora
·3 weeks ago(Seller fees have barely changed in 20 years) Really not sure were you have been!!!!
gurlcat
·3 weeks agoWhere do you think he has been? -If you want to assert that fees have risen greatly in 20 years, PROVE IT, rather than just make rude remarks to those who say otherwise.
onefootflipper
·3 weeks agoSorry, they have barely changed in 16 years. In 2010 they were 9 percent plus 2.9 percent for paypal adding up to 11.9 percent, now they are mostly 12.9 percent.
The change to the very close to current modern percentage happened during a period of time that I was selling very little so I was unsure on the exact date until I looked it up today.
itsjustasprain
·3 weeks agoOkay. Bye!
frugalmarketplace
·3 weeks agoBest wishes to you. Unfortunately there are some very rude and thoughtless people on this board who are genuinely unkind.
oldwestgold
·3 weeks agoSomebody should write a song to play for those who post that they are leaving eBay. Maybe use John Denver's hit, Leaving on a Jet Plane.
"So kiss me and smile for me
Tell me that you'll wait for me
Hold me like you'll never let me go
'Cause I'm leavin' eBay's website
Don't know when I'll be back again
Oh babe, I hate to go
Yeah, the lyrics will need some work. Sorry.
kandf_vintage_finds
·3 weeks agoSorry you have had problems and are leaving eBay on bad terms.
I for one am sticking around.
I have not had the issues you have had.
I understood the fee's before I list an item. For whatever reason my items are highly profitable even after the fee's.
In all my years of selling here I have yet to have an issue arise where I need to talk to an eBay rep with roosters crowing in the background.
I do wish you luck on your future endeavors.
kickin.assets
·3 weeks agoQueen … https://youtu.be/rY0WxgSXdEE?is=mZ0cGAX1uGpsUZ4y
sportsfindsandmore
·3 weeks agoI spoke to a live real person at ebay on the phone the other morning. She sent me the link i needed to solve my USPS problem.
pickapaper
·3 weeks ago@sportsfindsandmore
What does your comment have to do with the OP's post? He said nothing about USPS.
sportsfindsandmore
·3 weeks agoI know that ... he was talking about not having good customer service where he couldn't talk to anyone. I just said that I talked to a live person on the phone. It was an ebay problem and that is why I called but it dealt with a USPS problem. Not that hard to figure out is it?
pickapaper
·3 weeks ago@sportsfindsandmore
If you had said something like, "I disagree about eBay's customer service because...", then it would have made sense what you were referring to. As it was, you just started posting in the middle of your thought process so YOU knew what you were talking about but it didn't connect with the OP's post.
I'm glad to hear you had good luck with talking to an eBay CS agent and I hope the info you received was correct, because that isn't always the case.
sportsfindsandmore
·3 weeks agoMy call WAS to eBay. I TALKED TO A LIVE PERSON AT Ebay ... that had everything to do with OP's post. LOL
bobspamming
·3 weeks agoI understood your point in your first post! Right on topic with the OP.
chapeau-noir
·3 weeks agoThat CS was helpful.
kibble-net
·3 weeks agoSo long, don't let the door hit you on the way out.
giant_industries
·3 weeks agoUnkind.
giant_industries
·3 weeks agoUnkind is just another word for plain old mean. Why do people have to be mean on a seller's forum? Does it give them a misplaced sense of power?
grand-and-glorious-purpose
·3 weeks ago · EditedBecause this isn't an airport.
We see these "I'm leaving" posts every single day and I would put money down that most of these stories are made up or caused directly by the seller.
Imagine being a seller for 20 years on ebay and having no clue how it works and then coming here to sob.
Absolute clown shoes.
giant_industries
·3 weeks agoWho cares?
pickapaper
·3 weeks ago · EditedeBay's fees run about 13.5% which is comparable to other sites. (If you pay for promotions, those are "your choice" fees. A lot of us do not promote.) Unless you sell on Craigslist or Marketplace, you will always have fees to pay.
If you have a problem that you need help with, you will get faster, more accurate advice/suggestions/solutions here than you will ever get by contacting customer service. The agents are off-shore people who are script readers, who do not always have an answer and usually tell callers what they want to hear instead of the facts.
If you do decide to leave, that is your decision. But, if you decide to stay and have problems or questions, you are welcome to come here any time for help or advice.
Semper Fi
danlmoe
·3 weeks agoYes the Customer Service people are in overseas locations and are there to take messages, read scripts and open a "ticket" but what infuriates me I s that tell you you will receive a response within approx 48 hrs. I have had very few "tickets" raised but have NEVER received a response. I believe this is something that Ebay should correct
annadryl
·3 weeks agoBye then.
gone.c-33
·3 weeks agoAnd this is a good example of why many companies are moving away from manned customer service.
If posts in here are representative of the calls eBay receives, id say at least half of them are to complain (and not in a nice constructive way) or to ask for things that won’t happen because eBay doesn’t work like they want it to.
Companies no longer want to pay people to be yelled at and no one wants to be yelled at all day long at work.
AI assistant is not going to care if you call it a bunch of 4 letter words.
ruby_c_took
·3 weeks agoIn fact if you call it a bunch of 4 letter words, it will likely tell you something like this:
I understand how frustrated you are with this issue you are having!
or
I would like to help your resolve your issue, could you provide more details?
christworks
·3 weeks agoThank you. One less person is sure to increase my profit 10x.
inhawaii
·3 weeks ago · EditedDon't be ridiculous.
It's more like 10% not 10X. 😉
gruntmilitaria
OP3 weeks agoI doubt that you sell the same items that I sell, which means my leaving has no impact on your sales or profit.
inhawaii
·3 weeks ago · EditedSelling on ebay isn't for everyone.
Some can make it work, some can't.
ten_o_nine
·3 weeks agoI wish I could say that.
redmodelt
·3 weeks agoAnd many announce their departure and years later are still selling.
jameshen1
·3 weeks agoJust leave then. Why do you feel the need to announce it to all of us?
theteamsetguy
·3 weeks ago@jameshen1 ,
Many that announce their departure think that someone from eBay will read their rant on why they are leaving.
gruntmilitaria
OP3 weeks agoWhy do you feel the need to respond to me?
shire123
·3 weeks agoGood luck wherever you end up.
luckythewinner
·3 weeks agoMillions of sellers have joined, and millions have left. Only a few of them announce it here.
inhawaii
·3 weeks agoI would like to make an announcement.
I'm leaving ebay on July 16th of 2033.
grann-4629
·3 weeks agoWhy? What's your problem eh ...
chapeau-noir
·3 weeks agoI left three years from today but decided to start up selling again last month. It's all relative.