10% on shipping

[scot_lynn]

I've been using ebay for years now, mostly buying but selling some items here and there. Recently I helped out a friend whose elderly father passed away during this COVID crisis by selling some vintage stereo components and, when taking a close look at the invoice for the first time, noticed that ebay is profiting off the actual shipping charges!

Here's what happened: I included shipping in the final price for the items. For example, one sold for $380 and the fed ex shipping, which I purchased through ebay, was $33.82. Yet ebay took its 10% off the $380 when they should have subtracted the actual shipping fees from the $380 and charged me a FVF on $346.18.

When I talked to ebay they explained that it was done that way to make it fair to all sellers because some don't include shipping in the sale price and then pad shipping charges for extra profit, which is a ridiculous excuse. If ebay wanted it to be fair to all sellers then the right thing to do is to deduct the actual shipping charges from the final price of an item (sale price plus shipping fee charges) and then take their 10% off that amount. That's the fair and equitable thing to do. As it is now, ebay is just double dipping and making money off of the out-of-pocket expenses that the seller incurs for shipping. That's just greed.

I've been a member since 2001. But one thing I can't stomach is a company with over $10 billion in revenue nickel and diming their costumers and, to add insult to injury, coming up with such a transparently nonsensical justification to continue doing so. That's it for me; I'm done with ever selling anything on ebay.

[yuzuha]

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@scot_lynn wrote:

When I talked to ebay they explained that it was done that way to make it fair to all sellers because some don't include shipping in the sale price and then pad shipping charges for extra profit, which is a ridiculous excuse. If ebay wanted it to be fair to all sellers then the right thing to do is to deduct the actual shipping charges from the final price of an item (sale price plus shipping fee charges) and then take their 10% off that amount. That's the fair and equitable thing to do. As it is now, ebay is just double dipping and making money off of the out-of-pocket expenses that the seller incurs for shipping. That's just greed.

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How is it ridiculous? How is it fair if a seller who offers free shipping (which is not really "free" at all, it simply means they rolled the cost of the shipping into the item price) has to pay more in fees than a seller who charges shipping separately? This way, all sellers pay the exact same fees regardless of how they divide the costs between the item price and the shipping.

[scot_lynn]

You're missing the point. I'm not complaining about not knowing about the fees. I'm complaining that a fee on shipping costs exists at all. Simply because it exists doesn't make it right. And that is the point....

[inceptions]

This fee structure has been in place for NINE years. Just like PayPal does, eBay charges their fees on the total sale. This is not unusual for online marketplaces. When eBay changed the fee structure to charge on the total sale, they also lowered the fee to 10% and gave you 50 free listings, which you used to have to pay for.

Each and every time you list an item, you read the statement shown below right before you click the button to submit the listing:

If your item sells, you will be charged a final value fee.

You've sold dozens of items in the past year alone and you read that statement  each time you listed. You've also received an invoice with an itemized list of each individual fee every month. There are no secrets. I'm sorry, but if you use eBay, failing to know the costs, you are to blame - not eBay.

Sellers need to understand their costs before they list and factor them into their selling prices.

[nocoolnamejane]

There’s no question of right or wrong: eBay can charge what they want for whatever they want.

Just like way back when, you paid a listing fee but PICTURES actually cost more. Some could have said “I pay for a listing, eBay shouldn’t charge me separately to add pictures!” Ebay could charge a fee to change your username, they could charge a fee to open an account, it’s a business and they decide what they charge for. 

In the end, most selling platforms charge fees on the total price anyway.

[mobley120]

I've been using ebay for years now, mostly buying but selling some items here and there; etc.; and profiting off the actual shipping charges; etc.; and coming up with such a transparently nonsensical justification to continue doing so. 

Yeah, eBay and those likened solved a mundane issue by profiteering off of outside entities, in which whom presents "absolutely" zero cost to eBay: the epitome of greed. And whom pays the price for such greed, the consumers who purchase items on eBay. Example of buying: last week I decided to purchases 4 new collars and tags for my little dog, (I actually call them, his shirts)  anyway, I checked eBay for these items and then I checked elsewhere; I found them elsewhere for 16% less than the lowest pricing of the same items on eBay, excluding sellers in China, in which I don't have a problem buying items from China, when the time frame of delivery isn't an issue. 

Inflation isn't a bad thing, but when it's artificially forced upon the consumers, I find such to be an erroneous, greedy act. And those who except it and simply go with the flow of it, I find to be merely sheep, like those who present themselves as rule followers with their tough law and order virtue-signaling so as to hide their true sheepish self; along with those who are lead by their ears, by their Earth bound sheepish deities who shower the rich with endless perks, while gutting the "mass."

eBay has been on a quest to inflate the GMVs for the last several years, and others have followed. But I am finding that product manufacturers, name brand suppliers and self-entrepreneurs are staying true to the natural inflation of things and they are holding that line: it just takes a little effort to find them, but the rewards are pleasant; by doing so, it is so to say one might consider that they're not rewarding that erroneous act by eBay and those alike: pleasantly rewarding; bringing a sense of a strong stance against devilish greed and the Earth bound delusional, virtue-signaling, sheepish deities.  

I understand your grievance quite well and I agree with you.                         

[mam98031]

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@scot_lynn wrote:

You're missing the point. I'm not complaining about not knowing about the fees. I'm complaining that a fee on shipping costs exists at all. Simply because it exists doesn't make it right. And that is the point....

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Well if that is your point, then you are about 10 years too late!  While it is new to you, it isn't to most.

[donsdetour]

Simple explanation:

Sellers were charging $1.00 for item and the value they wanted for item in shipping costs.: buy passing eBay fees.

eBay put a stop on this buy charging a fee for the sipping.

[lilbama911]

RE: When I talked to ebay they explained that it was done that way to make it fair to all sellers because some don't include shipping in the sale price and then pad shipping charges for extra profit, which is a ridiculous excuse.

How do sellers pad the shipping for extra profit, when the seller is using eBay shipping calculator?  I don't get it. In fact, it sounds like nonsense to me.  If eBay wanted to be fair to all sellers, eBay would ding those sellers that allegedly are profiting from padding shipping charges and leave the rest of us alone, rather than penalize all sellers.

Ebay's sense of fair play creates resentment.  

[mobley120]

error correction in my previous response:  those who except it  = those who accept it

The only reason I am noting this error, is to question why the matrix provider of the community broad didn't implement a way for posters to edit their posts if they so desired to, and with that said, I wouldn't bother with most of my posts, for I mostly write posts with my phone and those are full of errors, in which those don't really bother me, but when I post with my desktop, an error needles me. 

But I guess it's similar to the shipping issue; just do what is easiest; then the Top Heads will vigorously cite the illusion of fairness,  and the ***bleep*** with what is best for the general public: kind of like the current Administration: Corporate Greed and Them, they do seem to hug one another as they laugh at gullible ignorance.         

[mam98031]

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@lilbama911 wrote:

RE: When I talked to ebay they explained that it was done that way to make it fair to all sellers because some don't include shipping in the sale price and then pad shipping charges for extra profit, which is a ridiculous excuse.

How do sellers pad the shipping for extra profit, when the seller is using eBay shipping calculator?  I don't get it. In fact, it sounds like nonsense to me.  If eBay wanted to be fair to all sellers, eBay would ding those sellers that allegedly are profiting from padding shipping charges and leave the rest of us alone, rather than penalize all sellers.

Ebay's sense of fair play creates resentment.  

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Not all sellers use the shipping calculator, but even with the shipping calculator a seller is able to specify a handling fee which will be added to whatever the shipping charge the calculator comes up with for the buyer's address.  So even it can be manipulated.