eBay

eddieg1945 · ‎10-13-2017

Would like to ask that you remove the 10% fee on shipping. That would help our selling, we have to pass this on to the costomer. We don't see this as part of the selling price. Please help us with this, it seem unfair to charge this fee on top of the selling fee. Your help would be greatly appreciated.

jonathankirkland · ‎10-13-2017

@mistwomandancing wrote:
I've always questioned how a seller could be construed to be *gouging* on shipping anyway, since what he is charging is posted right there in the listing, front and center, nearly impossible to miss. To me, when you see a charge for something, if it seems too high and the end price isn't worth what you are being required to pay, back off and out.

Regardless of the breakdown, if the ultimate price you'll need to pay is a good one in the end, then you didn't get *gouged*... you got a good deal.

Personally, I am still baffled by people who list a $5 item with $25 shipping. I always send them a message and question why they do this and 9 out of 10 times the answer is the same: "Trying to cut down on ebay fees"; and then I have to explain to them why this won't work.

It bothers me when I'm interested in something but someone has a ridiculously shipping price because it makes me wonder if they even know what to value their item at or not.

geotouloupos · ‎10-13-2017

Iam with the opposite side on this. Just lets admit that many sellers use the shipping cost to lower their item visible price and take advantage in paying lower total ebay fees. Shipping fee should be exactly the same as item fee. What will happen if there is no fee on shipping?... Then you may see an small item that cost $65 in a normal store to sell for $50 on ebay with a shipping cost of $25 to trick buyer. Is that right ? Off course not!

So definately is good to have a shipping fee and in my opinion that should be higher.

annadryl · ‎10-13-2017

All sellers pay the same fees so ultimately it's passed on to all buyers. It's not favoring anybody. It's part of business.

goddess-bastet-1910 · ‎10-14-2017

In Ebay's wild west days, "reverse auctions" were popular. The seller would put under the description-
this is a reverse auction. The price of the item is in the shipping costs, and the bidding was for how much postage you wanted to pay. Sellers were upfront about it....they didn't want to pay the fees.

myangelandmyprincess · ‎10-14-2017

If eBay didn't have the 10% on shipping and the sellers with free shipping ultimately paid more there would be less sellers offering free ship which would suck. As a buyer I like free shipping because then I get more back in eBay bucks.

Also keep in mind eBay pays out more on free shipping with eBay bucks and with the trs discount

“Birth certificates show that you were born. Death certificates show that you died. Photographs show that you have lived.” -Unknown

mistwomandancing · ‎10-14-2017

@myangelandmyprincess wrote:
If eBay didn't have the 10% on shipping and the sellers with free shipping ultimately paid more there would be less sellers offering free ship which would suck. As a buyer I like free shipping because then I get more back in eBay bucks.

Also keep in mind eBay pays out more on free shipping with eBay bucks and with the trs discount

With Free Shipping, many buyers NEED to be getting more in eBay bucks because they are very likely paying more in shipping than they would otherwise need to! All the buyers who live closer to me are having to pay more because I had to figure the price on how much it might cost to ship to the furthest states.. the highest priced zones! That's what made my item cost ALL the closer customers more than it should have had to!

In fact, because my item had to be priced more than it would have had to cost all the buyers from closer states, I make fewer sales.. my prices don't look so hot when the buyers do a search looking for sellers with the lower overall prices with shipping figured in.

And while I would be receiving my little 10% off on final value fees on the shipping part of my overall pricing, I'd need all that help and more to try to make up a little bit of all the sales I'd lost because my prices were higher than they needed to be for so many buyers in the states that were at a greater distance from me. Figuring it out on paper, I'm still behind!

For those who like to sell with Free Shipping, I'm all for them doing so. I've done it both ways, and while I thought it was great initially and easy to do, in the end.. I do better by having each buyer pay the amount for shipping that is a correct amount for the zone they live in, instead of having to subsidize the shipping for buyers living in the farther-away zones.

They may have been getting more Ebay Bucks, but it was a Penny Wise And Pound Foolish way for them to be getting them!

odditiesandantiquities1 · ‎10-14-2017

@mistwomandancing wrote:
@odditiesandantiquities1 wrote:
@expert_elec_photo wrote:
EBay used to not charge seller fees on the shipping cost, until some jabroneys started selling $500 items for $20, with $480 shipping charge to dodge EBay fees.

But why not shut them down instead?

Why not just get them to pay their share like the rest?

This way, they can continue selling on eBay, buyers can continue to shop and buy their merchandise offerings here, and eBay can continue to have them as a seller and earn their fees from them, as they do with us all.

Very true.

myangelandmyprincess · ‎10-14-2017

@mistwomandancing wrote:
@myangelandmyprincess wrote:
If eBay didn't have the 10% on shipping and the sellers with free shipping ultimately paid more there would be less sellers offering free ship which would suck. As a buyer I like free shipping because then I get more back in eBay bucks.

Also keep in mind eBay pays out more on free shipping with eBay bucks and with the trs discount

With Free Shipping, many buyers NEED to be getting more in eBay bucks because they are very likely paying more in shipping than they would otherwise need to! All the buyers who live closer to me are having to pay more because I had to figure the price on how much it might cost to ship to the furthest states.. the highest priced zones! That's what made my item cost ALL the closer customers more than it should have had to!

In fact, because my item had to be priced more than it would have had to cost all the buyers from closer states, I make fewer sales.. my prices don't look so hot when the buyers do a search looking for sellers with the lower overall prices with shipping figured in.

And while I would be receiving my little 10% off on final value fees on the shipping part of my overall pricing, I'd need all that help and more to try to make up a little bit of all the sales I'd lost because my prices were higher than they needed to be for so many buyers in the states that were at a greater distance from me. Figuring it out on paper, I'm still behind!

For those who like to sell with Free Shipping, I'm all for them doing so. I've done it both ways, and while I thought it was great initially and easy to do, in the end.. I do better by having each buyer pay the amount for shipping that is a correct amount for the zone they live in, instead of having to subsidize the shipping for buyers living in the farther-away zones.

They may have been getting more Ebay Bucks, but it was a Penny Wise And Pound Foolish way for them to be getting them!

I go with best overall price with free shipping. I don't lose money by choosing something more expensive just to get it

“Birth certificates show that you were born. Death certificates show that you died. Photographs show that you have lived.” -Unknown

mistwomandancing · ‎10-14-2017

myangelandmyprincess wrote:
I go with best overall price with free shipping. I don't lose money by choosing something more expensive just to get it

That's how I shop too, WHEN there are several of the item I'm after, all offered at the same time, and of a reasonable condition and likeness to each other. And on eBay, many items are common enough that there can be more than one available at the same time.

But there are also a lot of items that don't have another like it to compare with or choose from. And if the seller figured shipping to the most distant postal zone to cover himself, which is how most do it, then often that particular buyer who doesn't happen to live in one of those far-off zones, is having to pay more than he'd have to otherwise.

On the other hand, it's his choice. If he doesn't want to pay as much as is asked, he can turn down the purchase, but always hate to have buyers turn away from buying here. Prefer to encourage them to BUY it here, because they found it here at a great price, etc. etc. etc. If excess shipping was figured in and brought the asking price up beyond what seemed fair, hate to have anyone turn away because of it. On much that I sell (pottery and china, etc. the difference in shipping to the farther zones can be many dollars because of the weight factor. Those folks 'out there' expect it. Those buyers who live closer think they're being gouged at that price. Which, I guess they are. lol

Yes, lots of ways to view it, lots of pros and cons. In the end, we all pretty much do what works out the best for us and brings us in the MOST SALES. $$$

poppyswag · ‎10-14-2017

General reply -

All this talk of fairness. If you sell heavier items you're screwed, period.

Ebay can micromanage everything but who was using shipping unfairly? Right.

It was a money grab for stockholders.

nowthatsjustducky · ‎10-14-2017

The biggest real reason is that not enough sellers were coming on board with "free" shipping, where they just add worst case scenario shipping to their item price. Those that were doing it were paying higher fees. Those that didn't were paying less.

Of course, they will never stray from the party line and admit this.

If it works, sell it. If it works well, sell it for more. If it doesn't work, quadruple the price and sell it as an antique.

-- Ferengi Rule of Acquisition #80

nowthatsjustducky · ‎10-14-2017

@hawgryders wrote:

As with all venues eBay charges a fee on the "total price" of the transaction

BZZT! That is incorrect. The only venues I have used that do that are eBay, Amazon (fired them when they got too expensive to use and even more draconian in their seller-hostile policies), and Bonanza (last time I used them, the shipping FvF was waived on the first $10 in shipping).

Etsy has become a major and viable venue (at least for me it has, where sales may be a bit slow, but they are steady and every bit as profitable here.)

My last 4 sales there were all $19.95 items plus shipping, which made their respective totals: $35.00, $33.20, $33.70, and $24.09. On all 4 of those, the final value fee was a mere 70 cents, aka 3.5% of the item price (and the couple that shipped Priority got the Commercial Plus discount there as well to boot, instead of like here where only the "elite" get CP). Had they sold here on eBay, (let's say on one of my non-store accounts, since those are a flat 10%), eBay would have charged me $3.50, $3.32, $3.37, and $2.41. Point is, eBay's propaganda department may claim that everyone else does it; but they are obviously lying; as this shows that not everyone does.

Heck, even on eCrater, when an item sells that was found through their own "marketplace...which I think means just found through the in house eCrater search engine and not through a web search or direct link), they only ask a paltry and voluntary (or possibly lose "visibility somehow") marketplace cost of 2.9% on the item price; again, nothing on the shipping.

So other than eBay, Amazon, and Bonanza, what are all these other sites that charge based on the total instead of item price?

If it works, sell it. If it works well, sell it for more. If it doesn't work, quadruple the price and sell it as an antique.

-- Ferengi Rule of Acquisition #80

katfreikh_0 · ‎10-14-2017

@poppyswag wrote:
General reply -

All this talk of fairness. If you sell heavier items you're screwed, period.

Ebay can micromanage everything but who was using shipping unfairly? Right.

It was a money grab for stockholders.

Winner winner chicken dinner

katfreikh_0 · ‎10-14-2017

@nowthatsjustducky wrote:
The biggest real reason is that not enough sellers were coming on board with "free" shipping, where they just add worst case scenario shipping to their item price. Those that were doing it were paying higher fees. Those that didn't were paying less.

Of course, they will never stray from the party line and admit this.

Ok there are 2 winners. You are also invited to chicken dinner.

strange_wonderful_things · ‎10-14-2017

@slippinjimmy wrote:

A secondary reason is fee avoidance, charging a low price for an item and inflating the shipping charge.

If that were true, then Ebay would happily refund the final value fee of our postage costs when printing shipping labels through their system, to be fair to sellers who don't overcharge on shipping.

The fee was a slick way to increase their revenue.