Why does eBay treat sellers as if they're fools?

[antiqueautoparts]

 Why does eBay treat us like we're fools? Why do they consistently implement new rules and regulations which they state are to help their sellers' bottom lines? Those are rhetorical questions because I know the answers; it's because they can. They know they have a captive audience. They know most of us rely on eBay to pay our bills, including feeding our families. Therefore, their attitude is that we will just pay up because we have no alternatives.

 I know this one is old news, but when they came with the garbage that they had to start taking 10% of the shipping fee to combat final fee dodgers, I was, and remain, extremely perturbed by that. They have the most complex algorithms for everything, and they couldn't come up with one to weed out the very small percentage of sellers who were trying to dodge final value fees by making the item price very low and the shipping cost very high? Really? They just saw an opportunity and ran with it. It's disgusting! If you buy the reasoning behind their ludicrous explanation for charging a 10% fee on the shipping cost, then you certainly are a fool. EBay is run by disgustingly, greedy people who couldn't care less about eBay sellers, many of whom have been around since its early days and helped build the site. Sellers are disposable to eBay; they have no loyalty to them. 

  My final straw was when they started the "Managed Payments" **bleep** so that they could make millions or even billions of dollars more on our money (the float) sitting in their bank! PayPal was working just fine; I could make a deal with someone and receive my payment within minutes. Now they want to hold my money for some number of days and release it when they feel fit. Had I opted into that system then I would no longer be able to receive funds immediately. Their Managed Payments system precludes us from making quick deals to raise immediate funds because we have to wait days to receive the payments. No more putting something out there for a reduced price to get some money in your PayPal account right away. I don't know how many times I needed a quick hundred bucks and made deals to get it, literally within minutes of listing an item at a reduced price. Those days are over. Well, everything's over for me because I'm finally done. 

  It's been a long time since eBay has been any fun at all. In the last number of years all I would ever do was worry about who was going to open a case against me and how much money I was going to lose because of it. I constantly worried about losing my right to sell on eBay. I'm elated that I am moving on. I just wish many more sellers would do the same. Don't let them dictate whether or not you will be able to feed your family or have a roof over your head. Of course, some will advocate for eBay, but I couldn't care less. EBay is a tyrant which deserves no support. I always say that even the mighty can fall, and I hope they do.  In closing, I recommend that you find something else to do before eBay kicks you to the curb, because that time will come. I'm lucky in that I saw it coming and I had something else to fall back on. They should be working for us, but instead they treat us with disdain, notwithstanding the fact that their income is derived from the myriad fees we pay. I loathe no company more than I do eBay.

[divwido]

I wish I knew.  eBay will tell me I'm wrong in half a second, but blames their mistakes on a hidden virus.  "you must have done something wrong"  This last mess may be my last time on eBay.

I did not check your feedback, but do you remember why we pay 10% on shipping?  It did not help, but God help us if they do that again.

[mtgraves7984]

Very lucid post. Good luck to you!

[textile_rescue]

eBay was so much fun in the beginning. We used the money to fund trips. Now I just use it to get rid of junk I collected. I sell my better items on other sites. I have to say that eBay did step up to plate for us  during COVID and recognized shipping delays were not our fault for a while but now I have lost my top rated because of missed scans by USPS. Items were delivered and customers were happy and stated fast shipping with no complaints but eBay did not see the scan logged in so now I have higher fees an I am fed up with the hoops, smok,e and mirrors of eBay policies. 

[ed8108]

It would appear manny sellers find it to be profitable selling on eBay ?

[wrong66]

I'm still having fun and making good money. Good luck to you.

[antiqueautoparts]

Oh yeah, that's another gem in my long list of complaints about eBay; not protecting the seller's reputation and standing when shipping delays are obviously not our fault. I had more items lost and delayed in the last 6 months than I care to remember. Buyers opened cases and I had to refund them because they didn't want to hear any "excuses." Then, when they received the items, I was not paid for them. All the more reason to walk away from this mess.  

[antiqueautoparts]

I don't know what you mean by "it did not help, but God help us if they do that again." 

I did explain that the 10% is being charged on the shipping cost because they said it was to combat unscrupulous sellers who were charging very little for their items, but very high shipping fees in order to skirt eBay's final value fees. They could have easily weeded out those sellers by using an algorithm to identify them if they wanted to. But instead, they came up with the final value fee on shipping because it is much more lucrative.   

[antiqueautoparts]

It's all relative. What's "good money" to you more than likely isn't good money to me. Additionally, if you don't NEED to sell on eBay to make a living, and you don't care whether or not you do, then that is certainly more enjoyable.   

[luckythewinner]

They know most of us rely on eBay to pay our bills, including feeding our families. 

I'm not sure I agree with that. I think most eBay sellers are part time hobby sellers looking for a little extra cash. I doubt that most sellers rely on their eBay income to pay the bills or feed their families.  

when they came with the garbage that they had to start taking 10% of the shipping fee to combat final fee dodgers

IMHO that is only half the story. eBay has always pushed sellers to offer free shipping, and I think the primary reason for the final value fee on shipping was to remove the financial penalty for offering free shipping. 

Their Managed Payments system precludes us from making quick deals to raise immediate funds because we have to wait days to receive the payments

I think that is intentional. I think eBay prefers sellers who are commited to eBay, not sellers who want to run out the door with some quick cash. That leaves eBay more likely to be holding the bag for refunds when those sellers who need "immediate cash" are unable to reimburse buyers. 

[antiqueautoparts]

I take it you only hold liquid assets and have never invested a large sum in inventory which consequently made you short on cash at some time. Being short on cash is a problem that many businesses face, oftentimes on a regular basis.   I'm not going to argue this with you. Please don't look at the account which is linked to the ID I used to post hereon and make assumptions about my business sense and/or experience from it. I have been selling on eBay with various IDs for many years. I have seen it all. I have read their lies over and over again. By the way, Google "eBay harassment case" so that you can see what kind of people run this place. As I said, they're horrendous.

[alcoforever]

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@antiqueautoparts wrote:

I don't know what you mean by "it did not help, but God help us if they do that again." 

I did explain that the 10% is being charged on the shipping cost because they said it was to combat unscrupulous sellers who were charging very little for their items, but very high shipping fees in order to skirt eBay's final value fees. They could have easily weeded out those sellers by using an algorithm to identify them if they wanted to. But instead, they came up with the final value fee on shipping because it is much more lucrative.   

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There was another reason for putting the FVF on shipping.   It was to level the playing field between sellers offering free shipping and those charging for shipping.   It wasn't fair for a seller of a $10 item with free shipping compared to another seller with a $5 item and $5 shipping.   

In any event, FVF on shipping will never go away.

[luckythewinner]

Please don't look at the account which is linked to the ID I used to post hereon and make assumptions about my business sense and/or experience from it

I did not look at your account, and did not make any assumptions about your business. 

I disagreed with you about eBay's business, not about your business.

[chapeau-noir]

If you want to be treated like a REAL fool, try selling on Etsy.  I still sell there but I feel like we're being constantly talked down to, admonished, given stupid little kindergarten 'perks' and have ridiculous ad programs shoved on us if we gross more than 10K a year because we shouldn't bother our pretty little heads over figuring out ad campaigns (the site is majority women).

In contrast, eBay is actually refreshing.

[mrdutch1001]

still having fun selling online, still making $ doing it...just not as much on eBay; but I also don't depend solely on eBay...have other sites to sell on where fees are much less...