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.

[dhbookds]

I certainly understand why ebay instituted MP.......a good business decision for their company.....as was the fvf on shipping.....and I was here at the time they did it......

Change is hard.....harder for some than others......  Part of Ebay "fun" to me has always been figuring out how to roll with the changes (after I kick the wall in anger sometimes).......so far been able to do it........so it's still  fun......and profitable.

Good luck in the future........

[divwido]

Not anymore. 

[divwido]

We pay 10% fina value fees on shipping too and they still cheat eBay.  $ 1.99 item with $ 50 Shipping.

[farmalljr]

Look, here's the deal. Unless you are building your OWN site, you aren't getting instant payments. You have to wait to get paid, with practically ALL of them. It's your own fault (ultimately) if you are having financial issues. Managing money is not something taught much at all, let alone thoroughly. It's up to YOU in the end to educate yourself. That's first and foremost. 

Secondly, I think it's unfair to call eBay greedy. WHO is the scale of what greed is? Is eBay greedy because they want 20%? Are you greedy because you turn an item you paid a dollar for into a ten dollar sale? Be careful who you point the finger of greed accusation at, because the same scale can be applied to every one of us. This isn't a charity, it's business. 

If you have been/were guilty of letting eBay be your ONLY means to sell your goods, then again, you are being really blind and short sighted. It's not easy juggling selling on other platforms, but it IS a necessity if you are serious about selling. How did eBay grow to this size? Sellers joined, buyers joined, and commerce took place. In order for the other platforms to give serious competition, the same thing needs to happen. Buyers and sellers need to use the other platforms. That's just how it works. And if other platforms treat sellers/buyers better than what some feel they are treated here, both eBay and the competitors will need to change or become irrelevant. 

Every time I see a post here, or anywhere else, with a seller complaining about how "bad" they think it is, I just roll my eyes. NO one is forced to sell here. But almost everyone KNOWS they aren't going to sell on a platform with more exposure. You can't be silly enough to believe eBay cares about each individual seller? Where one drops away, 3 more crop up. Throwing a fit doesn't do any good. Play within the rules and explore new opportunities. Or you can throw a fit and drive your car off the proverbial cliff and throw away your business. You may think eBay is "selfish" raking in those fees, but so are we when we sell stuff and make money. We are in business like anyone else, to make MONEY. Lots and lots of money. 

[redlmc]

True that for each seller that leaves another or more comes in.  However, I am a seasoned buyer/seller and I am careful about who I purchase from.  

Seeing an established seller with several years experience gives me confidence in purchasing.  Yes, an established seller can still scam.

I sell only to rid my house of my over-purchasing from the past few years.  I am not one of those sellers that buy for $1 and sell for $10.  If I even break even after all fees it just provides a good feeling that I got things out of my house.

Years ago when I started selling  it was fun.  It is not fun now due to the scammers and eBay not having the ability to protect sellers as we wish.

I think it is a matter of time before another venue arises that truly will compete with eBay's position on the market.  

[dhbookds]

@redlmc 

Just curious.......how many scammers have you run into? 

[luckythewinner]

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@redlmc wrote:

I think it is a matter of time before another venue arises that truly will compete with eBay's position on the market.  

---

That sentiment has been expressed here consistently for two decades now.  

Yahoo started Yahoo Auctions and could not get traction against eBay.  Amazon started Amazon Auctions and could not get traction against eBay.  Alibaba started 11 Main and could not get traction against eBay. 

Etsy shows signs of sticking around, and so does Mercari. But those sites do not protect sellers much better than eBay does. In fact, Mercari allows returns for three days after delivery, and does not release funds to the seller until the delivery confirmation is received and the buyer has decided not to return the item.

[chapeau-noir]

I think it is a matter of time before another venue arises that truly will compete with eBay's position on the market.

People have been saying that for years - it's not going to happen because too much has changed in ecommerce - it's not like it was.  Sure, there's the older attempted competition like Bonanza and eCrater, but they have tiny user bases and are really not going anywhere (I've tried both, and Bonanza is pay to play with these 'turbopacks' and the like which IMHO are just money schemes).  The sites really taking off are mostly social media related. 

[bargainnation]

Mercari will releases a seller's fund as soon as the buyer has received the item and "rated" the seller and the seller has "rated" the buyer which might be the same day or 1 or 2 days after the item is delivered.  If a buyer hasn't rated a seller three days after delivery confirmation then Mercari will release the funds to the seller anyway.

All reseller platforms have rules that sellers and buyers need to abide by and as with eBay they all have good and bad policies and policies that fall somewhere in between.

Sellers should decide which platform or platforms work best for them and for some it could be one platform or two or more. For those sellers who want to exercise more control they might want to have their own website in conjunction with selling on a reseller platform.

[turquoisetulips]

That's exactly what I do these days  meaning that I no longer rely just on e bay  to make sales . I made a few decent sales on e bay  lately  but the best profits  come from another  selling site I use  and it's been that way since the day I decided to expand. They even send  text alerts when I've made a sale  so I don't need to constantly log on to check.  Now that e bay has decided to do away with the ''Activity'' link on the summary page  which IMO just makes it much more difficult and time consuming  to list items for sale  I'll probably be concentrating  on even further  expanding  out with other  selling sites . Tulips

[bigdeals.etc]

TLTR but to answer your question in the title... unfortunately because many sellers are fools. You can get away with treating a group according to their masses.

[antiqueautoparts]

"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."

That was not the reason which they said precipitated their decision to charge a final value fee on shipping at the time. The bottom line is there is no such thing as "free shipping" and the buyer and seller ultimately pay for it, not eBay. EBay makes a profit due to the shipping cost on every item. That has caused most sellers to raise their shipping costs by 10% or eat the deficit themselves. When buyers complain about high shipping costs they don't look at eBay as part of the problem, just the sellers. And eBay used to have the nerve to include "shipping cost" as one of the items which sellers were rated on by buyers. What hypocrites.   

[antiqueautoparts]

My anger is not derived from their rule changes. My anger comes from the fact that they lie to us about why they changed certain rules and that they have the gall to tell me that what they've changed is better for me without giving me the option of choosing for myself; think Managed Payments. They don't care about me, or you, or the next seller. You and I can't do that with our customers because we would not have any in a relatively short period of time. They are big enough where they don't have to worry about losing sellers, yet they dictate to us how we should treat our customers! Yes, it's their site and their rules, but that doesn't change the fact that they're hypocrites.     

[myescape]

Ebay is a for profit company so that fuels all decisions and policies.That is the only explanation that matters.The why for policy changes as the company sees it as a way to gain or protect profits.The co gives no thought to individual seller needs,it is up to the seller to access if this platform as it is provides what they need to profit

[cityslickercreations2004]

Wow!

You would probably do well as a motivational speaker.

I have seen some objective, very well written posts on this forum but this one ranks at the top.