not eBay complaints department

[Paul_s]

Has anyone else noticed that eBay now charge a 'fee' on the cost of postage?

As I said I'm not complaining about it - if you sell on there then you pay your way and accept their Terms and Conditions - but how do they come up with a fee for something which you're not actually 'selling'? the VAT is collected by the Post Office/Courier... why?!

puzzle or greedy? Thank god for Amibay!

 

[AmiNeo]

It seems everyone is starting to put their hands out and ask for more and more in spite of how well they're doing. They don't seem to care that everyone else is in the same boat.

Work hard, enjoy more, spend less, enjoy life.

 

[BluesBrothers]

I've had many fights on the phone with ebay and basically yes it is greed on their behalf although they like to dress it up as encouraging fair (they want it to be free) postage and basically stop fee dodgers loading value onto the shipping.
They see free postage as a way to avoid poor ratings and are selling the fact you pay more fees as a positive because you can't get a low dsr on free shipping - Bang out of order!
They are also trying to make out that the extra you pay is well worth all the extra photos they have included, well whoop de woo it's better to postimage link anyway as you never get particularly good clarity with ebay pics.
Yeah ebay is going down the toilet that's for sure and Amibay is set to grow and grow as everyone is absolutely desperate for a viable alternative and for too long now ebay have had the monopoly.
Lets all hope this changes soon but don't anyone hold you're breath hoping ebay will back down,

I could sit here and write for many hours but think I'd best give the soap box the rest of the weekend off so I'll cut it short there

 

[Paul_s]

It seems everyone is starting to put their hands out and ask for more and more in spite of how well they're doing. They don't seem to care that everyone else is in the same boat.

Work hard, enjoy more, spend less, enjoy life.

very true!

I'll be making an Amibay Christmas donation in the next couple of days

 

[Zetr0]

@Thread

Whats the best gift you can get your on-line friends for Christmas ?

Well AmiBay of course =)

 

[-Acid-]

The problem with ebay is that it's publicly traded, which means they have greedy shareholders that want to squeeze as much as possible out of it to line their pockets for doing nothing. It's a market ripe for someone like Richard Branson to step on some toes and create some competition imo.

 

[AmiNeo]

The problem with ebay is that it's publicly traded, which means they have greedy shareholders that want to squeeze as much as possible out of it to line their pockets for doing nothing. It's a market ripe for someone like Richard Branson to step on some toes and create some competition imo.

Possibly, but virginbay doesnt market too well.

 

[BluesBrothers]

The problem with ebay is that it's publicly traded, which means they have greedy shareholders that want to squeeze as much as possible out of it to line their pockets for doing nothing. It's a market ripe for someone like Richard Branson to step on some toes and create some competition imo.

Possibly, but virginbay doesnt market too well.

What about beardibay

 

[AndyLandy]

In some ways, I approve of this. You always used to be able to reduce the fees you paid by selling items for a low price with a fat shipping charge. I've believed for a long time that eBay should charge fees on the total amount you take, including the shipping.

That said, the rest of the observations are true, they're a business and they are seeking to extract as much revenue as they can. And people will keep paying them.

There are plenty of alternatives. Apart from places like here, there's the Amazon Marketplace, or Craigslist, or Gumtree. But greedy sellers like eBay because they stand to get more money, so it's only fair and right that eBay should be extorting more and more fees out of them.

 

[Buzzfuzz]

I have got to admit that when I order SCSI SCA80 adapters, these come with free shipping and as I order 10 of them, my total is like 23-25 dollars with shipping from Asia, I can't consider that over-charged for shipping :-D

That said, some parts are can only be shipped with Fed Ex or UPS, but once you talk to the seller and ask them if they can ship it flat rate USPS then they say ok, but don't complain if it doesn't arrive.
So far all of the time the items arrive well packed, slow, but good.

 

[ShambleS1980]

i dont see how they can charge for a service they dont provide personaly regardless of fee dodgers.
probably some court would make them stop if any one looked in to it.

 

[BluesBrothers]

In some ways, I approve of this. You always used to be able to reduce the fees you paid by selling items for a low price with a fat shipping charge. I've believed for a long time that eBay should charge fees on the total amount you take, including the shipping.

That said, the rest of the observations are true, they're a business and they are seeking to extract as much revenue as they can. And people will keep paying them.

There are plenty of alternatives. Apart from places like here, there's the Amazon Marketplace, or Craigslist, or Gumtree. But greedy sellers like eBay because they stand to get more money, so it's only fair and right that eBay should be extorting more and more fees out of them.

There are alternatives but nothing gets everywhere like ebay does. It's not the volume of profit but the actual ability to be able to sell (exposure) that attracts people. I have no experience of Graigslist but Amazon is a dreadful place to sell for the average Joe. If you're a big company then fine, but for mere mortals it's much worse than ebay. Then what else is there.... ? Own website, not practical for most, Sellmyretro, lol I suspect not, forums - well grand yes but these do suffer in terms of ease of search and exposure on google. Quite simply nothing gets about or is as well known as ebay and so it is the go to place.

What is upsetting about ebay is that is was once a vibrant place where pretty much anyone could trade unwanted treasures. Now it is much more complex to sell on there and the more changes they implement the more future changes seem evitable and the changes that would really help users never get looked at.

I recommend looking further into the new ebay streamlined returns process. Essentially the buyer is lead to believe that they can return stuff just as though buying through a catalogue. Upon deciding they wish to return an item they are channelled to buy return postage through collect+ icard (a company ebay has an agreement with). But, and this is through the words of more than one of their reps, the buyer has no more protection than if they'd sent the item back themselves and neither does the seller. The returns process is all set up to look like it offers security but all it actually does is filter a percentage of the return postage money into ebay and paypal's coffers.

Not sure if many people on here are aware but ebay were actually looking at buying a courier company not so long ago. Now tell me this is not out of sheer greed and a determination milk every penny of a transaction for themselves.

Looks like it actually happened; http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/ebay-acquires-shutl-courier-network/0123012

In my opinion Amibay needs to get ready for an exodus of new members as people search desperately for a "viable" alternative, and in my mind Amibay is about the best alternative for retro gaming at the moment but how will it cope as demand increases?

 

[ShambleS1980]

I dont mind them supplying a courier provided it is a innexpensive option.
They would then be able to determine the cost of postage before hand and you dont have to enter it..

for instance you enter the dimentions and weight. and then thats it, the buyer looks and sees the postage cost based on where they live.
this would instantly stop any fee dodging.
but would also mean that ebay have to insure the item to its full sale value.

this would inturn cause issues as the postage price would go up to cover the insurance as bids increased so could only really work on buy it now items.

personally i only ever list items as buy it now.
I hate listing my stuff as auctions its just a gamble. sure sometime you can make twice as much as you wanted. but you also run the risk of only getting a fraction of what you wanted.

All in all i think ebay dont have a legal right to charge fees on postage as they dont provide that service, and if they do start to provide that service they cant legaly force people to use it so they had better get it priced right..

additionaly i think the couriers they are buying are same day delivery people for citys.
so you can go on ebay at 9am to buy a filter for a clients car, and it will be with you by 12pm or similar.

 

[AndyLandy]

personally i only ever list items as buy it now.
I hate listing my stuff as auctions its just a gamble. sure sometime you can make twice as much as you wanted. but you also run the risk of only getting a fraction of what you wanted.

I'm the absolute opposite. Everything I've ever listed on eBay has been auction, 99p start, no reserve. Even laptops worth hundreds of pounds. That way, I get what the market thinks is the right value for an item. I've lost out on a couple of things, and lucked out on a couple of others, but by and large, things usually went for about what I hoped.

 

[BluesBrothers]

personally i only ever list items as buy it now.
I hate listing my stuff as auctions its just a gamble. sure sometime you can make twice as much as you wanted. but you also run the risk of only getting a fraction of what you wanted.

I'm the absolute opposite. Everything I've ever listed on eBay has been auction, 99p start, no reserve. Even laptops worth hundreds of pounds. That way, I get what the market thinks is the right value for an item. I've lost out on a couple of things, and lucked out on a couple of others, but by and large, things usually went for about what I hoped.

The gamble is hoping the market is looking on any given day and for those who don't know keywording is so important but also type in Spectrum and you get over 35,000 results. If you're not in the first few pages you won't be seen so market value goes right out of the window.

I do but it now for that reason and if an item is not selling look at it and ask why and make the appropriate changes. But in terms of pricing at what is the "market value" my advice is look at what completed items have achieved and not what some greedy git would actually like you to pay and you should have reasonable success.

---------- Post added at 15:15 ---------- Previous post was at 15:02 ----------

I dont mind them supplying a courier provided it is a innexpensive option.
They would then be able to determine the cost of postage before hand and you dont have to enter it..

for instance you enter the dimentions and weight. and then thats it, the buyer looks and sees the postage cost based on where they live.
this would instantly stop any fee dodging.
but would also mean that ebay have to insure the item to its full sale value.

this would inturn cause issues as the postage price would go up to cover the insurance as bids increased so could only really work on buy it now items.

This is a great idea in principle, the truth is that it adds complexity. Also with variations in parcel sizes and combining multiple items it is hard to give the best value for money. Amazon do something like this already and it invariably mean that buyers pay over the odds or sellers lose out as weight is grouped in categories 3 items weigh 30g a piece would be in the upto 100g cat and therefore would fit in the 300g price band where if done fairly by the seller they might only have to pay the 100g price for the lot. Then you consider how many centimetres the parcel becomes because letter to large letter, to small packet, to medium packet all give hikes in price which affect the system. How can this then be truly fair?

personally i only ever list items as buy it now.
I hate listing my stuff as auctions its just a gamble. sure sometime you can make twice as much as you wanted. but you also run the risk of only getting a fraction of what you wanted.

All in all i think ebay dont have a legal right to charge fees on postage as they dont provide that service, and if they do start to provide that service they cant legaly force people to use it so they had better get it priced right..

additionaly i think the couriers they are buying are same day delivery people for citys.
so you can go on ebay at 9am to buy a filter for a clients car, and it will be with you by 12pm or similar.

Trouble with legality is that there are always people looking for ways around it. Certainly it is not morally right and they also cannot make you use their couriers, returns, catalogues, whatever,... but they can make it very difficult for you to choose an alternative and therein lies the problem. What really gets my goat though is the way they dress it up as being good for both the buyer and the seller. It definitely is not!

 

[keitha]

Yeah I agree also about them charging for postage, as being rather outrageous! Their just lining their shareholders pockets, at the expensive of buyers, because sellers will merely pass on the additional costs

Yes there is a lot of greedy sellers on ebay, but ebay actually allowed/encourage this over the years (In my opinion).

Unfortunately ebay is just another corporate monopoly! Maybe the EU should have a wee look at them, like they did with Microsoft

PS: Anyone remember Yahoo auctions? was pretty awesome (and completely free) until Ebay bought them out, and then shut it down

 

[Station240]

I'm wondering if their inbuilt postage calculator also adds the ebay fees to the calculations. 'cause having an auction item sell for 99p + postage, and loosing money when the fees are added would just suck.

 

[KBQ]

First time selling on ebay in a while and I've now got some jerk who thinks he deserves a full refund with me paying return postage because he doesn't like the colour of the power supply that came with the A1200 he bought. "No returns accepted" apparently doesn't stand for much these days.

I mean, it's funny. I would have swapped the PSU if he'd have actually acknowledged my response to him when he asked about it a few days ago. Now I'm out a quite expensive item, and the money for it, and I'm having to deal with a buyer who doesn't quite get the concept of human communication.

 

[roy_bates]

i havnt sold anything on ebay for a very long time,as in years...

its just not worth the hassle,even though i never had any problems with any sales whatsoever.
i dont do bids,and i dont like bidding on anything and 90% of the time i go for buy it now.

only thing i use ebay for is buying small items/parts/ broken machines etc were it simply wouldn't matter,nothing big.

everything else i look in old warehouses through contacts,friends who know me,classifieds on websites for pickup or here on amibay.
or i just simply get lucky and spot something worth getting on my travels.

ebay isent bad,to a point.