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Ebay...price gouging fees.

Edward

Bartender
Messages
25,076
Location
London, UK
The thing that I do not like about ebay right now is that the charges are usually not very transparent and too complicated. I know sometimes they offer free listings from time to time, but then there are so many hidden charges such as high res photos, additional subtitles, stringent limitation on postage calculations etc etc, and the worst of all, a now separated Paypal charges.

I am 99% a buyer these days, the good thing is that, we've got pretty good buyer protections in case if anything goes wrong. I guess there are too many people claiming these days so they decide to charge you more? Much like our insurance premium?

I first used eBay as a buyer back in the day, 2002... Then, as I recall, it cost a bit more to place the ad to begin with, but if it didn't sell you got a sedcond run for free, and there were no 'final valuation fees'. I remember selling something after a long gap of not selling and being shockedd when suddenly and unexpedctedly eBay was taking a chunk of "my" money - 'oh, yeah, we do this now.' It's all great for buyers, but I can't help feeling that in the longer term they've stacked it so far against the seller now that it's hardly worth the bother for most. Still, this was tghe result of eBay deliberately shifting the business model some years ago, when they wanted to move away from the 'world's biggest fleamarket' concept to emphasising high volume / low value unit shifters. Still, they're to only game in town (I like Etsy, but as a place to sell second hand goods rather than new, craftsy items it's sorely lacking), so they hold all the cards.

It bugs me when sellers request paypal payment as friend - leaving the buyer zero protection. Just incorporate the fees in your asking price. Simples.

So you'd think..... I don't like it either. It's the same as a business selling you an item for a set price, then charging you more to pay by credit card. Always just feels a bit.... cheap, somehow, especially if it's a business rather than a private individual. I don't mind the option being there for people who genuinely want to send money to family, a charity, w.h.y., but it seems it shouldn't be an option when you're dealing with a business account especially.

I guess.... not that we don't like the duo, it is just that they are pretty much monopolising the online auctioning market. I do not know much about economics, but logic tells me that you need competitions to keep the price down, which ebay/paypal don't have any.

I'm the first to say I'm far from convinced by the 'invisible hand of the markets' argument, but in this case it does seem that eBay largely have the freedom to do as they pelase becasue no real alternative exists. Etsy is superior now for some things, but I'm not a small-business selling crafts, leatherwork, or whatever, so it isn't for me (as a seller - great as a buyer, much nicer than eBay for a lot of things. I think most sellers on there are people who abandoned eBay some time back).

eBay no longer allows sellers to give non paying bidders, late payers etc negative feedback or even neutral for that matter. The answer to this at the time was sellers bullying buyers to give positive feedback first. My answer to this is not to leave feedback till the buyer has, meaning that I have 190 on my score when in reality it could be 400+ My answer to this was once a feedback that read (Pos)"My Mother told me If you can't say something nice say nothing" to which I got a 24 hr suspension .

Yes, I can see why eBay wanted to change things - there was a lot of bullying gonig on, a lot of withholding feedback until buyerf feedback was given, then negatived strike-backs for fairly given, non-positive feedback and such. I always felt they should have a double-blind feedback system: let the seller and buyer leave feedback, but neither can see what that other has given them until after they have already completed their end of the feedback process.

I've had few, if any, troubles with the things I've bought and sold there as far as buyers or sellers being dishonest. But I've stopped selling due to the impossibility of realizing any kind of profit. In 2015 I sold a brand new jacket which was retail worth nearly a grand for less than $300. By the time all was said and done, I realized just over $200.
Yesterday, I bought a book on Buy It Now for $4.30 with free shipping. I don't know how the seller does it but they've sold hundreds of thousands of things there, so...

Well, that's the thing. eBay went from trying to be a palce for selling second hand goods in the main (though of course you still can) to being a place where they really prefer sellers who shift high volumes of low value product - stack 'em high, sell 'em cheap, make profit from overall volume. It really kills the individual buyer, though. I often suspect that if you asked eBay to sell you a nutcracker, they'd deliver a sledgehammer..... it seems that for the sake of a small proportion of dishonest sellers, all sellers are now treated as if in the wrong, often. Like when they stopped allowing you to charge postage on a DVD, meaning that unless you were selling thousands of them for a few pence profit at a time, they were never going to be worth the hassle as the postage costs gouged so much of the couple of quid you'd get for a single disc.

On balance, ebay still provide a service that otherwise wouldn't be there, so to some extent enough people just swallow their terms. I'm surprised, though, that we've yet to see anyone establish a challenger gared towards what eBay used to be as eBay eyes up Amazon as its preferred competition.
 

Lean'n'mean

I'll Lock Up
Messages
4,086
Location
Cloud-cuckoo-land
In that case, you have to "disconnect" your ebay account with your paypal account. .

Yeah, thanks for that. On checking my eBay & PayPal settings, the two accounts were indeed connected. I have disconnected them so hopefully the problem has been solved. I'll just have to buy something else now to check. :D
 
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Cooper A-2

Practically Family
Messages
933
Location
France
Really ? I can't see ebay & PayPal allowing a clientele of 500 million punters slip through of their hands. :rolleyes:
Sorry for that...
If you would be right, this thread would have one page only... it has now six+++
Not many comments in favor of Ebay even less in favor of "Playgal" ( sellers!).
Please randomly check within all opinions here on TFL ( threads here and elsewhere) and the cling/grip both Ebay and their hopeless banking Brothas "Playgal"...lost recently ... discussed in :
watch, militaria, antiques etc... forums...
Please just search...
 
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Cooper A-2

Practically Family
Messages
933
Location
France
J'ai cherché mais je n'ai rien trouvé officiel en ligne et je me méfie des faits sans fondement prononcées sur les forums....nous verrons. ;)
Please just scroll here on this thread..
Pleasejust try to buy from German Ebay...
check out how the PP regressed in a few months...
 

Cooper A-2

Practically Family
Messages
933
Location
France
Of course!
even on Ebay.fr....no more or at best less ...and ...less Paypal sellers ....Compared to two years ago.. Obligatoire... Mandatory for sellers ( les than two years ago today.plus rien).....
Now... EU LAW ON BANKING ... F...K PP.
Funny 2 years ago... Playbay...playpool...Mandatory...
Obligé... today...no more in all EURO /EU Ebay countries...
Wonder why?
As far as I noticed ...our fanand fun partners:
Eastman Leather; Aeroleather; Goodwear Aces High ... all our hobby interest for and about military jackets...vintage items ..jackets ..,plus a lot of others things : No ( more) Paypal.....
Why???
If I am wrong, please correct me....
I am happy to bow and say sorry to all Ebay and PP fans.....
please prove me wrong...
 
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Guppy

I'll Lock Up
Messages
4,333
Location
Cleveland, OH
I had a sale on eBay today... Between eBay, PayPal, and shipping, it amounted to 15% of my gross. But 15% amounted to $65, which just seems like an awful lot of money for what amounts to a classified ad. I paid nothing for the listing, only final value fees.

There's definitely room to undercut them, if only someone could do it.
 

ChazfromCali

One of the Regulars
Messages
126
Location
Tijuana / Rosarito
I haven't used eBay since 2008 and never will again. I avoid PayPunk like the plague also. (I just like typing PayPunk, sorry ;-)

On a swimsuit website I had I used Stripe as my payment processor, it had an option for people who for whatever crazy reason insist on using PP - but I did not have to deal with PP directly, i.e. it is incorporated into Stripe. Check out https://stripe.com/ May be a useful option for you as a seller if you want to limit your exposure to PP.

I think http://www.ebid.net/ may be a good replacement for Fleabay, not nearly as big of course. The fee structure is for certain much, much better.
 

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