New Ebay fees, 50% higher, will it drive up prices or drive away sellers?

[gypsycatcha]

Yeah I only buy stuff from evilbay now. Their fees are getting out of control for average joes just trying to shift some old stuff. I'm guessing they just keep buying out the competition. **** fleabay.

Awaiting the gumtree fee's

sucks!!

 

[CeeemOr]

To answer the OP, it will just drive prices higher on eBay. I already add 15% to my items. I've had a hard time selling some stuff, but I'd rather keep it then let it go for peanuts.

The really messed up thing I see on eBay right now, is all the Chinese sellers offering all this sixth scale stuff, and being able to offer lower prices than US sellers. I'd much rather give my money to a US seller, but for the most part it looks to me like most US stores don't bother carrying products because THEY know that the Chinese sellers will offer lower prices AND lower shipping rates, AND have lower overhead costs, so the only way to obtain the item is directly from China. That just bugs me on general principle.

The thing that blows my mind is that Chinese sellers can offer a USPS trackable service (ePacket or something like that) for a nominal amount, but as a US seller to have a trackable package sent overseas, I have to send it Priority International which is at least $40. How can China use the USPS to send a package from China to the US for less than I can use USPS to send a package from the US to China?? Makes no sense.

WTF!I have a store on EBAY and just recently they doubled the shipping price on all options and yet i still see sellers from China offering free shipping,HOW?!Maybe,ancient Chinese secret!

 

[kl241]

Has anybody used ebay's new international shipping where you send the item to their hub and they ship it internationally for you so if the buyer makes any claims of non-receipt you are exempt of all liability? Just wondering what they are charging since you have to ship it first to their hub and then they ship it internationally for you.

 

[Gully Foyle]

But don't look at amazon, their whole system is horrible for sellers, if you think eBay is bad, Amazon is worse (returns and fraud).

I may be wrong, but I thought ebay's new fees were (aside from greed) designed to compete better with Amazon's stores?

Selling on ebay is appealing because the flakers on this site are trolls. You answer their billionth question, go out your way to take photos, and then they never respond or just plain jump ship after commiting to a buy.

True, but it cuts both ways.

There are some sellers here (who will remain nameless) who have sold figures with broken joints under suits or other wear issues that went "unnoticed."

But now--skimming 10% off the top in addition to the Paypal usury?
E-bay has definitely cast its hat with the mega-volume sellers.
And they've basically said that little folks can go crap in their hat.


Does anyone sell toys/models/collectibles on etsy.com? How are their fees?

__

 

[Kibishii]

The thing that sucks about selling on forums is you'll get people that want you to offer them discounts by like 30% just because you're not selling on ebay which is totally unrealistic...It's like the buyers expect you to give them an ebay discount 10%, a local forum discount 25%, and make you pay the paypal 3-4% fee, and then give them free shipping too.

This is how I feel as well and over the last few years it has gotten much, much worse. I even put as my #1 rule on my WTS auctions that "Lowball offers will be ignored or receive a sarcastic reply." The final straw for me was when a member offered me close to 1/2 my asking price on several HTs, I replied to him the he should be saving his money for the crack he is smoking, and he replied explaining how much money he makes off lowball flipping.

I would rather sell on eBay than deal with the incessant lowball offers or the certain board members who troll the WTS threads. If someone has a WTB thread and I have the item, I will PM them, but that is it.

eBay sucks and screws sellers, but at this point there is no other viable option for selling.

 

[TheFiend]

I'm happy when I get no feedback from buyers honestly. . .because that means I'm not getting anything negative from them But I have established nearly 1,000 positive feedback marks at this point, so one here or there doesn't mean much to me.

Oh yeah, no doubt. I'd feel the same too if I were you. But that was my first. I wanted to establish something.



Sent from my LG-E739 using Tapatalk 2

 

[a-dev]

Ah you broke your ebay-selling hymen. I still have mine.

 

[Darth Madden]

Has anybody used ebay's new international shipping where you send the item to their hub and they ship it internationally for you so if the buyer makes any claims of non-receipt you are exempt of all liability? Just wondering what they are charging since you have to ship it first to their hub and then they ship it internationally for you.

Yep, I had to use that once. The buyer only paid me the shipping to the Kentucky hub... I think they had to pay somebody else for the rest of the trip but I never saw it.

 

[tbay]

Selling on ebay is appealing because the flakers on this site are trolls. You answer their billionth question, go out your way to take photos, and then they never respond or just plain jump ship after commiting to a buy. I already have a nice list of users to ignore whenever I get PMed about sales.

Not to say ebay isn't plagued with flakers either. I put all of my listsing with BIN along with 'buyers must pay immediately' option. Even then they'll make up some 'dog ate my homework' type of excuse to refund them.

If you buy from ebay, stick to top rated sellers. Sellers have to bend over for buyers to keep that status.

I've sold a lot of my collection in the last six months and had way more problems on this site than on eBay, two years ago or so it was such a breeze to sell stuff on the boards.i was part of the ledger joker wave that infested the site, but I blame the iron man/avengers wave for the decline of the sales board.

Now I can't believe the amount of jerks and flakers I've had to deal with. So many beg me to hold an item and make excuses for weeks for why they can't pay yet or they just bail without notice, then you end up losing a sale. This has happened almost a dozen times in the last year, if not more and I never remember it happening that often before.

Buying from this site can be frustrating as well, another douche agreed to sell me a cm toys muscle body then Pm's an hour later that he got a better offer! No shame from this guy, I really would love to "sit here" and out him or the flakey buyers

Please pm me your ignore list.

 

[iyiyiyiyi]

I used to work for eBay in the Resolution Center department. One of the reasons why I quit that job (even though it paid well and the people I worked with were AWESOME) was because I got tired of having to explain to sellers on the phone why lopsided policies that favored buyers weren't lopsided at all. I dunno. I just got tired of playing spin doctor all the time. Sometimes I'd just tell a seller straight up, "You're right, such-and-such a policy IS unfair to sellers like yourself".

Some of the complaints I'd get from sellers were pretty ridiculous, though. In my experience, sellers were generally just as shady as buyers. Some of the worst people I had to deal with were sellers. I know selling on eBay is tough, stressful, etc. I've sold a bit on there and don't like it. But yes, there ARE sellers out there who try to cut corners and get away with stuff.

Like this one seller I talked to once...they had sold an item and their buyer had filed a case for not receiving it. My first question to the seller was, "Okay, what day did you send the item?" They replied, "I haven't, yet". I looked at the auction page and saw that he had sold it two months prior. I asked him why he hadn't, and he said, "Because I just haven't gotten around to it". When I asked him why he was upset that the buyer had filed a case, he said, "Because I just kinda feel like, if a person buys something online, they should be patient and just get it when they get it. And they should beware of sellers".

I couldn't believe this guy, and I actually lost my temper with him and closed his case against him, thus refunding the buyer. It's true, sellers as bad as him didn't come around too often, but I just wanted to share that story to illustrate that not all sellers on eBay are saints, and it's people like that that make eBay need to make policy after policy that protects the buyer.

I don't mean to anger anybody, either. I have tons of respect for good eBay sellers. Like I said, I've done it a bit and it's just too much for me. I buy on eBay all the time, though, and I just love honest sellers. It really sucks that there aren't any alternatives to eBay. I'd definitely support an alternative site, so long as they were trustworthy and such.

As a seller, I always make calls to eBay, my questions are:

-Why my item in best match search not on top of page, I sold most and I am the top rated seller but I just don't know why other guys that below my standard is sitting on top of me

-Why some buyers in Germany and France telling me that they see 0 items in my store, 0!

Every time I got same answers from the phone calls, they all like robot repeating like recalls. But I still keep making calls because I try to find a HUMAN to answer my call and I try to get a REAL ANSWER that I never had before.

Also, the main reason is I PAYING SO MUCH TO EBAY AND PAYPAL AND IT IS MY RIGHT TO GET A PROPER ANSWER

But I am going to give up because so far I never heard a human voice from the other side of phone..

 

[Zodach]

Has anybody used ebay's new international shipping where you send the item to their hub and they ship it internationally for you so if the buyer makes any claims of non-receipt you are exempt of all liability? Just wondering what they are charging since you have to ship it first to their hub and then they ship it internationally for you.

Essentially ebay is charging the buyer a higher shipping cost for this service because they have to pay shipping from you to the closest hub in the U.S. and then they have to pay for ebay to ship it to them internationally. It might be worth it if you rarely ship items internationally and don't want to deal with the hassle, but your total asking price is going to be higher as a result. Potentially you will make less money on your sale or buyers will get the item from someone else because of this.

 

[Web_Head91]

As a seller, I always make calls to eBay, my questions are:

-Why my item in best match search not on top of page, I sold most and I am the top rated seller but I just don't know why other guys that below my standard is sitting on top of me

-Why some buyers in Germany and France telling me that they see 0 items in my store, 0!

Every time I got same answers from the phone calls, they all like robot repeating like recalls. But I still keep making calls because I try to find a HUMAN to answer my call and I try to get a REAL ANSWER that I never had before.

Also, the main reason is I PAYING SO MUCH TO EBAY AND PAYPAL AND IT IS MY RIGHT TO GET A PROPER ANSWER

But I am going to give up because so far I never heard a human voice from the other side of phone..

When you say it's a robot on the phone, and you're looking for a human, is that meant to be taken literally or figuratively? Do you actually get a human, who you feel is acting like a robot and giving you standardized lines?

I could take a whack at your questions, but keep in mind, your questions wouldn't be under the department that I worked for. I only dealt with cases and transaction disputes. And, it's been nearly two years since I've worked at eBay. But with that in mind, I'll try and share my thoughts.

With your first question, to be honest, I have no idea. I don't know how ANY of that works. All I know is that you're right, as a top rated seller, your listings SHOULD be at the very top. For what it's worth, if I got your call, I'd ask my boss and if they didn't know, I'd happily get you to the right department (and yes, there is a department that would specialize in questions like that).

With your second question, the only thing I could think of is that your auctions might not be set up for international shipping. If you don't allow international shipping (as in, when you list the item, you don't select the option that says you'll ship internationally), then people outside your own country won't even see your auction. If it's only a few buyers in those particular countries, though, and you're able to make sales to some international buyers...then I really don't know.

 

[ReplicantSavior]

I haven't received the new eBay fee notice email yet. I barely sell on eBay anymore. I would just unload stuff I didn't want. They really are anti seller with their policies. They act like they are a store many times when they are just providing a service for both buyers and sellers.

 

[noisetrigger]

I am glad that ebay protects the buyer. My first ebay buying experience almost a decade ago was a negative one. It is an auction for a particular part that I needed. I have zero feedback so I PM the seller asking if I could buy. He has 100% positive feedback. He said ok. However after bidding, I noticed in his auction pictures that the part was only shot from pretty much the same angle just different framing. I got suspicious cause this particular part has a known defect in some batches and you can tell immediately from the back of the part. I should have look properly and ask more question before bidding but the part is rare and I was so excited that I found it I bid before looking properly.

Feeling suspicious and the auction with like four days to go I requested the seller for pics of the part from the back angle. Two days passes and the seller ignore me. I know he logged in cause he listed some new stuff during the course of the auction.

I sent more message and even directly mail him and still no respond. The auction then ended and I won. Of course I refuse to pay and send more PM explaining that I just want to look at the back of the part and once he sent the pictures and I am satisfied it is problem free, I will send payment.

His only response was payment request or he will file a complain with ebay. He sent that repeatedly over the week. Eventually to get his attention I left him a negative feedback. As predicted he then PM me with an angry rant and also left me a negative feedback calling me a crook and liar for ruining his pristine feedback.

That experience scare me off ebay for the next few years. Before I even bought anything I already got a negative feedback. Pretty much I can never buy on ebay again.

Ebay then started introducing this policy where your bad feedback will be removed after one year and only after that I start buying again.

In hindsight I should have filed a complain but I was new to this and didn't know my rights and just plain freak out.

 

[iyiyiyiyi]

When you say it's a robot on the phone, and you're looking for a human, is that meant to be taken literally or figuratively? Do you actually get a human, who you feel is acting like a robot and giving you standardized lines?

I could take a whack at your questions, but keep in mind, your questions wouldn't be under the department that I worked for. I only dealt with cases and transaction disputes. And, it's been nearly two years since I've worked at eBay. But with that in mind, I'll try and share my thoughts.

With your first question, to be honest, I have no idea. I don't know how ANY of that works. All I know is that you're right, as a top rated seller, your listings SHOULD be at the very top. For what it's worth, if I got your call, I'd ask my boss and if they didn't know, I'd happily get you to the right department (and yes, there is a department that would specialize in questions like that).

With your second question, the only thing I could think of is that your auctions might not be set up for international shipping. If you don't allow international shipping (as in, when you list the item, you don't select the option that says you'll ship internationally), then people outside your own country won't even see your auction. If it's only a few buyers in those particular countries, though, and you're able to make sales to some international buyers...then I really don't know.

Actually I am from Hong Kong and those "robot" who was answering my question should be from China/Singapore (I am not sure but I think they arn't from Hong Kong) and it's true, they just repeat and repeat like robot..

For my second question, I have checked and confirmed that I selected to ship international... I even pay more listing fee to list on UK site but some Germany buyer still telling me that they see nothing in my store. My store works normally if they are using proxy server from US or if someone give them the direct link of my items.. Strange...

 

[ReplicantSavior]

I am glad that ebay protects the buyer. My first ebay buying experience almost a decade ago was a negative one. It is an auction for a particular part that I needed. I have zero feedback so I PM the seller asking if I could buy. He has 100% positive feedback. He said ok. However after bidding, I noticed in his auction pictures that the part was only shot from pretty much the same angle just different framing. I got suspicious cause this particular part has a known defect in some batches and you can tell immediately from the back of the part. I should have look properly and ask more question before bidding but the part is rare and I was so excited that I found it I bid before looking properly.

Feeling suspicious and the auction with like four days to go I requested the seller for pics of the part from the back angle. Two days passes and the seller ignore me. I know he logged in cause he listed some new stuff during the course of the auction.

I sent more message and even directly mail him and still no respond. The auction then ended and I won. Of course I refuse to pay and send more PM explaining that I just want to look at the back of the part and once he sent the pictures and I am satisfied it is problem free, I will send payment.

His only response was payment request or he will file a complain with ebay. He sent that repeatedly over the week. Eventually to get his attention I left him a negative feedback. As predicted he then PM me with an angry rant and also left me a negative feedback calling me a crook and liar for ruining his pristine feedback.

That experience scare me off ebay for the next few years. Before I even bought anything I already got a negative feedback. Pretty much I can never buy on ebay again.

Ebay then started introducing this policy where your bad feedback will be removed after one year and only after that I start buying again.

In hindsight I should have filed a complain but I was new to this and didn't know my rights and just plain freak out.

As a buyer you still need to be wary. But as an individual seller on eBay, even if you say no returns. eBay still gives the buyer a 30 or 60 day (I can't remember which) return policy. From what I understand eBay/Paypal can just take the money from your account if the buyer says that there is a problem. eBay/Paypal representatives have been open with me basically saying that they are buyer focused. Even though it's the sellers who are paying the fees.

I've almost been scammed a few times from eBay buyers. But I realized the red flags with vague buyer responses.

 

[Web_Head91]

As a buyer you still need to be wary. But as an individual seller on eBay, even if you say no returns. eBay still gives the buyer a 30 or 60 day (I can't remember which) return policy. From what I understand eBay/Paypal can just take the money from your account if the buyer says that there is a problem. eBay/Paypal representatives have been open with me basically saying that they are buyer focused. Even though it's the sellers who are paying the fees.

I've almost been scammed a few times from eBay buyers. But I realized the red flags with vague buyer responses.

I'd like to address this. When a case is opened on eBay, Paypal automatically takes the money from the seller's account and holds it. If the seller has taken the funds out of their paypal account and moved them somewhere else, then Paypal obviously can't do this, but then they have other ways of making sure sellers don't scam and run, which I can't talk about (I don't want to get sued by eBay for sharing internal information haha, I'm only sharing information that I was allowed to share while I was working there, so it's general info).

About the "no returns" policy. This is something I had A LOT of sellers fight me over. When a seller says "no returns", that just means no returns due to buyer's remorse. Since you're selling on eBay's site, you have to play under their rules. The reason eBay's return policy supersedes a seller's return policy is because if a crappy seller put "no returns" on their auction, then sent a buyer a rotten banana instead of an iPhone, then eBay needs to be able to step in and fix that. Some sellers would give me the line, "Well it's MY auction, I don't care about your policy on returns!" But sellers need to understand that eBay can't just sit on their hands and allow bad sellers to scam buyers.

If eBay asks a buyer to return an item, they have...hmm, I think it's ten days, to do so. If a buyer doesn't return the item, then they don't get the refund. I wish I could share more information about all this with you guys, but like I said, I obviously can't be going around the internet sharing information that could give people tips and ideas on how to scam eBay and other eBay users. Sometimes, I wish I could, because I can see how frustrating some stuff on eBay is. The worst part is, I can't even utilize my knowledge of eBay's inner workings to get free stuff, because I'd eventually get caught and it would NOT be worth it haha. But sometimes I'll be looking on the site, and I'll see an auction and think, "Man, I could TOTALLY get that item for free..."

 

[karamazov80]

Yeah, I say "no returns," but essentially only treat it as a buyer's remorse type deal. I try to describe my item sufficiently in the auction listing, so in the vast majority of cases buyers are not surprised by what they get. But sometimes have a disagreement with a buyer. When that happens, I'll almost always extend the buyer the choice of returning for a refund. Much easier than having to deal with disputes and bad feedback when you would end up having to refund the buyer anyway.

 

[Web_Head91]

I am glad that ebay protects the buyer. My first ebay buying experience almost a decade ago was a negative one. It is an auction for a particular part that I needed. I have zero feedback so I PM the seller asking if I could buy. He has 100% positive feedback. He said ok. However after bidding, I noticed in his auction pictures that the part was only shot from pretty much the same angle just different framing. I got suspicious cause this particular part has a known defect in some batches and you can tell immediately from the back of the part. I should have look properly and ask more question before bidding but the part is rare and I was so excited that I found it I bid before looking properly.

Feeling suspicious and the auction with like four days to go I requested the seller for pics of the part from the back angle. Two days passes and the seller ignore me. I know he logged in cause he listed some new stuff during the course of the auction.

I sent more message and even directly mail him and still no respond. The auction then ended and I won. Of course I refuse to pay and send more PM explaining that I just want to look at the back of the part and once he sent the pictures and I am satisfied it is problem free, I will send payment.

His only response was payment request or he will file a complain with ebay. He sent that repeatedly over the week. Eventually to get his attention I left him a negative feedback. As predicted he then PM me with an angry rant and also left me a negative feedback calling me a crook and liar for ruining his pristine feedback.

That experience scare me off ebay for the next few years. Before I even bought anything I already got a negative feedback. Pretty much I can never buy on ebay again.

Ebay then started introducing this policy where your bad feedback will be removed after one year and only after that I start buying again.

In hindsight I should have filed a complain but I was new to this and didn't know my rights and just plain freak out.

It sucks that you had a bad experience. Not to make you feel any worse, but rather to help you in the future, even with eBay's Buyer Protection, you'd still not win if you filed a case in this scenario. The bottom line is, placing a bid is a commitment to pay for that item. So it's always best to ask questions before placing a bid, because once you bid, you MUST pay or else your account will be marked. Needless to say, buyers with unpaid item strikes can have restrictions placed on their account, as well being temporarily or permanently banned. It doesn't take much for that to happen, either, so it's best not to screw around with that in the first place.

A good rule of thumb that I go by, as a buyer, is this: If I have a question about the item, ask the seller. If the seller doesn't respond, don't bid. Only bid if it's an item cheap enough that you won't care taking a risk on. But if you ask a seller a direct question, and they don't answer, that's usually a bad sign. So steer clear of unresponsive sellers.

 

[Web_Head91]

Yeah, I say "no returns," but essentially only treat it as a buyer's remorse type deal. I try to describe my item sufficiently in the auction listing, so in the vast majority of cases buyers are not surprised by what they get. But sometimes have a disagreement with a buyer. When that happens, I'll almost always extend the buyer the choice of returning for a refund. Much easier than having to deal with disputes and bad feedback when you would end up having to refund the buyer anyway.

Exactly. That's one of the reasons I don't sell much, I just don't want to have to deal with the hassle of buyers return things, but I know that in most cases, a buyer will be permitted by eBay to return it anyway.

A little fun "fact" (in quotes because I don't know for sure that it's true) for you all, though. We were always told at eBay that sellers who accept returns, as opposed to those who mark "no returns", generally make more sales and have fewer cases opened against them. It wouldn't surprise me.