ebay to start charging FV fees on shipping

[Wookie]

Link:
http://pages.ebay.com/sellerinformation/news/feeupdate2011.html

Accompanied by elimination of insertion fees and small reduction in the fee rate. Overall this represents a HUGE increase for someone like me that sells relatively low value, high weight items (a Commodore 1702 monitor, for example), or for people who ship internationally.

[VACRMH]

Yep, just saw this. It's not going to help anyone, even the bidders.

If shipping is now getting charged X%, shipping for everyone will be raised at least X%. Selling a 99 cent item went from 9 cents eBay fees to 39 cents. And that doesn't include the paypal charge.

[wingzrow]

http://i52.tinypic.com/jg2upu.jpg

[Kitsune Sniper]

I knew it. I knew that seeing them removing the 5% powerseller discount and offering free auctions would be recovered in a stupid way.

WHERE IS THAT MOTHERFUCKING CLASS AUCTION LAWSUIT ALREADY.

Looks like I'll be selling more stuff at Amazon instead.

Edit: Oh boy, check out this nugget buried right at the bottom:


Why are you applying the Top-rated seller discount only to the item price?
Applying the Top-rated seller discount only to the item price encourages and rewards top performing sellers to offer low cost and free shipping when possible with their listings. This highlights the great value found on eBay and creates a better shopping experience.

They won't be giving the full 20% discount anymore if you charge shipping costs. This is beyond idiotic. Fucking eBay.

[wingzrow]

Just crunched the numbers and I will NET, not gross, 55 CENTS if I sell a manual at $1.00 & $2.00 shipping under this new pricing structure. That doesn't take into account that manuals are slow burners and renew at 5 cents each month. After a few months if the manual sells it could easyly be me making a quarter. Frankly, if I cannot make at least $1.00 on an item, I don't think it's worth it anymore. Then again I'm desperate as hell so who knows how this will turn out.

[megasdkirby]

I only agree with this policy IF it targets those sellers who charge buyers an insane amount of shipping to get a profit from it. Now they are no longer protected. It was never nice to buy an item for $10 and then pay $99 for shipping. Of course, I would question the sanity of anyone who would buy the item with high shipping prices, but I would not be surprised at all if people have done this. I've seen some wierd shit at work...

Overall though, I don't agree with this. Sellers charging an adequate amount (by this a FAIR amount, not $10 on a $1 item) for shipping should not pay this fee.

Does this now mean that it's cheaper to sell on Amazon than on Ebay now?

[Kitsune Sniper]

Not quite, I'd say Amazon is still a bit more expensive. But not by much anymore.

[Lasermouse]

Hey,

There's an alternative staring you right in the face. Doesn't DP itself have a Marketplace? Use it! No Fees! No Paypal! No worries!

- Lasermouse

PS: And bring in good stuff to trade for the store to even the karma.

[Wookie]

Overall though, I don't agree with this. Sellers charging an adequate amount (by this a FAIR amount, not $10 on a $1 item) for shipping should not pay this fee.



And here's part of the problem: buyers thinking that shipping cost is, or should be, related to the purchase price of the item. Shipping cost is mostly a factor of weight and distance. If you buy an 8 pound item, it's gonna cost at least $10 to ship, no matter how much you paid for it. If you then complained to ebay that you were overcharged for shipping, they respond with stupidity like this new policy.

[The_Chosen_One]

And here's part of the problem: buyers thinking that shipping cost is, or should be, related to the purchase price of the item. Shipping cost is mostly a factor of weight and distance. If you buy an 8 pound item, it's gonna cost at least $10 to ship, no matter how much you paid for it. If you then complained to ebay that you were overcharged for shipping, they respond with stupidity like this new policy.

This is true and has actually created problems for sellers already. Ebay capps how much you can charge for shipping on a number of items. Some games for example it will cap at a $4. shipping charge if you pick the shipping option as a Small Flat Rate Priority Box. So no matter what they are forcing you to lose $1 on that item.

All because buyers poor judgement with what they consider an unfair shipping cost. I get that the original problem was people using shipping charges to get around Ebay fees, but Ebay obviously knows it has overcorrected. It's funny, they keep saying it's to create a better experience for the buyers, but they sure are losing sellers fast and it seems to me that is what Ebay used to be known for, finding stuff you couldn't find anywhere else.

You can't find half the stuff on Ebay you used to (or maybe it's just the stuff I shop for), you can easily find better deals and often items that aren't on Ebay on these forums or others.

Seems to me Ebay is just trying to find ways of going out of business faster. If only another auction site would take off properly and kill them once and for all.

[megasdkirby]

And here's part of the problem: buyers thinking that shipping cost is, or should be, related to the purchase price of the item. Shipping cost is mostly a factor of weight and distance. If you buy an 8 pound item, it's gonna cost at least $10 to ship, no matter how much you paid for it. If you then complained to ebay that you were overcharged for shipping, they respond with stupidity like this new policy.

That's understandable for bigger items, but not smaller ones. A Playstation 3 game, for instance, will not cost more than $3.50 via First Class Mail (including DC), so the $4 fee is perfect. But to charge $15 for "First Class Mail" for the same item...that's what pisses me off. So I believe crooked sellers should be forced this fee onto their shipping if there is enough proof that they are making money off shipping.

Anyway, is it true that Ebay will soon, or has already, force sellers to have a "Store Front" for nearly $16 a month?

[Cornelius]

This is true and has actually created problems for sellers already. Ebay capps how much you can charge for shipping on a number of items. Some games for example it will cap at a $4. shipping charge if you pick the shipping option as a Small Flat Rate Priority Box. So no matter what they are forcing you to lose $1 on that item.

If sellers still don't know how to get around this, they deserve to loose that $1 (even though they don't really 'loose' it because the item would probably be bid up $1 more). I mean, using the alternative way to set your shipping price is easier anyway, at least for me it is.

[Cornelius]

Anyway, is it true that Ebay will soon, or has already, force sellers to have a "Store Front" for nearly $16 a month?

I'm not aware of this, so it hasn't gone into effect yet at least.

[Icarus Moonsight]

Hmm... Hold up a tick. I have to do some reading.

[Kitsune Sniper]

This is true and has actually created problems for sellers already. Ebay capps how much you can charge for shipping on a number of items. Some games for example it will cap at a $4. shipping charge if you pick the shipping option as a Small Flat Rate Priority Box. So no matter what they are forcing you to lose $1 on that item.

... Guess you don't know you can get around that by using calculated shipping. :P

[The_Chosen_One]

... Guess you don't know you can get around that by using calculated shipping. :P

I didn't, but to be fair I don't sell a lot on ebay either I greatly prefer various forums. I like to rant about Ebay though ;)

[Kitsune Sniper]

I didn't, but to be fair I don't sell a lot on ebay either I greatly prefer various forums. I like to rant about Ebay though ;)

I didn't mean to make fun of you, sorry. We discussed the shipping price limit a while back and we found out the calculated shipping thing soon after.

[Aussie2B]

While I appreciate the elimination of insertion fees, which lets me test the waters with the maximum I think I could reasonably get and not fear an unsold item, the tax on shipping basically cancels it out. The irony is that they're basically telling sellers to inflate their shipping. In a perfect world, every cent of a shipping fee is supposed to be spent on shipping, but with the percentage fees, shipping will have to be artificially inflated to cover both.

eBay is really ticking me off lately. Not only with this shipping fee junk but I also just had my first taste of how bad the feedback system is now. I knew it was bad way back when it changed, but I just went through my first unpaid item process. I mean, if I follow the process, the buyer still doesn't pay, and the case gets close, why the heck can't I leave feedback to warn other sellers? He flat-out refused to pay, giving me some BS about financial problems, and of course he just ignored the auction like it didn't exist and didn't bother to inform me about these "financial problems" until I finally contacted him after a week (not counting the invoice I sent after a couple days). I know it was BS because, by looking at his feedback, I see he's been buying and paying for lots of other games throughout this period (and my auction was only $15 total), so I'm sure he just decided he didn't want my games or something. It's only a matter of time before he pulls the same crap on on somebody else, and it's so frustrating that I can't leave any warning.

[Cornelius]

At least the NPB process is automated now if you turn that on. I've had 3 in the past couple months, twice on the same item. If I'd paid more than $.05 to list/re-list I'd have been pissed... as it is I'm just annoyed.