Apaulling ! Avoiding fees

soolin

bettyr wrote:

Yes! This is the money saving site but it does not condone dishonesty!

I agree. May I suggest that users read the sticky post about ethics before apploading users for breaking ebay terms and conditions.

Thank you

Soo

biblejohn

carrie483 wrote:

Maybe someone should ask him if they could collect and see what he says :rotfl:

Carrie x

I did that before christmas. Someone was selling a nokia phone for .01p but had 130quid postage on it. So i cheekily asked if i could collect the phone!

Needless to say, the seller said no!

tomstickland

Ebay and ethics? Another unlikely pair.

Midmac

bettyr wrote:

Yes! This is the money saving site but it does not condone dishonesty!

Couldnt have said it better myself.

Im glad people like bettyr and jaffa agree with me.

The rest who think it is not that bad are most likely the dishonest people who would do it themselves.

parkside_stroller

nightswimmer wrote:

Here's the thing. If we all dodged eBays fees like this, there would be no eBay. Whilst we might all think they are a bunch of money grabbing :eek: (which they are), we all need their service.

So whilst this person dodging his fees, might seem like he is sticking it to the man, in truth the only people he is sticking it to, is us legitamate sellers who have to pay to keep eBay running.

I can't disagree with you on the fact that ebay need to charge fees to keep their site going but it is the scale of the fees that get me. Particularly as they also own Paypal and it is difficult to get buyers to use alternatives (such as Nochex who are cheaper for selling).

They also have policies on relisting which can result in it being difficult to make a profit, for example - I recently paid £20 in listing fees as I put a reserve price on something and had it "featured". It didn't make reserve - not because similar items were not selling for that price, perhaps just bad luck. What gets me is that I would have to use the same listing features to have any chance of selling my item yet they were only prepared to refund the basic relisting fee of £2 and only then if the item sold.
Buyer would probably choose Paypal and guess what....Ebay don't allow you to charge buyers fees for choosing Paypal.
Ebay take more than a fair cut of the profit in my opinion.
I did not relist the item as I estimated that I might make £30 profit (then again it might not sell and I've wasted £38) while they made around £75.

This is just one example of many though.

I've found buyers too who have questioned the level of post, packing and handling I have charged - they see 70p or so on the jiffy bag and think that it is all has cost me to send them the item. Some people don't seem to realise that it also cost money to buy the postal bag and take it to the post office.

I don't avoid fees on the scale that the OP was complaining about but it would be nice if ebay allowed us to be upfront about what we need to charge to buyers to make selling an item viable.
Why can't I legitimately say I am charging people extra if they wish to increase my costs by choosing Paypal over nochex or Cheque over Postal Order (giving me a trip to the bank rather than just the post office) and why can't I say it is costing me £X in listing fees, £Y in selling fees and on occasions when I need an item to be higher profile, £Z in those extra features that ebay charge the earth for and I am therefore including these in the handling element of the Post & Pack fee.

Every web based shop out there with Free Delivery will have taken their overheads into consideration when setting a price but I think there are hurdles put in the way on ebay and to me the "lets report them attitude" rather than just ignore them serves ebays purpose more than it benefits "legitimate sellers" as you call them.
Unfortunately alternatives to ebay such as QXL don't ever seem to result in sales these days for my items and I'm sure it is the same for others as there don't seem to be a lot of items for sale there compared to ebay.

I respect your opinion on this one but I just find it difficult to agree with and I can't see what the OP has to gain from reporting someone for a so called breach of ebay rules (the fact the the OP didn't know how to report an abuse suggests that she is not someone who is a seller on ebay). Ebay allows for a "reasonable" handling fee but it is not easy to define reasonable and if everyone starts reporting people who are being "unreasonable" in their view then I believe that a sizeable element of those complaints would be from the same sort of person who can't understand that sending an item costs more than the postal charge............anyone for a game of Monopoly instead.

parkside_stroller

bettyr wrote:

Yes! This is the money saving site but it does not condone dishonesty!

Where did I say I was condoning dishonesty?

See my previous post.

I would like to be able to say to buyers......here is what it cost me to sell and the charges are a result of these specific costs as charged to me by ebay, paypal, post office, packing and petrol etc.

jaffa30

tomstickland wrote:

Ebay and ethics? Another unlikely pair.

Very true they dont seem to go together at all.

Theres shill bidders galore , Nigerian scammers on every corner.

Then theres !!!!!! Turpin ( Ebay ) and his pal Paypal charging you loads for the privilage to use them.


But until a better selling site comes along We Will Have To Make Do with what we have got.
OR dont use it


Jaffa

parkside_stroller

Midmac wrote:

Couldnt have said it better myself.

Im glad people like bettyr and jaffa agree with me.

The rest who think it is not that bad are most likely the dishonest people who would do it themselves.

That is a bit of an assumption to make........so we are all cheats and liars because we aren't allowed to directly say to people here are the charges I need to pass on to you if I am to make it worthwhile selling to you at the lowest possible price. Everyone selling on the web, even those offering free post actually incur costs in sending you an item, its just that ebay policies don't encourage you to get across to buyers in an open way.

I don't overcharge on Post, Packing and Handling but I do charge a reasonable fee to include my real cost in selling the item and I also say that in the auction to try to eliminate misunderstandings on why that item cost more than the upfront postal cost.

highguyuk

At the end of the day...

If something goes wrong, ebay wont support YOU because the transaction costs 1p and you have to have spent £15.

He should be reported, and should be removed from ebay. We all are after a profit or a bargain of ebay.

Midmac

Fair enough he is trying to make more profit. Good idea.

BUT he is avoiding paying fees which is against the rules
AND if there is a problem the buyer will get their 1p back and lose £39.99

to me that is a SCAM.

Its dishonest, against the rules and therefore should be dealt with.

All those who say this is a moneysavingforum and we should be happy with this are really wrong, thats like telling everyone to avoid paying train tickets etc. Also wrong and dishonest.

You can disagree with me all you like but i really belive this is dishonest

Thanks