Avoiding eBay fees by inflating P&P

Sugar_Coated_Owl

hhobba what you are doing is dishonest and in the long term it's genuine eBayers like myself who will have to pay for your fee avoidance. I think it's totally unfair and if I saw an auction that was obviously avoiding fees I'd report it.

hhobba wrote:

eBay's fees are ridiculous

You may think that eBay fees are high, no-one makes you list your items, why not go elsewhere if you don't agree with the fees? The reason you don't is because listing your item on eBay gives you much more exposure and many more potential buyers, you just don't want to pay for it.

hhobba wrote:

At the end of the day, it doesn't say anything about the seller

Yes it does, it shows the seller to be dishonest and unprofessional. I certainly wouldn't buy from you or anyone else who listed in the way that you do.

MoneySavingWannabe_3

I have to admit that I have done this on a couple of occassions, although I don't feel guilty having done it. At the end of the day I have saved money and made money at the same time so I'm happy. I can completely understand why people do it, and I have no problems purchasing items with an inflated postage price. At the end of the day I have a rough idea of what that item costs and what postage will be like so it's my decision as to whether I purchase it or not. Some people need to come off their high horses because this is the real world, do you complain because petrol is taxed at a stupidly high amount? Probably not, you just accept it. It's your decision as to whether or not you buy an item when you know the postage is high even though the buying price is low, and everyone who purchases on ebay is looking to save money, and the same goes for sellers.

hhobba

Yes it does, it shows the seller to be dishonest and unprofessional. I certainly wouldn't buy from you or anyone else who listed in the way that you do.

That's fine! As far as I'm concerned it's your loss. There will always be alternative buyers as long as the product I'm selling isn't aiming at a tiny market. At the end of the day I gain £300.00 and lose the interest of a few buyers - and that's a sacrifice I'm willing to make, to be honest. I'm aware its taking advantage of eBay's no-fees-on-postage-costs system, but hey, if I'm fairly confident that it's gonna save me £4 per auction in fees, I'm afraid I'm going to do it!

I'm not a dishonest person, so you might think that doing something like this would make me think twice, but this arguement has connotations of the DVD and software piracy debate - would anyone really steal films and software if it wasn't so easy to get away with? It's the same with this - a minor adjustment in your auction costs saves you hundreds in the long run. And most buyers, I have found, couldn't care less about how you've structured your auction - it's the price they want to pay and the seller's feedback which determines whether or not they want to buy the item.

And it's interesting -- how many articles have I read on this website which detail completely blatantly how to absolutely rip off big businesses and reveal cunning and dishonest methods to exploit loopholes to obtain £100's in free cash? For example, current account cashback loopholes, free credit cards which can be "plundered then discarded"? MoneySavingExpert is all about stuff like this!

Ultimately when you trade on eBay you're participating in BUSINESS. And in business you have to be ruthless. I'm not saying that CEO's should start organising massive executive gang wars and start trading crack cocaine for profit, but when it comes to something as trivial as inflating postage costs on eBay, I say do it, as it saves YOU money, therefore saving your buyers money and so everyone's happy. Is this outlook narrow minded? Perhaps, but the opportunity is there, so I'm taking it whilst I can.

Besides! If I sell an iPod at £0.01 with £199.99 postage costs, who's to say that I didn't purchase a really, really expensive Jiffy bag for £199.99 ? Hmm ?

Midmac

MoneySavingWannabe wrote:

I have to admit that I have done this on a couple of occassions ... Some people need to come off their high horses because this is the real world, do you complain because petrol is taxed at a stupidly high amount? Probably not, you just accept it. It's your decision as to whether or not you buy an item when you know the postage is high even though the buying price is low, and everyone who purchases on ebay is looking to save money, and the same goes for sellers.

Erm? Its against ebay rules that you agreed to when you signed up and "read" the terms and conditions.

Thats whats wrong with avoiding fees by putting all the price onto postage.

Kingfisher_Lover

You may think that eBay fees are high, no-one makes you list your items, why not go elsewhere if you don't agree with the fees? The reason you don't is because listing your item on eBay gives you much more exposure and many more potential buyers, you just don't want to pay for it.

Look, as I see it the ebay fees are disgusting, I have a small income so of course I want to save as much money as possible so I would do this. MSE is all about saving money and ripping off big companys and this is no different. I need that extra money so I don't have to eat my shoes because I have no money.

I think that people who sell items at 1p BIN with higher postage are cleaver and have seriously thought about have to make the most money, so this attracts me to these buyers.

Hhobba should not have to go anywhere else to sell his goods, he is trying to make a living, and if you find this wrong why are you on this website, and I think most people would agree with this.

As a matter of fact, I have the finest Peruvian packaging methods sent over to help send my products in the finest care.

Over and out Kingfisher Lover

Sugar_Coated_Owl

hhobbaI hope that in time eBay suspends you for fee avoidance. You don't care that because you are exploiting the eBay service it will subsequently increase fees for genuine eBayers.

God some people are so egotistical.

Midmac

razorbladekisses wrote:

hhobbaI hope that in time eBay suspends you for fee avoidance. You don't care that because you are exploiting the eBay service it will subsequently increase fees for genuine eBayers.

God some people are so egotistical.

I agree

You have broken the terms and conditions you agreed to when you signed up and should suffer the consequences.

Gingermonkey_2

I've seen new guidance on ebay about reporting people who are doing this... they point out taking into account about packaging costs but anything blatantly over this they are encouraging to report...

Personally as a rule I charge the least possible postage on ebay believing I will get more bids!

I do not bid on items with increased postage costs... am in a quandry at the mo, there is a book I really really want to read which is not yet published in the UK listed for 99p but 4.95 postage - yeah ok this is maybe not extortinate in the grand scheme of things to buy a book, but at the end of the day part of me is saying just wait and buy it when it comes out instead of giving someone the satisfaction of earing on their postage.... a lemon dilemma

MoneySavingWannabe_3

Midmac, unfortunately terms and conditions mean nothing to me. I want to make money and save money at the same time. If people do it by increasing postage then fair play I'm all for it. It's survival of the fittest, and if you lose sleep because someone else is saving money and you aren't then so be it. I wouldn't call it being dishonest, I would call it using your initiative because at the end of the day nice guys finish last. The only people who lose out are ebay, not the buyers, not the sellers so why are you complaining?

Sugar_Coated_Owl

kingfisher_lover wrote:

Look, as I see it the ebay fees are disgusting

If you think that then why not list elsewhere. There are many free auction sites you could list on. True they don't have as many users/potential buyers but you don't want to pay so why should you receive the same exposure.

kingfisher_lover wrote:

I need that extra money

Don't we all but eBay have to make their money somewhere and I think that if I'm listing on their site then I should pay. It's far cheaper and beneficial to list on eBay than have a shop or an ecommerce site.

kingfisher_lover wrote:

I think that people who sell items at 1p BIN with higher postage are cleaver

Oh really, they are cleaver? :rotfl: and you are one of those cleaver people?

kingfisher_lover wrote:

Hhobba should not have to go anywhere else to sell his goods, he is trying to make a living, and if you find this wrong why are you on this website, and I think most people would agree with this.

Hhobba should pay the appropriate eBay fees then. I'm sure that he/she would be the first to complain if a buyer tried to rip him/her off.

I'm here because I've found the site to be very helpful. Yes it promotes money saving but you still have to abide by the rules.