The arrogance of some Ebayers

Kaminari_2

As you said, it is an Auction. Why not list and let it reach it's natural market price? You yourself said that they usually go for £140 on Ebay. If that is true you have nothing to worry about.

brains

I hate it when people shoot down those who cover their paypal/listing fees in their postage.

It's each to their own, if you don't like it then DONT BID. There is no point moaning about other people's practices. Anyone who has a business will know there are certain overheads that have to be covered in the sale in order to make a profit.

If you buy 100 xbox consoles @ £100 each, and it costs you £500 to advertise them and £250 to transport them. That makes it £107 per unit not £100. I know increasing the postage is slightly different, but it's the same principles. What is the point in selling an item if you are going to make minimal if no profit at all.

I rarely sell, so maybe this is why I feel this way. But the main thing is, if you are unhappy with high postage then don't bid. The only rip off merchant is ebay themselves.

soolin

Brains the problem with your argument is that firstly it is against ebay rules and regs (which a user agrees to abide by) to charge excessively for p and p in order to avoid paying ebay fees.

A more worrying drawback is the huge disadvantage this gives to buyers who choose not to use paypal. If an item is not received and the buyer paid by paypal a chargeback will get the full amount refunded, included p and p. However if the buyer has to do an ebay claim they only get item cost back and not p and p.

By charging excessively sellers are in fact just forcing more and more people to use paypal. Whilst I personally prefer paypal many people do not and so a two tier system is in operation.

Obviously we as sellers need to cover our costs, and yes I do round up my p and p to cover some of those expenses. However, I do not charge silly amounts just to avoid ebay fees which is what the OP was about.

Soo

Road_Hog

CAT-THE-FIFTH wrote:

Daft question -how can I block a bidder??

http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/sell/block_bidders.html

Road_Hog

This problem has come about with ebay's greed and their purchase of paypal and almost insistance by default that it is used.

The removal of reserves under £50 and the combined costs of ebay/paypal have pushed people into doing this.

In a free market people could charge a clearly stated premium for paypal, much as a merchant can legally do in the UK if you pay by credit card.

The anger should be directed at ebay as they have created this situation. It wouldn't be so bad if they used the extra profits to sort out their customer service and actually provided a support service instead of hiding behind auto email replies.

At the end of the day, the buyer should add the costs together to get a total cost and decide to bid on that. If they don't like it then walk away, don't moan about it. You wouldn't go into Dixons and tell them they're overcharging for an LCD TV and that you can get it for a third cheaper on the Internet, you'd go elsewhere.

I think where a lot of the annoyance and bad feeling comes from is that buyers see an item going cheaply (without postage taken into account) and think they can force the seller to drop their postage costs, thereby getting a bargain. When the seller stands their ground, they retaliate, because they have not succeeded.

As to ebays T&C, as long as the seller can prove that there is a legitamate company who charges the quoted delivery costs (there are some charging very high costs) there is nothing they can do, nor is against the T&Cs.

That said, I do think if your charges are totally out of proportion to potential buyers views of what it should be, you will attract flak and you must be prepared to deal with that.I think most people put a percenatge on the cover costs, I charge about £5.95 for an item that will cost £4.50, the rest covering, paypal, Jiffy bag, labels and transportation.

I must admit, while the most time I can respond nicely to silly requests, I do fire the odd one back such as, item for sale at £100 BIN (BNIB) the offers accepted NOT displayed.
Incomes "Will you accept £50?" I respond with "I will accept £150" and then they get all arsey and tell me there is no need to be sarcastic. Personally, I think offering have the price for a new BIN product is being a bit cheeky and is fair game for that sort of reply.

Chalky87

I do feel this thread has gone on for long enough. Having just spent the best part of 20 minutes reading through all the posts, basically getting nowhere just petty arguing throughout.

However, as many have said you're breaking eBay rules, whether you admit the fact or not, and no matter how many people say 'each to their own' you cannot charge excessive postage costs in order to avoid eBay fees.

One point I don't think you've realised yourself yet, and this is an important one, apologies if someone has already mentioned this. By avoiding the fees you're putting other sellers at a disadvnatge. Because your fees will be significantly lower than other sellers, and so costs less this will put the other sellers at an unfair disadvantage.

As with many others I stay well clear of sellers who are prepared to inflate postage to avoid fees. I realise also that you have now rectified the postage costs on your item, so its good to see you've taken note of what has been said here. Perhaps other sellers who read the board, and inflate their postage charges could do the same.

CAT-THE-FIFTH

Also it would be nice if people just state their offers and not say they can get it for 2p at some one off once in a century 99.9999999999999999999999% off sale!

Whatever price I paid for it is not their business and if they think a price is too high then I am happy if they can find it elsewhere cheaper! Good for them!

Also,just because you refuse them they need not be childish and say "clear oof from Ebay and such!" If you said that in a shop you would be getting kicked out very quick

It costs nothing to just be polite.

Everyone likes a bargain and you cannot get you way all the time if you want to get something on the cheap!

Anyway I pulled the listing in case people like that guy trys some dirty trick on me(like using a dodgy account under an alias) and I do not want some paypal chargeback.

Perhaps I could try to return the camera as it is virtually unused??

I have sold many other bits and I have never had any rude e-mails like that guy's one!!

Contains_Mild_Peril

Virtually unused? Didn't you say earlier it was unused? It makes a difference when trying to return goods.
Asda's usual refund policy is that goods can be returned with receipt within 28 days, if in the condition in which they were sold, with all packaging etc. I'm not aware of any exclusions relating to cameras, but you can check with the shop. I know some shops exclude camcorders from their usual returns policy.
If the camera has been used but then reset to factory defaults and repacked, they would probably have no way of knowing it was ever used, unless (and this is fairly unlikely) you have used the memory card with it, and a future owner then uses data recovery software to retrieve images that have become damaged or erroneously deleted, they might then find your deleted images also, and complain to the shop that the memory card had been previously used.

CAT-THE-FIFTH

It was opened to check if the camera was working - so basically I did not put any SD card in it!

The battery was also charged up to see if the camera functions worked too!

So this why I used the "virtually unused" moniker!

Lob_Rockster

CAT-THE-FIFTH wrote:

I just cannot believe the rudeness of some people on Ebay
I am sellling a camera on Ebay and I put the postage cost at 30-40 quid and stated this was because the Ebay costs were quite high.
Then some guy e-mails and says he know I got it at ASda for 85 quid - so he wll offer me 90 and cannot believe I am selling it for over 100 quid and that the postage is high and only costs 6 quid
Ths slight issue is that it cost me over 100 quid in the first place and the combined fees and postage will cost 20 quid anyway and yes I did buy it from Asda just before the sale
When I tell him that is my price and if it is too high then he need not really care and I wish him luck at Asda he says I should be banned!!
I was very hurt by this as I always am polite to people but some people are taking the mickey
Especially when this camera sells for around 140-150 quid on Ebay anyway in its current condition.
Is there anyway I can complain??
Why do people just think they can be so arrogant when it is a e-mail??
If people think that an item is overpriced they need not bid on it
They think Ebay is some cheap free for all at someone else's expense1

CAT-THE-FIFTH wrote:

Except it wasn't 85quid and I have sent a book which cost well over 7 quid to post.
Also you seem to forget packaging as bubble wrap and a box will cost 2-3quid anyway.
So using your costing it would still cost 9 quid and how is 10 quid unreasonable??
So if you are that tight it is better to buy stuff from a shop
Alot of reputable online retailers like microdirect charge a minimum of 7 pounds plus VAT for postage but still they work out cheaper in many cases
If it is not so then they don't get my money -so what is the problem then??

CAT-THE-FIFTH; one poster or two?

I personally would not have complained on a forum about this. IMO you look as bad as the person questioning you, to be honest.