eBay estimated fees for selling - is it legal?

egyptiangirl

I get frustrated that when I re-list a load of stuff it comes up with an estimated fee. I then have no choice whether I can accept the actual fee once processed.

Is this a legal thing to do?! I.e charge someone without actually telling them the exact charge that will be made to them?!

soolin

egyptiangirl wrote: »

I get frustrated that when I re-list a load of stuff it comes up with an estimated fee. I then have no choice whether I can accept the actual fee once processed.

Is this a legal thing to do?! I.e charge someone without actually telling them the exact charge that will be made to them?!

Fvf is a percentage of the end price- so how can they give you an accurate amount if they don't know what it is going to sell for.?

It is also an automated system, so cannot tell whether on the sale date the seller will have TRS discounts or not, so it cannot take that into account either.

Crowqueen

Yes, since elsewhere eBay set out in detail what they charge per sale.

Most categories take a flat percentage now, so it's relatively easy to work out.

Tip about legality - if it were illegal, then eBay either would not do it or would have been challenged before now. Trading Standards had a blitz on illegal terms from large online retailers (to force compliance with the Distance Selling Regulations). They have taken eBay to task I would imagine over scammer sellers, counterfeits, and probably over compliance with DSRs and Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations. Some companies abuse the VERO system to force eBay to practically disallow sales of some items that they might feel dilute their brand (even secondhand items from private sellers). It's difficult to imagine what they would find wrong with their system of charging a fee.

Look on it a bit like a phone bill - you don't know how much you will use when you initiate a phone call, but the phone company will set out in their paperwork how much per minute they will charge you. A BIN attracts fees but at least you know how much the item will sell for because you have a fixed price.

egyptiangirl

Sorry I don't mean the final selling fees I mean the listing fees!

RFW

What are you listing with, Turbo Lister, Ebay, Selling Manager or something else?

Crowqueen

egyptiangirl wrote: »

Sorry I don't mean the final selling fees I mean the listing fees!

Same deal. You can accept the fees by pushing the submit button, or reject them and not list. You should get a little sum at the end itemising what you are paying for on the listing (based on what you entered on the previous page) with a total.

There should be a precise figure for a listing fee based on start price, whether you use any extras or whatever. The blurb about approximate fees refers to FVFs, hence the slight confusion.

In most respects, it would have been cleared with eBay's legal department what they can write there (or perhaps, more accurately, what they can get away with). As I said above, sometimes big companies get it wrong, but eBay aren't cowboys - they wouldn't deliberately set out to thumb their nose at the law.

If you could post a screenshot then it would help. Use Prt Sc to copy the current page view to the clipboard, paste it into an image editor, crop it to the part you want to show us, save as a jpeg, upload to Photobucket or a free image host and then post the link here. I'm 99% sure you are getting confused between two gadgets on the page.

Odds on, though, it is legal.

RFW

Not that banks are known for acting legally but it is something that they do quite often, "estimated charges". Utility companies also use it. I think the Ebay estimate is the maximum they can charge, but until we know what exactly you are seeing that's hard to tell.

soolin

RFW wrote: »

Not that banks are known for acting legally but it is something that they do quite often, "estimated charges". Utility companies also use it. I think the Ebay estimate is the maximum they can charge, but until we know what exactly you are seeing that's hard to tell.

The only thing it can be is turbo lister as far as I can work out as I cannot get estimated charges however I try to list direct on ebay

Turbo lister is acting remotely so can have no idea what the actual charge will definitely be as there are too many variables. They can only say what the fees should be before discounts or free listings etc

Crowqueen

Good point, Soo :T.

I wonder if OP is eligible for free listings but was seeing Turbo Lister charge her.

A screenshot would help, even if it is a shot of Turbo Lister.

RFW

I had a look on Turbo Lister, it doesn't show 'estimated charges', just says what they are.

Jen_Jen1985

I think the op is relisting multiple items all say once as I had the "estimated" fees at the weekend when I did the but once I clicked accept it told me my actual fee was 0 due to flw.