Is it legal for ebay to take commission from seller's postage?

RFW

keeshuk wrote: »

Why should sellers have to give them a cut of the money that is being used to send the item - they are already getting a large fee from the sale (and the insertion fee)??!! ...Small-time sellers will not benefit from this!

A lot of insertion fees are being removed/reduced for many sellers.
As custardy says you don't have to pay Ebay anything, rent a market stall, go on a car boot sale, set up your own website, stand on a street corner or hire a skip to get rid of your goods. Although most of those still charge something.

RFW

I still don't get why when Ebay raise prices (which is essentially what this is) there are calls for boycotts, petitions and people thinking it's illegal. What is it that makes everyone think that Ebay is some kind of public body? There isn't even that much fuss when train fares go up.

Here's the deal, big company puts prices up, either lump it or shop elsewhere until they work out it's effecting their business and drop them again to win back trade.

starrybee

Paypal have always done it but nobody ever seems to moan about that.

RFW

starrybee wrote: »

Paypal have always done it but nobody ever seems to moan about that.

and the VAT man!

terlan

porto_bello wrote: »

Thanks for the tip, I've had a look. I note this is buying and selling art supplies - I would have thought a more lucrative concept would be an auction site that specialises in providing a marketplace for the buying and selling of finished paintings, sculptures etc... is there one?

try etsy.com it specialises in the sale of vintage / crafted goods. You generally get a better class of products and it isnt as saturated with mass produced low cost items from china etc the way ebay is.

adouglasmhor

It will catch all the fly guys who sell at a cheap price but charge silly money for P&P they brought his on TBH.

hollydays

I saw someone selling a cheap pound land santa hat the other day, they were charging 4.95 and said because of increased postage they were sending it by courier!!?

soolin

terlan wrote: »

try etsy.com it specialises in the sale of vintage / crafted goods. You generally get a better class of products and it isnt as saturated with mass produced low cost items from china etc the way ebay is.

Etsy does have a role to play, but do not fall for their blurb that these are unique craft or home made items. It is stuffed to the gills with all the usual mass produced tat from the Far East.

Just as an example go and look at 'statement necklaces' , all Far East items being sold by sellers who have bought the items in bulk and now pretend they are unique.

Edit: this one is currently being sold off in Primark at £2 , so either the seller in OHia has suddenly dreamt up the exact design that Primark have bought from the Far East, or.....they are buying from the same place. Note the beads are plastic ..a dead give away for Far East stuff.

http://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/109139140/light-blush-teardrop-statement-necklace?ref=br_feed_20&br_feed_tlp=jewelry

techspec

adouglasmhor wrote: »

It will catch all the fly guys who sell at a cheap price but charge silly money for P&P they brought his on TBH.

You mean the sellers who were avoiding ebay fees and passing on HUGE savings to customers?

As i said 2 years ago - all the idiots who could not see that £1 + £7 postage was cheaper than £7 + £3 postage would eventually lead to higher costs for all. Now ALL sellers will have to increase prices. Winner = Ebay - Losers = moaning sods who wanted lower postage.

At least its now a level playing field for sellers though.

soolin

techspec wrote: »

You mean the sellers who were avoiding ebay fees and passing on HUGE savings to customers?

As i said 2 years ago - all the idiots who could not see that £1 + £7 postage was cheaper than £7 + £3 postage would eventually lead to higher costs for all. Now ALL sellers will have to increase prices. Winner = Ebay - Losers = moaning sods who wanted lower postage.

At least its now a level playing field for sellers though.

Except that it will merely show a marked difference between certain stypes of sellers. (apologies I can't explain this well)

The 'first' ranked ones will all be TRS with inclusive postage and with automatic 5* and a TRS discount. The 'second' tier will be smaller businesses and infrequent private sellers (the ones that tend to list only on free listing days) that have low p and p and the occasional free postage . The 'third' tier will be the private sellers who want to use 99p listings and load all their p and p and costs onto the P and p element, so they will stand out as 'poor' sellers to many buyers.

Eventually the average stars will creep up as the majority of sellers will be on 5*and 5* in p and p will be the normal expected stars so those sellers getting even 4* on occasions will become below average very quickly.