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

baffcat

keeshuk wrote: »

Is it legal for ebay to take a cut of a seller's postage? In September its FVF is going up to 14% and they will be taking that from the TOTAL (item price and postage)? Surely that can't be legal? If a seller charges (eg) £1 (exact cost) to post an item, the seller will have to make up the postage after ebay have taken its cut. ...Sellers putting up postage to make up for ebay's greed will only have it impacted on their feedback, and ultimately, sales.

Ebay are being pragmatic, and honest, at last. They know as well as most normal-thinking people that it's irrelevant how the total is made, just that there is a total, and that's what they want their share of.

Perhaps some sellers will finally realise that starting an auction at 99p, and adding a silly postage charge will not work anymore, and thus start listings at realistic prices.

oldone_2

baffcat wrote: »

Perhaps some sellers will finally realise that starting an auction at 99p, and adding a silly postage charge will not work anymore, and thus start listings at realistic prices.

Since the announcement of fees on postage I have been doing various trials.
Based on 400+ sales, I have had more interest and bids on items starting at 99p + postage than those that start at £1 + postage.
If I start at an inclusive price of 99p plus the postage charge, with free postage, I am am having a fraction of the interest that the 99p start has.

Provisionally, from September I will be starting at 99p, plus postage.The postage element will be increased to reflect e-bays extra charges.
I shall of course monitor my DSR stars very carefully.

Chrysalis

people need to realise postal charge is at the seller discretion (in terms of the law) its simply part of an overall price, ebay seems to have brainwashed people that postage has to be at the same level of cost and profiteering of it by anyone is illegal, not quite.

I gave someone 5 stars today for p&p when I paid £19 for delivery on royal mail.

Flyonthewall

baffcat wrote: »

Perhaps some sellers will finally realise that starting an auction at 99p, and adding a silly postage charge will not work anymore, and thus start listings at realistic prices.

Although some buyers see free postage and think that makes it better, there are also the buyers that see the start price and don't pay much attention to the postage.

For the sellers starting auctions at 1p with, for example, £25 postage do still get bids from either those looking at the total price or those who pay little attention to the postage costs.

Which looks better though? A 1p start with £25 postage or a £25 start price and free postage?

Yes, when going through listings the postage is as obvious as the start/bid price, but once you click on a listing the start price is what really stands out. 1p will always look better than £25.

In the end the seller is going to be paying the same in fees now. Only difference is they can list it for free if they're a private seller and it's under 99p.

Obviously the stars may affect them if people rate them lower, but they've clearly got away with it so far so...

For sellers with less extreme postage but still overcharging, they may just stop selling (less money for ebay) or they may start lower and refuse to sell if it doesn't go for the price they want and would have got before. They may also keep the postage the same as it is now to cover their fees as well as other costs (like petrol etc). Again, the ratings may catch up with them at some point but they've clearly been fine so far.

Ebay need to put a proper stop to them sellers doing that. As it is, they will still carry on and lots of people charging the true postage price are now paying out more. It's just not worth it for some to sell anymore.

What do you call a realistic price? I'm sure people have different ideas about what they'd consider realistic.

oldone_2

Flyonthewall wrote: »

Ebay need to put a proper stop to them sellers doing that.

Why? When things go pear-shaped e-bay are quick to point out they are just a vehicle for bringing seller and buyer together and the two parties should get to get for a resolution.

A business seller has usually carefully costed out all their overheads and arrived at a selling price/post packing costs that give them a profit they want.

The growing inteference by buyers (encouraged and supported by e-bay) on how a seller runs their business is getting out of hand.

In the real world if customers don't like how a business is run, they go elsewhere. What they do not have, unlike e-bay - is have the power to close down that business, or even to micro-analyse the shops business plan or profits (unless they are shareholders).

I hasten to add,that it goes without saying that an e-bay seller should comply with all legislation.

If you place an advertisement in a local paper, they happily take your money. What they do not do is tell you how much postage you should charge, how quickly you should post, and how nice you are to your customers - market forces should determine these - not e-bay.

Flyonthewall

oldone wrote: »

Why? When things go pear-shaped e-bay are quick to point out they are just a vehicle for bringing seller and buyer together and the two parties should get to get for a resolution.

From ebays point of view they've no reason to stop them, it gets them money.

From a buyers point of view, it needs to stop because there's no doubt that there are those who have not realised the extreme postage costs. I know people need to read more carefully, but glitches do happen and there have been listings where postage has not shown as it was listed. Plus it is easy to just misread things.

From a sellers view, it needs to stop because the fees changing affects us all.

Ebay are unlikely to put a stop to it - it wouldn't make any sense for them to at the moment, it works in their favour really. That doesn't change the fact that they should really stop it. Postage costs should be exactly that - what it costs to post.

IrishRose12

I only list things on ebay when they do their free listing weekends. And charge actual postage cost plus 20p for packaging. I state this in my listings. If the postage was less than what I charged, if it was more than 30p I refund that difference explaining why I have done so.

Yet I still get people complaining to me that the postage was too much in some cases, when in fact at times I have lost money as postage was more than I had thought. What really annoys me is people who complain about postage AFTERWARDS and leave neutral or negative feedback about it.

What I would LIKE to say on my listings, is, if they don't like the cost of my postage, don't bid. However ebay don't allow that either, When someone places a bid on an item they are agreeing to that P&P price at the time. Nothing should change afterwards unless it's combined postage for multiple items.

I don't think it's fair that ebay will be bringing out this new rule regarding postage, as at the end of the day people are trying at times to make money on their items too, or try and get back some of the money they paid for the item in the first place.

I know that when this new rule comes into affect I for one won't be selling on ebay again. Shall look into starting selling at Carboot sales.

sequence

The fees are good. Us sellers who offer free postage are no longer penalized. It will the majority of listings free post which will also bring an end to constant postage price bickering we get. It will thankfully kill off the 99p tat merchants who flood the site with junk (I hope). Who knows, they might become as good as amazon (unlikely!).

Flyonthewall

IrishRose12 wrote: »

I only list things on ebay when they do their free listing weekends. And charge actual postage cost plus 20p for packaging. I state this in my listings. If the postage was less than what I charged, if it was more than 30p I refund that difference explaining why I have done so.

Yet I still get people complaining to me that the postage was too much in some cases, when in fact at times I have lost money as postage was more than I had thought. What really annoys me is people who complain about postage AFTERWARDS and leave neutral or negative feedback about it.

What I would LIKE to say on my listings, is, if they don't like the cost of my postage, don't bid. However ebay don't allow that either, When someone places a bid on an item they are agreeing to that P&P price at the time. Nothing should change afterwards unless it's combined postage for multiple items.

I don't think it's fair that ebay will be bringing out this new rule regarding postage, as at the end of the day people are trying at times to make money on their items too, or try and get back some of the money they paid for the item in the first place.

I know that when this new rule comes into affect I for one won't be selling on ebay again. Shall look into starting selling at Carboot sales.

Exactly.

In some ways it's not right that buyers can mark sellers down on postage as they have agreed to the price, like you said. However, some don't send it how they say they will so in them cases other buyers need some warning that they are overcharging on postage. Buyers won't always think to write that in the feedback.

I don't think some buyers realise just how much postage costs, but even so they do agree to the price beforehand. Either way, ebays new rule is unfair.

Flyonthewall

sequence wrote: »

The fees are good. Us sellers who offer free postage are no longer penalized. It will the majority of listings free post which will also bring an end to constant postage price bickering we get. It will thankfully kill off the 99p tat merchants who flood the site with junk (I hope). Who knows, they might become as good as amazon (unlikely!).

Never heard anyone say ebays fees are good before. They may not be the worst, but they're not good.

It won't kill off the 99p listings. Some may lose some profit, but others will still be fine. If anything it'll make things worse with people trying to undercut each other and still keep postage free to attract buyers. Good for buyers, bad for sellers and bad for ebay. A slightly bigger cut of a much smaller cost isn't going to work out better, plus they'll lose any sellers who can't compete.