MSE News: eBay sellers beware - its fees now eat into postage costs

martinsnest

betman wrote: »

Ebay have been upping their fees for a long time. Their CService is disgusting as they can't or won't answer apart from quoting stereotype template statements. As a seller you are treated unfairly. Trouble is they have the monopoly for a worldwide auction site and think they are God. Now we can just complain here or you can Network...Contact the media, enlist your friends. I found this petition which I have signed. It only takes a few clicks but as usual people cannot be bothered to do anything. If you have read this then please for all of us whilst you are still angry sign. This is the email I had after I signed:
Hi,

I wanted to draw your attention to this important petition that I recently signed:

"Say no to Ebay FVF on P & P!"
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/say-no-to-ebay-fvf-on-p-p/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=system&utm_campaign=Send%2Bto%2BFriend

I really think this is an important cause, and I'd like to encourage you to add your signature, too. It's free and takes just a few seconds of your time.

Thanks!

Hello Wanted to sign but it isnt free for me. Boxes came up to donate money & then flipped to my Paypal account!
Just got a confirmation email so maybe It did work without payment!

Roisin48

Hi all.
I have an example of what e-Bay might be trying to discourage.
A while ago my husband won a small digital camera at a reasonable price, but we thought the postage (£12) significantly higher than was warranted for the weight of the item.
We lived near the seller, so he contacted him to arrange collection - and he refused. Husband pointed out the foolishness of our paying a high postage charge when we could easily combine our imminently planned visit to the area with collecting the camera, but to no avail. My husband withdrew, and he received bad feedback.

Rotti

In the original article it states ""Plus, eBay rules state that you can't increase postage costs to cover eBay or PayPal fees."" and yet I was told the opposite when I rang eBay Top Customer Care to discuss this whole fiasco and told them I would not be able to "build in the postage" - which make it not "free" but "inclusive" and that they were forcing me to charge buyers more to cover my own costs. I have never overcharged for postage but in order to recoup the 10% taken will have to add 12% to my old charges. This will seriously disadvantage overseas buyers as they will pay the surcharge on a much higher figure. It will also affect my DSRs as many buyers are blissfully unaware of the real cost of posting, particularly items over 8 cm deep, and wrongly assume they have been overcharged. Paypal are already taking a chunk of the postage and if you then pay Parcel2Go with the money in Paypal they charge you another 2% on it for the privilege!

EBay advised me to put a line in my description advising why my postage costs had gone up!!

I sold some CDs today but having worked out the fees it is really not worth the effort. They sold for £2 (fairly average for CDs) plus £1.75 postage. After eBay and Paypal fees I was left with £1.19 per CD.

At the other end of the scale I sent a large parcel to the USA for which the buyer paid £85 by Fedex. Now I would have to charge him £95 to clear that or be £8.50 out of pocket so exactly who is this supposed to benefit???

RFW

Rotti wrote: »

I sold some CDs today but having worked out the fees it is really not worth the effort. They sold for £2 (fairly average for CDs) plus £1.75 postage. After eBay and Paypal fees I was left with £1.19 per CD.

Tough old world ain't it? Stand on a street corner with a suitcase of CDs, you don't have to pay any commission to anyone. You won't get the same number of passers by but you may sell for the same amount.

Prices go up, people complain, prices stay up, people carry on. If you don't like the price rises the best thing to do is buy and/or sell elsewhere. That's the best (if not only) way you have of getting prices to come back down. Petitions won't work, moaning on internet forums won't work, writing emails to a robot customer service won't work.

Apart from that, I'm alright Jack, so carry on;)

RFW

Rotti wrote: »

In the original article it states ""Plus, eBay rules state that you can't increase postage costs to cover eBay or PayPal fees."" and yet I was told the opposite when I rang eBay Top Customer Care to discuss this whole fiasco and told them I would not be able to "build in the postage" - which make it not "free" but "inclusive" and that they were forcing me to charge buyers more to cover my own costs.

Just as a matter of interest why can't you include the postage in your price? Do that and then you can charge overseas buyers the 'correct' postage and use the included UK post to cover the extra commission. Not ideal, but a workable solution.

Rotti wrote: »

Paypal are already taking a chunk of the postage and if you then pay Parcel2Go with the money in Paypal they charge you another 2% on it for the privilege!

Withdraw the funds to a bank account and pay with a debit card, it can all be done instantly and for free, with just a couple of clicks.

Rotti

RFW wrote: »

Just as a matter of interest why can't you include the postage in your price? Do that and then you can charge overseas buyers the 'correct' postage and use the included UK post to cover the extra commission. Not ideal, but a workable solution.

You really do have an answer for everything don't you?

Do the maths - if a CD doesn't get off the ground on auction at £1.99 with £1.75 postage why would it get off the ground at a higher start price with the "bonus" of "free" postage? Even eBay buyers are not that stupid (most of them anyway) and are sometimes going to look for the cheapest start price, not "free" postage. If I am selling retired china and have a milk jug that I would normally start at £3.99, how on earth can I build in a postage cost for it? If it is going to most UK postcodes it would go by Hermes being over 8cm deep so I would have to build in £5.50 to get the actual cost to me. But if it was going to a far-flung corner I would need to build in the cost by Royal Mail at £6.50 or a higher courier cost (destinations like the Isle of Man), so that would inflate the cost even more and nobody is going to buy a milk jug that starts at a tenner! I don't know the precise cost myself until I know the final destination, who will take it and whether items are being combined, so as far as I am concerned it is a fairer to both buyer and seller to charge the going rate, clearly advertised and adjustable to each buyer. Ebay taking a percentage of that money paid to provide a service is worse than any price hike the Royal Mail has ever come up with!

RFW

Rotti wrote: »

Do the maths - if a CD doesn't get off the ground on auction at £1.99 with £1.75 postage why would it get off the ground at a higher start price with the "bonus" of "free" postage?

It probably wouldn't, not worth selling really, some things aren't. The extra 18p of fees aren't going to really hinder that in any great way.

As for UK differences in postage you can include the lowest rate and surcharge for those regions with higher rates, there's a system in place to do that.

Personally I'd be happier if the FVF fees on post didn't apply to auction listings but low start auctions with inclusive postage are actually going better than ever for me so customers obviously like it.

campdave

There's plenty of scope for the 18p fees in the extra 55p you're adding to the cd postage as it is.

Saveit

I can't understand why Ebay have introduced this other than make more profit. If you add your postage to the cost and offer the so called free postage, the buyer loses out if they want to order more than one item, if they are all free postage then this is a disadvantage to the buyer. I am a top rated seller and have tried to do as they say adding the postage to the item and my sales dropped sharply, reverting them back to standard postage and a combined price for buying more than one , sales increased. Either way if you add the postage cost or do it separately you are charged 10%. Sellers have to add the fee costs in so they can continue selling and make a little profit , or why bother? If you don't add it to the cost you will not get a discount on your FVF , if you do then the buyer is not getting the best deal. For years I have jumped through hoops and did what they asked but this just doesn't make any sense at all other than Ebay profit. If I do add the postage to the cost of the item and a buyer wants two, they will be paying double the postage when some items can go for the same or a few pence more. This for me personally is a step too far, and if Ebay wanted to stop the sellers with high postage costs then I am sure they could have found a better way other than penalise good sellers too. I have decided to do a mix of listings and see how they go over the next 2 months and try and figure out what's best for customers not Ebay. I sell internationally too and that is a nightmare because the postage is high how can I justify charging 10% more ? I sold an item to the USA in the last couple of days , the item price is £7.50 , the postage was £11.95 the actual cost for the postage was £10.95 allowing for the packaging costs but out of that £11.95 Ebay charged me £1.19 and for what? I can't see that this is a good move for anyone, buyers and sellers, only Ebay.

campdave

Saveit wrote: »

I can't understand why Ebay have introduced this other than make more profit.

It's not rocket science - company looking to make profit shocker.