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

magpiecottage

I wonder if, for private sellers at least, it is not an unfair term in a consumer contract.

RFW

magpiecottage wrote: »

I wonder if, for private sellers at least, it is not an unfair term in a consumer contract.

If you're selling something you aren't actually a consumer, quite the opposite. Also, Amazon charge marketplace sellers a fee on postage and always have done, they haven't yet been prosecuted.

campdave

magpiecottage wrote: »

I wonder if, for private sellers at least, it is not an unfair term in a consumer contract.

How is it different to paypal charging a fee on postage?

sequence

I will actually be better off with the new charges, and paying less to ebay (I think...). TRS discount gone from 10 to 15% and all of my listings have been freepost for years, so no extra fees.

RFW

sequence wrote: »

I will actually be better off with the new charges, and paying less to ebay (I think...). TRS discount gone from 10 to 15% and all of my listings have been freepost for years, so no extra fees.

There are also reductions in many listing fees for business sellers. Any Top Rated Sellers that previously offered inclusive postage should be considerably better off.

wpeteraces

A few months ago I bought a car part on ebay for 1p, postage was £120, which was the value of the part. The seller was simply using the system to avoid paying fees and this is why ebay have now changed the system, as they were losing out on fees!
I consider the 10% Ebay fee for selling too high and now sell by other means.

Percy1983

I will say I mostly list using buy it now and have offered free postage all the time, if an item is worth £12 I will only get £12, if thats £6 and £6 postage or otherwise.

Advantages of free postage:
1, buyers can't complain you charged too much for postage.
2, buyers can't complain if you don't reduce postage when they buy more than one item.
3, many buyers see it as a better deal.

zerog

wpeteraces wrote: »

A few months ago I bought a car part on ebay for 1p, postage was £120, which was the value of the part. The seller was simply using the system to avoid paying fees and this is why ebay have now changed the system, as they were losing out on fees!
I consider the 10% Ebay fee for selling too high and now sell by other means.

You could only do this once every 12 months per ebay account, or you would have got suspended.

Anyway why didn't you just pay directly to his paypal?

monkei

eBay says the change "has been made to reward sellers who offer free or competitive postage, in line with customer expectations".

Obviously there's no such thing as free postage.

Sellers who offer free postage factor the postage into the sale price, and by doing so ebay gets a larger chunk of these sales.

Sellers who don't offer free postage, ebay *now* gets a larger chunk of these sales too!

I think it's just ebay levelling things out so it gets a greater chunk from all sales (whether sellers offer free/ fair postage or not). It has nothing to do with customer/ buyers expectations imo.

I imagine most buyers are smart enough to know that there is no such thing as "free postage", and that by searching for items by "free postage" they might not be getting the best deal. Most probably search using "price+P&P: lowerest first" anyway.

Don't see this benefiting buyers or sellers... I just see this benefiting ebay's bottom line/ profits. Ebay is getting more greedy.

martinsnest

zerog wrote: »

You could only do this once every 12 months per ebay account, or you would have got suspended.

Anyway why didn't you just pay directly to his paypal?

Yes I dont see how they got away with this as buyers can mark on postage costs and you only need a few low scores and you are suspended. Ebay have it all ways!